Morpeth Harriers fill four of top five places in North East Grand Prix series 3000m

Twenty Morpeth Harriers were in action at the final meeting of the 2024 North East Grand Prix series.

Six of those members finished prominently in the fastest of three 3000m races, in an event won by Gateshead’s Lewis Liddle, who produced a storming finish to deny a Morpeth quartet featuring Will De Vere-Owen, George Lowry, Joe Dixon and Bertie Marr, who finished second, third, fourth and fifth. Elliot Kelso was eighth and Ralph Robson.

Morpeth’s Oliver Tomlinson finished third in the 3000m B race, and Lee Cuthbertson 11th.

Dominic Harris, running his first event in a Morpeth vest, finished third in the C race, and Under-15 Girl Emma Tomlinson 11th.

Morpeth Harriers were also prominent finishers in the 800m events.

In the fastest race, Josh Fiddaman finished second, and Joe Close was third. Alistair Douglass finished fifth.

In the eighth-fastest 800m event, Under-15 Faye Heatley produced a new personal best of 2m 43.23s when finishing second, and Zoe Tomlinson was sixth.

Veteran athlete Jason Dawson finished ninth in the fifth-fastest 800m event.

Morpeth sprinter Ellie Wickens finished seventh in the fifth-fastest 200m event.

In the long jump, Abby Ross produced a best of 4.34m, and in the triple jump, North East champion Charlotte Earl produced a best of 11.47m, to win the Women’s competition.

Elsewhere, Under-17 Alexandria Hodgson threw a best of 48.44m in the hammer competition to take a silver medal at the Northern Athletics combined Under 17/Under 15/Under 13 Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The following weekend she travelled up to Scotland to take gold in the Under-17 Women’s Hammer at the Eric Liddell Scottish Championships, throwing 47.72m.

Several Morpeth Harriers competed in the Run Through BMC series of 800m events at Gateshead Stadium on Sunday.

Posting a personal best time of 1m 53.21s, Ellis Hetherington finished fourth in the second-fastest event.

Also competing were Josh Fiddaman and Joseph Close, who finished sixth and eighth respectively.

In the third-fastest race, Alistair Douglass finished fourth.

Peter Smallcombe finished second in the fourth-fastest race, and in the fifth-fastest 800m event, Bertie Marr finished fourth.

Morpeth’s only woman competitor was Poppy Buck, who was second in her race.