morpeth facing relegation after another sixth-placed finish

Despite some strong individual performances, Morpeth's Senior Men and Senior Women’s again finished bottom of the six competing clubs  in the third round NESDL Division 1 match held at Whitley Bay on Sunday 15 June.
Unfortunately, this now puts them deep in the relegation zone, and with little chance of escaping life in Division 2 for 2026.
Whilst Team Manager’s George Patterson (Men), and Poppy Buck (Women), remain disappointed, they are still very much praiseworthy of the athletes who have turned out so far over the three matches held.
The fourth and final round match, where fate will be confirmed, will be held at Shildon on Saturday 19 July, where it is hoped that the squad can finish their tough campaign with an element of flourish.
Highlight of the Men’s performances was undoubtedly in the 800m, where all four of the Morpeth athletes proved to be the fastest performers over the two races.
Josh Fiddaman was fastest, posting an excellent 1m58.32s, taking the A String.
Tom Balsdon took the B Race with 2m02.00s, and Peter Smallcombe and Under 17 athlete George Mavir, also produced respective clocking’s of 2m03.14s, and 2m03.47s.
For Mavir, it represented a new personal best, and on his Senior debut.
Fiddaman also ran a decent 1500m, finishing second to Gateshead’s Andy Mulhall in 4m11.0s.
Ethan Bond got second in the B race for Morpeth, posting a time of 4m18.97s.
Alistair Douglass just missed out for victory in the A race of the 400m, where he clocked 52.8s.
Ben Harding won the B race for Morpeth in 57.5s.
Other Morpeth performances in the 400m came from Jason Dawson (57.55s), and Paul Bellingham (69.46s).
Under 20 athlete Harrison Scott posted times of 11.5s, and 23.2s, when finishing third in both the A races of the 100m and 200m.
Making his Senior debut, Under 17 athlete William Hodgson finished third in the B race of the 100m in 12.1s.
Alistair Douglass was second in the B race of the 200m in 24.7s.
Other performances in the 100m and 200m for Morpeth came from Paul Bellingham (14.71s), William Hodgson (24.77s), and Ben Harding (26.24s).
Making his track debut, Morpeth’s Andrew Mirfield finished sixth in the A race of the 5000m, posting a time of 17m37.37s.
Having finished fourth in the Run Through Morpeth 10k earlier in the morning, Andrew Lawrence did remarkably well to finish fourth in the B race in 17m44.12s.
Rounding of the Men’s track performances, Alistair Douglass, Harrison Scott, Paul Bellingham, and William Hodgson combined to bring Morpeth home in second place in the 4x100m Relay, posting a time of 50.5s.
Four members from Morpeth took part in the Men’s Field Events.
Sean O’Hara finished sixth in the A String Shot Putt with a best of 7.65m, and Dave Marshall was sixth in the B String with 5.77m.
Marshall also competed in the Discus, finishing sixth with a best of 13.5m.
In the Men’s Javelin, Jason Dawson was sixth in the A String with a best of 24.9m.
After also running in the Morpeth 10k earlier, Lee Cuthbertson turned out to finish fourth in the B String Javelin, throwing a best of 24.3m.
Seven competitors turned out for Morpeth Harriers for the Women’s events.
One of them was Bobbie Griffiths, making a welcome return, after a two-year absence whilst continuing her studies towards a career in education.
In her specialist event, the Javelin, Griffiths threw a best of 32.8m, which was a league record, to win the A String.
Ellie Wickens managed a best of 13.1m, to finish third in the B String.
Vina Desai also threw 8.19m, as an additional performance.
Griffiths also finished fifth in the A String Shot Putt, producing a best putt of 7.5m.
Desai was again giving support, by finishing fourth in the B String with 4.58m.
She also went on to place sixth in the A String Discus (12.9m), and sixth in the A String Hammer (14.5m).
Under 17 athlete Charlotte Marshall, making her Senior debut, finished sixth in the B String Discus, producing a best of 10.8m.
Olivia Gent finished third in the A String Long Jump (4.79m), and fourth in the Triple Jump with 10.3m.
In the B String Long Jump, Charlotte Marshall finished fifth with a best of 2.57m, whilst Ellie Wickens finished second in the B String Triple Jump, with 9.6m.
Wickens strengths however lay in the Women’s sprints.
She finished fourth in the 100m in 13.4s, and fourth in the 200m with.
Poppy Buck achieved Morpeth’s sole Women’s A Race victory in the 1500m, posting a time of 5m17.2s.
Buck also finished second in the A Race 800m in 2m24.94s, just missing out by a fraction for a second victory.
Debuting Under 17 Woman Molly Roche won the 800m B Race in 2m34.62s.
Roche also finished fifth in the 400m A Race in 75.6s.
MATCH RESULT
1st Wallsend/Blyth 412pts, 2nd Gateshead Harriers 385pts, 3rd Darlington Harriers 337pts, 4th North Shields Poly 333pts, 5th Blaydon/Elswick Harriers 293pts, 6th Morpeth Harriers 251pts.