TRACK & FIELD SQUAD ROUND OFF SEASON IN STYLE

Morpeth Harriers Senior Track and Field squad rounded their 2021 league season off in fine, positive style, by winning their fourth and final Northern Athletics Premier League NE fixture at KEVI School on Sunday 1 August.
They won by seven match points on the day from Wallsend/Blyth, with Gateshead Harriers taking the overall league title, by finishing a close third, just ahead of New Marske Harriers in fourth place, which also saw them finish second behind Gateshead cumulatively, ahead of Morpeth, whose final score saw them finish third for the season.
Wallsend/Blyth finished fourth cumulatively, with Middlesbrough AC (Mandale), just taking fifth place ahead of North Shields Poly.
Thankfully, due to a very restrictive year because of Covid 19 conditions, the league decided to abandon the usual process of promotion and relegation issues, however it is hoped that all will return to a much near normal in 2022.
On to the match itself, where temperatures had cooled somewhat to recent, with a slight breeze in evidence, a factor which was a bit more pleasing to the competing athletes.
Morpeth Team Managers David Swinburne (Male), and Vina Desai (Female), had managed to assemble decent squads respectively, however Morpeth were missing Nisha Desai from their Women’s squad.
However, they still had some strength in their squad, with a returning Rachelle Falloon in action, following a period of injury.
The Morpeth Men’s squad were also boosted by the return of Thomas Straughan, who very clearly won the 5000m in 15m47.4s.
Straughan lapped five of the other six athletes in the event, the only one he failed to lap was clubmate Liam Roarty, who took the B race in 16m31.2s, making it a double victory for Morpeth over the twelve and a half laps.
In addition to Straughan, Morpeth’s other Men’s A String winner was Mark Snowball, who took the 3000m Steeplechase by the scruff of the neck, to seal his victory in 10m54.8s, to win by 33 seconds over the seven and a half laps of barriers and water, ahead of Wallsend/Blyth’s Robert Morris.
Morpeth very nearly had a second Men’s double victory in the 1500m, where Connor Marshall finished second in the A race in 4m14.8s, and Under 17 athlete Joe Dixon took the B race in 4m20.7s.
Another excellent Men’s result for Morpeth on the track, was achieved by possibly one of their youngest ever 4 x 400m squads, comprising of three Under 17’s, and one Under 20 athlete.
The combined efforts of Joe Dixon, Connor Marshall, Evan Logan, and William De Vere-Owen saw the squad home in 3m49.9s, to finish second to Gateshead Harriers, who won in 3m32.9s.
Logan, who was one of Morpeth’s only two recognised sprinters on the day, finished fourth in both the 100m and 200m A races, posting respective times of 12.0s and 23.9s, the latter representing a new personal best.
Partnering Evan in the respective B races were Under 17 debutant Sam Parker, and Under 20 athlete Charlie Lane.
In the 100m B race, Parker produced a new personal best of 13.1s, to finish fourth of five.
Lane also finished fourth of five in the B 200m event, posting a new personal best of 24.5s.
There was another personal best achievement by Lane in the 400m A race, where he finished fourth in 53.6s.
Josh Burton finished an excellent third in the supporting B race in 55.7s.
William De Vere-Owen posted new figures of 2m04.4s in the A Race of the 800m, where he finished fourth, and again it was the excellent B race support of Burton which brought home the much-needed points, where he finished second in a very respectable 2m06.5s.
Mark Snowball whetted his appetite for competition and barriers, that he later faced in the Steeplechase, by finishing an excellent third in the A race of the 400m Hurdles.
Posting a time of 73.9s, he was twelve seconds adrift of Gateshead Harrier Oliver Lewis, who is very much a specialist Hurdler.
Swinburne attempted to put an assemblance of field eventers together, despite his obvious lack of depth in strength.
The best result in the field for Morpeth Men was undoubtedly the Triple Jump, courtesy of Under 17 sprinter Evan Logan, who finished second in the A string with 11.52m, a little adrift of his personal best.
Doing the event for the very first time, Under 20 sprinter Charlie Lane, managed to finish second in the B string with 10.21m.
The next best result for Morpeth Men in the field, came in the Javelin, where Under 17 debutant Sam Parker threw 25.99m for fourth in the A string, also doing the event for the first time.
Swinburne also showed that he was prepared to get his hands dirty for the cause, as he finished fifth in the Discus A string, posting a best of 10.83m, also doing the event for the first occasion of serious competition.
Rounding off the Morpeth Men’s Team performances in the Field, Josh Burton finished fifth in the A string Shot Putt with 6.12m, and Connor Marshall Putted 5.46m for fourth in the B string.
On to the Morpeth Women’s events, where Desai had assembled once again, despite not having the services of her daughter Nisha, a fairly strong squad became available to her.
This clearly showed in overall contribution terms, as the hardworking squad managed to secure two double victories, and their points tally also included five A string wins, and three B string victories.
