indoor meetings round-up

Whilst Road and Cross Country action has been very much at the forefront of the club’s attention in recent days, some of our Track and Field specialists have been perfecting their talents in the indoor arena, with some excellent results being produced, and it is hoped that some of those achievements will prove fruitful in the forthcoming Summer campaign.
Top of the tree in terms of current form in the Morpeth Harriers ranks, is undoubtedly Under 20 athlete Charlotte Earl.
On Sunday, Charlotte achieved a new personal best of 11.70m in the Triple Jump, in the combined England Athletics Under 20, Under 17 and Under 15 Indoor Championships in Sheffield.
Aside from the English Schools, this was her first taste of a national championships yet she did not let this faze her in the slightest. She showed a great level of maturity and composure with her first round attempt of 11.62m, which bettered her PB by 30cm, set at the Northern Indoors in January. Despite the elation from this early performance, Charlotte kept her focus throughout and was rewarded with another PB in the sixth round of 11.70m.
This performance gave a her a final position of 6th in a hotly contested competition. This was even more impressive given she was only ranked 11th on paper and just to make the cut would have been an achievement - but she far surpassed that.
It’s not always possible for that those that have provided the closest support to an athlete to all be present to witness such a great performance, so it was even more pleasing for Charlotte to have both her Mum, Dad and coach, Vina Desai, with her on the day.
From the very young to the Veteran age, and Morpeth Over 50 sprinter Trevor Hodgson achieved individual gold in the 60m sprint at the Scottish Masters Indoor Championships at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Sunday, posting a time of 7.57s, just a mere fraction outside his personal best.
Another Morpeth athlete involved in Indoor action on Sunday was Matthew Waterfield.
Waterfield, who is now studying back in Loughborough, and has reverted to the slightly longer distances, competed at the Manchester Indoor Meeting at Sport City over 600m for the first time, finishing second in his heat, producing a time of 1m21.33s, just outpacing Gateshead’s Matt Linsley, who finished third.
Two Morpeth Harriers were in action at the fourth Gateshead Indoor Meeting held at Gateshead College on Thursday 9 February.
Under 17 Man Ben Hope competed in both the 60m Hurdles and 60m Sprint events.
In the Hurdles, he produced a best of 9.33s, and in the sprint, a best of 7.83s, taking a whole second off his previous figures.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier and also Under 17 athlete Freya Caygill finished second in her heat of the 60m in 8.37s, the fifth fastest in her age group.