In previous years, hosting of the NYSD T&F meetings has been shared between Middlesbrough and Darlington. This year however, all six meetings are to be held at Middlesbrough Sports Village, so our juniors returned to one of the North East’s top venues for another dose of track and field action.
It was another exciting evening of top performances; although as the sun started to set the temperature dropped dramatically, so not the best conditions for PB’s! But as always, our young athletes did themselves proud, so here’s a run down of the evening’s events…..
There were no Under 11’s there tonight so it’s straight on to the Under 13’s where we’re never short on numbers!
First up was new member, Isobel Wright who ran in the first of two 100m heats. An excellent run brought her across the line in 4th place in a time of 15.58s. Great to have you on board, Isobel, well done!
In the second heat, we had Emily Hornsby. Emily has soon established herself as a key member of our U13 squad, and tonight she ran a terrific 100m, only just beaten to the line to take 2nd place. She improved on her time from the Kieran Maxwell Memorial with a new PB of 14.58s.
Nice one, Emily!
The other track event on offer tonight was the 800m, with a trio of talented Harriers among the eight competitors; Tori Buckley, Libby Hammond and Savannah Tarn.
An exciting race to watch and with 200m to go it was still a tough one to call. In the end after a great sprint finish, Tori was the first of our girls across the line taking 2nd place with a new PB of 2:39.94.
Right behind her was Libby in 3rd place in an excellent 2:40.88, unfortunately in a bit of pain after a nasty spike injury! And another tremendous run from Savannah, still a year young, finishing in 7th place in 2:53.18. Great effort girls, well done!
In the field events, our talented trio were back for the long jump. This time Libby took 5th with 3.64m, Tori was 8th with 3.40m and Savannah was 9th with a new PB of 3.13m! Fantastic jumping girls!
For the boys were three of our U13’s taking part in tonight’s sprint; Ashton Harrison was in the first heat, who put in a magnificent run to finish in 4th place with a new PB of 15.29s.
Following in heat two were Elwood Kelley and in his first year at Under 13, Jack Johnson. Elwood was flying tonight crossing the line in 14.96s to take 3rd place, with Jack not far behind in 5th in an excellent time of 17.09s. Well doneto all three boys.
The 800m is always a big favourite of our U13 boys; tonight we had six of them in action! In the first heat, Jack was back, with his debut run at this distance. He put in a fantastic effort to bring him home in 3:20.91, taking 7th place.
In the second heat it was a sea of blue and white as five out of the eight competitors were our DHAC boys! Harry Lyons was the first of them to cross the line in a impressive 3rd place – an excellent time too of 2:37.52.
Hot on his heels was Josh Scott who pulled out all the stops to finish in 4th place with a new PB of 2:40.86, closely followed by Elwood Kelley in 5th, just a couple of seconds behind in 2:42.20.
To make it four Harriers in a row, Ashton Harrison shadowed Elwood across the line in 6th place in a time of 2:43.73, and finally Matthew Vest, who much prefers a longer distance to this, finished 8th in 3:05.33. Some top running from our U13 Boys, well done to all!
Four of them didn’t end the night there and were back in action in the long jump. Elwood had springs in his feet with a best of 3.94m, only 6cm off his PB. Our next best was young Jack who smashed his PB with a best of 3.60m to take 8th place; that’s an improvement of 97cm!
Another PB came from Josh who jumped 3.37m to take 10th, followed by Matthew in 13th place with a best of 2.71m tonight. Fantastic effort lads, well done!
In the 100m we had two girls who’ve just moved up to this age group so were up against some older athletes tonight.
First up was our sprint specialist, Kate Williams who put in a fantastic run, crossing the line in 2nd place with a new PB of 13.3s. And running for the first time this year after a busy football season was Olivia Bell. It was a promising start, just 0.1s off her PB, taking 6th place in 14.6s. Top sprinting girls, well done!
In the 800m, three of our girls took to the track; Mia Wetherill, Sophia Hill and Macy Kelly. It was a sprint to the line for two of them with Mia just pipping Sophia to finish in a strong 3rd place, just a few seconds off her PB with a time of 2:36.21.
Sophia’s 4th place in 2:36.79 just shows you how close this one was, but she was more than happy as it was a new PB! Considering this was Macy’s first ever 800m for the club she is doing remarkably well. She finished in 5th place in 2:50.09 and we’re confident she will improve on this as the season progresses.
In the field events Lily Thompson was in action in the discus. She put in some excellent throws, the best on the night being a new PB of 20.42m, and enough to take 3rd place. It was good to see Sophia having a crack at the discus as well. A great effort from her with a best of 11.51m – and she was back again for more in the long jump, taking 6th place with a best of 3.67m.
Well done to all our U15 Girls!
Just the two of our U15 boys tonight, both taking on the 100m. In the first heat we had Benedict Davies who’s had a great start to the season considering he’s just moved up to this age group. Tonight he finished a close 2nd place, just a fraction off his PB with a time of 12.94s.
It was great to see Nat Bell back again for the first time this season. His busy football season is now coming to a close so we’ll be seeing much more of him in the coming months. A great start to his athletics this year in Heat 2 with a 1st place in 12.34s, and like Benny, just a fraction off his PB. Well done lads, top sprinting from both!
Lily’s older sister, Rosie Thompson was also competing in the discus tonight. As always another top performance finishing 3rd overall, but 1st for the U17’s with a best of 26.4m. Great stuff Rosie, well done.
There were some outstanding performances tonight. Considering how early it is in the season, and how cool it was tonight! Bodes well for the rest of the season, so well done to all! For more photos of the night click here
