It was a return to familiar surroundings on Sunday as the Darlington/Allerton team were back at Middlesbrough Sports Village for another NEYDL meeting. After a solid team performance at the first meet last month, the team were out to match or even improve on the already impressive 3rd place from Meeting 1. It was another great turnout from our juniors and they arrived raring to go! Let’s see how things went…..
Under 13 Boys
The day started off as always with the Hurdles and it was Hugo Douglas-Reeves who was back again over the jumps. A tricky discipline to master but he seems to be getting the hang of it! He produced another great run finishing a close 2nd in 14.98 (AAA Grade 4), just behind his Harrogate counterpart. Hugo didn’t have to wait long for his second event of the day, the 800m, joined by Harrier team mate, Rowan Steel. Hugo ran as the A-string athlete and managed to knock a couple of seconds off his PB, finishing 2nd in an excellent time of 2:32.48 (AAA Grade 4). Rowan, who’s a year younger, put in another great effort which certainly paid off; he smashed his PB by almost 9 seconds to finish as the 2nd B-string in a time of 2:38.83. Finally, a big welcome to Matty Brown who was competing at his first NEYDL today. He also debuted at two disciplines; the first was the 200m which he showed real promise with an excellent time of 34.81. He followed that with a magnificent 10.59m in the Javelin. Top drawer stuff from our U13 boys, well done!
Under 13 Girls
We had four Darlington Harriers helping the composite team today; Lottie Graves, Chloe Graham, Lucy Oliver and Elizabeth Clay. It was Chloe who was in action first in the 70m Hurdles. She first tried out the hurdles at the last NEYDL, so this was only her second attempt…..and her time of 15.43s was virtually identical to last time; another excellent run! This was Lucy’s first NEYDL as well so once the hurdles were cleared it was time for her to step up for the 800m; also her debut at this distance. A nerve racking time perhaps, but it didn’t show as Lucy performed admirably crossing the line in a very respectable 2:51.78. And she didn’t have to wait long for her next event, another debut, the 100m. Once again, another great run, taking 3rd place in her heat in a time of 15.72s. Also competing in the 100m was Elizabeth, as the A-string runner. She’s taken part in a couple of open competitions before but this was her first taste of the NEYDL. She put in a fabulous effort and was rewarded with an excellent 2nd place, crossing the line in 14.62s, just a fraction behind the winner. After lunch, Chloe was back again for her debut of the day, the 1500m. It was a great effort for a Year 1 U13, competing against the older athletes. She finished as the 3rd B-string runner in a time of 6:14.46; not bad for your first 1500m! While all this had been going on, our more experienced U13 girl Lottie Graves, had been bagging plenty of points in the field events. In the long jump she took 1st place with an impressive 4.3m, and 2nd place in the shot put with a new PB of 7.41m; a massive improvement of 68cm! Her final individual event was in the first Heat of 200m as the A-string runner where she showed real strength, powering across the line in 29.54s for her second 1st place of the day. Following Lottie, Elizabeth ran her first official 200m in the B-string race. It was an excellent debut, finishing 2nd again (6th overall) in a very respectable 31.56s. A fantastic all round performance from our U13 girls, well done to all!
Under 15 Boys
It was great to see Elwood Kelley back again for the first time this season. He’s been a regular competitor for DHAC since he started in the U11s, so it was good to see him take on the 200m again. He put in a great run, so good in fact, he beat his previous PB with a new best of 28.35s to take 3rd place B-string. An excellent return to the track for Elwood. In the 1500m, Harry Lyons and Matthew Vest were in action. Harry looked as strong as ever and dominated the race, winning clearly by more than 15 seconds. He crossed the line in an impressive 4:34.46 (AAA Grade 4.) Matthew produced a really solid performance finishing as the 3rd B-string with a Season’s Best of 5:41.13. He also bagged more points in the long jump; his first time this season, with a best of 3.47m today. Meanwhile, Thomas Hill had a busy day competing in three field events. He joined Matthew in the long jump and showed great signs of improvement with a new PB of 4.22m, taking 4th place. He competed in the shot put for the first time and produced a great effort with a best of 6.32m. Finally, he stepped up from the 500g to the 600g javelin and improved on his previous best by 98cm! A fantastic performance from all the U15 boys today.
