Wilson races to 800m title in Manchester

Michael Wilson became the first Sunderland Harrier to win a senior men's middle distance title in the Northern Athletics Championships at Sport City, Manchester yesterday.
Michael Wilson.Michael Wilson.
Michael Wilson.

He claimed the title in the 800m after moving through the field before launching his bid for victory with 150 metres to go, clocking 1.53.27.

This performance followed his personal best for 1500m (3.47.71) set at Watford two weeks ago. He won the Northern under-15 title in 2010 and was second in the under-20s 800m last year.

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Clubmate Sparrow Morley, the North East 1500m champion, clocked a personal best for the distance of 3.59.82 to qualify for the final but failed to produce a similar performance, finishing 11th in 4.09.26.

Clubmate Steve McMahon recorded a personal best in the 5000m recording 15.48.83 for 16th position.

Sunderland Harrier Mark Smith was beaten on the dip finish to Gateshead Harrier Andrew Rowen to lose out in the Jimmy Hedley Memorial 800m at the North East Grand Prix at Monkton.

Both athletes could not be separated on time and were both given 1.57.3. Hedley was the man that coached middle distance star Steve Cram through his illustrious career.

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In the graded 800m races, there were also personal bests for under-20 Jess Fox in a Sunderland Harriers club record of 2.20.7 and under-17 Eve Quinn (2.25.6).

Houghton Harriers’ saw under-15 Lydia James record a winning PB in 2.24.5 with Anna Pigford third (2.27.7) and under-13 North East 1500m champion Nicole Phillips recorded 2.31.5 in her race.

In-form under-20 Alex Brown was second in his debut 3000m (8.55.6) to Durham’s James Askew (8.52.9), while under-20 Ben Mitchell (Houghton) won the shot (12.24).

There were also personal bests for under-20 Sunderland Harrier Declan Murray in the 400m (53.6) and under-17 Sarah Knight in the 3000m (11.02.7).

In the New Marske Everyone Active 10k, Sunderland Harrier Matt Jones finished second (33.53) to Durham City Harrier James Askew (33.28),