The annual Northumberland Coastal Run between Beadnel to Alnmouth,
held on Sunday 29th July 2018, and organised by Alnwick Harriers, attracted a total entry of over 1200 runners,
which eventually resulted in having 945 finishers, and included thirteen from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers.

First home from the club was Ross Floyd, fresh from his course record breaking run at Ashington the previous Wednesday, who finished second to Tyne Bridge Harrier Tom Charlton, posting a time of 84m27s over the tough and very demanding multi terrain course.
Floyd finished just over three minutes adrift of Charlton.

Next home from Morpeth was Over 40 Veteran Man John Butters,
who was third in his age category, posting a finishing time of 88m48s, for ninth place overall.

Four places behind Butters was his Female club colleague Jane Hodgson,
who took the Women’s title for the second year in succession, and for the fourth time in her career.
Hodgson posted a finishing time for the 14-mile course of 89m30s, not her fastest,
but nevertheless a satisfying victory by just over six minutes from her closest rival Aisling Wall of Horsforth Harriers.
Elswick Harrier Judith Nutt was third Woman in 97m14s.

Other Morpeth Harriers finishers were as follows
Steve Haswell (62nd) (3rd O/50 Man) 99m31s,
Lindsay Turnbull (212th) (3rd O/45 Woman) 112m27s,
Jane Briggs (279th) (7th O/45 Woman) 117m01s,
Mark Crosby (282nd) (36th O/50 Man) 117m04s,
Norman Clark (380th) (5th O/65 Man) 122m57s,
Jim Alder (385th) (23rd O/55 Man) 123m20s, L
esley Chapman (488th) (2nd O/60 Woman) 130m47s,
Lisa Herron (607th) (45th Sen Woman) 139m13s, T
ony Lewis (863rd) 165m06s,
​and Kenton Duffield (864th) (102nd O/45 Man) 165m11s.

Twenty-five athletes from Morpeth Harriers competed at the fifth and penultimate North Eastern Grand Prix Meeting, sponsored by Start Fitness, at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on the evening of Wednesday 25th July 2018.

Amongst their performances were no fewer than eighteen personal bests, with seven alone coming from the Graded 1500m events, for Under 17, Junior and Senior participants.

Posting an excellent 4m00.81s, Sam Hancox finished fourth in the fastest of three races,
taking a whole six seconds off his previous figures.

Two places behind him was club colleague Alistair Douglass,
who clocked 4m06.54s, taking three seconds off his previous best.

Another Morpeth personal best in the fastest race came from Under 17 Man Daniel Dixon,
who finished ninth in 4m13.68s, also taking six seconds off his previous best, and he was second in his age group.

Two places behind Dixon was his club colleague Rowan Bennett,
who finished in 4m17.65s, and was third in the Under 17 Men’s section.

Andrew Hudspith and Holly Peck of Morpeth competed in the second fastest 1500m Graded event,
posting respective times of 4m41.72s, and 4m46.93s, which represented improvements of five
and just over two seconds.

Hudspith was eighth fastest Under 17 Man, and Peck was fastest Under 17 Woman,
as they finished in ninth and twelfth places in the race.

Two Morpeth Harriers competed in the third fastest Graded 1500m event.
Lily Heaton made a fractional improvement on her personal best,
when she finished fifth in 5m08.10s, and she was fourth Under 17 Woman.
Four places behind her was club colleague Gracie Hufton, who posted a time of 5m17.05s,
which was a one second improvement on her personal best,
and she was second in the Under 20 Women’s age group.

The Under 13/Under 15 Boys 1500m, saw four athletes from Morpeth face the starter.
Three competed in the Under 13 Boys event.

First of the trio was Ryan Davies, who finished third, posting a new personal best time of 4m50.41s.
One place behind him was club colleague Bertie Marr, who clocked 5m04.20s.
Joe Dixon finished seventh in 5m48.42s.

In the Under 15 Boys 1500m, Dylan Davies, older brother of Ryan finished fourth,
with a new personal best of 4m48.10s.

Six athletes from Morpeth took part in the Under 13/Under 15 100m and 200m Sprints,
where a total of six new personal bests were achieved.

