Track & Field Heat 1 - Monkton

[Mon 4th May 2009] Blyth finally made their entrance into the Northern T&F League at Monkton Stadium on Saturday 2nd May. As part of a joint team with Wallsend there were some creditable performances, with many athletes turning their hand to unfamiliar disciplines in the traditional spirit of team competition, and with some excellent vocal support from both clubs.

Club Secretary Ralph Dickinson got the ball rolling by chucking the hammer 12.55 metres. For the men Craig Birch had an impressive win in the Mens ‘B’ 1500 with a time of 4:45.1 (this coming after he had fallen badly in the hurdles – Craig also did the Long Jump, third with 4.46), Mark Fenwick (Wallsend) won the ‘A’ race with 4:14.8. John Mallon ran in the sprints (100M 13:6, 200M 29:00), unfortunately he failed to get a qualifying height in the High Jump (not surprising really as up to five minutes before he jumped he was still getting some coaching). Steve Walker threw the discus (13.78) and Shot (6.63) and ran the final leg in the 400m relay. For the Women, there were some very impressive performances from Kirstie Johnson who stormed to a 400M victory in 64.9, won the Long Jump in 4.40 and the High Jump in 1.30 and then led the Womens 100M relay team to victory. Another Junior competing was Stephanie Ramsay, who was second in the 100M in 14.3, the she also finished second in the 200m in 30.5, she then threw the Shot 6.10 to finish fourth and finally she ran the first leg of the 100m relay and passed on a lead which was to prove decisive. In the Womens 3000m, Helen Morris had a commanding lead as she comfortably won the 3000M, Helen then picked up points in the unfamiliar discipline of the Javelin as she threw 7.82.

The Blyth/Wallsend team finished third, four points behind the leaders. If a few more Seniors had turned up then we may well have won it.

Full results can be found at www.northernathletics.org.uk/FileUploads/4E_2_3_4_5.pdf

Read Wallsend’s report here Wallsend harriers

Keith W