NECAA Champs - Review from Stunning Weekend of action!

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!