THIS WEEKS NEWS

BMC Regional Standards Meeting

The third in the series of BMC Regional Standards Meetings was held
at Maiden Castle, near Durham City, on Monday 22nd June 2015.

Brother and Sister Kieran and Rhiannon Hedley were amongst the
Morpeth Harriers in action, and both of them superbly achieved
their second personal bests in seven days,
thus maintaining an excellent level of form respectively.

Kieran, who is probably going to be one of Northumberland’s brightest
prospects at the forthcoming English Schools Championships over 1500m,
dropped down to 800m on this occasion, and ran superbly to win the sixth
race of the night in an excellent 2m00.9s,
which shows great progress for the Mike Bateman coached athlete.
He will no doubt be a little frustrated that he didn’t drop below
the two minute barrier after coming so close, however he will
endeavour to seek to achieve this before the current track campaign closes.

Not to be outdone, Hedley’s younger sister Rhiannon, still an Under 13,
produced her second personal best performance in less than seven days,
when she won the final race of the night in 2m30.0s.

In the fastest race of the night, Morpeth Harrier Andy Wiles finished fourth in 1m55.9s.
Kevin Calvert of Morpeth Harriers clocked 2m01.2s,
when finishing sixth in the third race of the night.

Father and Son Rob and Sam Hancox of Morpeth Harriers
were also in competitive action at the meeting.
Sam finished sixth in the fifth race of the night, posting a time of 2m06.1s.
Meanwhile Rob, who was the oldest in action, clocked 2m18.9s,
when finishing sixth in the tenth race of the thirteen race programme.

Aycliffe 10k Road Race

Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn was a most convincing winner of the
18th Aycliffe 10k Road Race on Sunday 21st June 2015.
Leading from the gun, he soon established a healthy advantage
over his closest rival Carl  Chapman of Crook AC,
winning by nearly three minutes in a time of 31m15s.

Northern Inter Counties Schools Track and Field Championships

Northumberland secured a narrow victory over Durham in the
annual Northern Inter Counties Schools Track and Field Championships,
held at a damp Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday 20th June 2015.

In doing so they were very much helped by some excellent performances
from athletes from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers, who alone managed
to muster individually 110 of the 533 total points won by the county on the day,
giving them a thirteen point marginal victory, with Cumbria,
and Cleveland back in third and fourth places respectively.

Star performers for Northumberland were Taylor Glover,
Ruaridh Lang and Bobby Griffiths.
Glover won the Junior Boys 1500m, posting new figures of 4m17.22s,
winning by just over a second from Cleveland’s
Josh Cowperthwaite of Middlesbrough AC.
He also along with Cowperthwaite clocked a time
which earned him an English Schools qualification,
which will hopefully see them both return to
Gateshead next month to battle for higher honours.

Another athlete who should be returning to Gateshead for those Championships
is Ruaridh Lang, who achieved an English National Standard, when winning
the Junior Boys Discus with a best effort of 39.47m,
which proved to be over three metres better than
his closest rival James Wheeler of Cleveland,
who also achieved entry standard.
Lang was not so lucky in the Shot however,
as he suffered a rare defeat at the hands
of Durham’s Adam Brown, only by just over
half a metre, with his best of 12.03m.
Whilst Brown achieved an entry standard,
Lang unfortunately was well adrift.

In the Female events, Morpeth Harrier Bobbie Griffiths also had a good day.
She threw a best of 33.81m in the Junior Girls Javelin, which was just inside
the entry standard for the English Schools Championships, winning by just over
a metre and a half from Cumbria’s Rachel Gallagher.
Griffiths also enjoyed a second win in the Discus, with a best of 21.33m,
which in this case was some way short of the required English Schools entry Standard,
however the fact that she has qualified for her more favoured event,
has left her more than delighted with her days achievements.

To facilitate a more competitive race, the Intermediate and Senior Boys 1500m
was run as a combined event, and Morpeth Harriers Adam Gibbs,
James Young and Kieran Hedley all ran well.
Gibbs was second in the Senior race, missing out for victory by a fraction
of a second to Cleveland’s Matthew Bailey.
Gibbs clocked a time of 4m04.03s.
Meanwhile Young and Hedley respectively clocked identical times of 4m08.57s,
which in both cases were brand new personal best performances.
For Young it gave him fourth in the Senior event, and for Hedley it gave him
third place behind Durham’s Markhim Lonsdale, with fellow
Northumbrian Max Pearson of Tynedale finishing second.

Not unexpectedly Morpeth Harrier Ryan Green, running for Durham,
won the Senior Boys 800m in 1m57.05s,
which in terms of time was someway short of his best.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier Nathan Cox finished third in this event in 1m59.47s.

Another good Boys performer was Ryan Green’s younger brother Mitch,
who finished third in the Intermediate Triple Jump, with a best of 11.56m,
which set new figures for the Northumberland  youngster.

Other Morpeth Harrier and Northumberland performances in the
Boys events saw Elliot Cowie finish fourth in the Junior Boys 300m in 41.14s,
Joe Dowd finish sixth in the Junior Boys 800m in 2m10.07s, a new personal best,
and Jacob Hopkins sixth in the Intermediate Boys 800m in 2m12.14s.

The Girls events saw Ellie Burt compete well to finish third
in both the Junior Girls Shot and Hammer events with
best respective efforts of 8.83m and 21.34m.

Hannah Brown finished third in the Junior Girls 75m Hurdles in 12.48s.

Jessica Young-Rogers was fourth in the Junior Girls 100m,
equalling her best time of 13.24s.

Georgia Priest was fifth in the Intermediate Girls Shot
with a best effort of 8.47m.

In her very first ever Intermediate Girls 3000m,
Morpeth’s Abby Sheldon finished sixth in 12m09.13s.

Two Morpeth Harriers ran as guests in the
Intermediate Boys and Intermediate Girls 100m.
Declan Stoker clocked 12.09s in the Boys,
and Naomi Arkle produced 13.53s in the Girls event.

Northumberland Schools won the Milk Cup Trophy
for their efforts, taking it from previous holders Durham.

On a closing note this was the last stepping stone for athletes with aspirations
to compete in the forthcoming English Schools Championships in July.
Some are already aware that they have qualified; others on the borderline
anxiously await the views of their respective county selectors. 

Isle of Skye Half Marathon

Four days after competing in the annual Blaydon Race,
Morpeth Harriers globetrotting distance specialist Andrew Lawrence
was battling almost hurricane like conditions to bravely finish second
in the annual Isle of Skye Half Marathon.
Despite the conditions, he still produced a healthy time of 75m42s,
which was just over two minutes adrift of race-winner Bryan Mackie of Edinburgh AC.