In the Under 13 Girls events, Olivia Gent posted two personal bests in the 100m (14.74s) and 200m (29.95s).

Under 15 Girl Mia Belton produced a new personal best of 13.45s, when finishing second
in the 100m, and in the very competitive 200m she was fourth fastest with 28.20s.

Another Under 15 Girl in action for Morpeth was Abigail Leiper, formerly with Elswick Harriers,
who was seventh fastest in the 100m, with a clocking of 14.23s.

In the Under 15 Boys 100m, Max Marr was fastest with a clocking of 12.50s,
and his Morpeth club colleague Charlie Lane was second fastest in 12.80s,
which was a new personal best performance.

The pair also competed in the 200m, however on this occasion Lane was fastest with 25.78s,
with Marr second fastest with 26.03s, both performances being personal bests.

For the first time ever, Marr’s younger brother Bertie competed over 200m.
Posting a time of 31.10s, he was third fastest Under 13 Boy.

Morpeth Harriers had one competitor in the Graded sprints.
Under 17 athlete Kayleigh Wenn was second fastest Under 17 Woman,
posting a time of 15.65s in the 100m.

Nine athletes from the club competed in the Field Events,
with two personal bests coming from respective performances.

Finishing second to Gateshead Harriers Under 15 strongman Jack Halpin,
Morpeth’s Nat Arkle produced a new personal best of 27.64m in the Hammer competition.
Arkle also finished second to Halpin in the Under 15 Boys Shot Putt, producing a best effort of 9.39m.
Max Marr finished third with his best effort of 8.89m, the first time he has attempted the event.

Jessica Gardiner had an impressive night in Under 15 Girls events,
winning both the Hammer and Discus, with best efforts of 34.07m and 25.85m.

Fresh from his Schools International appearance, Andrew Knight won the Under 17 Men’s Shot Putt,
with a best effort of 16.28m, which placed him well clear of his closest rival
James Wordsworth of North Shields Poly.

Ruaridh Lang of Morpeth was an easy winner of the
Under 20 Men’s Discus competition, producing a best of 42.43m.

His club colleague Luke Haxell also performed well in the Under 17 Men’s Discus,
finishing second with a new personal best of 30.50m.

Koffi Avornyo won the Under 15 Boys High Jump, by equalling his personal best with 1.55m.

His Morpeth club colleague Lucy McConnell was third
​Under 15 Woman in the High Jump, with her clearance of 1.35m.

Posting a new course record time of 34m24s, Morpeth Harrier Ross Floyd won the annual Fell ‘em’ Doon Woodland 10k Multi Terrain event, held at Woodhorn, near Ashington on the evening of Wednesday 25th July 2018.

He led a total finishing field of 269 home, in what has become a most popular event,
organised by Ashington Hirst Running Club.

Other Morpeth Harriers taking part were
James Johnson (15th) 42m32s, who was first Over 40 Man,
Helen King, who had an excellent run to finish eighteenth in 43m01s,
and was first Woman finisher, Hannah Rank (43rd) (3rd Woman) 47m18s,
and Shuna Rank (87th) (18th Woman) (4th O/50) 53m06s.

Morpeth Harrier James Young posted a new personal best time of 3m47.60s,
when finishing third in the fastest of four Men’s 1500m events,
at the BMC Gold Standard Meeting, held at Stretford, Manchester,
on the evening of Tuesday 24th July 2018.

He finished just over four seconds adrift of race winner John Travers of Herne Hill,
and only a mere fraction adrift of second placed fellow Under 23 Man Max Wharton of Liverpool Harriers.

Young bettered his previous figures by nearly three seconds,
​which he had achieved at the same venue in early June.

Postal entries close this Saturday (28th July) for the annual Morpeth 10k Road Race,
scheduled to be run on Tuesday 7th August at 7.30pm.

The event, which is once again being sponsored by Glaceau Smartwater, the Morpeth based drinks manufacturer, is also available for online entry on www.racenumber.co.uk, until next Wednesday (1st August).
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Further race details regarding Race Parking can be found on the event page.