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

Millie Train capped her first indoor triple jump season in fine style as she became Scottish National U20 Triple Jump Champion on Friday night.

Grangemouth was the unusual setting for the national finals, with the Emirates Arena closed as it prepares for World indoors. Nonetheless, Millie brought fantastic energy to the competition and her first round jump of 10.73m was enough to win the competition by a considerable margin. Millie was not able to replicate her first round leap, as she started to feel the effects of a busy championship season - but stood proudly on the podium as she claimed her first Scottish National title. 

It was a dramatic day of action as three of our Team Blyth Juniors took on the English national age group championships in Sheffield on Sunday. 

Hannah Wilson took on the 200m, looking to build on an encouraging season-opener 2 weeks prior. In her heat, Hannah out on a fine display to take an automatic qualifying place in 2nd, with a superb indoor club record of 25.67s. Later on, it was another strong run in the semi-final to take 3rd, but this was not quite enough to make the final.

In the long jump, Luke produced a very consistent series of jumps, sitting around the medal placings for much of the competition. Heading into the final round in 4th place, he produced a superb competitive effort to leap to 6.57m, which was a personal best and enough to snatch bronze, and yet another national medal  for Luke.

Sadie Parker was involved in a similarly thrilling climax - although it was heartbreak rather than jubilation for Sadie. After leaping out to a massive 5.55m in round 1, Sadie sat in the bronze medal position all the way through to the final round. At this point, a competitor managed to move ahead of Sadie, meaning Sadie had one final jump to try and get back into the medal placings. Sadly, she fell slightly short and had to settle for 4th which is still a great achievement. 

A huge well done to our athletes for competing so strongly on the national stage.

Saturday
Field events took centre stage on day 1 of the NECAA Champs, with Team Blyth’s athletes doing their best to make it an exciting atmosphere inside Gateshead College. Alexander Robson-Lamb was making his championships debut and had an incredible day. Firstly, he fought back in the high jump to take victory with a 1.38m clearance, a new personal best. Later on in the day he made huge strides in the long jump to take silver with another huge personal best of 4.26m. Fantastic work from Alex! In the U17 long jump, we had a huge Blyth presence. The first goal for our 4 athletes was securing a place in the top 6 after the 3rd round, to secure an additional 3 attempts – Abi, Hollie, Senna and Amber all achieved this goal, and the competition really came alive after that. Abi could not improve further, and finished in 6th, whilst Hollie-Anne improved to 4.68m which was her 2nd best ever jump to take 4th.  Senna then took the initiative with her first ever jump over 5m, with a superb 5.03m in round 4. Amber responded in fine style in the final round to leap out to 5.07m to snatch the gold, with Senna taking silver. A brilliant event!
 
Back over in the high jump, and Fearne was all smiles as she set a new personal best of 1.16m – which was her opening height and took real courage. India was imperious in the U13 competition, having 3 good attempts at a new PB, and she secured gold with 1.26m. In the U17 shot put there were PB’s all-round for Hollie, Isla, and Senna. Hollie produced a superbly consistent series and a new PB of 8.92m for 4th, whilst Isla Bell exceeded 8m for the first time ever to finish just behind. There were screams of joy from Senna, as her final through sailed out to 10.28, and she became the first Blyth female athlete ever to breach the 10m mark – securing her the bronze medal. In the U15 long jump, Fearne produced a superb final jump, which was just outside of her PB, whilst Caitlin nailed it in round 1 with a big PB of 4.50m. She produced further big fouls, and no other athlete was able to get close to Caitlins mark and she took her first ever NECAA title. In the U17 high jump, there were some mixed fortunes. Isla and Amber did not jump to their full potential at the end of a long day, whilst Senna delivered a superb championship performance to clear 1.51m to claim gold, with Amber and Isla competing the podium.
 
In the U13 long jump, India was involved in an incredibly tight battle for the medals. Drawing motivation from hand claps, India leaped out to 3.52m in the final round to move in to 1st place, only to then be demoted to the silver medal position on countback as another athlete matched her mark. There was a final medal for India in the shot put, as she took silver with a 6m+ throw. Millie Train ended the day in the triple jump, and was engaged in a fascinating battle for gold. It was not to be on this occasion, and Millie’s final jumps fell just short but silver with 10.60m was still a fine result.
 
