Representing the North East, Morpeths Rachel Denton was
an impressive winner of the Under 15 Girls 1500m at the
Northern Inter Counties Track & Field Championships
held at Hull's Costello Stadium on Saturday 23rd August.
Rachel won with a margin of four seconds over
Yorkshire's Sally Smith with her clocking of 4m53.60s.
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor was a clear winner of the Senior Mens 800m
at the annual Tartan Games Track & Field Festival held at
Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday 23rd August.
Jonathan clocked 1m52.32s for his victory.
Another Morpeth winner on the day was Elaine Telford who
crossed the line first in the Senior Womens 100m in 13.07s.
Telford also finished third in the 200m in 27.44s.
Morpeths Joe Robertshaw finished second in the finals of both the
Under 13 Boys 100m and 200m events in respective times of 13.96s and 28.35s.
In her first race after a three week family holiday in New Zealand,
Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman showed that she had not
lost any of her previous sparkle by winning the
Womens 3000m at the final Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern
Athletics meeting held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium on Wednesday 13th August.
Her victory was well sweetened by the fact that she also
clocked a new personal best for the distance of 9m38.6s,
this beating her previous figures by a mammoth eighteen seconds
which she had set in June 2007 at Gateshead.
She also set a new Morpeth Harriers Womens record for the
distance as she took victory from Chester Le Street's
Claire Simpson by a margin of four seconds.
This also means that Weightman has improved times in
all four of the events she has covered this season,
a unique individual and club achievement for someone
who is still at Junior level.
Other Morpeth Harrier winners on the night were Rachel Denton and Joe Robertshaw.
Denton was hard pressed during the first lap of the Under 15 Girls 800m
by Birtley's Sophie Taylor, however at the bell she put sufficient daylight
between herself and the determined Taylor to coast home to victory in 2m23.5s
which eventually gave her a seven second cushion.
Robertshaw just held off the close challenge of Gateshead's Jack Young
to claim victory in the Under 13 Boys 200m in 28.4s.
Alistair Douglass was fifth Under 17 Man in the 3000m in a time of 9m56.3s.
Daniel Hedley was second Under 17 Man in the 200m in 25.3s.
Morpeth Harriers won the Mens team race
at the Exhibition Park 5k Road Race
held in Newcastle on Wednesday 13th August.
They were led home by David Swinburne who finished sixth overall in 16m12s.
Further team support came from Phil Walker (8th) 16m14s
and Paul Waterston (11th) 16m48s.
Morpeth Harriers Women finished as third team behind Wallsend and Elswick,
and were led home by Deborah Oakley who was eleventh lady in 105th place in 20m19s,
and was also first Under 17 Lady finisher.
Further team support came from Zoe Armstrong (120th) (2nd U/17) (15th Lady) 20m45s,
and Sue Calvert (130th) (4th O/40 Lady) (17th Lady) 21m07s.
Other Morpeth Harriers to finish in a field of 268 finishers were as follows
Bill Gilroy (24th) (4th O/45) 17m42s,
Alistair MacDonald (35th) (6th O/45) 18m12s,
Graeme Leathard (51st) (10th O/40) 18m46s,
Neil McAnany (67th) (12th O/45) 19m14s,
Jim Alder (81st) (13th O/45) 19m34s,
Mike Steven (99th) (8thO/50) 20m12s,
Iain McLaren (103rd) (20th O/40) 20m17s,
Trevor Robinson (124th) 20m52s,
Sally Welsh (181st) (7th O/40 Lady) (34th Lady) 23m39s
Sue Smith (194th) (9th O/40 Lady) (39th Lady) 24m10s.
A week in an athletes life can take many twists and turns,
and along the way there can be many ups and downs,
just ask Morpeth 10k winner Nick Swinburn and he will
give you an expert run down of how it goes.
On Sunday 17th August in Llanberis, Snowdonia,
the 20 year old Morpeth Harrier attempted to gain an International call up
for the second year running in the World Mountain Championships.
He had finished 33rd in the Junior Mens race in Switzerland in 2007
and was aiming to make the team as a Senior in this years Championships,
due to be held in Crans-Montana in September.
Unfortunately on this occasion things didn't quite go to plan for Nick
when he finished well adrift of the leading pack,
down in sixteenth place and nearly six minutes adrift
of the winner Steve Vernon of Stockport.
