On an icy thursday evening, a number of our young track and field starts to sanctuary at the indoor track at Gateshead College to open their indoor seasons.

Alexander Robson-Lamb had a stunning evening, setting club record and taking victories in both the 60m Hurdles and High Jump. Aman Sanghera was also in spectacular form, with big personal bests in both the 60m and 60m hurdles. Luke Pichler recorded a solid 3m in the pole vault, whilst India was not far off her PB in the long jump. Ben scored a new PB in the 60m, and recorded a strong shot put, whilst Talia set an indoor long jump personal best. Martha Lorimer set a huge 60m PB, and also scored in indoor personal best in the long jump. A huge well done to all who competed!

Two of our brightest talents have had a fantastic week, starting with Sadie Parker on Thursday evening at the Sport Newcastle Awards night. Sadie has been selected as a "Rising Star", which means that she will receive financial support from Sports Newcastle following her exceptional performance in recent years. At the glittering awards ceremony, she shared the stage with North East sporting greats, and had a fantastic chat with Triple Jump World Record holder Jonathan Edwards.

Meanwhile, Luke was preparing to represent England for the 2nd time, as he competed on Saturday at the SIAB International Penathlon in Glasgow. The competition comprised the four best multi-eventers from each of the home countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland), and Luke produced a consistent series of performances to help secure team gold for England. A fantastic experience!

​After the cancellation of the Druridge Bay fixture, it was fantastic that our young athletes had the opportunity to again show what they could do at the Lambton Estate Harrier League XC on Sunday. At times wet and wild conditions made for a challenging course, but this did not deter our biggest EVER turnout of junior athletes at a Harrier League event. Here is how everyone got on!
 
U11’s
In the boys race which was made up of a massive 74 finishers, Alex Fielding was a fine 13th, with Jacob Martin and Henry Bryce recording top 50 finishes. Eliza Payne ran in the girls race, putting in a fantastic performance on her harrier league debut for the club.
 
U13’s
In the boys race, Charlie Makepeace finished in 13th place, whilst Oscar Valentine-Beech was 44th. In the U13 Girls race, we had a fantastic 5 girls in action. Liliana was 21st, just ahead of Amelie in 25th and Isabelle rounded out the top 30. Penny and Grace both finished top 50th on their Harrier League debuts.
 
U15’s & U17’s
Our U15 boys team were in fine form once again, with George and Dexter both finishing high up the order from the fast pack, with James Lloyd completing another fine team performance with a 37th place finish. In the U15 girls Maisie Payne made her Harrier League debut, finishing in 45th position after a strong run. Beth Munro ran in the U17 girls race, finishing in an excellent 30th place.
 
A huge well done to all our juniors who took part!

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It was fantastic start to the Harrier League season on Saturday, with 10 Blyth juniors across a wide range of age groups doing themselves proud on the fantastic Thornley Farm course. Alex, Jack and Henry were a brilliant team in the U11 race, with Alex finishing just outside the top 10. Elliot was a fantastic 18th in the U13 boys race, with Liliana putting in a strong run to finish just outside the top 10 in the girls race. Our U15 boys team produced our best team result for a number of years, taking 1st pace in the team competition, with Dexter and Jamie finishing top 10, and George not far behind having run from the fast pack, with James finishing in the top 40 also. Finally, Beth was an excellent 24th in the U17 race. Well done all! 

Blyth host the next fixture at Druridge Bay in 2 weeks, we hope to see a massive turnout of athletes and volunteers!

The track and field season finally concluded over the weekend, with a dramatic weekend of Combined Events action to close out the season in style.
 
We start our round up at Monkton Stadium, where the NECAA Pentathlon championships took place on Saturday. India Gorvett went in the U13 girls pentathlon, producing a consistent day with the highlight being a well-earned long jump personal best as she finished just outside the medals in 4th place. Alex Robson-Lamb was involved in probably the strongest ever U13 boys comp at these champs, and took PB’s in the shot put and 800m to take a fine bronze, with a club record score of 1493pts.
 
