​Morpeth Harrier James Young produced a season’s best performance of 3m40.03, when
finishing a close second to Woodford Green’s Phil Norman in the fastest 1500m at Saturday
night’s BMC Grand Prix Meeting held at Stretford, Manchester.
Further back in the field in twelfth place, was fellow Morpeth Harrier Scott Beattie, who
posted a personal best time of 3m43.48s, taking six seconds off his previous figures.
Four other Morpeth Harriers in action at Stretford were Alistair Douglass, Alex Brown, Sam
Hancox, and Phil Winkler.
Douglass certainly has found a zest for regular action, and he can feel pleased with his win in
the ninth fastest 800m event, where he posted a season’s best of 1m55.28s.
In the fastest 5000m, Brown finished in thirteenth place in 14m24.90s.
Meanwhile Hancox and Winkler both ran in the second fastest 5000m.
Hancox finished fifth in a new personal best time of 14m46.84s, taking one second off his
previous figures for the twelve and a half lap event.
Winkler finished twelfth in 14m59.68s.

The fifth and penultimate NEGP Meeting was held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on
Wednesday 20 th July.
A total of twenty-one athletes from Morpeth Harriers were in action on the Track on the
night, and no fewer than sixteen of those athletes achieved new personal bests, on what was a
very cloudy evening, still warm, with just a whisper of wind.
There were also three winning performances from the club.
With three runners in the Field, Charlie Lane held off the close attentions of Thames Valley
Harrier, and former Alnwick Harrier Oliver Telfer, to win the fastest 400m by a fraction of a
second, posting new figures of 51.26s.
In the fourth fastest 400m, Under 15 Boy Daniel Burrow ran his first outing over the distance,
finishing seventh in 63.59s.

Alistair Douglass showed very much the strength of his current form, when he won the fastest
1500m in a season’s best 4m00.35s, almost leading from gun to tape.
Seven other Morpeth Harriers lined up alongside Alistair in the event, six of them producing
new personal best performances.
Connor Marshall finished fifth in 4m01.26s, an improvement here of four seconds.
Almost one second and one place behind Connor, was his Morpeth club colleague Joe
Anderson, who improved by four seconds with his clocking of 4m02.27s.
Two Morpeth Harriers occupied seventh and eighth places in the form of James Tilley and
Matthew Walton, who posted new personal best times of 4m06.65s and 4m08.03s,
improvements of twelve and thirty-five seconds, respectively.
Further back in the field were Will DeVere-Owen, who had a missing pair of spikes problem
shortly prior to his event, Ryan Davies, and Ralph Robson, who finished thirteenth,
fourteenth and fifteenth respectively, posting times of 4m13.26s, 4m13.70s, and 4m14.29s.
For Davies, it was a two second improvement, and Robson can feel delighted with an eleven
and a half second improvement.

In the second fastest 1500m, Under 17 Man Liam Roche can feel well pleased with his
improvement of six seconds, when finishing second, posting a time of 4m17.58s.
Morpeth Under 15 Boy Oliver Tomlinson finished seventh in 4m24.34s, an improvement of
six seconds.
Under 17 Man Elliot Mavir finished eleventh in 4m31.17s, an improvement of nineteen
seconds to previous.
​
Morpeth’s Caitlin Flanagan ran superbly in the fourth fastest 1500m, finishing third in
4m53.79s, an improvement of thirteen seconds for the Under 17 Woman, who has been
troubled by niggling injuries of late.
Fellow Under 17 Woman Tabitha Robson, younger sister of Ralph, can also feel well pleased
in finishing tenth in 5m03.22s, an improvement of six seconds here.
Another excellent Morpeth winner on the night was Under 15 Boy Harry Armstrong, who
always looked as if he was going to get into the frame in the fifth fastest 1500m event.
He posted a winning time of 5m01.91s, an improvement of twelve seconds.
Other Morpeth Harriers in this heat were Emma Tomlinson and Molly Roche.
Tomlinson finished ninth in 5m12.95s, an improvement of eight seconds, and Roche finished
thirteenth in 5m34.65s, an improvement by one second.
Molly Roche’s younger brother Thomas, an Under 13 Boy, finished seventh in the sixth heat
in 5m34.48s, an improvement of twenty-five seconds.
Rounding off the evening’s achievements, two Morpeth Harriers were in action in the 100m
events.
In the third fastest of these, Under 20 Woman Mia Belton finished fourth in 13.15s.

Senior Man, Anthony Liddle finished sixth in the fourth fastest 100m, posting a time of
13.66s.

