NEYDL Meeting 2 Whitley Bay 16th May
[16-May-2015]
The 2nd event of the NEYDL season was hosted by Blyth/Alnwick on a mild but very breezy day at Churchill Playing
fields, with the team looking to build on its good showing in the season
opener. We were able to field another strong team, and despite being without a
few athletes we were bolstered by the addition of multi-award winning Josh Fiddaman, and Ellie Campbell making her league debut.
U13
Girls In a very high quality 100m A race, Morgan Stansfield
(16.4s) ran well to finish 6th, although missed out on a PB. In the B race
Hannah Ross-Knight (15.7s) knocked half a second off her PB, which was a great
performance. Ellie Campbell finished 2nd in the non-scorers race, in an
impressive debut time (15.8s). In the 200m, Morgan (36.7s) battled hard against
a brutal wind on the bend to finish 4th in the B race, whilst Ellie Hawkes just missed out on a PB in the 200m (40.9s). Ellie Hawkes also stepped up to the challenge over the 800m, and
did well in her first race over the distance (3:24.8s). There was drama in the
70m hurdles A race, as the leading athlete from Houghton had a nasty fall,
nearly wiping out our own athlete Ellie Morris. However Ellie kept her composure
to win by a large margin (12.7s), getting her a G4 grading and one of the
fastest times in the North East this year. Morgan Stansfield
has only recently started training over hurdles, and put in a great run (15.7s)
in the B race to finish 3rd and beat
her PB comfortably. The long jump competition was of an exceptionally high
quality, with Ellie Campbell putting in a stunning performance on her NEYDL
debut to finish 4th in the A competition (3.66m). This all the more
impressive considering she is a year below most of the other athletes. Hannah
Ross-Knight was in equally good form, claiming her 3rd long jump PB in a week,
to finish 3rd in the B competition (3.24m). The high jump competition took
place in very breezy conditions, and Hannah Ross-Knight was some way below her
best (1.05m), but this was still enough to claim 2nd in the B competition.
Hannah will bounce back very soon Im sure. Ellie Morris then shrugged off some
nervy early jumps to win the competition, and then continue on beat her PB with
1.36m, before beating it again with a massive 1.38m that had the audience
captivated. This performance earned Ellie a G2 ranking, and puts her into the
top 25 in the country. Ellie also took part in the shot (4.25m), although her
performance was hindered by the concurrent high jump and 4x100m relay. Ellie
Morris, Hannah & Morgan all took part in the relay, with 4th place the
reward (64.6s).
U13
Boys - Cole Morton ran well in the 100m
A race to claim 4th (15.4s), with Jack Browning also making his 100m debut to
finish 4th in the B race (19.4s). Cole was a bit below his best in the long
jump, but still took a commanding win in the B competition (3.24m), with Jack
making his LJ debut as a non-scorer (2.50m). Cole picked up more great points,
winning the Javelin B competition (11.17m), whilst Jack was a non-scorer
(5.26m). Will Browning was a bit under the weather so couldnt run, but did
great work for the team by picking up good points in the shot-put (2.68m). Cole
& Jack were part of the relay team that finished 4th (69.5s).
U15
Girls Anya Christopher was our sole representative in this age group,
although Alnwick provided plenty of athletes. Anya
ran a seasons best (2:54.6) to finish an excellent 2nd in the 800m B race,
and was a superb 4th in the long jump A competition with a big new PB of
3.45m. The Alnwick girls were able to provide a relay
team that finished 6th (60.7s).
U15
Boys Adam Swalwell was well and truly in the
zone, as he stormed to a great 100m A victory (12.5s), taking an
extraordinary 0.7s off his PB. There was an intriguing battle between Adam and
Josh Fiddaman, as sprinter met middle-distance runner
over 300m. Adam came out on top (42.4s), achieving G4 standard to win the A
race, with Josh a couple of seconds behind to take maximum B points (44.5s).
Earlier in the day Josh had ran a measured race to comfortably win the 800m
(2:18.4). He was some way off his PB, but still achieved a G4 grading. Liam
Marsh just missed a PB, but finished an excellent 2nd in the 1500m A race
(5:12.9), timing his move on the NS Poly athlete to perfection. Josh (5.31m)
& Liam (4.97m), both picked up god points in the Javelin, coming 2nd in the
A, and 1st in the B competitions respectively. Adam looked in trouble after
2 no-throw in the discus, before launching the implement to an A winning
distance (11.60m) on this last throw. Adam, Josh & Liam teamed up with Birtley athlete to take part in a non-scoring relay.
U17
Women There were few U17 females across all the clubs, but Blyth had the
dream duo of Ella Wood and Alice Dungworth to thank
for a massive points haul. In a sensational 100m A race, Alice equalled her
own outright club record (13.0s), to finish a narrow third and claim G4
grading, with the winner breaking the all-time league record. Not to be
outdone, Ella then smashed her PB by half a second to win the B competition
(14.2s). Alice was the only 300m runner, taking maximum points and another G4
grading (44.4s). Ella made her hurdles debut over 300m, and produced a hurdling
master class to win (57.6s) the A race. Alice (6.48m) & Ella (5.45m) also
picked up great points in the shot, coming 2nd in the A and B competitions
respectively.
U17
Men Jake Masterman was our only U17 male, and
picked up big points as expected. 2nd in the 100m A race (12.2s), and a new
PB was great reward for his hard work in training. Like Ella, Jake was making
his hurdles debut, and had the track all to himself as he took maximum points
(68.1s). Jake took max points again in the discus, throwing 18.32m at his first
ever attempt at the discipline.
All
of the above performances, combined with excellent performances from Alnwick, meant another 3rd place finish for the team.
However, this time we were a lot closer to NS Poly above us. The increase in
performance level compared to the first meeting was clear to see, and shows
that the hard work athletes are putting in at training is paying off. There is
room for improvement, and space for more athletes in all areas and age-groups,
so it would be great to see more youngsters give it a try. The next meeting is
at Jarrow on the 28th June, this is the time for us to push for a 2nd place
finish!
Regards
Dan