Sunday
It was another busy day on Sunday, with Talia and Izabela joining the action. Hurdles was first up, with India taking a fine U13 silver with her first ever sub-11 second race. In the U15 competition, Izabela showed great determination to qualify for the final, where she finished in 6th place. In the U17 event 6 of the 7 entrants were Blyth athletes, with the highlight in the heats being Talia’s superb debut hurdles run which saw her run well under 11 seconds. In the final, there was a thrilling battle for gold with our athletes just missing out. Senna and Amber took the minor medals with new PB’s, with Abi 4th, and Hollie and Isla 5th and 6th, both also securing PB’s on the day.
 
Next up was the 60m sprint action to finish the champs. In the U13 event, India lowered her PB once again as she made the B-final. In the U15 event Fearne was just outside her PB in her heat, whilst Caitlin sailed through her heat, and was a whisker away from qualifying for the final after a strong semi. Mia Liddell has recently returned to the club and it was a joy to see her competing in the Blyth colours for the first time since 2019. In her first race of the winter in the senior 60m, she finished 5th in 8.25s, with lots to build on. In the U17 event, Isla Bell did well to qualify for the B-final after a hectic programme of events, whilst Hollie-anne sailed through her heat and finished the weekend in style with a magnificent silver medal in a new PB of 8.16s
 
It was a fantastic weekend, full of ups and downs. Our athletes showed great maturity, belief and confidence throughout. There is one more indoor comp and Gateshead this winter – the NECAA Indoor Pentathlon in March. We hope to see lots of our athletes there!

It was a sizzling night of athletics at the Gateshead Indoor open on Wednesday – with our round-up starting with the long jump where there were exceptional performances from every athlete.

Amber Wrights 5.29m leap was a PB by over half a metre, and was greeted with a scream of joy from Amber. Emily Bond opened her season with what was her first time over 5m for 4 years – her brilliant 5.02m in the final round was a special moment. Caitlin Creaby also produced final round fireworks with a big PB of 4.41m, whilst Talia Green produced a brilliant series to score a new PB of 4.14m, with Fearne Bell adding a massive 35cm to her PB with 3.76. In the High Jump, Hannah Wilson cleared 1.55m with a perfect card before heading to the 60m start where she was fastest lady. Senna and Emily both cleared 1.50m for the first occasion in some time whilst Amara added 9cm to her PB with 1.30m. India recorded an equal PB =1.30m, with Hollie and Isla having up and down comps. Sadie Parker was our only participant in the shot put and she recorded a new PB of 9.56m.

On track, there was a PB for Fearne in the 60m, with Caitlin, Amara and Alex having positive runs, whilst in the hurdles Senna set a scorching PB to take U17 1st place ahead of Isla in 3rd, whilst Alex Robson-Lamb was superb on his hurdles debut and India took U13 2nd place.

Team Blyth athletes Caitlin and Fearne were both in fine form at the Northern Indoor Champs in Sheffield today.
Caitlin progressed through the semi-finals in both of her events, with huge PB's along the way in the U15 girls 60m (8.51s) and 200m (27.63s). Fearne had a solid long jump, before smashing her personal best in the U15 girls 60m with 9.67s.
A huge well done to both girls!

A number of our Blyth Juniors took a trip along to Whitley Bay Junior park run, 141 runners braved the winds, with the waves crashing high!
9th Michael McPherson smashing his previous PB 9:02 to 8:51.
11th Alex Fielding 8:58.
13th Elliot Harrison 9:05.
16th Jamie Hughes taking another PB from 9:34 to 9:12.
17th Dylan Orman with an enormous PB from 10:43 to 9:19!
24th Casey McPherson taking an unreal 19 secs of her PB 9:54 to 9:35.
30th Savannah Atkinson taking on a park run for the first time in a marvellous run of 10:06.
47th James Dunning another athlete taking on a junior park run for the first time in a splendid time of 11:08.
Great running by all athletes in Such trying conditions!

