Northern Championships - Stunning Weekend at best ever champs

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.