Birtley's Bailes secures prestigious Jimmy Hedley 800m trophy win

Birtley athlete Adrian Bailes won the Jimmy Hedley 800m trophy for winning the race dedicated to his memory in the North East Grand Prix at Monkton.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th May 2018, 12:03 BST
Houghton Harrier Henry Johnson.Houghton Harrier Henry Johnson.
Houghton Harrier Henry Johnson.

Hedley was the man who coached Steve Cram during his illustrious middle distance career which included winning World and Olympic 1,500m medals.

Bailes recorded a modest 1.54.03 in defeating Christopher Thornley (1.55.42) a member of Bedford and County Harriers, who has been training with Sunderland Harriers while staying in Sunderland.

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There was a first class performance from the third finisher in Under-17 athlete Henry Johnson of Houghton Harriers, who clocked a grade one standard and a personal best of 1.55.65.

In the other graded 800m races, Will Bellamy, another promising Under-17 athlete from Houghton, won the B race in a PB of 1.59.05.

There was a host of Houghton Harriers that gained standards down the age groups with Under-17 Lydia James run of 2.19.85 gaining a grade three standard and Anna Pigford (2.24.84) a grade four.

Sunderland Harriers’ Over-40s veterans, Steve McMahon and Jacqueline Etherington, recorded 2.02.87 and 2.29.54 respectively.

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Houghton Harriers Under-15s Amy Leonard (4.56.29) and Nicole Phillips (5.00.48) attained grade three standard for 1500m.

Over-45 Ian Hudspith (Morpeth) tuned up for the Blaydon race on the 9th of June, by beating all his younger rivals in winning the Clive Cookson Cup 10k at Whitley Bay.

He clocked 31.29 to head two Tyne Bridge Harriers in James Dunce (31.36) and Tom Charlton (31.43).

Houghton Harrier Lee Dover finished 12th (34.34) and Sunderland Strollers had Andrew Duke in 32nd (36.55) and Michael Henderson 48th (38.40).

Heaton Harrier Danielle Smyth won the women’s race (37.24).

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There was a big group of Sunderland Harriers that contested the Temple Park 5k won emphatically by George Lowry (15.14) of Morpeth Harriers.

They were led home by second placed Ian Ritchie (16.25), Ian Dixon was third (16.34) and Houghton’s Lee Dover was fourth (16.34).

Then came 6th Craig Gunn (17.11), eighth Steven Duffy (17.19), 14th Kris Cantle (18.15), 16th Darren Stoker (18.32), 18th Darren Dodd (18.40), 19th Paul McLachlan (18.40), 21st and first woman Alice Smith (19.04), 23rd Paul Pigford (19.40), 24th Allan McManus (19.45) and 27th Vikki Cotton (20.18).