Last Sunday, hundreds of athletes from the North East and beyond, came together to celebrate the life of a remarkable young man whose story has touched the lives of many. The Kieran Maxwell Memorial is now in its second year, and this time the event had moved location to the Middlesbrough Sports Village.
The Under 13 Super Squad were out in force, with some excellent performances in both track and field, along with a few new faces. The first of them, Emily Hornsby, having chosen to specialise in sprinting, certainly showed us what she is capable of with 3rd place finishes in both the 100m (14.75) and 200m (31.62), even a false start in the 100m didn’t phase her! With this being Emily’s first competition I’m sure you’ll agree this is an excellent start and we look forward to seeing her in action
The 800m saw regulars Tori Buckley and Savannah Tarn competing with a PB for Tori finishing 2nd in 2.42.5. Savannah is still in her first year of the U13 and came 6th in an impressive 2.56.1 for her first race. She so impressed the coach from Blyth Running Club he was cheering for her at the end! Both girls ran extremely well then had to quickly get to the start of the 200m finishing 3rd in 31.16 and 5th in 34.83 in their heats respectively.
With only 2 girls competing in the 1500m, this was run as a joint race with the U13 boys. Not that this bothered Libby Hammond! She came 4th overall and 1st in the girls race, setting a new PB of 5.37.5 in the process.
The track events for the U13 boys were no less eventful. Elwood Kelley was the only sprinter in action on the day, coming 5th in his 200m heat with a new PB of 32.04. Not that this was his only track event…. Elwood was one of the three Darlington boys in the 800m who saw the first 1,2,3 finish of the day, finishing 2nd with another PB of 2.35.6. Alex Boyer took 1st place, also with a PB of 2.34.8 and Ashton Harrison 3rd just half a second off his PB in 2.36.3. Well done boys looks like the 800m is going to be one to watch this season!
The second 1,2,3 finish of the day came in the 1500m with newcomer Harry Lyons taking 1st place with a new meeting record of 5.19.8 – well done Harry and great to have you on the team! 2nd was Louis Brett in 5.25.3 and Matthew Vest snuck into 3rd by half a second in 5.43.7- keep up the good work boys,we look forward to seeing more in the season.
The field events were just as exciting as the track with meeting records and PBs falling all over the place. Multi eventers Ashton Harrison and Tori Buckley have definitely benefitted from some top class coaching at the Valhalla Academy with Tori taking the meeting record in javelin with a throw of 18.48m and Ashton taking it in the shot put with a PB throw of 5.91m. Ashton also set the U13 meeting record in high jump with another PB of 1.25m – fantastic work!
The long jump was the last event that saw our U13s in for the day. Poor Libby Hammond was jumping as the weather turned colder but still finished a very respectable 7th out of 14 with a jump of 3.53m. Matthew Vest and Elwood Kelley represented the boys with Matthew jumping a new PB of 3.51m in 5th place and Elwood taking 2nd place with 4.00m.
The Under 15s events saw the usual high standards we have come to expect from them starting with 1500m regulars Mia Wetherill and Emily Vest. Mia set a new PB in 3rd place with a time of 5.18.13 and Emily came in 5th place in 5.40.49.
Kate Williams was also in action on the track. Kate took first place in both the 100m and 200m sprints with PBs in both events of 13.75 in the 100m and 28.57 in the 200m. Fantastic running Kate, well done.
Benedict Davies has now moved up to the U15s category and has certainly made himself known to his competitors! He also set PBs in the 100m with 12.82 and in the 200m with 26.67. Additionally, he competed in the high jump, which he won with another PB and meeting record of 1.63m. What a great start to the season, Benedict!
Also competing in the field events was Kieran’s sister, Lissie Maxwell with some great results. Lissie took 9th place in the long jump with a jump of 2.89m, 5th place the javelin with a throw of 12.33m and 4th place in the shot put with a throw of 6.21m. Well done Lissie!
With some of our athletes now competing in the U17 category, the excitement didn’t stop there!
On the track we saw Logan Fawcett in the 200m. This was a her first event after returning from injury and she put up a fantastic battle, showing tremendous technique, looking very promising for the rest of the season! Caitlin Minns took 2nd place in the 300m in 44.41. Great sprinting ladies.
The 800m saw regular Megan Noble finish 3rd in 2.37.6 in the women’s race, with Liam Brittle treating us to a nail biting finish in the men’s race. Liam managed to edge into 3rd place by half a second with a time of 2.08.1. You certainly kept us on the edge of our seats!
The 1500m saw Millie Grayson take 2nd place in the 1500m in a very respectable 6.07.93. This was the first time racing at this distance and we look forward to seeing more!
Field events for the U17 women saw regular Charlotte Rutter taking 2nd place in both the long jump with 4.88m and the javelin with a PB throw of 18.73m.
This just left the 3000m men’s race on the track with Dan Boyer, and Adam and John Russell in action. Dan was first home in 4th place in 9.21.5, Adam 5th in 9.29.6 and John 6th in 9.40.1. Well done lads – a tough race as it was run with the U20s and Senior Men. Liam Brittle also had an excellent run finishing a close 3rd in the 800m – only 0.2s behind 2nd place! Well doneLiam, a great start to the season.
The ambulant races saw Darlington Harriers well represented with Oliver Porter competing in both the U13s 100m and 200m races. This saw a huge PB in the 200m of 57.80 and 27.26 in the 100m. Well done Ollie! India Oates has now moved up to the U20s category, where she continued to dominate! She won the 100m comfortably in 17.01, and was a close 2nd place in the 200m, only beaten by a senior athlete. Great work, India, well done!
Of course the most important part of the day was to raise money for the Kieran’s Legacy and we raised a total of £2400. Well done to everyone who took part and to the volunteers who made the event possible.It was a great day and lovely to see so many Darlington Harriers there.
Thanks to Karen Harland for the use of her photos, you can find loads more here. Full results of the event can be found here