It was a busy day at Eastbourne Sports Complex last Sunday as Darlington Harriers hosted the first of four NEYDL (North East Youth Development League) meetings. As part of Division 2 (South), DHAC were up against some tough competition from Birtley, Houghton Harriers, Derwentside/Sedgefield, Durham and Richmond & Zetland.
It was a cool, breezy day of competition and numbers were down slightly on previous years, but there were plenty of blue and white vests giving it their all for DHAC! There was a full programme of track and field events for the Under 13 to Under 17 age groups, with some young athletes competing at their first NEYDL meeting. As always, there were some impressive performances to behold, and plenty of PB’s broken
In true team spirit, two of our middle distance runners (Mia Wetherill and Emily Vest) joined forces with our sprinters (Charlotte Rutter and Darcey Garbutt) to form the Under 15 Girls 4 x 100m relay team. An unusual mix, you might think – but still enough to finish in 1st place and bag more points for DHAC! Well done girls!
A final note: our thoughts go out to Under 13 sprinter Kate Williams. She was way ahead in the 75m hurdles today and would have won easily. Unfortunately, she just clipped the last hurdle and had a really nasty fall causing scrapes and bruising to her arm. In true Harrier spirit she managed to get up and finish the race! We’re pleased to report she is much better now, and returned to training on Thursday. Best wishes Kate
Huge thanks go out to the coaches, officials, organisers and volunteers involved – without you, the event would simply not go ahead…..and congratulations to all our Junior Harriers that took part. Once again you have done yourselves and your cub proud…..some fantastic performances, but above all, a great team spirit!
The next NEYDL meeting is on May 20th at Middlesbrough Sports Village. If you are interested in taking part then please speak to your coach, or contact the Team manager, Adam Mitchell.
