Olympic warning sent out by Yelling
Mar 3 2008 The Journal
EIGHT days after winning her fourth English National cross country title, Commonwealth marathon bronze medallist Liz Yelling returned to the roads – and ran her second-fastest half marathon.
Yelling, who is aiming to peak at next month’s London Marathon to seal a place at the Beijing Olympics, covered the 13.1 miles of the Reading half marathon in 69 minutes 34 seconds, six seconds short of her lifetime best.
She was headed by only 19 men and finished one minute 28 seconds clear of her nearest female challenger, Scottish international Hayley Haining.
Meanwhile, the final fixture of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League was held in windy conditions at Prudhoe on Saturday, but there was some exciting battles for the league titles.
Sunderland won the senior men’s Division One title for the 10th successive year, though they were beaten on the day by Gateshead. For the Wearsiders, Tom Doughty took the overall veterans’ individual award, though he didn’t compete on the day. Elswick took second place ahead of Durham City.
Morpeth won a close contest for the Division Two championship from Heaton, with Mark Brown, who clocked the fastest time in eighth place, taking the senior individual title.
Birtley won the Division Three Trophy from Gateshead.
In the senior women’s race for the league title, Heaton narrowly defeated Sunderland to take the trophy for the first time. The pair were level before this fixture, and with two runners in the first four Sunderland looked set for victory.
However, with the Newcastle club closing in four athletes before the Wearsiders’ third counter, victory was gained by two points.
In what was a good day for fast pack runners, Donna James took the individual honours and retained the veterans’ overall trophy.
Kim Simpson in second place won the senior competition.
Rachael Lundgren of Gosforth (under-15s) and Steph Bruce (under-13s) won their races from the fast pack and also won the individual competition, Lundgren for the second consecutive year.
This feat was matched by Marc Newby in the under-15s boys’ race. Last year’s under-15s champion, Tristan Venus of Tynedale, took the under-17s title this time out. On the day Venus finished second from the fast pack behind Louis Batista of Gosforth.
Adam Carrington of Morpeth, absent on this occasion, won the under-13s championship. Club-mate Jack Hepple was fastest on the day finishing second to Tom Johnson of Sunderland.
Northern champion Mary Ferrier of Gateshead won the junior women’s race from the fast pack and Deborah Oakley of Morpeth (third) took the individual title.
Other team honours went to Gateshead (under-13s and under-15s girls), Morpeth (under-13 boys), Jarrow and Hebburn (under-15s boys), and Houghton took both the junior women and under-17s men’s titles.
