North East Youth Development Athletics League Division 1

The third round North East Youth Development Athletics League Division 1 match,
held at the new Middlesbrough Sports Village on Sunday 28th June 2015,
saw Morpeth Harriers maintain their position at the top of the table,
by winning their third consecutive fixture,
albeit by the slenderest of margins of five and a half points
over New Marske, results still under scrutiny,
with 2014 title holders Blaydon Harriers,
a further hundred points or so behind in third place.

That was pleasing news to the Morpeth Harriers hierarchy,
as it possibly means that they would have to finish as low as fifth in the final fixture,
again at Middlesbrough, later in July, and for Blaydon to win outright,
for there to be any possibility of them relinquishing
their chances of regaining the Division 1 title,
that they first won in the inauguration year of the league in 2013.

The on the day performances for Morpeth Harriers were truly exceptional,
and included several that got inside league records,
plus considering some of the younger age group athletes
had been competing at high level the previous day
at the Northumberland Minor Schools Championships at Gateshead,
speaks volumes not only of their abilities,
but also their determination and dedication
to perform for their club when it really mattered.

No exception to this were dynamic duo Holly Peck and Rhiannon Hedley,
who not only secured maximum points by taking the A and B events
of the Under 13 Girls 1500m, but also both got inside the league record,
with respective personal bests of 5m06.2s, and 5m13.3s.
Peck had earlier finished third in the B string 100m in 14.2s,
backing up Amy Lott’s A string performance of fifth in 14.8s.

Another excellent Under 13 Girl performer was Lily Heaton,
who won both the 800m A string event in 2m33.0s, and the 200m B string in 31.3s.

Charlotte Bruce finished third in the B string 800m in 3m09.7s,
and Amy Lott was sixth in the A string 200m in 30.9s.

The other outstanding result for Morpeth Harriers in the Under 13 Girls events,
came in the Shot, with a double victory coming from Elena Sanders, and Emma Lawson.
Sanders won the A string competition, by Putting an excellent 8.06m,
which set a new league record.
Meanwhile Lawson won the B string with a best of 6.39m,
which was second overall covering the two strings,
and was a good 30cm better than her closest B string rival.

English Schools bound Jessica Young-Rogers was certainly
in formidable form in the Under 15 Girls events.
She claimed no less than three individual victories on the day,
and was very instrumental in achieving an excellent
Morpeth Under 15 Girls 4 x100m Relay victory in 53.3s.
Individually her best win came in the 100m A race,
where she clocked 12.6s, and a new league record.
She went on to also achieve excellent A string victories
in the 200m and High Jump, with bests of 27.1s,
and 1.45m respectively, the latter being a new personal best.

Jessica also received excellent B string backing in these events
by Hannah Brown (2nd) (100m) 13.4s, Nadine Arkle (1st) (200m) 27.9s,
and Arkle again in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.35m.

Another English Schools bound athlete in action for Morpeth Harriers
in the Under 15 Girls events was Bobby Griffiths,
who also enjoyed a hat-trick of victories.
The best of these was her favoured event, the Javelin,
where she secured a win over her closest rival
by nearly ten metres, with her best of 34.23m.
She went on to win the Discus and Hammer A string competitions,
with respective bests of 21.96m, and 23.01m.

Morpeth Harriers gained excellent B string points in the
Javelin and Hammer courtesy of Ellie Burt,
who recorded bests of 11.55m, and 22.63m.
These performances gave Burt, 3rd and 1st places respectively.
Burt also had her own moment of individual glory,
when she won the A string Shot, with a best of 9.16m.
Ellie Coxon putted 5.22m for fourth in the B string Shot.

Back on the track with the Under 15 Girls events,
Morpeth Harrier Ailsa Jones got second place
in the A string 800m in 2m37.5s,
and was sixth in the 300m in 47.4s.

Another second placed athlete was Hannah Brown,
who clocked 12.1s in the Under 15 Girls 75m Hurdles.
Brown got her third second placed achievement of the day
when she produced an effort of 3.79m in the B string  Long Jump,
backing up Ailsa Jones’s third in the A string with 4.09m.