A total of 44 enthusiastic runners took part in the Fun Run
at The Warkworth Show on Saturday 16th August.
The event was started by Morpeth Harriers Club President Jim Alder MBE,
and the first home was Amble schoolboy Alistair Douglass
from Morpeth Harriers who won the Mens category.
Second home was his club colleague Jonny Nisbet
who won the Under 16 Boys section.
Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes won the Under 16 Girls
section when she finished eighth overall.
Sharon Green won the Womens by finishing in twentieth place.
Three of Morpeth Harriers vets squad took part in the Sherwood Chevrolet
sponsored Darlington 10k on Sunday 10th August,
which was run on a newly modified course.
Graeme Leathard finished 70th in 39m33s, and was first home for the club.
Morpeth Harriers other two finishers were Jim Alder (139th) 41m59s,
and club newcomer Iain McLaren who finished 171st in a time of 42m46s.
Five days after claiming victory in the Morpeth 10k, Morpeths Nick Swinburn
was back in record breaking form when he won the 13th Forest Burn Fell Race
at Rothbury on Sunday 10th August, in a new course record time of
19m25s, breaking the old figures by ninety seconds.
Second place went to Northumberland Fell Runner Will Horsley in 21m07s,
with another team colleague Phil Sanderson taking third place in 21m16s.
Swinburn competes in the World Mountain Trophy Trials in Llanberis,
Snowdonia this Sunday, hoping to gain another International vest.
Other Morpeth Harriers running at Rothbury were John Woods
who finished ninth in 23m18s, and Swinburn's younger brother Greg,
only seventeen, who finished exactly halfway in the field in 21st place in 26m05s.
Woods and Swinburn had also competed in the Morpeth 10k.
Unfortunately Morpeth Harrier Jonathan Taylor became the victim
of a slower run 1500m A race at the BMC Grand Prix Final meeting
in Eton on Saturday night ( 9th August ) when he finished fifth in 3m49.59s,
which was around four seconds short of his season and personal best.
Young Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes has just completed the
series of Gateshead Open Minor Grand Prix meetings.
The final meeting was held on Sunday 10th August,
Sarah finished fourth in the Under 12 Girls section with a total of 33 points.
She had to compete on the track over 60m and 600m,
and in the Long Jump and Javelin Field events over a series of five meetings.
Her improvement over the period of the competition was quite noticeable.
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor clocked a new personal best time of 1m51.1s
when he won the BMC 800m A Race at Monkton Stadium on Monday 4th August.
At the same meeting his clubmate Marcus Cram fractionally improved his best
when he finished second in the B race in 1m59.6s.
One man who certainly enjoyed running the Morpeth 10k for the first time ever
was visiting athlete David Kroupa of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
David was in England for the first time, and visiting his wife parents in Peterlee for 14 days.
Being a 5k, Duathlon and Triathlon specialist in the USA,
and having just turned 50, he decided to try to find an athletic
event to his liking, to take part in while he was visiting.
On checking the Internet he found the Morpeth 10k,
even though it was a little above his normal distance,
he decided to give it a try.
He described the course and the experience as very enjoyable,
and as he normally runs in 90 degrees of humidity,
the slightly humid conditions on the night didn't really trouble him.
His performance certainly bore out his credentials,
as he finished in an excellent 41st place,
and in a superb time of 38m46s,
and picked up the prize of second Over 50 Male Veteran into the bargain.
David promised he would give a glowing report of the event
to his running colleagues at Premier Running Club in Fort Lauderdale,
and added that he hoped to return someday to once again compete in the Morpeth 10k,
and he thanked the organisers for putting on a splendid event for both him and all who ran.
Morpeth Harriers failed to avoid the drop into Division 3 of the
North of England Track and Field League despite the gallant efforts
from those who turned out in their final match of the season at
Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough on Sunday 3rd August.
Sadly a poor turnout from the club resulted in them having to call
on distance runners to compete in sprints, and even Club Secretary
Mike Bateman was forced into action in a desperate bid for valuable points.
Morpeth had to finish above Durham City in the match to avoid relegation,
however they were very much on an uphill struggle as
Durham managed to finish third, and Morpeth ended up fifth.
Womens Team Manager Aiveen Fox, and Claire Reid were the clubs
only winners on the day as the squad battled to claim respectability.
