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Following a week that had seen high profile cancellations of both the London Marathon (for all but elite athletes) and the whole of the Kielder Marathon weekend, competitive athletics action made a return to the North East at long last on Saturday afternoon 8th August) with the staging of a three way match between athletes from Morpeth Harriers, Blyth Running Club and North Shields Polytechnic Harriers. Held at the Morpeth track under strict UK Athletics Covid-19 guidance, competition was limited to sprint hurdles, distances from 100m– 400m, discus, shot and hammer, for some 70 athletes only, most of whom were juniors taking part in graded events. With the whole area carefully demarcated into separate zones for athletes, parents/ spectators, and officials, and rigorous routines in place for handwashing and social distancing, it was certainly a very different experience for all present. Social distancing meant that athletes were unable to run in adjacent lanes, so for all distances over 100m there could only be three in each race, while throwers were faced with the need to repeatedly sanitise and clean equipment. Nevertheless, with the sun shining and a light breeze making for near perfect conditions, there were smiles on the faces of participating athletes, parents, coaches and officials at the resumption of some form of competition after a full four months of lockdown with all involved delighted at the opportunity given.  The outstanding performance of the meeting was by Senior Man Craig Charlton, Scottish Indoor Champion, in the Shot Putt with a personal best of 16.93m which keeps him in third place in the UK rankings. Under 20 James Wordsworth of NSP, last year's English Schools Athletics Association U17 Discus Champion, also threw a PB of 15.12m and then another PB in the Discus of 46.54m. Edward Gardiner (U15) of Morpeth, threw a Discus PB of 28.08m, and not to be outdone big sister Jessica (U17) threw well in both Discus (32.88m) and Hammer (44.02m), falling just short of her PBs. It was an exciting afternoon for Morpeth’s Amy Lott (U17) as she recorded a massive PB of 37.13m in the Hammer. She also ran PBs in the 200m (27.3s) and 100m (13.2s). She is the Scottish 60m Hurdle Champion and ranked fifth in the UK, but moved up to try the U20W 100m Hurdles for the first time ever. She ran 15.5s - just 0.2s outside the ESAA qualifier for next summer.  Fastest times of the day were run by Matthew Waterfield of Morpeth, last season's ESAA 400m Champion. Looking in good shape despite the absence of competition, Matthew recorded 11.3s in the 100m and 22.7s in the 200m. The fastest lady on the track was Senior Woman Jessica Young-Rogers, also of Morpeth, with 12.8s for the 100m and 25.9s for the 200m, just outside her PB. Also in the senior ranks there were PBs for both Lynsey Storey and Laura Kincaid in the 100m. Showing that it wasn’t all just about the youngsters meanwhile, veteran Over 45 sprinter Trevor Hodgson ran a very good 12.8s for 100m, thirty odd years after competing for the last time, when he had run 11.0 s. In their first ever meeting, U17s Evan Logan and Tom Wales did well for the club in both the 100m and 200m, with Logan recording 12.4s and 25.5s, and Wales 13.0s and 25.7s. Charlie Lane recorded a 200m of 25.0s and a 400m of 55.2s, both PBs.  Fastest times of the day were run by Matthew Waterfield of Morpeth, last season's ESAA 400m Champion. Looking in good shape despite the absence of competition, Matthew recorded 11.3s in the 100m and 22.7s in the 200m. The fastest lady on the track was Senior Woman Jessica Young-Rogers, also of Morpeth, with 12.8s for the 100m and 25.9s for the 200m, just outside her PB. Also in the senior ranks there were PBs for both Lynsey Storey and Laura Kincaid in the 100m. Showing that it wasn’t all just about the youngsters meanwhile, veteran Over 45 sprinter Trevor Hodgson ran a very good 12.8s for 100m, thirty odd years after competing for the last time, when he had run 11.0 s. In their first ever meeting, U17s Evan Logan and Tom Wales did well for the club in both the 100m and 200m, with Logan recording 12.4s and 25.5s, and Wales 13.0s and 25.7s. Charlie Lane recorded a 200m of 25.0s and a 400m of 55.2s, both PBs. U15 Reuben Moss recorded a massive PB in the 100m of 13.3s and then another in the 200m of 28.1s. U15s Ellie Wickens and Victoria Hodgson both ran 13.8s for the 100m.
In the U15G 75m Hurdles Hannah Lott, last season's Scottish U13 Champion, and Saveena Mullin, only U13, both ran the U15 Hurdles for the first time ever, recording respectable times of 15.5s and 13.9s, to go to Power of 10. Credit for the whole day is especially due to Morpeth track and field coach Dave Thomas, without whose tireless efforts and dedication – not least in dealing with a veritable Everest of paperwork for track and trace – the meeting would never have gone ahead. Comments are closed.
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