It was a busy weekend of athletics with Gateshead Harriers competing in Gateshead, Sheffield and Bedford. At the schools Inter-Counties competition at Gateshead athletes set a number of personal best performances in their quest to be selected for the English Schools in July. The Inter Boys (U17) 4 x 100 relay squad were the same squad who had run at the Upper YDL competition in Trafford. This time they smashed it to run the 4th fastest time in the country this year. Well done to Josh McKeown, Lewis Cant, Greg Abibu and Dale Tuner (from Blyth).
On the Sunday many of the same athletes travelled to Sheffield for the Lower YDL (U13 and U15) league match. The team were in a precarious posiion at the bottom of the table so needed a good result and the athletes duly delivered. The provisional result show Gateshead a narrow 2nd and moving us up to 4th place, giving us some breathing space for the last match at Middlesbrough. The full results can be found on http://www.ukydl.org.uk/page10.html . Geoff Fenwick has uploaded some fantastic photos on the Gateshead Harriers Members page.
Meanwhile the U20 and U23 National Championships were being held over the weekend at Bedford. Lucy Turner (U23) was busy with Long Jump (finishing in 5th position with a seasons best jump of 5.85. Lucy changed her take off foot over the winter so was very happy with that result). The next day she ran a PB of 13.90 in the 100m Hurdles to get to the final where she was unfortunate to hit hurdle 7 hard, although a creditable 6th place finish made the long trip worthwhile. Fraser Wright (U23) was also in action twice with a 7th place finish in the Discus and picking up his first national medal with 2nd in the Shot Putt. Dan Walsh (U23) also competed well on the Saturday with a 4th place finish in the Triple Jump.
In the U20 age group, Amelia Bateman finished in 4th place with a 1.74 high jump – a great performance in her first year in the age group. Also a mention to Georgia Kyle (from Blaydon) who has supported the YDL Upper team over the past 2 years who competed in the Discus.
Saving the best performance of the weekend to last – Jason Nicholson ran a scrappy 13.62 to win his 110m Hurdles heat. In the final he blew away the competition with a PB of 13.41 (unfortunately wind assisted) to take the title and an automatic selection for the World Juniors in Finland in July. Anyone who catch up on the race can watch it here
www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/24279