Despite already knowing that they were facing 2023 in the lower tier, thirty-seven young
athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC travelled to take part in the fourth and final round of
competition in the 2022 NEYDL Premier League match, held at a very warm and sunny
Middlesbrough Sports Village, on Sunday 17 th July.

Once again, with a small number of athletes, the club finished fifth of six competing teams,
and the combined team of Blyth/Alnwick also face the drop.

Again, it was Harrogate, as the days hosts, who dominated affairs, winning the match by a
margin of over one hundred points from a fairly strong Gateshead Harriers, with another
combined squad of Darlington/Atherton finishing third, and North Shields Poly in fourth
place, over 120 points clear of Morpeth.

There were some good performances however within the Morpeth ranks, to keep hard
working Team Managers David Swinburne (Boys), and Julie Roche and Judith Nutt (Girls)
smiling.

Morpeth managed seven A String and two B String wins amongst their day’s achievements,
and the Team Managers praised the positive spirits amongst their assembled charges, on a
difficult day for all, and conceded it was a weight of numbers which made the difference.
One of Morpeth’s star performers was Under 13 Girl Emma Tomlinson, who won the 1500m
A Race in 5m20.90s, and also triumphed in Javelin, producing a best of 15.20m.

Although not a winner on the day, elder brother Oliver showed a zest for hard work, by
finishing second in the Under 15 Boys 1500m (4m35.20s), second in the Javelin (17.77m),
and second in the Discus (19.04m).

One of Morpeth’s best results of the day was in the Under 15 Girls 100m, where Amy
Longstaff won the A Race in 13.0s, and Amelia Hamlin was just outsprinted for victory in the
B Race (13.3s).

Hamlin also finished second in the 300m, posting a time of 43.2s.
Staying with the Under 15 Girls, throws specialist Alexandria Hodgson finished second in the
Hammer with a best of 23.87m.

There were some good points won by Morpeth’s Under 17 Men.
Ben Hope won the 100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles in 15.7s and 65.7s respectively, and also
the B String 400m (58.0s), in support of Will DeVere-Owen’s second in the A Race in 55.3s.
DeVere-Owen also finished third in the A Race of the 800m in 2m06.00s, and Joseph Close
took the B Race in 2m08.20s.
Morpeth also got a boost in the 4 x 100m Relay result from their Under 17 Men, who posted
a finishing time of 49.0s when finishing second.
Edward Gardiner had an excellent victory in the Under 17 Men’s Discus, with a best throw of
39.14m.
In the Under 17 Men’s Long Jump, Owen Omoigui finished second in the A String with
5.03m, and the hardworking Ben Hope finished second in the B String with 4.99m.

Some good results were also secured by Morpeth’s small band of five Under 17 Women.
In the sprints, duties were shared between Freya Caygill, Ellie Wickens, and Victoria
Hodgson.
Caygill finished second in the A Races of the 100m, posting respective times of 13.0s and
26.5s.
Hodgson came second in the B Race of the 100m in 13.5s, and Wickens finished third in the
200m B Race in 29.0s.
Meanwhile, Hodgson’s individual moment of glory came in the 300m, which she won in
43.7s.

There were good performance for Morpeth in the Under 17 Women’s 800m, where Caitlin
Flanagan finished second in the A Race in 2m22.70s, and Kate Kennedy finished second in
the B Race in 2m30.40s.
Kennedy also turned her hand to securing more points in the Triple Jump, finishing third,
with a best of 8.81m.
Morpeth finished second in the Under 17 Women’s 4 x 100m Relay, posting a time of 54.2s.
Whilst they couldn’t secure any on the day wins, Morpeth’s band of Under 13 Boys, namely,
James Ellis, Kyle Phillips, William Hawkins, Thomas Roche, William McBryde, Daniel
Vermaas, and Evan Laude, all worked hard to produce some respectable performances, and
they are all very much athletes that the club will look to in future years to maintain credible
status, as with the Under 13 Girls, Gabriella Jobson, who was making her debut, Sophie
Pledger, Maia Annis, and Emma Tomlinson, whom we mention earlier in the report.
​
MATCH RESULT (Subject to further scrutiny)
1 st Harrogate 768pts, 2 nd Gateshead, 664pts, 3 rd Darlington/Allerton 629pts, 4 th North Shields
588pts, 5 th Morpeth 461pts, 6 th Blyth/Alnwick 239pts.

