New Morpeth Harriers acquisition Chris Parr, who has recently transferred from Jarrow & Hebburn,
finished second in the Men’s 1500m A Race, at the BMC Grand Prix Meeting, held at Eltham on Saturday 20th July 2019. Parr posted a seasons best of 3m45.78s. In the Men’s 800m A Race, Morpeth Harrier James Young finished seventh in a time of 1m52.22s, which was just over a second outside his personal best. Laura Weightman again showed fine form, when she produced a new personal best time of 14m51.78s, when she finished twelfth in a very talented field of twenty four in the Women’s 5000m, of which only twenty finished on second day of the Muller sponsored Anniversary Games Meeting, held in the London’s Olympic Park.
on Sunday 21st July 2019. The event was also part of the 2019 Diamond League Programme, and the field were led home by Kenya’s Helen Obiri, who posted a meeting record time of 14m20.36s. Second place went to Obiri’s Kenyan team-mate Agnes Jebet Tirop, who also posted new figures of 14m20.68s. Third place went to new Mile World record holder Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who also posted a new personal best time of 14m22.12s. Weightman meanwhile still retained her mantle of leading Brit in the field, finishing one place, and a fraction ahead of Eilish McColgan. Other Brits Jessica Judd and Rosie Clarke finished seventeenth and eighteenth respectively. Melissa Courtney did not finish. For Weightman, it also meant that she had broken her own club record. A truly excellent all-round performance saw Morpeth Harriers Senior Men’s and Women’s Track and Field squad, pull off a superb victory in their third round Division 2E match, held at KEVI School, on Sunday 14th July 2019.
It wasn’t just the home advantage that saw them through, but also the attitudes and performance levels shown by athletes from both genders, who included no less than three athletes who had competed at the English Schools Championships in Birmingham over the two previous days, and chose to turn out in support of their club, to ensure a good result was indeed achievable. These factors delighted respective Team Managers David Swinburn (Male), and Vina Desai (Female), who actually donned her own competitive garb during proceedings, to ensure valuable points could be scored from the day. In the Men’s events, Morpeth Harriers secured no less than four A String wins, and three B String victories, thus resulting in two of these amounting to double wins. The Men also enjoyed a very close win in their 4 x 100m Relay event. The Female side of the squad managed two A String wins, and two B String wins. English Schools Senior Boys 400m Gold Medal winner Matthew Waterfield proved to be an unstoppable winner in the Men’s 200m, taking the A Race in 22.4s. Morpeth’s Sam Yates finished fourth in the B Race in 24.8s. Because of a disqualification given to Gateshead Harrier Matt Linsley, for breaking too early in the Men’s 800m, Morpeth Harrier Alistair Douglass was given the verdict as event winner by the judges, posting a new personal best time of 1m55.5s. Phil Winkler added more sweetness to the occasion by taking the B Race in 2m02.0s. Douglass had further personal delight later in the day, when he produced a new figure of 52.1s, when finishing third in the 400m. In his first ever Northern League outing for the club following his 2018 transfer from Houghton Harriers, Under 23 athlete Alex Brown certainly delighted his new supporters, by recording an excellent personal best of 4m02.7s, to win the Men’s 1500m A Race. Under 20 athlete Ross Charlton made the result even stronger by taking the B Race in 4m11.2s. In the Men’s 100m, Sean O’Hara just missed out on taking the A Race, as he clocked a time of 11.4s. David Storey finished fourth in the B Race in 12.2s. In the Men’s 5000m, Karl Taylor finished second in the A Race in 16m08.9s, and Gary Jones finished second in the B Race in 17m36.3s. Northern Champion Adam Pratt of Morpeth found himself just a little outpaced by Leeds City’s Mohammed Abshir in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, as he finished second in 10m00.9s, and was a little disappointed, as he had beaten the Leeds man in last month’s Northern Championships. More good points were gained by the club however, as Mark Snowball took the B Race in 10m37.6s. Snowball also finished fifth in the A Race of the 400m Hurdles in 74.0s, and Neil McAnany finished third in the B Race in 73.0s. Morpeth Men’s 4 x 100m squad were given the winners verdict in the judge’s room, as they finished in the same time of 45.0s as Gateshead Harriers, courtesy of Sam Yates, Matthew Waterfield, Sean O’Hara, with David Storey just sealing victory on the final leg. A hardworking Waterfield joined Alistair Douglass, younger brother Ben Waterfield, and