Richard Sill was Morpeth Harriers only finisher in the
annual Tynedale 10 Mile Road Race, held at Hexham Racecourse on Sunday 18th September Sill posted a time of 80m32s on the hilly course, and was first Over 60 Male finisher. Two Morpeth Harriers produced wins in respective Park Runs on Saturday 17th September.
Ian Harding was first across the finish line at Druridge Bay, posting a time of 15m48s, and Ross Floyd did likewise at Whitley Bay, in a time of 16m53s. Bobbie Griffiths of Morpeth Harriers was a true star performer at the first
North East Counties Throws Festival, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on the evening of Wednesday 14th September 2016. She was a very clear winner of the Under 17 Women’s Javelin, her favoured event, with a best throw of 36.32m, then also won the Hammer with a best throw of 29.80m,. Fellow Morpeth Harrier Lottie Hume was also a winner on the night, taking the Under 15 Girls Shot Putt with 9.10m. In the Under 13 Boys Javelin, Morpeth’s Daniel Dowd finished third with a best throw of 29.31m, and clubmate Megan Winter finished seventh in the Under 15 Girls Javelin, with a best throw of 16.86m. Despite sterling efforts in terms of recruitment by Morpeth Harriers
Team Managers Paddy Paulsen and Dave Thomas, the club lost out in retaining their hold on the North East Counties Sprint Relay Trophy by a mere seven points to Tynedale Harriers, at the annual championship, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on the evening of Wednesday 14th September 2016. It would be very fair to say that Morpeth and Tynedale were way ahead of the rest in terms of points, and it certainly took a herculean effort from the Hexham based squad to thwart a third successive victory by their Northumbrian rivals. There were some excellent performances from the Morpeth squad however, and it clearly showed in the later stages when they clawed back a very healthy Tynedale lead. Morpeth’s best relay results on the night came from their Senior Men’s 4 x 400m squad and their Under 17 Women’s and Under 15 Boys 4 x100m squads. Although they officially finished second in the event, the Senior Men’s 4 x 400m squad courtesy of Joe Dowd, Matthew Waterfield, Sean O’Hara and Joe Elder, only had a non- scoring guest squad ahead of them, which gave the Morpeth squad victory in 3m38.5s. The Morpeth Under 17 Women’s 4 x 100m squad won outright in 51.6s, courtesy of Katie Hilton, Jessica Young-Rogers, Hannah Brown, and Naomi Arkle. Another outright win for Morpeth came in the Under 15 Boys 4 x100m courtesy of Owen Priest, Sam Yates, Matthew Heslop, and Matthew Ash, whose combined efforts saw them claim a two second win from Blyth in 51.1s. Morpeth’s Under 15 Boys also finished second in the 4 x 200m event in 1m48.9s. The clubs Under 13 Boys 4 x 100m squad courtesy of Bobby Stone, Charlie Lane, Koffi Avornyo and Jack Livingstone finished second to Tynedale in 58.1s, after also finishing second in the heats in 58.5s. Morpeth Harriers Senior Men’s 4 x100m squad won in 47.1s courtesy of Sean O’Hara. Kenny Harrison, David Storey and Han Paulsen. The same squad also finished second in the 4 x 200m in 1m35.4s, only losing out to Blyth by a mere second. Morpeth’s Under 17 Men’s 4 x 100m squad finished second to Blaydon Harriers in 48.2s, courtesy of David Thomas, Joe Dowd, Matthew Waterfield and Jack Andrews. The same quartet also finished second to Elvet Striders in the 4 x200m, posting a time of 1m40s. Lily Heaton, Holly Peck, Ellie Coxon, and Megan Winter, combined to bring Morpeth’s Under 15 Girls home in fourth place in the Under 15 Girls 4 x 200m in 2m01.0s. The same quartet also finished fourth in the 4 x 100m in 56.7s. In the Senior Women’s 4 x 400m event, Morpeth’s squad of Naomi Arkle, Ailsa Jones, Harriet Priest, and Jessica Young-Rogers, combined to finish second in 4m41.1s to Durham City. Finally Morpeth’s Under 13 Girls 4 x100m squad finished sixth in 63.5s, courtesy of Amy Lott, Alice Geohegan, Mia Bilton and Kiera Peck. The night was thoroughly enjoyed by all. On Sunday 11th September 2016, the very first Inter Area match between the North East Counties and a combined Yorkshire Select took place at Middlesbrough Athletics Village. The match was between the NEYDL and YDL, which are both equivalents of the Young Athletes leagues that run throughout the summer period in their respective areas, and athletes were selected on the basis of their performances across the four matches that were held during the season. Yorkshire unfortunately arrived with a much weaker team than expected, this had been largely due to another event promoter putting on an Open Track Meeting in their area, despite being given advance warning of the Middlesbrough match being held. The end result speaks very much for itself, as the NEYDL select had a resounding victory by the margin of 1009 over 297 from a total of 75 events. Whilst it was indeed an enjoyable victory following a great deal of hard work put in by Team Managers, it was largely felt that the North East would have certainly welcomed stiffer opposition in the act of winning the Shield that had been designated as a trophy to what is hoped to be an annual event. Although it was fairly breezy, warm sunshine was very much a welcome addition for all. A very