Northern Athletics Track & Field League Division 2E Match 3

A superb fighting performance saw Morpeth Harriers Senior Men’s and Women’s
Track and Field squad finish a very close third in their home third round
Northern Athletics Division 2 Match, held at Morpeths Athletic Track on Sunday 3rd July 2016.

Only 57 points divided the first three clubs, and Morpeth had to thank their on the day squad
of both Male and Female athletes for producing a truly excellent result, with some fine performances.

In the Men’s events, Morpeth had no less than four double victories, all of them on the track.
David Storey won the A string 100m in 11.3s, and Kenny Harrison won the B string event in 11.5s.
For Storey it was equal to his lifetime personal best, and for Harrison a new personal best.

Recent British Masters 5k Champion Chris Smith almost front ran the 1500m in 4m07.8s.
Robert Balmbra took the B race in 4m15.0s, which bettered his previous by two and a half seconds.

Ady Whitwam showed great form when winning the 3000m Steeplechase in 4m07.8s,
and Mark Snowball made it a double celebration when winning the B race in 10m25.8s,
a brand new personal best by three seconds.
Snowball also achieved a new personal best in the 400m Hurdles A race, when finishing fourth in 67.9s.

In the B race Neil McAnany ran superbly to finish second, also posting a brand new personal best of 72.1s,
bettering his previous figures by just over seven seconds.

Ian Harding won the 5000m A race in 15m43.1s, and Robert Balmbra
had his second B string win of the afternoon in 16m46.9s, which was a seasons best.

It was the younger Male athletes in the Morpeth squad who competed in the 400m and 800m events.
The result from the 400m was extremely good with Under 17 athlete Sean O’Hara finishing
second in the A race in 52.8s, and Ryan Green on his return after injury,
producing new figures of 51.7s to take the B race.

Under 17 athlete Matthew Waterfield finished fifth in the 800m A race in 2m07.0s,
and Under 20 athlete Jacob Hopkins ran an excellent B race finishing second in 2m15.0s.

David Thomas proved to be the only Men’s Field Event winner for Morpeth,
taking his specialised event, the Triple Jump, with a best of 12.91m, which was a new personal best by 41cm.
Mark Snowball finished fourth in the B string event, with a best of 8.01m.

For the first time ever, sprinter David Storey, who showed fine form
in winning the 100m, competed in the Long Jump.
He finished third in the A string with 5.82m, and Hans Paulsen
produced a lifetime best of 4.63m to finish as third B string.

Steven Appleby did the lion’s share of Morpeth’s throwing events,
finishing fourth in the A string Discus (32.76m),
fifth in the A string Hammer (19.59m),
and sixth in the A string Javelin (20.80m).

Craig Charlton gave excellent B string support in the Discus,
finishing second with 25.70m, and Charlton did well in the Shot Putt A string,
finishing second to City of York International Scott Lincoln, with a best effort of 13.48m.
Backing Charlton’s efforts up in the B string was Elliott Moore, who finished second with 9.49m.

The Morpeth Men also achieved outstanding wins in both the 4 x 100m, and 4 x 400m Relays
posting respective times of 46.5s and 3m37.1s, courtesy of David Storey, Sean O’Hara,
Kenny Harrison, and newcomer Mark Ware, and Ryan Green, Joe Dowd, Jacob Hopkins, and Matthew Waterfield.
Considering the combined ages of the 4 x 400m squad being one of the youngest, the win was most exceptional.

In the Women’s events, although there were no double wins,
there were however two A string and three B string wins.

The Morpeth Women’s A string wins went to Morag Stead, who won the Women’s 3000m in 10m29.9s,
and Under 17 Field eventer Bobbie Griffiths secured a Javelin win with 31.25m, which was a new personal best.

Griffiths showed that she is in excellent form by winning the B string Discus with 26.52m,
and further B string wins came from fellow Under 17 athletes Jessica Young-Rogers in the Long Jump with 4.34m,
and Naomi Arkle, who won the B string Triple Jump with 8.95m.

Katie Hilton was the Morpeth A string athlete in the Long Jump and Triple Jump,
and she produced excellent performances of 4.36m and 10.59m,
finishing third and second respectively to Gateshead’s Hannah Pringle,
with the Triple Jump giving her a new personal best by 27cm.

Jessica Young-Rogers competed well in both the 100m and 200m,
just losing out to Gateshead’s Stephanie Addison, daughter of former
North East International Wendy, posting respective times of 12.7s and 26.0s.
B race backing for Morpeth came from Katie Hilton who finished second in 13.0s
and Naomi Arkle who finished third in 27.8s.

Abby Sheldon set new figures of 67.6s, when finishing fourth in the 400m A race.
Naomi Arkle ran her first ever 400m in the B race, finishing third in 67.0s.

Gemma Floyd of Morpeth produced a new personal best of 2m24.6s,
when finishing second in the 800m A race.
Abby Sheldon finished third in the B race in 2m32.5s.

In the Women’s 1500m, Morag Stead ran strongly, despite having run earlier in the 3000m.
She finished an excellent second in 5m06.8s, and Under 17 athlete Gracie Hufton
ran well in the B race, where she finished second in 5m30.1s.

In the 3000m, Stead had excellent B race backing courtesy of Under 20
athlete Alison Brown, who finished second in 12m24.0s.

Morpeth Veteran Woman Claire Reid competed in all of the throwing events.
She finished second in the Discus A and Shot Putt A events, producing bests
of 28.42m and 9.71m respectively, and fourth in the A string Hammer with 27.52m.
16.92m gave her fourth place in the B string Javelin, supporting Griffiths excellent A string victory.

Kirsty Lang produced a personal best of 6.90m, to finish third in the B string Shot Putt.

Morpeth Harriers Women’s 4 x100m Relay squad finished second to Gateshead in 51.5s,
courtesy of Katie Hilton, Kirsty Lang, Jessica Young-Rogers, and Naomi Arkle.

Match Result (subject to further scrutiny)
1st City of York 398pts,
2nd Gateshead Harriers 365pts,
3rd Morpeth Harriers 341pts,
4th Skyrac AC 274pts,
5th Wallsend/Blyth 268pts,
6th New Marske Harriers 114pts.

This now virtually means that Morpeth are safe from any threat of relegation,
and will be battling for third and fourth place going into the final match at Middlesbrough in early August.

Complete Match 3 Results