brown lands narrow win at latest negp meeting

Twenty-one athletes from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers were in action at the fourth NEGP Meeting, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Wednesday 29 June.
Alex Brown, who won the Stan Long Trophy at the previous meeting in the Mile, was in action again, however on this occasion, tackling the seven and a half laps of the longer 3000m.
Whilst he very much dominated throughout, he very nearly lost out to Birtley birthday boy Adrian Bailes.
Only eight hundredths of a second divided them, as Brown crossed the finish line in a new personal best time of 8m14.32s to gain a narrow win.
Brown had bettered his old figures by seven seconds.
Third place went to Brown’s fellow club colleague and training partner Finn Brodie, who improved on his previous figures by three seconds, when he clocked 8m21.07s.
Other Morpeth Harriers in action in the fastest heat of the 3000m were, Kieran Reay (7th) 8m38.27s, new personal best by three seconds, William DeVere-Owen (10th) 8m44.46s, an improvement of sixteen seconds, Alistair Douglass (14th) 8m54.38s, and Bertie Marr (16th) 9m18.36s.
In the second fastest 3000m, Morpeth’s Matthew Walton was always up with the leading pacesetters, doing well to eventually finish third in 8m57.45s, taking fifty-six seconds off his previous figures.
Other Morpeth Harriers also featuring here were James Tilley (7th) 9m17.5s, an improvement of seventy-six seconds, and Liam Roche (11th) 9m32.90s, doing the distance for the first time.
Ten athletes from Morpeth Harriers opted to run in the shorter 800m events also on the programme.
In the fastest of these Joseph Close, Joe Anderson and Connor Marshall all finished closely together in fifth, sixth, and seventh places, posting respective times of 2m00.13s, 2m00.86s, and 2m01.14s.
For Close, it represented a 2.50s improvement, and Anderson was fractionally adrift of his personal best.
Four athletes from Morpeth Harriers lined up in the second fastest 800m heat.
Ralph Robson improved on his previous figures by nine seconds, when finishing second in 2m05.54s.
Ollie Calvert took a whole eighteen seconds off his previous figures, when finishing fifth in 2m08.15s.
Morpeth’s other two competitors in this heat were Elliot Mavir, who finished sixth in 2m10.11s, and Oliver Tomlinson, who was ninth in 2m12.06s, each improving on previous figures by seven seconds.
In the fifth fastest race, Morpeth’s Caitlin Flanagan improved her previous figures by 1.30 seconds, when finishing seventh in 2m24.39s.
Other Morpeth Harriers in action in the 800m were Neil McAnany, who finished fourth in the sixth fastest race in 2m26.67s, and Under 13 Girl Emma Tomlinson, improved on her previous best by three seconds, when finishing sixth in the seventh fastest race in 2m36.31s.
Two Morpeth Harriers took their marks in the 200m events.
In the fourth fastest of these, Under 17 Woman Victoria Hodgson managed to take a second off her previous best, when posting a time of 27.28s when finishing fourth.
Neil McAnany, who later ran the 800m, warmed up by running in the eighth fastest 200m, finishing second in 29.27s.
Alexandria Hodgson, younger sister of Victoria, had a highly successful night on the Field, taking a whole metre off her best, when throwing 27.49m to win the Under 15 Girls Hammer competition.