In one of the busiest nights for competition since lockdown restrictions were lifted, there were over 500 finishers at the Quayside 5k last Wednesday evening (11 August) with runners clearly keen to turn out over one of the fastest races in the North East, the out and back course along the North bank of the Tyne.
The evening’s proceedings were kicked off by a shorter Junior 3 kilometre race in which Morpeth’s Joe Dixon figured prominently. Joe was in fact only beaten by Tommy Shaw of City of York AC, with the Under 17 athlete finishing in 9 minutes 9 seconds, some seven seconds ahead of him; Joe did at least have the satisfaction of being first Under 15 home. Club colleague Caitlin Flanagan also had a good run, finishing second female U/17 in 11: 53. The evening’s main event was the 5k ‘A’ race for athletes able to post a sub 20 minute time, won impressively by host club Gateshead AC’s Calum Johnson in 14:10, with Sunderland’s Liam Taylor second (14:52) and Middlesbrough’s Nathan Baker third (14:56). Wallsend Harrier Danielle Hodgkinson posted an equally strong time in the Women’s race, winning in 16:20, with Cat Macdonald behind her in 17:57 and North Shields Polytechnic Harrier Jacqui Penn third (18:16). Rachelle Falloon also showed herself on the comeback trail, finishing 5th Senior Female in 18:36, with sisters Hannah and Lizzie Rank 9th and 12th (19:12 and 19:45). First Morpeth Harrier home was Leeds-based Phil Winkler in one of his first competitive outings of the year, finishing 7th in 15:16. Andy Lawrence was not far behind in 10th with a clocking of 15:38 and Matty Briggs 12th in 15:42. There were also some impressive age category wins, with John Butters first O/45 in 16:16 and Lee Bennett second O/50 in 16:52. Meanwhile sparring Over 65s Dave Nicholson and Gavin Bayne, who have had several head to heads over the last twelve months, continued their tussle at the head of their category, with Dave earning the bragging rights this time in 19:09 and Gavin second in 19:25. Other Morpeth finishers in the ‘A’ race were: Anthony Janetta, 69th in 17:22; Jake Parmley, 86th in 17:50; Shaun Land, 89th in 17:54; Paul Banks, 111th in 18:17; Jason Dawson, 123rd in 18:36; Ricky Stafford, 137th in 19:08; Eric Adams, 163rd in 19:34 and Tayla Murdy, 14th Senior Woman in 20:28. In the ‘B’ race, with over 385 finishers by contrast to 186 in the ‘A’, O/60 Paul Bellingham had a good run to finish 33rd in 20:37; he suggested later that it felt much better to be near the front of the ‘B’ than somewhere near the back of the ‘A’, food for thought for future years for other runners. Claire Calverley was 130th in 23:13, Clare Walker 200th in 25:08 and Margaret Macdonald 251st in 27:22. There were some 385 finishers in all in the ‘B’, and 186 in the ‘A’. Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Heavy Throws specialist Edward Gardiner, bravely battled through the rounds of both the Discus and Hammer competitions at the Northern Athletics combined Under 17/Under 15/ Under 13 Track and Field Championships, held on Saturday and Sunday 14 and 15 August, at Costello Stadium in Hull, nursing a very painful back injury, which restricted his usual action somewhat.
Nevertheless, he managed to work his way through to finish fifth in both competitions. As a first year Under 17, although it would have been wonderful to medal, with the first three in each case being capable of near or over forty metres in both competitions, Edward’s best efforts of 32.24m in the Discus, and 32.69m in the Hammer, were clearly a bit adrift of the podium places. Most pleasing thing was, that his Discus was a new personal best, his previous best being the 31.15m he had thrown at Middlesbrough in May in a NECAA Open Meeting. His Hammer throw was around a metre adrift of his previous best. Meanwhile Edward, as No 1 in the region, is still hoping to make his appearance in both events at the NECAA Championships, being held at Middlesbrough Sports Village over this Saturday and Sunday, as is elder Sister Jessica, who has had an injury ridden Summer. She is still hoping to compete in the Under 20 Women’s Hammer Throw on Sunday. Forty-eight hours before running a brand-new personal best in the Quayside 5k in Newcastle/Gateshead, Morpeth Harrier Phil Winkler was breaking new ground in a track 3000m for the very first time in a BMC regional event in Leeds.
Winkler posted an excellent 8m45.18s, which saw him place third in a tasty B Race, which placed him as ninth fastest overall. Another Morpeth Harrier in action in Leeds was George Lowry, who posted a season’s best of 8m39.97s, a time which made him eighth fastest overall. Other Morpeth Harriers in BMC action on the evening of Monday 9 August were Senior Man Alistair Douglass and Under 17 Woman Caitlin Flanagan. Douglass finished fourth in the 800m A Race, posting a time of 1m54.33s, which was only a fraction of a second outside his personal best, and was the fifth fastest time overall for the two-lap event. Meanwhile Flanagan finished second in the G Race in 2m28.27s, almost a second adrift of her personal best. Morpeth Harrier Ross Charlton has talked about the experience of taking part in this year's British Olympic Association's Ambition Programme, which included a trip to the Queen Elizabeth Park in London.
