Start Fitness North East Grand Prix (3)

Thankfully the threatened thunderstorms stayed away for athletes
competing at the third meeting in the 2017 series of North East Grand Prix events,
held at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow, on the evening of Wednesday 21st June 2017.

Nineteen athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC were amongst those in action,
and four individual personal bests were achieved,
on what turned out to be a night of near excellent conditions.

One of those personal bests was that of James Young,
who finished second to Middlesbrough and Cleveland’s Greg Jayasuriya
in the Stan Long Mile in 4m19.5s, just missing out by three seconds for victory,
and a trophy, presented in memory of the legendary Gateshead Coach,
who was mentor to Brendan Foster, during his long and illustrious career.

Five seconds behind Young and posting a time of 4m24.8s,
was Young’s Morpeth club colleague Joe Armstrong, who was the 2016 winner,
however on this occasion had to be content with fifth place.

Running the mile distance for the first time ever, Morpeth pair Alistair Douglass and Carl Avery,
finished eighth and ninth, with respective clocking’s of 4m28.8s and 4m30.5s.

Another Morpeth athlete competing for the first time over the mile distance
was Under 17 Man Ross Charlton, who ran well to finish third in the B race, posting a time of 4m51.0s.

Completing the list of Morpeth milers was Over 55 Veteran Man Neil McAnany,
who was tenth in the B race in 5m22.0s.

Two personal best performances were achieved by Morpeth’s Alfie Ward on the night.
In the 80m Hurdles, the Under 15 Boy finished third in 14.3s,
ahead of fellow Morpeth Harrier Dylan Gooding, who clocked 17.1s.
Ward also achieved a new personal best in the 100m, when finishing fifth in 14.1s.
He also finished fourth in his age group in the Long Jump, with a best effort of 4.29m.

Morpeth Harriers youngest competing athlete on the night Ryan Davies,
also achieved a new personal best of 5m28.4s, when finishing sixth in the Under 13 Boys 1500m,
taking a good fourteen seconds off his previous figures.

The Graded 100m contests attracted a total of a total of twenty-six athletes,
including eight from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers.

Four of the eight competed in the A race, with Sean O’Hara coming out on top, winning in 11.4s.
Behind him were club colleagues David Storey, Kenny Harrison, and Jake Jardine,
who finished third, fourth and fifth, with respective clocking’s of 11.7s each.
In the B race Morpeth’s David Thomas finished seventh in 12.7s.

Kirsty Lang finished sixth in the D race in 14.7s, and in the E race,
her Morpeth club colleagues Natasha Hart and Lynsey Cunningham f
inished second and third, both clocking 14.6s.

Morpeth throwers Andrew Knight and Bobbie Griffiths were both in winning form on the night.
Under 17 Man Knight, was the best overall competitor in the Shot Putt,
winning by a margin of 64cm from Female Senior Sophie Littlemore,
with his best on the day effort of 13.84m, however in his own age group,
he won by a clear margin of 1.60m from Gateshead Harrier Joe Halpin.

Griffith’s who finished fifth overall in the competition, with a best of 10.09m,
was 54cm clear winner of the Under 17 Women’s section, over Darlington’s Jasmine Sharp.
In the Graded Javelin, Griffiths was a clear winner of the overall competition,
with her best throw of 41.57m, which gave her a very clear margin win of 11.55m
in the Under 17 Women’s section over her closest rival, who once again was Darlington’s Jasmine Sharp.

Morpeth’s other Field Eventer in action was David Thomas,
​who finished as third Under 20 Man in the Graded Long Jump, with his best effort of 5.53m.

Complete Results