hard-working juniors praised for efforts over track and field season

Morpeth Harriers again finished a lowly sixth of eight competing teams in their final 2025 NEYDL Division 2 fixture, held at Churchill Playing Fields in Whitley Bay on Sunday 20 July.
Once again Young Athletes Team Manager David Swinburne struggled to put a strong team together, with only 16 members over the three age groups and two genders participating.
It certainly painted a disappointing picture, with the hard-working squad having to fill as many events as possible during the season's four fixtures.
The campaign ended with Morpeth finishing sixth of the eight competing clubs.
In total contrast to the previous day's stormy conditions, athletes faced a fairly warm almost humid day.
Despite the lack of numbers, those present got on with the job in hand, and some good results were achieved within the squad.
Twin siblings William and Alexandria Hodgson both had wins in the Under 17 Men’s and Women’s sections.
William, who 24 hours earlier had been competing for Morpeth Harriers Senior Men at Shildon, won the 200m in 24.53s, and finished second in the 100m in 12.37s, just missing out on a sprint double by a mere fraction to Blyth/Alnwick’s Indy Frost in the 100m.
Meanwhile Alexandria had her usual victory in the Under 17 Women’s 3k Hammer, throwing a best of 38.18m.
Mya Young finished second in the Under17 Women’s 800m A race in 2m39.41s, and Charlotte Marshall took the B race in 2m51.17s.
Marshall also finished fourth in the A race of the 300m, posting a time of 55.29s.
Morpeth’s small band of three Under 15 Boys certainly worked their socks off to get as many points as possible.
None more so than Mason Gaylor, who took part in no less than four events.
His best result came in the Javelin, where he won the A String by producing a best throw of 20.48m.
Club colleague Jacob Thompson won the B String with his best throw of 6.1m.
The pair also competed in the 800m, with Gaylor finishing second in the A race in 2m10.43s, and Thompson getting third in the B race in 2m44.41s.
Gaylor finished fifth in the A String Long Jump by producing a best attempt of 4.17m, with newcomer Charlie Taylor finishing third in the B String with 3.54m.
Jacob Thompson also took part in the Long Jump, getting a best of 2.77m.
Gaylor and Thompson also lined up in the 200m, where the former finished third in the A race in 27.78s, and the latter was fourth in the B race in 36.77s.
Charlie Taylor finished sixth in the A race of the Under 15 Boys 300m in a time of 48.55s.
Morpeth only had three Under 15 Girls contesting events.
In the 800m, Heidi Wilkinson finished second to Ayla Blight of Elswick Harriers.
Coming back from illness, she posted a time of 2m32.99s, finishing around eight seconds adrift of Blight.
Zoe Tomlinson finished second in the B race in 2m43.49s.
Sophie Peace competed in three of the Under 15 Girls events.
She finished sixth in the 100m (14.46s), seventh in the 200m (30.15s), and her best result being third in the Long Jump with 3.82m.
Zoe Tomlinson finished eighth in the B String Long Jump with a best of 2.65m.
She also finished fourth in the Discus with a best throw of 10.67m.
Newcomer Reo Wills marked his Under 13 Boys debut for Morpeth, with an excellent personal best win in the Shot Putt, producing a best throw of 9.19m.
He also finished second in the Discus, with a best of 17.81m.
Luke Thompson finished second in the Long Jump with his best effort of 3.61m, only losing out for victory by 1cm.
Thompson also finished sixth in the A race of the 800m, posting a time of 2m44.76s.
Joseph Clasper finished fourth in the B race in 2m52.43s.
Brothers Joseph and Will Fawcett competed for Morpeth in the 1500m.
Joseph finished second in the A race in 5m27.70s, and Will won the B race in 5m30.69s.
Morpeth’s sole Under 13 Girl Izzy Cromar finished second in the 800m in 2m37.90s.
Team Manager David Swinburne was very pleased with all who had made the effort to turn out over the entire season.

MATCH RESULT
1st Blyth/Alnwick 701pts, 2nd South Shields/Elswick 494pts, 3rd Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 487pts, 4th Chester Le Street/Durham C 461pts, 5th New Marske 426pts, 6th Morpeth Harriers 237pts, 7th Tynedale/Prudhoe 179pts, 8th Heaton/Tyne Bridge 150pts.

OVERALL LEAGUE RESULT
1st Blyth/Alnwick 32pts (2886), 2nd South Shields/Elswick 25pts (2245), 3rd Chester Le Street/Durham 24pts (2202), 4th New Marske 20pts (1994.5), 5th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 17pts (1900), 6th Morpeth Harriers 11pts (1281), 7th Tynedale/Prudhoe 9pts (1170), 8th Heaton/Tyne Bridge 4pts (856.5)
(Total Match Points in brackets).