In the U15’s, sadly Fearne’s day ended early due to injury – but in the one event she did compete she was able to set an outdoor long jump PB. Amara O’Callaghan had a consistent day – and was rewarded with an overall pentathlon PB of 1490pts. In the U15 boys, Jacob Robertson secured his first ever NECAA medal following a strong competition. There were PB’s in the 80m hurdles and shot put, as he scored an overall PB of 1801pts to take bronze. Ben Compton also produced a solid competition, and finished just outside the medals. He scored PB’s in the shot put and hurdles on this way to an overall pentathlon PB. Our U17 team of Amber Wright and Hollie-Anne Sudder were the class of the field in their age group. Hollie scored a big PB in the hurdles to start her day well, before Amber produced a strong series of jumps and a great final 800m to take the gold, with Hollie taking silver after a great competition. Well done to all who took part on a grey and gloomy day at Monkton – enjoy your well earned rest!

Results
 
We now move to Stoke-on-Trent, which was the location for the ESAA Combined Events national finals – a prestigious event of the highest calibre. Having qualified from regionals, Luke Pichler went in the inter boys Octathlon, whilst we had a team of athletes in the inter girls Heptathlon. Abi Huntly, Isla Bell and Senna Gorvett lined up on the start line, although sadly Sadie Parker was not able to take part, which was a huge shame as she was top scorer from regionals. On Saturday, Luke started in fine style with 6.55m in the long jump to move into an early lead, before negotiating his most precarious events – the discus and javelin safely to remain in contention. Luke finished day 1 in the best possible fashion with a superbly paced 400m, to smash his PB with 52.47s to end day 1 in a strong position. For the girls, it was very much a mixed start. Isla was superb over her first few hurdles before dropping back, whilst Senna stormed to a heat victory in a new PB. Sadly for Abi, despite a storming start she landed badly off a hurdle mid race, causing a knee injury that would eventually curtail her weekend. High jump was next, with solid results for all, although Abi was forced to withdraw following the event due to her injury. Shot put again was solid for both Isla and Senna, before they finished day with the 200m as a lightning storm moved in.
 
Day 2 was a challenging affair – with heavy and persistent rain for most of the day making things very tough for athletes who were out in the field for hours at a time. Luke knew he needed a strong start to the day with two of his favoured events first up. He was brilliant in the 100m hurdles, securing a huge win in a fantastic time, before clearing a very good1.83m in the high jump in tricky conditions. Shot put was slightly below expectation, but Luke as sitting in a medal position heading into the 1500m. Luke knew what was needed to hold on to a podium place, and he went above and beyond, delivery a 10 second PB to secure bronze with a fantastic total of 5078pts. Following presentation, Luke was whisked off to the “International Room” to receive his England kit – as he will now represent his country at the SIAB International in Glasgow this Autumn. A massive achievement!
 
It was a really tough start to day 2 for Senna and Isla in the long jump, as they dealt with the worst of conditions and distances were not what they wanted. However they regrouped for the javelin,  with a huge PB for Senna to keep her inside the top 8. In the 800m, Isla gave it her all and it was her strongest event of the weekend as she picked up places in the overall competition. Senna went in the final race, and committed to a fast pace. She was rewarded with a great time, and a superb 7th place finish overall, up from 26th in 2023. All 4 four athletes were fantastic over the weekend, and it was great to see Abi stay and support her team-mates through to the end despite not being able to complete the event herself.

Results

Well done to our SEVENTEEN juniors who took part in the Great North Run on the 7th September! Fantastic performances and brilliant spirit and results from all.

George Bryce 14:45
Joseph Hickey 17:08
Jack Webster 18:11
Tom Floyd 18:31
Amelie Hall 19:48
Elliot Harrison 19:58
Jacob Martin 20:07
Jack Ellis 20:19
Henry Bryce 20:30
Oscar Valentine-Beech 21:02
Beth Munro 22:11
Katie Lisle 28:58
Lucy Lisle 29:58
Elliot Summers 17:36
Joseph Dixon
Lucas Johnson 17:07
Jamie Floyd 16:22

On Wednesday 4th September, the traditional end-of-season track relays to took place at Monkton Stadium, with a typically fierce line-up of Team Blyth relay teams.

