Morpeth Harriers Senior Track and Field squad completed a highly successful season, by winning their fourth and final NESDL Division 2 fixture at Shildon 2000 Stadium on Saturday 18th July.
Having won all three of the previous fixtures, they were firmly crowned as league champions, having accumulated a total of 1,369 match points, the highest number over the two divisions, and 24 league points, which gave them a nine-point margin over closest rivals New Marske.
A very proud Team Manager George Patterson accepted the divisional winners on behalf of Morpeth Harriers from Divisional Secretary Toby Jones shortly prior to all events reaching completion, and said that this had been a good season, made even better by his hard working squad, who had achieved and developed well throughout the four matches, and had worked together as a team, and he thanked them for all that they had done to achieve the final outcome.
He also praised those who were absent because of holidays and other commitments, but they had all contributed to the excellent results.
On to the final match itself, where Morpeth Harriers on the day managed a very handsome number of individual wins, including five double victories, plus three relay wins, and well spread between both the Men’s and the Women’s sections.
One of those five double victories saw the clubs International Long Jumper Jack Roach, (in his first league outing for the club), break the NESDL League record for the Men’s Long Jump, by a considerable margin, when he achieved a best of 7.21m out of his attempts, winning by a comfortable margin of 1,60m, the closest to him being Morpeth club colleague Evan Baskerville, who achieved a best of 5.62m to win the B string.
Third best jump was also by a Morpeth Harrier Kevin Thomas, who produced a best of 4.72m.
Roach for his superb efforts, impressed even further, when he very clearly won the Men’s Triple Jump, producing a best of 13.11m, which was only 9cm outside the league record.
So, a very satisfying day’s jumping by Roach, who also delighted his Team Manager by helping to secure victory in the later run 4 x 100m Relay in 48.8s, with further support from Trevor Hodgson, Evan Baskerville, and Kevin Thomas.
Meanwhile Hodgson, the oldest member of the Men’s squad, showed great form, when finishing third in the A Race of the 100m, in a brisk 11.78s, which equates to his best for the season, and still ranks him at No 2 in the rankings for his Over 50 age group.
Evan Baskerville, posting a time of 11.92s, won the B race for Morpeth, and Kevin Thomas produced an additional performance of 12.06s.
Baskerville and Thomas achieved good points in the 200m, with Baskerville placing second in the A Race in 25.21s, and Thomas taking the B Race in 25.48s.
Ben Harding won the A Race of the 400m in 56.05s, and newcomer Cory Carney finished second in the B Race, clocking 62.65s.
In the 800m, Carney finished third in the A Race in 2m22.03s, with Bobby Hagan finishing second in the B Race in 2m26.80s.
Hagan, for the record, was definitely the workhorse in the Men’s squad, competing in no less than six events on the day, if the clubs 4 x 400m team had materialised, his number of events would have been raised to seven, his absolute maximum.
Hagan’s track programme began with the 3000m, where he won the B race in 12m30.94s, in full support to Under 18 athlete Daniel Craig’s win in the A Race in a time of 10m30.12s.
Craig and Hagan paired up also in the 1500m, where the former finished third in the A Race in 5m02.07s, with the latter taking the B Race in 5m43.80s.
Hagan also competed in three throwing events, finishing fifth in the A String Shot Putt, (4.50m), fifth in the A String Discus (11.33m), and sixth in the A String Javelin (13.12m).
The Women’s events also saw some good results for the Morpeth athletes.
Ellie Wickens was definitely the workhorse of the squad, competing in all seven of her permitted maximum events.
Her best individual track performance came in the 200m, where she won the A Race in 27.25s, with Under 18 athlete Mya Young taking the B Race in 28.56s, making it one of Morpeth’s double victories in the Women’s events.
Ellie and Mya also competed in the 400m, where Mya was just run out of a top place in the A Race, finishing third in 63.33s, whilst Ellie took the B race in a time of 67.05s.
