Park run in the big League
JUNIOR ATHLETICS HUNDREDS TURN OUT TO COMPETE OVER A TESTING GOSFORTH COURSE
THERE was again a huge turnout for the third fixture of the Start Fitness North East Harrier League, which was staged in Gosforth Park for the first time.
Despite the inclement weather early in the day, around 500 youngsters took to their marks to contest a testing course set out adjacent to the racecourse.
However, while the meeting as a whole was a resounding success, two competitors who won their respective races felt the wrath of the officials and were disqualified for breaking the league’s rules.
Unfortunately, for Ines Curran (Gateshead) and Tynedale’s Harrison Cutler, they were minor offences.
Curran, who was first home in the under-15 girls’ race, was taken out of the results for wearing the wrong race number.
Cutler, a new member of the Hexham-based club, missed out in the under-15 boys’ event for not wearing a Tynedale vest.
The programme again opened with an enthusiastic under-11 boys’ event run over one mile and, as he has done in the earlier fixtures, first home was Zak Brannon of North Shields Poly .
He had an eight-second cushion over Morpeth’s Aaron Hayes at the finish, Wallsend’s Luke Pichler finishing a close-up third.
In the under-11 girls’ contest Elswick’s Poppy Wilde continued her run of good form despite being pushed all the way to the line by Sophie Quinn (Billingham Marsh House) Birtley’s Daisy Graham winning the race for the final medal position.
The under-13 boys’ race was over a distance of 3.3k and the first three home defied a 1min40sec penalty to claim the honours.
Victory went to Blackhill’s Tom Sloan, who held off the mid-race challenge of Morpeth’s Bertie Marr to win by eight seconds as Durham Blackhill’s Tom Slane (101) and Bertie Marr (Morpeth) splash through the water hazard before Slane went on to win the under-13 boys’ contest at Gosforth Park City’s Sam Terry got up close to the line to pip Adam Howlinson (Morpeth) for third.
The under-13 girls also faced a distance of 3.3k and it was North Shields Poly’s Charlotte Payton who proved the strongest - making the best of a start of 1:40 to finish five seconds clear of Millie Clarke (Derwent Valley Trail Runners) who finished one second in front of Ella Jones.
Fastest on the course was Jones’ Chester-leStreet team-mate Freya Clarkson, who worked her way through from the back of the field to finish in fifth place.
With Cutler being disqualifed in the under15 boys’ race, Gateshead’s Theo Barron was declared the winner ahead of team-mate Will Seager Rooke who had the better of Tynedale’s Charlie Daley to claim second place by a matter of just one second.
Daley had the distinction of posting the fastest time of the day after giving the leading duo a start of 1:40.
Second in the under-15 girls’ race, Rhiannon Hedley (Morpeth), was also promoted to pole position after the disqualification of Curran with Kirsty Nash (North Shields Poly) and Cecelia Reid (Blaydon) moved up to second and third respectively.
The under-17 men’s 4.8k contest saw English Schools’ 800 metres champion Dan Joyce claim victory by 20 seconds, Gateshead’s Harry Morris runner-up and Ollie Barrett (Birtley) completing the one-two-three.
Fastest on the course was Wallsend’s Sam Charlton, who worked his way through the field from a 2:30 handicap to finish fifth.
The combined under-17/20 women also faced a distance of 4.8k - and it was a triumph for students of Newcastle University who had the first two runners across the line.
Victory went to Olivia Dowie, who had nearly a minute in hand over Erin Gallagher as Houghton’s Anna Pigford held off her teammate Lydia James to claim the final podium place.
Fastest on the course was Morpeth’s Holly Peck who, from a 2:30 handicap, worked her way through the field to finish in ninth place. LEADING RESULTS - Under-17 men (4.8k): 1 D Joyce (Tyne) 16:47; 2 H Morris (Gates) 17:07; 3 O Barrett (Birt) 17:10; 4 C Lines (Sedge) 17:35; 5 S Charlton (Walls) 18:08; 6 J Fiddaman (Blyth) 18:13; 7 W Bellamy (Hough) 18:18; 8 C McMillan (Gates) 18:21; 9 J Davies (Sund) 18:26; 10 T Balsdon (Morp) 18:28. Fastest: S Charlton 15:38; 2 J Fiddaman 15:43; 3 W Bellamy 15:48; 4 C McMillan 15:51; 5 T Balsdon (Morp) 15:58; 6 R Bennett (Morp) 16:25.
