BMC Regional Meeting

Rory Leonard (59) in the 3000m A race on the evening of Monday 30th April 2018

Seven athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC were in action at the BMC Regional Meeting,
held at Leeds Becket University Athletics Track, on the evening of Monday 30th April 2018.

Pick of the bunch were Rory Leonard, Kieran Hedley, and Tom Innes,
who all achieved new personal bests in their respective performances.

Leonard and Hedley competed in the same 3000m A race, the former clocking a new personal best time of 8m24.62s, which now takes him up to second place in the UK rankings, and No 1 regionally for Under 20 Men.

Leonard’s time improvement was a mammoth nineteen seconds, which clearly shows that the North Eastern, Northern, Inter Counties Cross Country Champion, and World Schools International, has clearly transferred his superb winter form to the track, and barring injury problems, will certainly be a force to be reckoned with this summer.

He finished second to a Senior athlete Linton Taylor of Newark AC,
who clocked 8m17.94s, and is currently ranked in the top fifty at that level.

North Eastern Cross-Country Champion Hedley ran well in a strong mixed field, to finish twelfth,
posting a new personal best time of 8m41.77s, which saw him take around thirty seconds off
his previous best for the distance, which he had set in 2015.

This new best now sees him ranked as thirteenth Under 20 Man in the UK, and third in the region behind Leonard, and Middlesbrough Mandale’s Josh Cowperthwaite, who had run in the same event, finishing fifth.

Tom Innes finished second to his club colleague Dean Lonsdale in the 800m C Race, where Lonsdale clocked 2m06.54s, to Innes’s 2m07.57s, which saw him take nearly two seconds off his previous figures.

Other Morpeth 800m runners in action were Phillip Winkler, who was fourth in the B race in 1m59.94s,
and Under 15 Girl Rhiannon Hedley, younger sister of Kieran, who finished sixth in the all-female F race,
posting a time of 2m25.55s, which made her sixth fastest in her age group on the night.
​
Morpeth’s Thomas Straughan finished fourth in the 3000m B race in 8m55.16s.