Fox claimed her victory in the 3000m where she clocked 10m15.5s,
and Kate Chapman took the B race in 11m25.9s to secure maximum points.
Fox also had a B race win in the 800m where she clocked 2m26.7s,
and Zoe Armstrong took third in the A race in 2m28.2s.
Reid won the Shot Putt with 10.53m, and finished second in the Discus with a best of 36.62m.
In the Mens events, there were second places for John Woods (3000m Steeplechase) (11m11.4s)
and Mark Brown (5000m) (16m17.6s), and also for Ian Mawdesley (110m Hurdles) (19.4s)
and a returning Andrew Wake (Pole Vault) (3.50m).
The Appleby brothers Steven and Paul battled in the quest for points in the Discus, and Shot.
In the Discus Paul finished fourth in the A event with his best of 33.31m,
and Steven finished third in the B event with his best of 29.76m.
Steven finished fourth in the A event of the Shot with 9.73m,
and Paul finished second in the B string with 9.03m.
Martyn Cairns produced an excellent run of 2m05.3s
to finish second in the B race of the 800m.
FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st City of York A 405pts,
2nd Middlesbrough (Mandale) 379.5pts,
3rd Durham 334pts,
4th Gateshead 325.5pts, 5th Morpeth 261.5pts,
6th Scarborough 57pts.
Kevin Bray and Bob Sewell took part in
The 2008 Castles & Islands Challenge Race
on June 20th and June 21st.
Below Kevin describes how they tackled the challenge...........
Its ten past midnight on Saturday morning and I’m bobbing about in a rubber dinghy being rowed into Lindisfarne harbour by Bob Sewell as part of our latest mad caper, competing in the Castles & Islands Challenge.
The event began at 6.30pm with 16 pairs of runners setting off from Alnwick castle in a straight race down to Coquet Yacht club at Amble, via Warkworth Castle.
We came in 4th team, and then boarded ‘our’ yacht a 34’ racer/cruiser called Cactus Jack. The Yacht was skippered by Nick Spurr, the owner of Amble boatyard and crewed by his son Ben, his foreman Steve and Bob’s brother in law Ken – hence the invite to take part.
Stepping on board I couldn’t help thinking that a yacht like this (it really was the business) deserved better runners than a couple of 50 'plussers' !
We enjoyed a fantastic evening weather wise sailing north round Coquet Island, through the Farnes to reach Holy Island just after midnight.
Once we landed we had to run around the island visiting three checkpoints that took us on an 8 mile circuit from the harbour via Lindisfarne castle.
We saved time and distance because the tide was out allowing fast running on hard sand before we cut back into the dunes to find the obelisk at Emmanuel Head then the footpaths to the castle and harbour. The sky was clear and the moon so bright that we hardly needed head torches.
Back on board we got dried, changed and brewed up as we sailed south, again through the Farnes before a ‘choppy’ disembark and row into Seahouses harbour, from where we ran north along the beach before cutting through the dunes to circuit Bamburgh castle, a run of about 7 miles.
A feature of an event like this is that you really have no idea of where you are in the field at any particular time because you can take on the runs in any order and the yachts are handicapped by a system that was beyond me! All we knew was that we seemed to be towards the front of the field position wise and Bob and I were running well helped by skipper Nick’s strategies to use the tides to maximum advantage.
However the tide wasn’t always going to be out and the next run we did in the early hours was a killer. The yacht anchored off Low Newton and Bob rowed us into the harbour. We checked in with the marshal then began our run down the beach to Dunstanburgh castle and back. It was 41 minutes of purgatory for me – my legs were dead and Bob just seemed to be pottering along hardly sinking into the soft sand where it seemed I was up to my knees!
We were both glad to get back on board and when we set sail for the finish at Amble it seemed we were lying in second place on the course. The wind had really died and Nick used all his skill to find what breeze there was to allow us to overtake the leading yacht about 400m from the finish at the harbour entrance. We finished at 9.30am Saturday morning in 15 hrs 5 mins and so became the course record holders – the first time in either of our running careers we have held a ‘record’ so we are making the most of it!
We tied up in the marina and then enjoyed a proper breakfast sitting in the sun on deck – we then discovered that sailors like a drink. There is none of this waiting until the ‘sun dips over the yardarm’ carry on. Any excuse to break out the rum – by the time I got to bed at 11.15 that morning I was in some state!