The Ambition Programme is one of the British Olympic Association’s unique approaches to achieving performance gains and enhancing British medal success, by providing aspiring Olympians and their coaches with an opportunity to experience an Olympic Games prior to competing in one. Modern Pentathlete Ross, a member of Morpeth Harriers since his early teens, is currently about to start his second year at the prestigious Modern Pentathlon course at the University of Bath from which so many of Team GB’s pentathletes have come. He said: "Many sporting bodies send representatives from their sports to get a feel for what to expect at the next Games. For Modern Pentathlon I was nominated alongside Charlie Follett and our coach Russell North. "Obviously because of Covid, we weren’t able to travel to Tokyo this time. However, the BOA did a fantastic job of replicating the atmosphere and experience at the Queen Elizabeth Park, the site of the London 2012 Olympics. This included talks and insights from previous Olympians and a virtual tour of the Tokyo Athletes Village. "It was a privilege to rub shoulders with so many talented athletes from the past, present and future. And of course the week ended perfectly with Pentathletes Kate French and Joe Choong both winning gold medals in Tokyo. "So now the focus shifts to Paris 2024. And we’ll all be working as hard as we can to get there.” Nineteen athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC were in competitive action at the sixth and final North East Grand Prix meeting, held at Monkton Stadium on the evening of Wednesday 4 August.
The meeting, originally intended for Gateshead Stadium, had to switch venues at last minute, due to staffing issues, and the NECAA are extremely grateful to all at Monkton Stadium for their efforts in accommodating the fixture, as it had the previous five so far this year. It is good that all six meetings were completed, as 2020 saw a complete blank due to the Covid epidemic lockdowns. Nine of the 19 Morpeth Harriers competed in the fastest 3000m on the night, which effectively brought the curtain down on the event. Alistair Douglass led the Morpeth contingent home, finishing in fourth place behind Blyth Running Club's Josh Fiddaman, who won in 8m36.39s. Douglass posted an excellent new personal best time of 8m47.29s, taking around 40seconds off his previous best for the seven and a half laps. Two places behind Alistair in sixth place, was his Morpeth club colleague Matthew Briggs, who was having his first outing at the Grand Prix this season. Briggs posted a time of 9m00.59s, however he was fast being closed down by club colleagues Bertie Marr, William De Vere-Owen, and Joe Dixon, who finished seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, and all posted new personal best times of 9m00.96s, 9m00.99s, and 9m03.16s. Marr improved his previous best by nine seconds, De Vere Owen improved by ten seconds, and Dixon, eighteen seconds. Other Morpeth Harriers also in the fastest 3000m, were Thomas Straughan (10th) 9m06.50s, Ryan Davies (11th) 9m12.73s, Joseph Anderson (13th) 9m18.40s, and Ralph Robson (16th) 9m53.33s. Ralph Robson’s younger sister Tabitha had an excellent run in the slower of the two 3000m, finishing eighth, and her finishing time of 11m00.63s, gave her a new personal best by thirty seconds. Connor Marshall and Liam Roche of Morpeth Harriers both produced personal best times of 2m03.83s, and 2m08.90s, when finishing second and third respectively in the second fastest of nine 800m events. They both showed three second improvements. In the third fastest 800m, Morpeth Under 15 Boy Joseph Close finished sixth, posting a finishing time of 2m12.48s. Morpeth Under 17 Woman Caitlin Flanagan finished ninth in the fifth fastest 800m, with a time of 2m27.54s. Morpeth Senior Woman Tayla Murdy paced herself nicely to produce a very strong finish, to place a superb third in the seventh fastest 800m, posting a time of 2m39.99s. Morpeth’s youngest athletes on parade were Molly Roche and Charlotte Marshall, younger sisters of Liam and Connor. The Under 13’s finished sixth and seventh respectively in the slowest 800m, posting very respectable times of 2m53.83s, and 2m57.60s, and for Charlotte, it was her first ever run in the two-lap event. Morpeth’s only sprinter in action on the night was Under 15 Girl, Freya Caygill, who finished second in the fourth fastest of nine heats of 200m events, posting a time of 27.45s. It was good to see specialist Senior Woman Javelin thrower Bobbie Griffiths back in action in a Morpeth vest for the first time this year. She produced the best throw in her category when she threw a modest 33.22m. It is hopeful that we may see more of Bobbie in action before the season concludes. College work and part time work have been very prohibitive for the former regional champion, who is currently based in Leeds. As a result of their season long efforts, Morpeth Harriers Alistair Douglass and Joseph Close have finished second and third respectively in the Grand Prix Rankings for Senior Men and Under 15 Boys. Awards are due to be held at Gateshead Stadium on Monday 4 October 2021. |
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