NECAA Indoor track & field Championships

The only major athletics competition taking place in the region over the weekend,
was the annual NECAA Indoor Track & Field Championships being held over two days at Gateshead College.

Saturday was designated for Field Events, with Track Events being held on Sunday.

Morpeth Harriers had five athletes in action here over the two days,
with two competing on the Saturday, and three on the Sunday.

The club showed a handsome return of five medals in all,
with three on the Saturday, and two being won on the Sunday.

The three won on Saturday were two Golds and one Silver, with a Silver and a Bronze being won on the Sunday.
Saturday’s two Golds went to one athlete, Ethan Stephenson, who retained his Under 17 Men’s Triple Jump title, achieving 12.37m, which although was still some way short of his best,
was enough to give him a title by just over a metre margin from his closest rival.

Stephenson was also pleased to take a second Gold in the High Jump, where he cleared 1.75m,
which was around 10cm short of his lifetime best which he performed outdoors.
He was forced to sit out the High Jump competition in 2018, after winning the Under 15 title a year previous.

Saturday’s other medallist was Craig Charlton, who faced very stiff opposition from
Thames Valley’s former Gateshead Harrier Craig Sturrock in the Senior Shot Putt.
Charlton had to be content with Silver, when putting 14.19m, behind Sturrock’s 15.28m.
The Morpeth man is still No 1 regionally however from a residential club.

Hurdling siblings Hannah and Amy Lott each won respective Silver and Bronze medals
in Sunday’s Under 13 Girls and Under 17 Women’s  60m Hurdle competitions.
Amy had to compete firstly in a heat, which she won in 9.13s, which was just outside her lifetime personal best.
However, in her hotly contested later run final, she did improve her figures to 9.08s,
which now sees her ranked nineteenth equal in the UK, but still third in the North East.
She was just outsprinted by Darlington’s Charlotte Rutter,
and had to settle for Bronze, behind Gateshead’s Phillipa Ellis.

In a straight run final, which she fully expected to win, Hannah Lott was pipped
somewhat surprisingly by Blyth’s Hannah Wilson in the Under 13 Girls event.

Morpeth Harriers third athlete in action on Sunday was Mia Belton, competed in the Under 15 Girls 60m sprints.
She finished second in her heat in 8.51s, which was enough to take into the later run A Final,
where she finished fifth, despite clocking her best 2019 time of 8.36s,
​which was agonisingly just short of her lifetime best.