We went to the prize presentation that night to discover that we had finished 3rd overall on handicap and 4th fastest team of runners. The total running distance is estimated at 30 miles and we were timed at 3.48.
This is an event that is something totally different. It was hard work, but great fun and it is well organised by ex – Morpeth Harrier Pete Hammond and his team. Safety is a priority.
It’s going to get more popular so opportunities for runners to take part are bound to increase – so keep an eye on the Coquet Yacht Clubs Website.......
Kevin Bray 2008
(Thanks to Bob Sewell for inviting me to take part)
A record number of 313 finishers took part in the11th running
of the Morpeth 10k Road Race on Tuesday 5th August.
Thankfully on the night, the relatively unseasonable August weather abated,
and runners faced slightly humid conditions for the event which now ranks
as one of the oldest in the region that is still run on its original course.
The field were led home by Morpeths Nick Swinburn, who in clocking 32m24s,
bettered his winning 2006 time by a mammoth thirty seconds,
and the 20 year old Bangor University student was also well
pleased with his run following a strenuous series of
International Mountain races that have brought him some success.
Swinburn was five seconds clear of his Morpeth clubmate Terry Wall at the halfway point,
and was always wary of the possibility of a challenge from him.
as he is also a former winner of the event, having won in
2002 and 2003 in times of 31m11s and 31m27s.
Nick was very much forced to push up the pace on the second lap,
and eventually came home with twenty seven seconds to spare
over Wall who maintained second place.
Third place went to Michael Morris,
which meant a 1,2,3 for the Morpeth club.
Morris had won his own personal battle of wits with Paul Besford,
formerly of Gateshead, now running as unattached, and crossed
the finish line in 33m17s, giving him an eighteen seconds
margin over the fourth placed Besford.
Fifth place went to Sunderland Harrier Paul Given in 33m58s,
just outsprinting Morpeth's Phil Walker by two seconds,
who took the first Veteran Mens title.
He was followed in seventh place by his club colleague
and training partner Paul Waterston who clocked 34m51s
and was second Veteran Man to finish.
Eighth place went to Paul Whalley of Blyth Running Club who clocked 35m24s.
Ninth and tenth places went to Stephen Grey of Elswick (3rd Veteran Man) (35m30s)
and Chris Jackson of Sunderland Strollers (35m34s).
Jimmy Bell of Elswick, who was first in the Over 60 Mens Veterans
category had a superb run to finish eleventh in 35m39s.
One place behind Jimmy came the first Lady finisher in Fiona Matheson
who in clocking an excellent 35m46s as a Veteran, easily smashed
Tynedale's Lynne Marr's ten year old Veteran Womens record of 37m00s.
Les Atkinson's Veteran Mens course record of 32m14s,
also set in 1998 remains unbroken.
As do the Mens and Womens course records held by
Ian Hudspith (Morpeth Harriers) (1997) 29m14s,
and Jill Boltz (formerly Hunter) (1998) 34m46s.
Second and third placed Ladies were Angela Hibbs of Chester Le Street
who was 22nd in 36m34s, and Morpeths Aiveen Fox, who was 26th in 37m21s,
and had won the race for the last three years, and had finished second in 2004.
Her time on this occasion was her third best on the course.
Morpeth Harriers would wish to thank the following
for their kind sponsorship and assistance with the event:-
A-Belco (Ashington based Electrical Engineering Company)
and Brumell & Sample (Morpeth based Solicitors) as Main Sponsors,
Stanton Hall Nurseries and Alderbuild as co sponsors,
support given by Morpeth Town FC
in providing Race Headquarters and Officials Parking,
Piramal Healthcare in providing Race Parking, Start Fitness for prizes,
Ted Phizacklea and his ever willing team of Red Cross workers
for providing valuable Medical assistance, Northumbria Police for their co-operation,
and Members and Friends of Morpeth Harriers for offering
their services as Race Officials and Race Marshalls on the night.
We fully support Bob Houston in the points that he makes,
and strongly discourage our members from giving race
numbers to (or receiving them from) others.
Some years ago a runner died during a race that we organised,
and he was wearing someone else's number.
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to work out
what could have happened in such circumstances.
Articles and reports on this site are viewed before inclusion,
however the webmaster cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions contained therein.
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