Under 15 Girls
Our all-rounder, Tori Buckley, got things off to a great start for the U15 girls in the 75m Hurdles. She took 4th place A-string with a AAA Grade 4 time of 13.23s; an impressive 1.3s improvement on her previous, wind assisted best! She then moved straight onto the 800m along with team mate, Zara Jones. Zara was up first as the A-string runner and produced her usual strong performance. It wasn’t easy though; she was pushed right to the line by the Blyth/Alnwick athlete. But it was Zara who crossed line first, winning by 0.66s with a new PB and AAA Grade 4 time of 2:26.16. Tori was up next in the B-string race. Another great run from Buckers, commanding the race and winning by a clear 7 seconds with her second PB of the day. She crossed the line in a AAA Grade 4 time of 2:30.33. Tori was back again for her only field event of the day, the shot put. She really has gone from strength to strength with this discipline, improving her technique meaning she can take on the dedicated shot putters. Today was another example of that as she came away with another 1st place, her best on the day being an excellent 9.91m. Onto the 1500m and three of our top young athletes were in action; Savannah Tarn, Libby Hammond and Freya Talman. It was a great race with impressive runs from all three of our DHAC girls. Savannah was the first of our talented trio across the line, taking 2nd place with a new PB of 5:12.95, knocking over 6 seconds off her previous best! Libby was hot on her heels in 3rd place, also knocking over 6 seconds off her previous best with a new PB of 5:14.46. For Freya, this was her first official track 1500m, and what a tremendous debut it was against several older athletes. She set a new best of 5:36.30; an excellent result and something to aim for next time! It wasn’t too long before Savannah was back on the track, this time making her debut in the 300m. A tough race by anyone’s standards, but made even worse when you’ve just got your breath back from running 1500m! But Savannah put in a fantastic effort, crossing the line in 48.84s to take 5th place; an excellent result against older athletes. Well done to all our U15 girls; amazing results!
Under 17 Girls
Mia Wetherill and Olivia Douglas-Reeves started the day off for the U17 girls in the 800m. It was a drop down in distance for Mia from her usual 1500m, and nearly a year since she’d competed at 800m. But she coped with the change really well, improving her previous best by over 5 seconds to take 3rd place with a new PB of 2:28.73. It was a great run from Olivia as well, finishing strong as 2nd place B-string, and setting a new PB of 2:51.64. There were two more impressive performances in the 1500m from Macy Kelly and Emily Vest. Macy looked strong and continues to improve as the season progresses. She finished really well with a new PB of 5:10.58 in 1st place. And another top run from Emily who’s had a great season so far. This time she finished in 3rd place overall (1st B-string) in 5:14.76, frustratingly just a fraction outside her PB! Krista Bisset-Brown started her campaign off today in the long jump. She is another one of our young athletes who shows continued improvement, proving all that training really does pay off! Krista smashed her PB with an outstanding 4.95m jump and finished in a well deserved 1st place. In the afternoon she was back on the track for her first 200m of this season, a step up from her usual 100m. It was another strong performance and the second PB of the day from Krista, taking 2nd place in 27.74m. Meanwhile, our throws expert, Lily Thompson had been racking up the points in three field events. First up was the 3k Hammer, and it’s only the second time this season that Lily’s competed at this event. She produced some great throws though and an improvement on the last time out; her best today was 23.72m, taking 2nd place. In the afternoon she moved onto the 1kg Discus. Lily’s best today was 19.09m; not her best throw ever but still enough to take 2nd place. Finally, in the last field event of the day, the shot put, she showed real strength. She finished in a well deserved 1st place with a throw of 9.68m, nearly a metre further than her nearest rival. A top performance from our U17 girls, well done to all!
And to finish the day of, the excitement of the relays. Some top sprinting from our Darlington/Allerton teams. Here’s a run down of the results: –
Under 13 Boys 2nd place 57.03s Under 13 Girls 1st place 57.84s
Under 15 Boys 5th place 54.71s Under 15 Girls 4th place 53.88s
…..and the final Match Points? The Darlington/Allerton team managed a total of 467 points putting them in a solid 3rd place behind Harrogate and North Shields, but still ahead of Gateshead, Morpeth and Blyth/Alnwick. A cracking effort from our Junior section, and with a bag full of PB’s showing continued improvement. Well done to all who took part!
As always, big thanks to the Harrier parents for the use of their photos, much appreciated.
You can check out the full results at https://necaa.weebly.com/neydl.html