Owen Priest, in Morpeth Men’s 4 x 400m squad, who finished third in 3m43.1s. On to the Men’s Field Events, where an extremely hardworking Craig Charlton competed in no less four events for Morpeth, including an unfamiliar High Jump. Charlton’s best performance was in his specialist Shot Putt, where he clearly took command in the A String, winning by just over a metre margin from Middlesbrough’s David Dowson, with a best Putt of 15.18m. He also finished third in the A String Discus (36.37m), and second in the A String Hammer (36.10m). Charlton showed his appetite for work, when he cleared 1.50m, to gain some club points in an unfamiliar High Jump. Giving excellent club support in the Shot Putt and Discus events was Steven Appleby, who finished respective seconds in both B String competitions, with bests of 8.10m, and 28.65m. In the B String Hammer, Morpeth’s Hayden Richards produced a new personal best of 35.32m to finish second, and he also finished an excellent second in his more specialist A String Javelin, throwing a best of 44.47m, only just losing out for victory by a mere 44cm to Middlesbrough’s Steve Birse. Backing Richards up in the B String Javelin was Hans Paulsen, who finished fifth, by producing a personal best performance of 22.83m. Paulsen also produced a personal best performance of 9.62m, to finish fourth in the A String Triple Jump, where Mark Snowball also produced new figures of 8.95m, when finishing as third B String. In the Long Jump A String, Morpeth’s Max Marr finished third, by producing a best jump of 5.62m, and again it was the hardworking Mark Snowball providing good B String backing for his club, by finishing fifth with a best of 4.03m. On to the Women’s events, where Jess Young-Rogers showed fine form by winning the A String 100m in 12.9s, and just got edged out by her same closest rival in the 200m A String, where she clocked 27.7s. Backing Young-Rogers up for Morpeth in the respective B Strings were Lynsey Storey (Cunningham), who finished second in the 100m (14.3s), and Under 17 athlete Lily Heaton, who won the 200m B event in 29.8s. In the 1500m A Race, Rachelle Falloon finished second in 5m00.6, and Lorna MacDonald recorded an excellent win in the B Race in 5m12.5s. MacDonald’s younger sister Catriona MacDonald faced tough opposition in the form of Leeds City’s Susan Partridge in the 3000m. Whilst the Scottish International won the A Race in 11m06.9s, MacDonald secured second place in 11m20.2s. Claire Calverley finished third in the 3000m B Race for Morpeth in 12m53.6s. Holly Peck produced a new personal best time of 64.4s, when finishing third in the 400m A Race, and Helen King backed Peck’s efforts well, when finishing second in the B Race in 69.9s. In the 800m A Race, Morpeth’s Tayla Murdy finished fourth in 2m39.2s, and Lindsey Quinn, in her first Northern League outing, backed her up well by finishing third in the B Race in 2m51.1s. Morpeth Harriers Women finished second in both the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m Relays, posting respective times of 54.10s, and 4m38.2s, courtesy of Lynsey Storey (Cunningham), Lily Heaton, Charlotte Earl, Jess Young-Rogers, and Tayla Murdy, Helen King, Lily Heaton, and Holly Peck. There were some good points scored by Morpeth Harriers in the Women’s Field Events. Bobbie Griffiths, who had competed at the English Schools Championships in Birmingham, had a very clear win in the A String Javelin, posting a best throw of 38.03m Team Manager Vina Desai, stepped in for the first time ever to throw the implement, finishing fifth in the B String, with a best throw of 7.28m. Another Morpeth Harrier who had competed at the English Schools Championships was Under 17 athlete Jessica Gardiner. Gardiner finished second in the A String Discus, producing a best throw of 29.46m. Morpeth took good points from the B string here, as debutant Lauren Anderson finished third with 18.98m. Lynsey Storey (Cunningham), and Helen King both produced respective personal bests of 6.74m and 6.55m, when finishing in fifth places in the A and B String Shot Putt competitions. Under 17 Northern League debutant Charlotte Earl made an excellent start to her Senior Morpeth career by figuring well in no less than three of the Women’s Field Events. In the High Jump, she finished second in the A String, with her clearance of 1.25m, second in the Triple Jump A String with 10.48m, and gave good B String backing to Jess Young-Rogers in the Long Jump, finishing third with a best of 4.31m. Meanwhile Young-Rogers was fourth in the A String with 4.34m. With one match remaining, which will be hosted by Wallsend/Blyth at Whitley Bay on Saturday 10th August, Morpeth Harriers still lie in third team place cumulatively behind leaders Leeds City, who have a slender one-point lead