It was a scorching hot weekend in Doncaster as 13 Team Blyth juniors proudly put on their county vests to take on a weekend of combined events competition against the best multi-event athletes from across the North, with many hoping to qualify for national finals.

Junior Boys Pentathlon
Jacob Robertson and Ben Compton joined forces with friends Jacob (NS Poly) and Oscar (Gateshead) to form a fantastic team that built in confidence and camaraderie throughout the day. Ben produced a really solid series of performances including PB's in the 80m hurdles and a huge high jump PB to record an overall pentathlon PB of 1370pts to take 10th. Jacob was superb in his first ever hurdles race, set a big new high jump PB, and debuted superbly in all his other events to finish a fine 7th with 1633pts. The team finished with a strong total of 4847pts, to finish 2nd to North Yorkshire.

Junior Girls Pentathlon
The action kicked off on Sunday morning for our junior girls Caitlin, Amara, Fearne and Izabela, who were competing in an incredibly strong competition. The hurdles started the day. Everyone navigated the barriers safely with a new PB for Fearne. Shot put was next, with Izabela and setting Amara new life-time bests. The high jump saw the athletes gain great points, with another PB for Fearne and Caitlin, Amara and Izabela all slightly below their PB's. As the temperature ramped up there were some sizzling long jumps, with Caitlin producing a fantastic final round and there were big PB's for Amara and Izabela. The 800m took place in oppressive heat, with Amara sadly not able to finish. Izabela set a huge personal best, as did Fearne, with Caitlin storming home to take 15th overall in the competition, with the other girls just behind. There were huge overall pentathlon PB's for Caitlin, Fearne and Izabela. The team finished in a fantastic 6th, with a significant improvement on their points total from last year.

Intermediate Boys Octathlon
Luke Pichler led by example as always, producing a fantastic series of performances whilst very much keeping his eye on the bigger goals ahead. Day 1 was hugely consistent, with great performances in a combined events context in the long jump, discus, javelin and 400m. Day 2 started in style with a rapid 13.50 PB in the 100m hurdles, the 3rd fastest in the UK this year. This was followed by a new high jump PB of 1.86m, to keep Luke in contention against fierce competitor and friend Ruben from South Yorkshire. Luke's shot put was again consistent, before he finished in the baking heat with a committed 1500m. Luke took 2nd overall with a Northumberland Schools Record 4967pts to seal his place at nationals in September.

Intermediate Girls Octathlon
Senna, Isla, Sadie and Abi made up the Northumberland team, with Hannah and Amber forming the Durham team alongside Tilly from Gateshead. Day 1 started with the hurdles, which were very safely navigated by all athletes. High Jump was next up - with Hannah moving into 1st place after her 1.59m clearance, and Senna set a PB of 1.56m. Shot put was next up, with some big throws incoming. Senna smashed her club record with 10.92m, with Hannah, Sadie, Amber and Abi also setting PB's. Day 1 concluded with the 200m in fantastic conditions, with Hannah fastest of all and very close to her PB, whilst Sadie went sub-26 and Senna set a new PB, whilst Abi's fastest ever run was +2.1 wind assisted.  Day 2 began in the long jump, with the athletes taking advantage of near perfect conditions. Amber recovered well from two no jumps to record a committed valid mark in her final attempt, whilst Hannah, Isla and Abi all recorded solid jumps. Senna summoned the support of the crowd to leap to a huge PB of 5.14m, as did Sadie who set a long-overdue new PB of 5.72m to set a new club record and move her into a great position in the competition overall.

Javelin was next up - there were PB's here for Hannah, Isla and Senna, and this set the scene for the final event - the 800m. The heat made conditions so challenging, with Amber choosing just to start the race to ensure her Durham team were classified. Isla put in a storming and well paced run to match her PB and help maximize Northumberland's points. Abi had not completed an 800m for 3 years - despite many attempts, so the grit and commitment she showed to get over the line must be commended and was a great achievement. This left Hannah, Sadie and Senna battling right at the front in the home straight, trying to eke out every last ounce of speed. They all crossed the line around 2:28 in the blazing heat. Sadie took the overall title in a Northumberland Schools record of 4631pts, with Senna setting a massive overall PB of 4410pts for 2nd place, just a few points ahead of Hannah in 3rd, with Isla and Abi rounding out the top 10 and Amber not far behind despite not finishing the 800m.

The Northumberland Inter girls team qualified for nationals with a fantastic team win, ahead of Durham in 2nd, with Hannah also going through as highest scoring individual not in the winning team.

All athletes should be immensely proud of themselves for such an incredible weekend of competition - training for and competing in combined events takes massive commitment. A huge thanks to the support team (parents) who have provided amazing support over the weekend.

Results

Representing your county is always a proud moment, and yesterday Team Blyth had 10 athletes representing Northumberland and 3 Durham at the Schools Intercounties Championships on what was a fanatstic day of athletics at Gateshead.

For Durham, Hannah won her 200m heat with Hollie-Anne producing a season's best also over 300m. Amber took 2nd in the Long jump with 5.18m.

For Northumberland, Luke took the win in the long jump and 2nd in the hurdles after a dramatic finish. Ben made his Northumberland debut, taking a brilliant win in the hammer with a PB of 23.97s. George was 5th in the 1500m with a strong run. Caitlin scored massive points for the county, completing her 300m in between long jumps, whilst Millie Train jumped 10.82m in the triple jump.

Senna Gorvett smashed her own Northumberland Schools record to take 300m hurdles victory in 44.61s, and 2nd in the high jump. Abi was 3rd in a fast hurdles race, also competing in the 100m. Sadie took victory in the long jump, also setting a PB in the shot put, with Talia producing a really strong long jump on her Northumberland debut. Isla Bell was 5th in the 300 hurdles, also throwing really well in the shot put.
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The day finished with some fantastic mixed 4x100m relays. Well done to all the athletes, with lots more county representation ahead for many in the coming weeks.

It has been an incredibly busy weekend of action, and we will start our round up on Saturday at Monkton, where the Durham Schools Champs took place.

2 of our young athletes were in action. Hollie-Anne Sudder made her return after an injury lay-off, and did superbly to qualify for intercounties with a strong run in the 200m. Amber Wright produced a stunning new personal best of 5.32m in the long jump to become county champion, and secure her place at intercounties.

At the Northumberland Schools Champs, Ben Compton became junior boys champion with a 21m+ throw in the hammer, whilst there was a Blyth 1-2 in the 300m hurdles with Senna and Isla making the best of the oppressive wind. Also on track, Abigail Huntly took a brace of wins in the 100m and 80m hurdles, whilst George Bryce was involved in a titanic battle and took 2nd place in the 1500m, with Dexter Heatley 10th. Caitlin Creaby secured a brilliant win in the 300m to become county champion, and also took 2nd in the junior girls long jump. In the inter girls long jump, Sadie took 1st place with Talia taking 2nd with a massive personal best. Isla took the title in the shot put and Talia was 3rd in the 100m. Luke Pichler was in dominant form, securing the win in both the 100m Hurdles and also the Long Jump. Millie Train was just pipped in the final round in the triple jump, with a best of 10.77m.

Northern Championships @ Middlesbrough
Senna takes gold in the u20 400m hurdles with a time of 64.31s. Aged just 15, Senna was running up an age-group and she produced a sensational finish to take the gold and become Northern champion.

Millie Train scored an outdoor PB of 10.87m to take an excellent bronze in the U20 Triple jump. It was a very tight contest, with Millie not quite able to break the 11m mark to get amongst the major medals.