ESAA Combined Events North East - Report from incredible weekend in Doncaster

One of the highlights on the track & field calendar, is always the North East regional round for ESAA Combined Events. This is the chance for athletes to compete for their counties across multiple events, with the chance of progressing to national finals. Team Blyth have a rich recent tradition in this event, and 2026 proved to be another memorable year. Our team of athletes travelled to Doncaster, which was blessed with incredibly high temperatures across the weekend. This is how they got on!

Junior Boys - Harry Ross
Making his Northumberland debut, Harry competed on the Saturday in the most challenging of conditions - but his day unfolded in the most amazing way possible! After a storming first ever 80m hurdles race, Harry produced a solid shot put. In the high jump his best of 1.38 kept him in the mix, before he produced a stunning final round long jump of 5.03 m for a massive new personal best. Going into the final event, the 800m, Harry was just 1 place away from the automatic national qualification places - but he needed to overturn a deficit that equated to around 12s to the athlete ahead of him. Harrry took the race on from the gun, and produced a phenomenal half-minute PB, which was more than enough to move up one place and secure an automatic qualifying place for the national finals. A special moment!

Junior Girls - India Gorvett
This was India's 2nd year on the team, and she was part of a strong Northumberland team that included Ayla, Eliza and Isobel from other North East clubs. It was a day full of ups and downs, but it started in fine style for India as she scored a PB of 13.6s in the hurdles. The shot put was solid, which kept India well placed overall, however the high jump proved a challenging event, and cost India points. She was consistent in the long jump, before finishing with a very strong 800m to help the Northumberland team to 3rd place overall.

Inter girls - Charlotte Hartley, Kimi Ng, Fearne Bell, Safia Diallo
Our 4 athletes official become Heptathlete's, after 7 gruelling events across 2 days. The day kicked off with the 80m hurdles, with all four athletes producing very strong runs. High Jump was next, with Charlotte pulling out a clutch jump at 1.20, whilst Kimi and Fearne felt they could have gone higher, and Safia led the charge with 1.38m. Shot put was an absolute highlight for Kimi with a massive PB of 7.09m, before the 200m with all 4 girls running by far their fastest 200m's ever, albeit with an illegal wind. Day 2 kicked off with the long jump, with all 4 girls jumping really well in what is a crucial event in terms of points. Javelin was next, and a brand new event for most of the team. The goal was to record legal throws, and they all achieved this with Fearne smashing the 20m barrier. 800m finished the day, and the girls finished in the best possible fashion. Massive PB's for everyone, with Fearne finishing 7th overall, Safia 10th, Charlotte 12th and Kimi 13th.

Senior Girls - Senna Gorvett
In her final year of English Schools Competition, Senna finally took her first Combined Events North East title after a stunning heptathlon. Day 1 was superb - Senna's first ever sub-15s hurdles clocking, was followed by a brilliant high jump with an equal PB of 1.62m. A new shot put PB of 9.57m followed, with the only slight disappointment of the day being her 200m time, although conditions played a part in this. Day 2 started again in fine style, with a final round 5.30m long jump. Javelin didn't quite live up to its promise, but Senna picked up more solid points, before a storming run in the 800m running from the front in strong winds, to record 2:29.1 to take the title, having won all 7 events, and ending up with a massive points of 4592pts, a new Northumberland Schools Record.

​Results