The first Track and Field Championships of the summer took place at the weekend,with Team Blyth’s athlete producing a weekend of high drama, exciting performances,and fantastic memories. Here is how it unfolded!
Saturday
A cold and cloudy start greeted our sprint hurdles, who wasted no time in scorching down the home straight. In the U13 70mH Hurdles heats, Fearne, Amara, Aman and India all progressed to the final, whilst we had Emily, Amber, Senna, Sadie and Hannah all going in the same U17 heat, with 3 oft he girls progressing. In the U15 final, Isla was our only representative and despite a late race hiccup, fought to hold on from bronze. In the U13 final, Aman took silver, not quite able to match her PB performance from the heat. In the U17 final, it was a stunning 1-2-3 for Team Blyth, with Hannah securing gold in a club record, ahead of Sadie with a PB, and Amber who took a stunning bronze her debut for the club with a new PB.
Once the hurdles had been packed away there was a full programme of sprint and middle distance races as the sun broke through. Adam Swalwell took 4th in the senior mens 400m, whilst in the 200m Hollie-Anne and Caitlin both progressed to the final. In the final just 45 minutes later,Caitlin was a splendid 5th, a superb result in her first year in age group, whilst Hollie-Anne showed composure to take 2nd place in 26.92s. Hannah Wilson was sublime in the U17 competition, taking yet another title after winning her heat and recording a time of 25.77s in the final to take Gold.
Lauren Creaby has been in sizzling form of late, and this continued in the 800m, in a high-quality race. Lauren lowered her own club record to an incredible 2:14.14s to take the bronze.
There was plenty of action in the field. In the U13 girls long jump, Aman left it late to produced a gold medal winning jump of 3.91s in the final round, with Fearne and India also jumping well. Later on in the javelin, Aman took silver with another PB. In the U17 long jump it was another fantastic competition for Blyth. Sadie took gold with 5.32m, whilst Amber Wright produced a huge final round PB of 4.76m to take silver. Emily Bond was agonisingly close to the medals in 4th, after as superbly consistent series of jumps, with Senna jumping an outdoor PB for 6th. In the U17 women’s javelin there were no medals,but a PB for Amber and Senna took 7th. Hollie-Anne was engaged in a fine battle in the U15 Javelin, eventually taking silver with a new club record 29.69m. Isla Bell continued to work on the technical aspects of her high jump, battling to a hard-fought bronze in the U15 comp.
Luke Pichler’s weekend was curtailed early as an injury precaution,but he did secure a pole vault silver at his opening height before ending his competition. Likewise, Millie Train produced a seasons best in the long jump for silver with her first valid jump before ending her comp due to a niggle. She did return for the javelin later, taking another silver medal with a new PB of 21.14m.
Sunday
It felt like summer as warm hazy sunshine produced fine conditions for track and field on the 2nd day.
The field action was relentless, with Ben Compton starting the day in superb style in the shot put, claiming gold with 8.30m, using the glide technique for the first time. Meanwhile we had 5 girls going in the U15 girls long jump. Isla and Talia both worked at their approach and take-off,whilst Izabela smashed her PB with 3.91m. Caitlin and Hollie-Anne progressed to the final 8, with Caitlin producing a new PB of 4.34m for 6th place,whilst Hollie-Anne secured gold with a fine new personal best of 4.77m. In the U13 shot put, Amara produced a great series and a personal best, with Fearne and Aman also throwing well. In the U17 high jump, Hannah took silver ahead of Senna in bronze, whilst there was a silver for Matthew in the senior Javelin,and Sadie was a little below her best in the U17 shot put. Alfie Ward produced a best of 6.51m in the senior mens Long Jump to take silver. The final field action of the weekend saw India Gorvett take a commanding gold in the high jump,with Amara taking silver.
The track action was fierce – and started with a stunning performance from Senna Gorvett in the 300m hurdles. She produced a superbly committed race,to storm through the line in 45.78s, securing the gold medal and her first English Schools entry standard. Adam Swalwell progressed through the senior 200m heats, before finishing 6th in the final behind former World Champ Richard Kilty. In the U13 100m, Amara and Aman progressed to the final, with Fearne just missing out. In the final, Amara was 5th just ahead of Aman. We had 4 girls in the U15 race, with a PB for Izabela and Caitlin and Talia just outside there best. Hollie had progressed through the heats, and took yet another medal with 2nd place in the final, setting a new PB on the way. It was great to see Milly Gosling run strongly, and she took 4th in the U20 womens 100m, just a couple of weeks after a nasty fall on the same track
In the longer races, Niamh Adams battled hard but finished just outside the medals in a competitive U15 1500m, whilst Lauren took silver in the U17 race, lowering her club record to 4:46.57. the final action of the weekend was the 300m. Isla Bell did superbly to qualify for the final with a big PB of 43.85s,before taking a fine 4th in the final to cap a character building weekend. Sadie Parker produced a huge PB in her U17 heat of 40.97s, before taking a final gold of the weekend in the final with another great run.
The club finished the weekend with 9 gold, 14 silver and 5 bronze medals – our best ever return from these champs. It was great to see the team spirit and enjoyment from athletes throughout the weekend, throughout all the highs and the lows.
Results can be found on the ROSTER app
Also on Sunday, Mairi-Louise Carson took part in the cancer run, recording a fantastic time of 27:02 on the boggy 3km course. Well done to Mairi-Louise!
Also on Sunday, Jack Ellis was 5th at South Beach Parkrun with 10:02, with Grace taking part in her 28th event on this course. Amazing from both! At Whitley Bay junior parkrun, Frankie Foster was 3rd with a new PB of 7:10, ahead of Elliot Summers in 7th with 8:09, with Jack Irving recording a time of 11:23. Fantastic results! At Blyth Links, William (24:51) and Daniel Hall (25:12) both put in fine runs, well done to both!
Also last week, many of our juniors were in action at their school athletics competitions. We have heard about lots of fantastic results. Well done to everyone!
South Beach Results
Whitley Bay Results
Blyth Links Parkrun Results
NEYDL - Next Fixture
Our next fixture is at SHILDON this Sunday. We would love to have another great turn-out! We appreciate this is a little further afield - we can look to car-share if needed. Contact Dan for more details, or check out www.teamblyth.com/neydl
CROP TOPS & CLUB VESTS
Diane Creaby has very kindly taken on the role of managing club vests and crop tops. If you wish to order/purchase one, please get in touch with her!
Diane’s contact number is 0772 8983541
Remember, we also have our very own range of Team Blyth Nike training kit, available via our Kitlocker store (details further down newsletter)
This weeks reporters:
Parkruns - Claire
NECAA Champs, Other news - Dan
A reminder that membership fees for 2023 are now due, details further down the newsletter.
We would love to have new contributors to the newsletter - this can be things like sourcing event info, more detailed race/event reports, and any other content that may be great to go in the newsletter. As it stands the newsletter rarely goes out on time, and is in danger of finishing entirely without new contributors. Contact Dan if you can help!