In the 100m, Ellie finished third in the A Race in 13.31s, and Olivia Gent backed her up in the B Race, finishing second in 14.71s.
Kirsty Burville was a star performer for Morpeth in the Women’s distance events.
She won the A Races of both the 1500m and 3000m events, posting respective times of 5m35.21s, and 11m34.38s.
Jessica Holman of Morpeth finished second in the 1500m B Race, posting a time of 6m10.59s.
An additional performer for Morpeth in the 1500m was Olga Bell, who posted a time of 6m25.29s.
Olga also gave B Race support in the 800m, winning in 2m57.21s, whilst Kirsty Burville finished second in the A Race in 2m42.96s.
Morpeth won both of the Women’s Relays.
They won the 4 x 100m in 54.81s, courtesy of Ellie Wickens, Olivia Gent, Charlotte Earl, and Mya Young.
Olga Bell, Kay Errington, Kirsty Burville, and Jessica Holman secured victory in the 4 x 400m, posting a collective time of 5m27.23s.
Morpeth secured two double wins in the Long Jump, and Discus events.
In the Long Jump, Charlotte Earl won the A String with a best effort of 4.62m, and Olivia Gent took the B String with a best effort of 4.59m.
Ellie Wickens was an additional performer in the Long Jump, producing a best of 4.27m.
Producing a best of 10.06m, Ellie Wickens won the Triple Jump.
As usual Claire Reid ruled the waves in the throw’s events, winning both the Discus and Shot Putt with bests of 25.42m and 9.09m respectively.
In addition, her best throw of 22.93m saw her finish third in the Hammer competition.
The Discus saw Morpeth achieve a double win, courtesy of Ellie Wickens, who won the B String with a best of 18.21m.
Olga Bell was second in the Shot Putt B String, producing a best of 4.54m
Completing the Morpeth throws results was Bobbie Griffiths, who finished second in the A String Javelin, producing a best effort of 31.02m.
Kay Errington gave excellent B String support, with a winning throw of 18.96m.
An additional thrower was Claire Reid who managed a best effort of 15.14m.
Morpeth Harriers would also wish to thank all of their travelling officials and helpers for their respective attendances throughout the season, your support in assistance to the athletes is most valuable, and very much needed and appreciated.
MATCH RESULT
1st MORPETH HARRIERS 333pts, 2nd NEW MARSKE HARRIERS 253pts, 3rd CHESTER LE STREET/DURHAM CITY 219pts, 4th HOUGHTON/JARROW &HEBBURN 207pts, 5th TYNE BRIDGE HARRIERS 186pts, 6th SOUTH SHIELDS/ BIRTLEY 163pts.
FINAL LEAGUE RESULT (Total Match Points in brackets)
1st MORPETH HARRIERS 24pts (1369), 2nd NEW MARSKE HARRIERS 15pts (900), 3rd SOUTH SHIELDS/BIRTLEY 13pts (917), 4th TYNE BRIDGE 13pts (884.5), 5th CHESTER LE STREET/DURHAM CITY 10pts (746.5), 6th HOUGHTON/JARROW & HEBBURN 9pts (755).
Morpeth Harriers are now promoted back into Division 1, going up as Division 2 League Champions, and as a result in finishing bottom of Division 1, North Shields Poly face the drop into Division 2 for next season.
Darlington Harriers were crowned the Division 1 League Champions for the second year in succession.
RESULTS LINK Div 2.xlsx - Google Sheets
MEMBERS OF MORPETH HARRIERS SENIOR TRACK & FIELD TEAM, WINNERS OF NESDL DIVISION 2 - 2026
DIVISION 2 WINNERS TROPHY
GEORGE PATTERSON (MORPETH SENIOR TEAM MANAGER) RECEIVES DIVISION 2 WINNERS TROPHY FROM DIVISIONAL SECRETARY TOBY JONES
BELOW IS JACK ROACH WHO MADE HIS LEAGUE DEBUT, AND BROKE A LEAGUE RECORD IN THE MEN'S LONG JUMP
