Travelling up to Jarrow to compete after a long day at school/college shows real dedication, but that’s exactly what nine of our junior athletes did last week for the second North East Grand Prix meet. Here’s how their evening went….
200m
Under 15’s, Tori Buckley and Ashton Harrison kicked things off with the 200m. It was Tori’s first 200m this season and certainly an encouraging start over the distance. She was just a fraction off her PB as she crossed the line in 5th place (2nd girl) in 28.86m. It was a similar story for Ashton; his first 200m this season and a great run brought him home in 6th, not far off his PB with a time of 27.64m. Well done you two, a great effort as usual!
800m
The only time Under 13, Lottie Graves had competed in an 800m was at the end of the Tynedale Pentathlon last year; so this was her first crack at an individual 800m and what an excellent job she made of it. It was a real mixed bag of different age groups, male and female, but she managed to see off U13’s, U15’s, an U17 and even a Senior as she crossed the line in 4th place with a new PB of 2:37.57 (AAA Grade 4 time.) Outstanding, Lottie, well done!
3000m
Four of our top middle distance runners took on the 3k this evening. Macy Kelly and Libby Hammond were up against each other in the first heat. Macy, now in her first year as an U17 athlete, had a tremendous run. She paced herself really well and smashed her PB by over 24 seconds with a new best of 11:35.05 to finish 4th (2nd girl.) Libby was also on top form, running her first ever track 3k, with her coach, DHAC Senior, Phil Teece on pacing duties. They were aiming for around 12 minutes but Libby kicked at about 200m to go and romped home in 7th place (5th girl) with a cracking time of 11:44.49. Incidentally, DHAC Club President, Ian Barnes, set a new M85 age group record in the same race. He completed the 3k in an amazing 16:34.42. Huge congratulation to Ian, and what a great honour for Phil and the girls to be running in the same race!
In Heat 2, Under 15, Harry Lyons and Under 20, Harry Wilson took to the track. Harry L has started the season off in absolutely cracking form and he shows no sign of slowing down yet! He had another outstanding performance tonight, smashing his PB with a new best of 9:37.73 (AAA Grade 3) finishing in 9th place overall (1st U15). Harry W produced another solid performance finishing 14th overall, just a few seconds of his PB in a time of 10:03.77. A fabulous effort from all four of our juniors, well done!
Shot Put
Onto the field events and the Shot Put, which was split into two pools of throwers. In Pool 1 Lily Thompson was in action with a string of steady throws; her best being 9.30m. This was enough to take 6th overall (4th female); a good result but she’s not at her best yet so there’s plenty more to come from Lily. It was great to see young Tomos Cowell getting involved again after his debut at the NEYDL the previous week. He didn’t quite match his best throw from Middlesbrough, but a fantastic effort, nonetheless. His best on the night was 6.24m which was enough for 3rd U13.
In Pool 2 our combined event girls, Tori Buckley and Lottie Graves were back again. Tori was in great shape and produced some excellent throws. Her best on the night was enough to win the Pool with a superb 9.51m (AAA Grade 3.) Once again, Lottie performed very well and with a best of 6.34m she finished in 2nd place for the U13 girls. Well done do all our shot putters tonight; some tremendous results!
Javelin
Finally, Lily was back for more throwing action in the Javelin. Like the shot she’s not up to full speed yet, but produced some great throws, nonetheless. Her best tonight was 18.84m which put her in 9th overall (6th female throwing the 500g javelin.) Nice one, Lily, well done.
Some great action from our juniors tonight with some outstanding results. Things are looking good for the rest of the season as they continue to improve, along with the weather (hopefully!) Well done to you all!
If you want to check out the full results from the evening’s events, go to: – http://harrierleague.com/tandf/northeastgrandprix2021/meeting2/results.htm
Entries are being taken for the next NEGP meeting, back at Monkton Stadium on 2nd June. For more information go to: – https://northeastmastersathletics.weebly.com/negp2021.html
Hope to see you there…..