Under-15 boys (3.3k): 1 T Barron (Gates) 12:44; 2 W Seager Rooke (Gates) 12:46; 3 C Daley (Tyne) 12:47; 4 E Duffin (Morp) 12:49; 5 M Walton (Morp) 12:58; 6 R Mason (Birt) 13:03; 7 J Blevins (NSP) 13:05; 8 K Mutch (Gosf) 13:06; 9 R Mumford (Birt) 13:11; 10 W Collinson (Blay) 13:23. Fastest: 1 C Daley 11:07; 2 E Duffin 11:09; 3 J Blevins 11:25; 4 K Mutch 11:26; 5 W Collinson 11:43; 6 O Douglass (NSP) 11:47.
Under-13 boys (3.3k): 1 T Slane (BhillBnds) 13:27; 2 B Marr (Morp) 13:35; 3 S Terry (DurC) 13:49; 4 A Howliston (Morp) 13:52; 5 E Bond (Gosf) 13:53; 6 B Pye (Hough) 13:58; 7 D Turnbull (NSP) 14:0; 8 R Davies (Morp) 14:07; 9 C Dornan (Gates) 14:10; 10 N Henderson (Tyne) 14:15. Fastest: 1 T Slane 11:47; 2 B Marr 11:55; 3 S Terry 12:09; 4 E Bond 12:13; 5 B Pye 12:18; 6 R Davies 12:27. Under-11 boys (one mile): 1 Z Brannon (NSP) 5:14; 2 A Hayes (Morp) 5:22; 3 L Pichler (Walls) 5:24; 4 W Jardine (DurC) 5:25; 5 J Henderson (Tyne) 5:26; 6 O Tomlinson (Morp) 5:33; 7 H Hunter (Gates) 5:40; 8 J Stroud (Elsw) 5:46; 9 B McClean (LowF) 5:46; 10 H Garrett (Gates) 5:48.
Under-17/20 women (4.8k): 1 O Dowle (NcleUni) 19:25; 2 E Gallagher (NcleUni) 20:21; 3 A Pigford (Hough) 20:32; 4 L James (Hough) 20:39; 5 R Wren (Gosf) 20:43; 6 S Fielding (Elsw) 20:54; 7 J Levy (Blay) 20:56; 8 G Mackie (Sund) 20:58; 9 H Peck (Morp) 20:58; 10 K Duffin (Morp) 21:02. Fastest: 1 H Peck 18:28; 2 E Hardie (Hough) 18:46; 3 R Purves (Gosf) 19:08; 4 A Pigford 19:17; 5 L James 19:24; 6 O Dowle 19:25.
Under-15 girls (3.3k): 1 R Hedley (Morp) 13:45; 2 K Nash (NSP) 14:11; 3 C Reid (Blay) 14:19; 4 A Leonard (Hough) 14:26; 5 T Graham (Birt) 14:28; 6 S Scott (Sund) 14:38; 7 K Francis (Birt) 14:39; 8 H Waugh (NSP) 14:42; 9 A Leiper (Morp) 14:44; 10 K Salthouse (Tyne) 14:46. Fastest: 1 C Reid 12:39; 2 A Leonard 12:46; 3 T Graham 12:48; 4 S Scott 12:58; 5 K Francis 12:59; 6 H Waugh 13:02.
Under-13 girls (3.3k): 1 C Payton (NSP) 14:16; 2 M Clarke (DerValTR) 14:21; 3 E Jones (Ch-le-St) 14:22; 4 T Robson (Tyne) 14:24; 5 F Clarkson (Ch-le-St) 14:37; 6 C Dillon (DurC) 14:40; 7 A Lewis (Gosf) 14:44; 8 L Fallon (Birt) 15:01; 9 H Bowyer (BhillBnds) 15:09; 10 L Walton (TyneBr) 15:13. Fastest: 1 F Claarkson 12:47; 2 C Dillon 13:00; 3 A Lewis 13:04; 4 H Bowyer 13:29; 5 A Crowder (Gates) 13:35; 6 F Gibson (DurC) 13:41.
Under-11 girls (one mile): 1 P Wilde (Elsw) 5:30; 2 S Quinn (BillMHse) 5:33; 3 D Graham (Birt) 5:43; 4 H Atkinson (NSP) 5::45; 5 C Atkinson (NSP) 5:50; 6 J Black (NSP) 5:57; 7 M Graham (Birt) 6:01; 8 D Clapperton (NSP) 6:02; 9 A Jones (Ch-leSt) 6:03; 10 K Peck (Morp) 6:05.