over second placed Gateshead Harriers. Behind Morpeth in fourth team place, and three league points adrift are Wallsend/Blyth, who are two points ahead of fifth placed Harrogate Harriers. In sixth, and last place, and a further three points adrift are Middlesbrough AC (Mandale), who are doomed to face automatic relegation to Division 3 for next term, and all looks set for Harrogate to go down with them. Wallsend/Blyth, who host the final match, are the only club who could realistically threaten Morpeth’s current position, whilst Leeds City and Gateshead Harriers seem set to continue their close fight as to who will end up as Division 2E League Champions, with a possible playoff place to gain Division 1 status should they so wish. FINAL MATCH RESULT (Still Subject to further scrutiny) 1st Morpeth Harriers 325pts, 2nd Gateshead Harriers 297pts, 3rd Leeds City 291pts, 4th Wallsend/Blyth 285pts, 5th Harrogate Harriers 258pts, 6th Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) 235pts. CURRENT CUMULATIVE POINTS STATUS (after three matches) 1st Leeds City 16pts (1042), 2nd Gateshead Harriers 15pts (1031) 3rd Morpeth Harriers 12pts (922), 4th Wallsend/Blyth 9pts (876), 5th Harrogate Harriers 7pts (850), 6th Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) 4pts (753). Many thanks go to all of those who volunteered their help at Morpeth on Sunday, to make sure that the match at KEVI was once again well organised. A splendid all-round club effort! Pipping his rival by the narrowest of one second margins, Sam Hancox had his revenge over Bristol and West athlete Jarlath Mckenna – who had got the better of him in the previous week’s Bridges of the Tyne race – at the annual Sunderland 5k races last Thursday (11th July).
The fast two lap course round the fishing lakes at the Silksworth Sports Centre usually attracts a good quality field for men, women and veterans alike and this year was no exception, although the torrid early evening conditions clearly had an adverse effect on many competitors. In the first race, for women and male veterans Over 50, World Masters Over 55 multiple record holder Guy Bracken of North Shields Polytechnic Harriers had an expected victory with a time of 16 minutes and 18 seconds. Morpeth’s Lee Bennett, however, was less than a minute back in second place with a clocking of 17m 3s and picked up the 1st O/50 prize. An out of sorts Rob Hancox finished in 19m 22s and Alistair Macdonald returned to competitive action with 21m 2s. Paul Bentley was 4th O/70 with 26m 23s. In the women’s race, run at the same time, Robyn Bennett was 1st Morpeth home in 5th place overall in 18m 22s behind race winner Charlotte Penfold of NSP’s 17m 40s. Not far behind Robyn were Rachelle Falloon, 7th in 18m 54s and Helen King, 1st O/40 in 19m 4s in 8th place overall. It was a busy night for the clan Macdonald with all three sisters running. Lorna took the bragging rights this time, finishing in 10th place in 19m 6s ahead of Cat in 13th with 19m 27s. Continuing to make steady improvements meanwhile, Lindsey was 48th in 23m 6s. In the men’s race, Sam Hancox led from the off with the intention of making it hard for his rivals and for most of the first lap had Jordan Bell of Blackhill Bounders on his shoulder. With Bell fading after two kilometres, Mckenna and Kieran Walker of Middlesbrough Mandale took up the chase, and with one kilometre to go, Hancox and Mckenna were shoulder to shoulder. Unfortunately for the Bristol and West athlete, he had not run the race before and so misread the finish, and this gave Hancox just the opportunity needed to seal a fine victory in a race where he had finished second on two previous occasions. Tommy Straughan had a good run to finish 7th (15m 28s) and behind him, Karl Taylor was 9th (15m 40s), young Rowan Bennett 13th (15m 50s), Mark Snowball 26th (16m 19s), Richard Johnson 27th (16m 22s) and Tom Innes 38th (16m 38s). Start Fitness North Eastern Grand Prix (4) Eight athletes from Morpeth Harrier were in action at the fourth Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Grand Prix meeting, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium, on the evening of Wednesday 10th July 2019. Only two of those eight athletes produced personal best performances on the night, and they just happened to be sibling brothers Ryan and Dylan Davies, both of whom have been in fine form of late, and respectively progressing under the ever watchful eye of their coach Mike Bateman, and his team of assistants at the club, and being also respectively as competitive as each other, they are indeed not shy when it comes to toughing it out with the best. Ryan, for his part, made his mark in the Junior Graded 1500m, finishing as fourth fastest Under 15 Boy, posting a new personal best finishing time of 