Start Fitness North Eastern Grand Prix (6)

The sixth and final meeting of the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Grand Prix series
was held at Gateshead Stadium, on the evening of Wednesday 7th August 2019,
and athletes, including eight from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers,
were able to enjoy a relatively warm and sunny end to proceedings.

For Under 15 Boy athletes Joe Dixon and Bertie Marr, it was a particularly enjoyable experience

Although the pair couldn’t quite get on level terms with Birtley AC dynamo Chris Perkins,
the Morpeth pair performed well to finish a respective second and third in their 3000m event,
with Dixon running the distance for the first time ever, clocking a very respectable 9m48.50s,
which took him straight to No 3 in the regional rankings.
Meanwhile Marr, produced new figures of 9m54.52s, taking eleven seconds
off his previous best, which makes him fourth in the regional rankings.

In the Senior Graded 3000m, Morpeth athletes Rowan Bennett and Ross Charlton
both produced excellent performances, finishing fourth and sixth respectively
behind Middlesbrough and Cleveland’s Gregg Jayasuriya, who won in 8m40.64s.
Bennett and Charlton both produced personal best performances of 8m55.07s, and 8m59.03s.

For Bennett, it saw him take a massive chunk of 45 seconds off his previous figures,
and for Charlton, it saw him improve his best by 33 seconds.

Ben Waterfield and Dylan Gooding competed in separate heats of the Graded 800m.
Waterfield finished seventh in the fastest race, posting a time of 2m00.18s,
and Gooding finished second in the B Race in 2m09.47s.
Both were just outside their previous bests.
The pair were second and third in their Under 17 age group.

Morpeth’s remaining two athletes competed in the Field Events.
Max Marr, older brother of Under 15 Boy Bertie, was second best performer
in the Senior Long Jump, producing a best effort of 5.59m.

In the Senior Javelin, Bobbie Griffiths produced a throw of 35.24m, to win the overall competition.

The seasons Grand Prix standings are now complete following this final fixture,
and Griffiths also emerges as Morpeth Harriers best overall performer
​throughout, finishing fifth in the Under 20 Women’s section.

Complete Results