Wilson on fire to seal new 800m best

Sunderland Harrier Michael Wilson smashed his 800m personal best for the second time in six days at the British Milers’ Club Gold Standard races at Stretford.

He finished fourth in the A race to dip below the 1min 50sec barrier for the first time, recording 1.49.76.

This came after the Northern champion clocked 1.51.03 at Watford at another British Milers’ Club meeting. He now moves to number two on the Sunderland Harriers’ all-time 800m list, behind Gavin Massingham’s 1.48.63.

Sparrow Morley, the Great North Gateshead 10k winner, who has been switching between road and the track during the summer, clocked a personal best for 3000m on the track at Gateshead.

Competing in the North East Grand Prix, he finished second in 8.47.32 behind Morpeth’s Carl Avery (8.42.62). His Sunderland Harrier teammates making their debut were Andy Powell, who was ninth in 9.10.77 and Ian Ritchie in 11th (9.14.23).

Houghton Harriers had fine wins from youngsters Philippa Ellis in the under-15 75m hurdles (13.06), Lydia James under-15 800m (2.23.55) and Henry Johnson under-15 800m (2.08.21).

There were good runs from Sunderland Harrier veterans Ian Dixon (16.32) and Michael Thompson (16.34) in 10th and 11th places respectively in the New Marske 5k Road Race.

Laura Muir broke Kelly Holmes’ long-standing British 1500m record by running 3.57.49 at the Muller Anniversary Games in London with another awesome display of speed, establishing her as a strong Olympics medal shout.