The two double victories came in the distance events, where Rachelle Falloon, who has spent an extended period of inactivity due to injury, returned to winning ways in the A string 1500m, where she posted a time of 5m06.7s.
Kay Errington won the B string 1500m in 5m53.7s.
Recent Northern 5k Road Race winner Catriona MacDonald certainly brought a smile to her watching family, as she won the 3000m A race in 10m30.7s, taking a whole twelve seconds off her previous figures, and Under 20 athlete Kate Gaffing also posted a new personal best time of 11m30.0s, to take victory in the B string.
Gaffing also gave excellent B string support in the earlier run 800m, where she finished second, again posting personal best figures of 2m40.1s, as support to Under 17 athlete Caitlin Flanagan, who finished second in the A race in 2m34.3s.
Jessica Young-Rogers is very much a lady in form, as she took victory in the A string 100m and 400m events, the latter being for the first time over the single lap distance.
Young-Rogers posted 12.5s in the 100m, and 60.5s in the 400m.
In the 100m, Laura Kincaid gave excellent support in the B string, finishing third in 14.9s.
She also gave B string support in the 400m, finishing third in 71.2s.
Kincaid finished fourth in the A string 200m in 29.5s, which represented a new personal best performance, and Under 20 athlete Abbie Ross backed her up well in the B string race, finishing third in 30.3s.
Morpeth’s Kay Errington braved the 400m Hurdles, to win the A race in 78.1s.
Moving on to the Women’s field events, where some of the best results came from the clubs very much dedicated Veteran thrower Claire Reid.
Reid finished second in the A string events of the Shot Putt and Discus, posting efforts of 9.32m and 29.64m, respectively.
The Scottish age group champion also finished fourth in the A string Hammer, where she achieved a best throw of 25.80m.
She also won the B string Javelin with her throw of 14.32m.
In the A string Javelin, Kay Errington finished fifth with her throw of 17.25m, bettering her previous figures by 2cm.
Backing up Reid’s A string performances in the Shot Putt, Discus, and Hammer, in the B string was Team Like Swinburne, Desai was not frightened also to get her hands dirty.
In the Shot Putt, she finished fifth with a best of 3.82m, in the Discus, she managed a best effort of 11.61m, and in the Hammer she hurled 14.95m for third place.
Abbie Ross was Morpeth’s specialist in the Jumps events.
She equalled her personal best of 4.89m in the A string Long Jump, and equalled her best figures of 1.25m, which she cleared for fourth in the A string High Jump.
She set new figures of 9.59m, when finishing second in the A string Triple Jump.
B string support in the High Jump came from Jessica Young-Rogers, who cleared 1.25m for second place.
Young-Rogers rounded off an excellent day competitively, by being very much part of Morpeth Women’s 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m successes.
Morpeth finished fourth in the Women’s 4 x 100m, in 55.3s, with Young-Rogers being accompanied by Abbie Ross, Kay Errington, and Laura Kincaid.
The Morpeth Women’s 4 x 400m squad of Young-Rogers, Kate Gaffing, Laura Kincaid, and Rachelle Falloon finished second to North Shields Poly in 4m47.2s.
An excellent final result to win the match, and a just reward for the clubs’ squad and team managers, and hardworking team of club helpers, who literally worked their socks off behind the scenes.
During the match itself, Morpeth had been lying in fourth place after twelve of the thirty-nine events, with cumulative rivals Wallsend/Blyth early leaders.
After fifteen events, New Marske took the lead, but Morpeth remained in fourth.
Points were closing up as twenty events were reached, and although Morpeth were still fourth, and Wallsend/Blyth and New Marske were tying for the lead, there was only fourteen points between them and the home squad.
It all closed up further as twenty-six events was reached, as Morpeth went up to third at the expense of Gateshead.
There was only six points between Morpeth and New Marske, who had regained the lead, albeit two points over second placed Wallsend/Blyth.
It all changed dramatically after 30 events, as Morpeth went into a two-point lead at the top for the first time in the match, over Wallsend/Blyth, as New Marske slipped to third, and twelve points further adrift.
Bearing all these factors in mind, it is noticeably clear that the later results achieved by both Morpeth squads, including those relays, boosted the clubs final result, which sees their on the day victory firmly securing them a very satisfying third team place overall, something the squad will hopefully build on for next season.

MATCH RESULT
1st Morpeth Harriers 327pts, 2nd Wallsend/Blyth 320pts, 3rd Gateshead Harriers 313pts, 4th New Marske Harriers 306pts, 5th North Shields Poly 272pts, 6th Middlesbrough (Mandale) 170pts.
 
FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS (After 4 matches, cumulative total match points in brackets)
1st Gateshead Harriers 21pts (1337.5pts), 2nd New Marske Harriers 18pts (1244pts), 3rd Morpeth Harriers 15pts (1101.5pts), 4th Wallsend/Blyth 13pts (1078pts), 5th North Shields Poly 9pts (896pts), 6th Middlesbrough (Mandale) 8pts (817pts).