Naomi Arkle produced two excellent winning sprint performances
in the Under 17 Women’s 100m and 200m events
She won the A string 100m in 13.0s,
and then followed that up in the 200m,
with a time of 26.9s, that proved to be inside the league record.

Newcomer Alex Armstrong backed Naomi up well in the B string events,
winning in respective times of 13.2s and 27.7s.
Abby Sheldon, and the fit again Lauren Eadington proved to be
a winning partnership for Morpeth in the Under 17 Women’s 300m.
Sheldon won the A race in 46.9s, and Eadington took the B race in 48.4s.

Eadington had earlier tested herself over 800m, where she finished
a good second in 2m50.8s in the A race,
and Lois Scott was second in the B race in 3m17.3s.

Sheldon for her part also competed well in the 1500m,
finishing second in 5m29.0s.
She also showed her superb versatility when winning the
Javelin by a very clear margin of just over six metres,
with her best effort of 22.10m.

Naomi Arkle finished second in the Shot with her best effort of 8.44m.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Women’s 4 x 100m Relay squad finished second in 57.5s.

For the third North East Youth Development match in a row,
Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys talented thrower Ruaridh Lang broke
League records in both the Discus and Shot,
with respective winning efforts of a superb 45.04m, and 11.86m.

In addition to Lang, in the Male events,
Morpeth Harriers produced fifteen actual winners
across the three age groups, including no less
than eight double victories giving maximum points.

Four of those eight double victories were achieved by the Under 17 Men.
Two of those four came from dynamic duo Charlie Chisholm,
and newcomer Hugh Weatherton.

In the Discus, Chisholm won the A string with a best of 30.41m,
and Weatherton more than earned his spurs with a fine 24.62m in the B string.

It was a case of reversed roles in the Shot, where Weatherton
took the A string with his best of 10.00m, and Chisholm won the B string with 7.87m.

Weatherton certainly made his debut performance superb,
by winning the Hammer with a best of 24.10m.

On track in the Under 17 Men’s events, Morpeth Harriers secured
their two double victories in the 100m and 1500m events.
In the 100m, Declan Stoker took the A race by a whisker in a lively 11.6s,
and Mitchell Green set new figures in the B race when winning in 11.8s.

Jacob Hopkins enjoyed a victory in the A race of the 1500m 4m41.3s,
and Adam Shewry backed him up well by taking the B race in 4m44.2s.

Other excellent track performances for Morpeth Harriers
in the Under 17 Men’s events came in the 800m and 200m events.
Kieran Hedley, who has been in superb form of late,
finished second in the A race of the 800m in a superb 2m04.0s,
and Scott Beattie took the B race in 2m10.0s.

Declan Stoker was just squeezed out for his second victory
of the day in the 200m, where he clocked 23.9s.
Will Kelly finished second in the B race with 24.8s.
Kelly also went on to finish second in the 400m in 63.1s.
He also finished third in the Javelin with his best throw of 10.87m,
and Adam Shewry threw 8.25m for second in the B string.

In the Long Jump, Morpeth’s Mitchell Cryer finished
third in the A string, with his best of 4.25m.
With 3.14m, Adam Shewry finished third in the B string.

In the Triple Jump, Mitchell Green produced a best of 11.19m for second place.

Two double victories for Morpeth Harriers
were achieved in the Under 15 Boys track events.

In the 800m, Joe Dowd won in 2m14.1s,
and Matthew Waterfield took the B race in 2m18.4s.

Dowd and Waterfield also contested the 300m,
and were both third respectively in the A and B races,
clocking times of 39.4s and 41.3s.

The second double victory came in the 1500m,
where Taylor Glover very comfortably won the A race in 4m27.2s,
and Ross Charlton won the B race in 4m52.4s.

In the Under 15 Boys sprint events, Morpeth Harriers also performed well.
Patrick Darroch finished second in the 100m A race in 12.3s,
and Elliot Cowie finished fourth in the B race in 13.6s.