4m32.17s, taking a whole nine seconds off his previous figures. Four places behind Ryan, was his club colleague Bertie Marr, who by degree is not quite at his best, however he still managed to emerge as eighth fastest Under 15 Boy, posting a time of 4m46.17s. The older Davies, Dylan, finished an overall twelfth in a later run 20 strong Graded 3000m event, also producing personal best figures of 9m49.54s, taking fractionally over a second off his previous figures, which certainly delighted the Under 17 athlete. Another Morpeth Harrier in action in the 3000m was Under 20 Woman Gracie Hufton, who posted a finishing time of 11m45.64s. Morpeth had three athletes in action in the Senior Graded 800m event. Alistair Douglass was the fastest of these, finishing fifth in the fastest of four heats, posting a time of 1m56.09s. Five places behind him was club colleague Kieran Hedley, who posted a time of 2m02.44s. The third Morpeth Harrier in action here was Tayla Murdy, who posted a time of 2m42.49s in the slowest of the four races. Morpeth’s only Field eventer on the night was regular Under 15 Girl 800m runner Abi Leiper, who wax overall fifth in the Graded Under 13/Under 15 Long Jump, getting an on the night best out of herself of 4.33m, and led her particular age group in the competition. Trafford Open Grand Prix Meeting Morpeth Harrier George Lowry travelled across to Stretford in Manchester on the evening of Tuesday 9th July 2019 and was pleased to record a new personal best of 8m34.23s, when finishing second in a highly competitive 3000m A Race at the Trafford Open Grand Prix Meeting. He lost out on individual victory by around five seconds to Leigh’s William Rawson, who also produced new figures. Lowry took around two seconds off his previous figures, that he had achieved at the same venue in June. Great North 10k Matthew Boyle was Morpeth’s first finisher in the Great North 10k on Sunday 7th July 2019, with a time of 38m 1s and a 32nd placing. Kate Gaffing was 826th in 49m 32s. The race was won by James Mckenzie in 33m 11s with Ashley Gibson 1st woman home in 35m 40s. Chevy Chase Fell Race Emma Holt marked a return to competitive action after a number of difficult injury-filled months when finishing 17th overall and first woman home in the annual Chevy Chase fell run on Saturday 6th July 2019. In a race won Lee Roe of NFRA in just over 3 hours, she finished with a good time of 3 hours 31 minutes 43 seconds and was well up the field. Behind her, Steve Haswell had a good run to come in 23rd in 3 h 35m although in a tough category he was only 7th Over 50. Jane Briggs and Mike Steven, however, were both 2nd in their O/50 and O/60 cats finishing together in 4:25:34. Jill Sandeman finished in 5:58:37 and was 12th O/40. Bridges of the Tyne Race
Sam Hancox was second in the Bridges of the Tyne race hosted by Tyne Bridge Harriers and run on a balmy Tuesday evening (2nd July 2019. In a race he had previously won last year, he narrowly lost out to Jarlath McKenna of Bristol and West AC by a margin of seconds with a time of 25 minutes and 9 seconds for the 5 mile course. He had the consolation, however, of finishing as North East Champion for the distance, with McKenna not counting as representing a club from outside the area. There was a medal performance also from Rachelle Falloon, third woman in 30m 22s behind Danielle Smythe of Heaton Harriers and Georgia Campbell who both clocked 29m 48s. Jason Dawson was 58th and 3rd O/45 in 30m 26s. Other Morpeth performances included: Shaun Land, 69th in 31m 04s; Jamie Johnson, 70th in 31m 08s; Helen King and Gemma Floyd, 2nd and 3rd Over 40s respectively in 31m 42s and 32m 23s and Claire Calverley, 9th O/40 in 37m 19s. North of England Masters Track and Field Championships Gavin Bayne had an early start when he travelled down to the city of Hull on the last weekend in June for the North of England Masters Track and Field Championships. His journey was worth it, however, as, now a year older and at the top end of his category, he still retained his Over 60 1500m title with a super run in a time of 5m 17s. ‘I went out hard and tried to just keep it going, despite the hamstring niggle – my best run of the year,’ he later commented, his elation later tempered by the ongoing chaos at NUFC…. Other News...................... There were a couple of half-marathon victories by Morpeth Harriers towards the end of June. Despite managing to get himself lost when in the lead after only a few miles, Jordan Scott managed to re-find the route of the Penshaw Hill race (part of the ‘Trail Outlaws’ series) to win in a time of 1 hour 30 minutes and 15 seconds. No such problems for Andy Hebden, now an Over 40, as he won the hilly Coquet Valley half marathon out of Rothbury in a time of 1:23:40. |
Archives
April 2024
|