There was an early start for the hundreds of runners who took part in this year’s
Alnwick Harriers Northumberland Coastal Run on Sunday morning, held for the first
time since 2019.

Getting under way at 9 a.m., this year’s race from Beadnell to Alnmouth was longer
than usual – some fourteen and a quarter miles, in fact – due to changes in the route,
with the customary beach start this time headed North (to avoid nesting terns at the
Long Nanny Sanctuary) and back through the road into the caravan park at Beadnell
before turning South.

Allied to a stiff Southerly breeze - right on the nose for most of the route - and muggy
temperatures in the mid twenties, conditions were amongst the most difficult many
competitors could recall.

At the front of the field, the tireless Jarlath Mckenna of Bristol and West AC, a
winner of recent races along Hadrian’s Wall and the Chevy Chase, was out on his
own once again and recorded a winning time of 1 hour 23 minutes 5 seconds, over
three minutes ahead of 2 nd placed Sunderland Harrier Stephen Jackson (1:26:55).
For Morpeth, Richard Johnson had a fine race to come in 3 rd in 1:27:37, and also
picked up the 1 st Senior Male prize, with both Mckenna and Jackson counting as
veterans. Tom Charlton of Tyne Bridge, winner the last time the race was run in 2019,
finished 5 th .

There was a welcome return to competition for Morpeth’s Ross Floyd, 11 th in 1:35:30,
while Alistair Douglas, who was able to only grab a few hours sleep after returning
home from his 800m race in Manchester the night before, somehow still managed a
highly respectable 1:42:01 in 29 th .

Rob Hancox was another who, having returned from Manchester with Sam, still put in
a strong shift for 44 th in 1:45:58 and was unlucky to miss out on an Over 55 prize.
The women’s race was won by Elswick Harrier and Morpeth coach Judith Nutt with a
time of 1:45:40, but Morpeth’s Michelle Thompson had an excellent run to come in
2 nd in 1:47:58. Aisling Wall of Horsforth Harriers in Leeds was 3 rd in 1:50:13. It was
also good to see Alnwick Harrier Jo Gascoigne-Owen, a winner of the race on several
occasions, back in action, coming home in 6 th place.

Other Morpeth finishers included: Jason Dawson, 89 th in 1:54:37; Jamie Johnson, 121 st
in 1:59:01; Jim Alder, 176 th in 2:04:13 and 5 th Over 60; Lindsey Quinn, 159 th and 5 th
Senior Female in 2:02:45; Steve Haswell, 187 th in 2:05:20; Laura Shaw, 478 th in
2:33:03 and Margaret Macdonald, 711 th in 3:11:18.

A flying Finn Brodie was a clear winner of the Senior Men’s 5k race held at the
Silksworth Sports Complex in Sunderland on Thursday evening.

The two lap race round the fishing lakes also incorporated the Northern Athletics 5k
Championships and attracted a strong field of over 200 finishers.

Setting out his stall from the off, Finn went straight to the front on the downhill
charge to the first corner, and was chased only by Carl Smith, now of North Shields
Polytechnic Harriers, and club colleague Matthew Briggs.

With Matty a little race rusty, especially over shorter distances, Finn had established a
lead of several seconds over Smith at the end of the first lap, and was able to extend
this to some ten seconds at the end, with a winning time of 14 minutes 41 seconds to
Smith’s 14:51.

Matthew meanwhile paid for his efforts to go with the pace, with Over 40 Jarlath
Mckenna of Bristol and West coming in 3 rd in a time of 14:56.

Connor Marshall, in his first ever road 5k, finished strongly to come in 5 th in 15:12
with Matty Briggs dropping to 10 th (15:23). With three finishers in the top ten,
Morpeth were a clear winner of the team prize.

Richard Johnson ran well to come in 17 th in 15:27, and Adam Pratt got under the
sixteen minute mark also, 27 th in 15:55. Johnson, Briggs and Marshall all recorded
new personal bests.

Mark Snowball was 50 th in 16:39 and Graeme Thorpe 114 th and 25 th Over 40 in 17:51.
O/65 Dave Nicholson had an excellent run to finish in 19:19, and with prizes in ten
year age categories, was still a winner of the O/60 award.

The earlier run women’s race saw Molly Pace of NSP win in 17:49 with club
colleague and triathlete Stephanie Maclean-Dann 2nd in 18:17. Tyne Bridge O/50
Kathryn Stevenson was 3 rd in 18:29.

Morpeth’s sole representative in the race was Sarah Lawson, running strongly to
record a new pb of 19:37 in 15th place.