A fantastic evening of NEGP action at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Wednesday, with the eagerly anticipated Mile race high on the agenda. Darlington provided 13 of the 103 athletes taking part in this rarely run track distance, with some excellent performances in the early summer sun and lots of new PB’s.
1 MILE
Adam Russell was our sole runner in the Stan Long Trophy race. This heat featured the quickest athletes of the evening and Adam finished in an excellent 3rd place in 4:22.57 (PB).
Dylan Wilson was also the lone Harrier in heat 2 and he followed up recent good runs in the 800m & 1500m with an excellent 4:35.83 (PB) and 6th position in his race.
There was a high number of the regions best U15 & U17 male athletes throughout the field in heat 3 and this race featured arguably the performance of the night. Finishing 6th in the heat, first year U15 athlete Rowan Steel finished in 4:47.98 (PB), knocking an incredible 10 seconds off the previous MU15 club record held by Harry Lyons (4:57.90). Matthew Foster also ran to within 1 second of the previous record, running an excellent 4:58.91 (PB).
As a measure of the athletes on show, 42 of the 103 managed a sub 5 minute mile on the night!
Heat 4 featured Zara Jones, Owen Ovens and Daniel I’Anson. Owen was first harrier home in 5:09.22 (PB) and he is improving race by race. Zara was just over 1.5 seconds behind in 5:10.81 (PB) which looks to be a new FU17 club record, bettering Macy Kelly’s 5:11.98 set last year. Daniel came home in 5:19.63 (PB). After his recent Football injury, it’s great to see Dan competing on track again.
Barry Talman took to the track as the oldest (most experienced he tells us…) in heat 5 by a good 30 years. Ollie Curran and Matilda Owens joined him to bring the average age down. Ollie finished in 5:26.48 (PB) with Matilda not far behind in 5:34.57 (PB). Barry gave it his all to finish in a creditable 5:36.03 just behind Matilda. He then had a nervous wait to see if daughter Freya could beat his time in heat 6 to take the family bragging rights…
It was a tight run thing, but Freya took the ‘Talman Trophy’ by just 0.38 seconds with a time of 5:35.65 and 2nd place in her heat. Charlotte Owens in 5:50.28 (PB) and Sasha Patterson in 5:51.05 (PB) were the final harriers home. Sasha’s time just 8 seconds off Zara’s FU13 club record of 5:43! Something to aim for Sasha!
It wasn’t just about the mile as we had plenty of Sprint and Field eventers on show.
SPRINT/FIELD
Hugo Douglas-Reeves knocked an excellent 0.21 seconds off his existing 80m Hurdles club record running 12.11 (PB). Unfortunately, he pulled up in the 300m early in the race with a slight niggle. With Inter-Counties next weekend, a sensible decision to take no risks.
We had a good representation in the 100m with Charlotte Rutter taking the honours of fastest Harrier of the evening with 13.14, narrowly edging out Libby Hammond in 13.17. Iona Richings wasn’t far behind in 13.65 with U13s James I’Anson (15.18) and Ollie Curran (15.67 PB) battling it out for fastest boy. Lucie Hammond was very close behind the boys in 16:06 (PB).
In the longer sprints, Izabella Edinboro competed in the 300m and finished in 43.53. Karl Murray ran 55.21 in the 400m whilst Lottie Graves also completed a lap of the track in 68.47 (PB), taking 0.73 seconds off her previous best.
Thomas Hill was once again the sole competitor in the Pole Vault and his clearance of 3.6m at the second attempt equalled his PB set last weekend at Durham Schools Championships. He attempted 3.70m without success on the evening but I’m sure it won’t be long in coming.
Iona Richings and James I’Anson doubled up on the night by competing in the Long Jump. Iona’s best was 4.59m with James managing 3.72m. Lottie G and Lucie H were the other athletes to double up on the night, throwing 9.72m and 3.99m respectively in the Shot Put.
All results from the night can be found HERE
NEGP 4 is on Wed 12th July
Sen/U20 Men 110m Hurdles | U17 Men & U20/SenW 100m Hurdles | 200m | 800m | 3,000m (no under 13s)
High Jump | Shot Put | Hammer (no under 13s) | Discus