The long indoor season finally came to an end on Sunday, as Team Blyth athletes went up against athletes from the North East and all over the UK at a sell-out NECAA Indoor Pentathlon. Here is how the day unfolded

U13's
India Gorvett began the day with a solid hurdles, before smashing out a big new personal best in the shot put. The long jump proved to be the most challenging event of day for India as recorded a pair of fouls, but she bounced back in the high jump with a 1.28m clearance. This set her up for a grand finale, with a chance of bronze medal. Sadly it wasnt quite to be, despite running a brilliant PB in her 60m she missed out on bronze by the smallest of margins. Meanwhile, Alex Robson-Lamb was embarking his first pentathlon. He produced a consistent series of perfomances in the hurdles, high jump and long jump, and set a new personal best in the shot put. He headed into the 60m in 2nd place, and held on to this position to take a well earned silver medal.

U15's  
Caitlin Creaby, Aman Sanghera and Fearne Bell all began with the hurdles - with Caitlin knockong nearly a second off her previous best, and Fearne completing her first U15 race safely. The long jump was solid, if not spectacular for the girls, as they started to accumulate solid scores. In the shot put there were big new personal bests for Caitlin and Fearne, whilst the high jump provided one of the most stressful moments of the day as Caitlin failed her first two attempts at her opening height, before clearing on her first attempt. Aman had a superb high jump, setting a new personal best to move up the rankings. In the 60m, Aman and Fearne finished their comps strongly to set overall pentathlon PB's, whilst Caitlin stormed to victory in her heat to take a superb silver medal.

U17's 
Talia Green, Amber Wright and Isla Bell went in the U17 event, and all safely navigated the hurdles with a new PB for Isla. She continued this PB form in the long jump leaping to a new best of 4.46m, whilst Amber and Talia were both not far off their best, and racked up great points. In the high jump, Talia cleared her 2nd highest height ever, with Amber delighted with 1.49m. Isla continued her amazing start to the comp with another PB and her first time over 1.40m. Sadly Talia then had to withdraw due to an injury concern, whilst Isla and Amber moved onto the shot put which was slightly below expectation for both. Heading into the 60m, the girls were in the top 2 positions and produced fine runs, with Amber becoming NECAA Pentathlon champion and Isla taking silver, both with huge overall PB's for this event.

It was another fantastic combined events comp for our young athletes, as they once again showed great passion spirit and determination.

Results

The England Athletics Combined Events Championships took place on the weekend of the 9th and 10th March 2024, with three of our athletes competing against the best multi-events from England, Scotland and Wales. On Saturday, Luke Pichler kicked off this Heptathlon campaign in stunning fashion with big PB's in both the 60m (7.28s) and Long Jump (6.66m) to take an early lead. Another PB followed in the shot put, and he ended the day with a solid high jump to put him in a strong leading position heading into day 2.

Senna Gorvett and Hannah Wilson's U17 Pentathlon took place on the Saturday, with both girls looking to finish their indoor seasons strongly in a high quality field of 32 athletes. It was a great start to the day in the hurdles, with Hannah very close to her PB in her first hurdles race of the winter, whilst Senna Gorvett produced a fine PB (9.40s). Up next was the high jump, with 1.50m being the key height - Senna sailed over on the 2nd attempt which was a solid result, whilst Hannah produced a clutch 3rd time clearance to stay in the comp before going on to a superb clearance at 1.59m to move up the overall rankings. The shot put saw both our girls save their best to last with fired up performances, Hannah with a new PB (9.84m) and Senna very close to 10m. Event 4 was the Long Jump - and this was likely to be a crucial event thanks to the big points differential on offer. Hannah again saved her best for last, exceeding the 5m barrier despite not hitting the board, with Senna also board-shy as her best was somewhat below expectations.

