Sheffield steel leads to 25 podium places
JUNIOR ATHLETICS
MEDALS came thick and fast for the region’s track and field athletes who travelled to Sheffield for the Northern Athletics Indoor Championships.
The two-day fixture at the impressive EIS Arena produced 25 podium places for North East competitors.
First on to the podium was Chesterle-Street’s David Todd, who finished runner-up in the under-20 shot put contest.
The gold medal went to Rotherham’s Leo Rowley with a throw of 14:69 metres - Todd adding nearly three metres to his previous best on producing a put of 14:46m.
Gateshead’s Joe Halpin, who finished fourth, also set a new lifetime best of 11:35m.
New Gateshead recruit Philippa Ellis claimed third place in a high-class under-17 60m hurdles final.
Oliver Herring was flying high in the under-20 pole vault championship.
The Gateshead athlete went into the competition with a personal best of 3:28m achieved in the same stadium earlier in the year.
However, much to his delight he ended up in silver-medal position after clearing a huge 3:80m behind City of Sheffield’s Joshua Lindley Harris.
Less than 15 minutes later, Herring was picking up his second silver medal when he followed home Gateshead team-mate Jason Nicholson, Nicholson retaining his 60m hurdles title in 7.86secs and Herring recording 8.65s.
Former Morpeth athlete Nisha Desai just failed to retain her senior women’s 400m title after giving way to Liverpool’s Anna Rowe, who managed to claim the advantage in the closing stages to win in 56.43s against Desai’s 58.86s.
Sophie Littlemore (Gateshead), third last year, was next to receive a silver medal after finishing runner-up in the senior women’s shot put contest.
Victory went to Stockport’s Holly Aitchison with a distance of 13:81m Littlemore’s best just 33 centimetres less.
Durham City’s Cameron Thomas took the under-17 men’s 1,500m in 4:18.74 while North Shields Poly’s Thomas Sursham crossed the line in third after recording 4:20.40.
Shildon’s Kyle Walton set a new pb of 7.12s to win his heat of the under-17 60 metres and ran quicker in the final (7.11s) to be runner-up behind Leeds City’s Kieran Brining - just one-hundredth of a second adrift.
There was a new pb of 12:14m for Morpeth’s Ethan Stephenson for second place in the under-17 triple jump while Gateshead’s Thomas Bowdon also set a new pb of 13:02 for third place in the under-20 triple jump.
There was also a bronze-medal performance by Blaydon’s Sam Gormn, who produced a new pb of 6:26m in the under-17 long jump competition.
Among those who just missed out on a podium spot were Gateshead’s Megan Costello (under-17 60m), Blyth’s Heather Madonald (under-17 300m), Gateshead’s Joe Halpin (under-20 shot put) and Birtley’s Adrian Bailes (senior 1,500m).
The medal haul continued on day two with six gold gongs among the North’s 13 podium spots.
Stepping up to receive golds were Gateshead pair Joe Halpin and Amelia Bateman, Blyth’s Josh Fiddaman, Morpeth’s Andrew Knight and Middlesbrough duo Jack Roach and Josh Allen.
Halpin won the under-20 long jump (6:49m) while Bateman ended up in pole position in the under-20 high jump (1:71m).
Fiddaman took gold in the under-17 800m (2:02.15 - Durham City’s Adam Old runner-up in 2:04.65 - Knight claimed top spot in the under-17 shot (14:65m) while Roach secured the senior long jump title (7:41m) and Allen did likewise in the under-20 800m (1:55.52).
There were silver medals for Blaydon’s Liam Reveley, Middlesbrough’s Charlie Myers and Blyth’s Ellie Morris.
Reveley finished runner-up in the senior high jump (1:95m), Myers second in the senior pole vault (5:30m) while Morris cleared 1.55m to finish second in the under-17 high jump.
Claiming bronze medals were Desai (800m) to add to her 400m silver and Gateshead’s Sarah Derham, who was third in the under-20 pole vault with a clearance of 3:10m.