We had slightly lower numbers than usual in the younger age groups, which meant that we fielded a very young but fantastically committed team in the U15 girls 4x100m. Martha and India stepped up an age group to join Safia and Fearne to run a 60s flat time with some great changeovers. Our relentless U17 team have progressed through the age groups together and over the last 5-6 years have been pretty much unbeatable - this run continued as Sadie, Senna, Abi and Hollie took a huge victory in 50.70s, just 0.05 outside the outright club record despite one very messy changeover. Our senior team included Mia and Isla who ran with vets Lauren and Kandis, and they smashed the senior club record with 53.31 to take 4th in a very close senior race.

In the 4x200, Izabela joined up with India, Martha and Safia to run a non-scoring U15 4x200m, whilst our two U15 boys Ben and Jacob stepped up to the U17 4x200 team and were joined by Amber and Hollie as they took 2nd in their heat. Finally, it was the 4x400 and Senna, Sadie and Beth stepped up to the senior team to take on the most challenging of distances. They produced a fine performance to take a brilliant victory and conclude a fantastic evening.

What a weekend! First up in our round-up this week is a report from the UK School Games, where we had athletes competing for the very first time, and having the opportunity to proudly wear England vests. Sadie, Luke and Senna earned there places due to all being ranked very highly in their strongest events this season, and spent several days in Loughborough in a multi-sport event similar in format to the Olympics. Rather than competing for their home nation, athletes are equally split into teams based around Olympic host cities (e.g Rio, Athens, Paris).

Our athletes competed in their individual events on Friday and Saturday, with Sadie (Long jump), Senna (300m Hurdles) and Luke (100m Hurdles) all finishing in the top 6 despite not performing to the best of their abilities. All three were selected to compete in the 4x300/4x400 relays to complete the programme, with Luke coming away with a fantastic silver medal. It was a great experience for all, with memories and new friends made.

On Sunday, the XC season kicked off with a massive Blyth contingent at Farringdon. It was great to see so many athletes taking part for the first time, with some brilliant results. In the U11 race, Alex Fielding (6th), Eliza Pain (23rd girl), Jacob Martin (18th), Jack Ellis (21st) and Henry Bryce (22nd) were all superb. In the U13 race Isabelle Ann Hope was 10th girl on her club debut, with Amelie Hall 16th. Oscar Valentine-Beech was 20th boy, a strong performance. In the U15 race, it was a brilliant 7th place finish for George Bryce. Finally, we had Beth Munro going in the U17 race, and she finished as 9th girl home.

It was wonderful to see such a big team out - lets keep up this momentum! 

Following our fantastic NEYDL & NESDL campaigns this season, it was great to have the opportunity for a bonus meet, with different age groups including seniors going up against each other in a handicapped meet, with points based on the England Athletics PB awards system.

Conditions were tricky, with a strong and chilly wind making top performances a challenge, but there were still some fine results. Alex Robson-Lamb starred with a 1.45m club record in the U13 high jump to take the win, with a big PB in the hurdles as well. Amber Wright saved her best until last with a 4.94m into a headwind in the long jump, whilst Ben Compton set a new discus PB, also producing a solid shot put. Charlie Makepeace smashed his shot put PB, whilst Fearne Bell scored a new in the 75m hurdles, also with a  strong shot put. Hollie battled the wind in her javelin but still produced a strong performance, and finished 3rd in the hurdles. India Gorvett was 2nd in the hurdles, and is showing a return to form in the high jump with a solid 1.25m. Isla Bell didnt have the best hurdles run, but had 3 good attempts at her high jump PB. Senna Gorvett was 2nd in the hurdles after a poor start, also throwing the shot put where she was just below her best. Well done also to the seniors that competed, including coach NIgel, Alfie with a 6.70m long jump, and Liane in the throws.