Heading into the 800m, Hannah was very much in with a chance of a bronze medal, along with a number of other athletes. Senna knew that a strong run could move her up the rankings, possibly into the top 10. Senna was up first and ran a brilliantly paced race, before moving into the lead and winning her heat in a massive PB of 2:27.71. This moved her up into a brilliant 10th position, with a massive points PB of 3174pts. In the next heat, one of the athletes in contention for a bronze put in a superb run, giving Hannah and the other athletes in the final heat a real target to aim for. The race went at a steady pace, and Hannah was near the front throughout. The pace quickened on the final lap and Hannah stayed strong to finish in 2:32.89, which gave her a final points total of 3335pts, which gave her 6th place, just 57pts off bronze. Nonetheless, she should be very proud, and has scored the highest ever points total by a North East athlete in an indoor pentathlon.

Luke concluded his Heptathlon on Sunday, with the hurdles first up. An equal PB was a brilliant way to start the day, especially on legs that already worked very hard the previous day. In the pole vault, Luke's aim was to maintain as much of a lead as possible, as this was a stronger event for other athletes. His best of 3.00m was a little below his best, but nonetheless he went into the final event the 1000m with on paper, a strong points lead. However, with athletes behind him having faster PB's, he knew he'd have to run to his very best to stand a chance of taking the title.

As the race progressed, one of Luke's challengers for Gold Ruben Stovell was putting in an incredible run, and went on to finish in 2:36.63. Luke ran his heart out and crossed the line in what would have been a massive personal best, but not quite enough to win the gold. Sadly, it was not even going to be a silver medal for Luke , as he was given the devastating news by the officials that he had been disqualified for taking a couple of steps outside of track on one of the bends mid-race. Despite passionate pleas and appeals, the officials would not change their decision and the DQ from the 1000m stood. Luke therefore finished in 11th place, an absolutely heartbreaking finish, and a cruel blow after such a minor infraction after 2 days of superb competition. 

So a weekend full of emotion, PB's, drama and everything else. Our athletes will have learned so much from the experience that they can take forward into the months and years ahead.

Results

Sunday was packed full of action and adventures across the UK for our juniors. At the Birtley XC Relays, muddy conditions greeted our athletes! Our brilliant team in the U11 boys race started with Ethan Hughes (5:35), who ran the 5th fastest time overall on the day to put the team in 4th place after leg 1. Next up was Dylan Oram, who was 3rd quickest leg 2 runner (6:01) as the team placed highly heading into the final leg. Michael Mcpherson finished it off in style (6:05) to give the team an amazing 4th place! Well done to the boys.

Meanwhile, in Manchester Caitlin looked to get an indoor 300m race under her belt before outdoor season. Sadly, the organisation of the meet left a lot to be deserved, and after being told to be warmed up and ready to race at 13:30 by the organisers, she didnt actually race until 16:00! This meant she wasnt able to run to the max of her abilities, but nonetheless took an U15 indoor 300m club record.

Down in Loughborough, Amber, Sadie and Millie took part in an England Athletics pre-talent pathway workshop led by Jamie French. The girls had the chance to do full approach long / triple jumps, and made some great progress and changes to different parts of their run-ups, take-offs and landings. 

It was proper XC for our juniors at Alnwick, with a huge team of juniors out in force and giving it their all as the weather conditions worsened.

Our fantastic U11 boys team were magnificent. Ethan Hughes took 8th, just ahead of Richard Gormley (15th). Michael Mcpherson was 23rd, whilst Tom Floyd, Rhys Evans and Dylan Oram came through line astern in 27-29th place! Jamie Hughes was 34th, Sam Porter 37th, and Jack Ellis 48th with James Dunning 59th. This was probably the most athletes we have ever had in a single XC race in one age group! In the girls race, Liliana was a fine 13th, and Casey 23rd. In the U13 boys race, James Floyd ran from the fast pack and was 28th, whilst Geroge Bryce was a fantastic 5th in the U15 boys race, with James Green 26th. Jasmine was our representative in the U15 girls and finished in 25th. Well done to all the team!

​Results