In the 200m, Sam Yates was third in the A race in 27.1s,
and Cowie produced an excellent 25.3s,
when just losing out by a hairsbreadth in the B race.

Other than Lang in the Under 15 Boys Field events,
Morpeth also saw good performances in the High Jump and Javelin.

In the A string High Jump, Matthew Waterfield finished third with a clearance of 1.35m,
and Jake Lloyd was third in the B string with 1.30m.

The Javelin saw Joe Dowd produce a best of 25.47m for third in the A string,
and Luke Haxell produced a best throw of 21.96m to finish second in the B string.

Taylor Glover gave good back up to Ruaridh Lang’s win in the Discus A string,
by throwing an excellent 19.35m to finish as second B string.

Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys 4x 100m Relay squad finished a close third in 51.4s,
after a battling finish to the line with fourth placed Harrogate.

Eight athletes from Morpeth Harriers took part in the Under 13 Boys events,
where the club secured one double victory in the 800m,
courtesy of Thomas Cunningham (2m30.6s), and Findlay Deakin (2m33.3s).

In the 1500m, Andrew Hudspith further developed his talent,
when he finished as third in the A race in 5m15.8s,
and he was followed around the three and three quarter laps,
very closely and very diligently by his diminutive club-mate Dylan Davies,
who in turn clocked a very handsome 5m17.5s to win the B race.

The Under 13 Boys sprints saw good results produced by Matthew Ash and Nathan Hume.
In the 100m Matthew clocked 14.1s to finish as fourth in the A Race,
and Nathan with a truly splendid run paid very handsome dividends
by taking the B race, clocking the identical time to Matthew.

The pairing also figured well in the 200m, with Matthew clocking 29.4s
for fourth in the A Race, and Nathan just missed out for
another victory in the B Race, when he clocked 29.7s.

Morpeth Harriers best results from the Field Events in the Under 13 Boys section
came in the Long Jump and Shot, courtesy of Bobby Stone and Findlay Deakin.

Stone produced a best of 4.03m for third in the A string Long Jump,
and Deakin also finished third in the Shot with a best effort of 6.80m.
Daniel Lloyd gave good B event back up to Stone in the Long Jump,
finishing fourth with a best effort of 3.05m.

Morpeth Harriers other Under 13 Boys Field performance,
came courtesy of Matthew Ash, who was fourth in the High Jump,
with a clearance of 1.15m to his name.

In a very hotly contested Under 13 Boys 4 x 100m Relay,
Morpeth Harriers just missed out on victory by a mere whisker in 59.7s.

FINAL MATCH RESULT (Subject to Scrutiny)
1st Morpeth Harriers 740pts,
2nd New Marske 734.5pts,
3rd Blaydon Harriers 631.5pts,
4th Harrogate 539pts,
5th Tynedale Harriers 465pts,
6th Gateshead Harriers B 342pts.

The following are all of the non scoring performances
achieved by Morpeth Harriers athletes at the meeting.

Dan Lloyd U13 Boys 200m (32.2s),
Bobby Stone U13 Boys 800m (2m37.7s),
Ross Charlton U15 Boys 100m (13.9s),
Robert Eadington U15 Boys 100m (13.3s), 200m (30.8s),
Connor Marshall U15 Boys 1500m (4m43.9s),
Sam Yates U15 Boys 100m (12.8s),
Luke Haxell U15 Boys 100m (14.1s), 200m (29.9s),
Mitchell Cryer U17 Men’s 100m (12.6s), 200m (26.9s),
Josh Burton U17 Men’s 800m (2m12.9s),
Shannon Docherty U17 Women’s 100m (13.8s), 200m (29.4s),
Nadine Arkle U15 Girls 100m (13.4s),
Patrick Darroch U15 Boys L/Jump (4.26m), 200m (28.8s),
Benny Butler U13 Boys 100m (14.4s), 200m (31.1s) L/Jump (3.35m),
David Jenkinson U13 Boys 100m (14.8s), 200m (29.8s).

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