Parkrun
Well done Blyth Endurance Group - Ethan Hughes, Michael McPherson, Jamie Hughes and Casey McPherson at Whitley Bay Junior 2K (1.2miles) Park Run in such a strong head wind!
Ethan coming in 3rd out of a field of 106 - smashing his previous PB of 8:27 to 7:42, Michael having a great run at 9:16, Jamie’s first park run 9:34 and Casey smashing yet another PB from 10:11 to 9:54!

Indoors
A round up of Sunday's indoor action. Hannah Wilson opened her indoor season with a strong 200m in Manchester, recording a time of 25.83 - an encouraging start to her season!
 
Millie Train qualified for the Scottish National finals in superb fashion with a final round 11.14m Triple jump PB in the qualifying event in Pitreavie.
 
Superb work from both!

Our biggest ever Celebration night was a fantastic success! Thank you to all involved in making Team Blyth such a fantastic place for young athletes to embark on their athletics journey.

We'd like to say a big thanks also to our trophy sponsors:
All-Round Athletic Development
Cravens
F Southern Ltd
S Southern Dairies Ltd

Saturday

The weekend began with a busy schedule for many of our athletes, with clashing events meaning that negotiating tricky first hour of warm-ups and call room was the first task. First out on track were our U17 hurdlers. Senna Gorvett went in heat 1, and despite a fully committed race, she finished just outside the qualification places. In heat 2 Abi produced a sublime run to record a PB of 9.42s and secure a place in the final. In the final heat, Sadie Parker was a convincing winner, breaking her own club record with a time of 9.07 to qualify fastest for the final, whilst Amber fought back well after a poor start but didnt progress to the final. Next up was Luke in the mens hurdles heat, and he qualified automatically for the final despite a messy run. 

In the field, we had no fewer than 6 girls in the U17 long jump. Amber, Senna, Talia and Hollie all produced consistent jumps, but were not able to progress to the final 8. Abi set a new PB in round 1 of 4.77m to secure an extra 3 jumps, whilst Sadie kicked things off with a 5.55m, before leaping out to 5.60 in the 5th round to secure her 1st ever Northern Championship, with her 2nd best ever performance. 

Back on track, and Isla was up in the 300m heats,  producing a big indoor personal best to qualify for the semi-final. Luke was next up on track in the hurdles final, where her produced a fine performance to take a well deserved silver medal in a new PB of 8.26s. He then moved straight over to long jump where her built into the competition through the rounds, securing a fine gold medal with a 6.55m club record in the final round. 

Back on track and there was heartbreak for Abi as she rolled her ankle whilst warming up on the start line for the 60m hurdles final, meaning she could not start. Sadie went on to secure her 2nd gold medal of the day, in a wild race to the line. It wasn't her best run - but she managed the pressure well.

Isla put in another strong run in the 300m semi-final, before Isla, Talia and Hollie-Anne took part in their 60m heats. Talia set a new personal best despite a stumble out of the blocks, whilst Hollie-Anne set a seasons best to qualify for the semi final. Isla already had 2x300m races in her legs, but just enjoyed being out there competing which was great to see.

The final Field action of the day was the U20 Triple Jump, with Millie Train in action. She went into the comp have set a new PB during the week at Gateshead, and looked to build on this as the competiton progressed. After a modest first series of jumps Millie moved into the bronze medal position at the half way point. In the final round she was bumped to 4th, putting the pressure on her final jump. Could she get back into a medal position? The answer was a resounding "Yes", as Millie produced the jump of her life (so far) with 11.12m, to secure an emotional Silver, her first Northern medal.

​Sunday

It was a quieter day on Sunday, with Luke returning and former juniors-turned-seniors Alfie Ward and Adam Swalwell joing the fray. Luke took 4th place in the shot put with a solid series, however the weekend ended on a less positive note as a hamstring issue curtailed his high jump competition. Alfie Ward produced his longest jump for nearly 2 years to claim silver in the senior mens long jump with a best of 6.58m. Adam Swalwell finished in 4th in his senior mens 200m heat, although did not progress through to the final.

A wonderful weekend of athletics, and by far our most successful ever as a club at the Northern Indoor senior championships.