dominant North East performance was much highlighted in the Field Events, where no less than three Morpeth Harriers enjoyed double victories. Andrew Knight produced a new personal best of 33.11m to convincingly win the Under 15 Boys Hammer competition. In what he classes as his premier event, Knight also enjoyed a convincing victory in the Shot Putt, with his best effort of 13.66m. The Paul Reed coached youngster very nearly added a third victory to his tally, when he finished a close second to North Shields Poly’s James Wordsworth in the Discus, where he produced brand new figures of 29.45m. In the Under 17 Women’s Hammer, Bobbie Griffiths secured a victory with a best of 29.95m, where her Morpeth club colleague Hannah Brown finished second with 16.61m. Griffith’s also took victory in her best event, the Javelin, however was made to fight all the way, with a best of 35.14m, by Harrogate and Wetherby’s Alice Mann, who produced a best of 34.02m. Although 28.64m in the Discus, only gave Griffith’s second place behind Blaydon’s Georgia Kyle, it was a brand new personal best. Griffith’s Morpeth colleague Charlotte Pickering–Pruvot finished third with 24.11m, however did enjoy a victory in the Shot Putt with 11.22m. Morpeth Harrier David Thomas enjoyed victories in the Under 17 Men’s Long Jump and Triple Jump events. He produced a best of 6.17m in the Long Jump, and went on to win the Triple Jump with a best of 12.69m. Ruaridh Lang won a very close competition in the Under 17 Men’s Discus, when he produced a best of 38.91m, however in the Shot Putt, he just lost out by 49cm to Chester le Street’s David Todd, when he produced a best of 12.24m. Lottie Hume produced brand new figures of 17.47m, to win the Under 15 Girls Discus, however was just 23cm adrift of victory in the in the Shot Putt, despite also producing new figures of 9.40m. Another Morpeth winner in the Field Events was Ethan Stephenson, who produced 5.61m, to win in a very tough competition in the Under 15 Boys Long Jump. Stephenson also finished third in the High Jump, with a clearance of 1.60m. Katie Hilton finished second in the Under 17 Women’s Triple Jump, only losing out for victory by 12cm for victory, with her best effort of 10.53m. Adam Willoughby was 5cm outside victory in the Under 13 Boys High Jump, with his clearance of 1.45m, and his Morpeth club colleague Koffi Avornyo finished fourth with 1.35m. Koffi also finished fifth in the Long Jump with 3.50m. Rosie Winter finished fourth in the Under 13 Girls Shot Putt, with her best effort of 6.68m. On to track events where the North East enjoyed no less than 32 individual winners, plus all eight of the relays. Morpeth Harriers provided six of those individual winners, and eight new personal bests were achieved by the clubs’ athletes. Three of those personal bests came in one event, with Harriet Priest, Hannah Brown, and Bekki Foster taking first, second and third places, with respective clockings of 12.57s, 12.58s, and 13.60s. Running in his first ever Under 17 Men’s 3000m event, Morpeth’s Rory Leonard secured an excellent victory in 9m32.09s. Club colleague Connor Marshall finished third, producing brand new figures of 10m00.94s. Leonard also finished second in a later run 1500m race, posting a time of 4m37.20s. 24 hours after finishing third in her Junior Great North Run race, Holly Peck was winning the Under 15 Girls 1500m in 5m09.20s. Club colleague Lily Heaton finished fourth in 5m28.42s. Owen Priest of Morpeth had an excellent victory in the Under 15 Boys 300m, posting new figures of 39.32s. In the very first track event of the day, Morpeth’s Amy Lott won the Under 13 Girls 70m Hurdles in 12.00s. Oliver Bultitude of Morpeth Harriers produced a brand new personal best of 16.83s, when finishing second in the Under 17 Men’s 100m Hurdles. Sean O’Hara won the Under 17 Men’s 200m in a time of 23.15s, and he finished third in the 100m in 11.61s. Joe Dowd and Matthew Waterfield proved to be a dynamic duo in the Under 17 Men’s 800m and 400m events. Dowd finished second in the 800m in 2m07.28s, with Waterfield finishing third in 2m13.77s. In the 400m places were reversed, with Waterfield finishing second in 54.04s, and Dowd finished third in 57.57s. Jessica Young-Rogers finished second in the Under 17 Women’s 100m in 12.68s, third in the 200m in 26.13s. Accompanying Jessica in 100m was club colleague Katie Hilton, who finished third in 13.15s. Gracie Hufton produced new figures of 11m57.31s, when finishing third in the Under 17 Women’s 3000m. Whilst all of the regions selected athletes produced their best efforts, both on the track and in the field, behind them was an excellent Team Management, led by Morpeth Harriers coach and mentor David Thomas, who had done a splendid job getting the squad together for this unique occasion. The added help coming from Gary Curtis of Birtley AC, Chris Mole of North Shields Poly, Robin Rutherford of Darlington Harriers, and Mike Bateman of Morpeth Harriers had fully supported the team effort, and was most appreciated by all. We can all look forward to repeating the challenge on Yorkshire soil in 2017, when the competition should be stiffer. Photo Gallery - Thanks to Naomi Arkle ('A' level photography student)
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