North’s starlets are well placed to shine
JUNIOR ATHLETICS
WHILE the nation’s elite athletes were hauling in the medals at the European Championships in Berlin, the region’s talented youngsters were doing likewise at the Northern Athletics Championships in Liverpool, writes BILL McGUIRK.
Such is the strength in depth at the moment among the teenage athletes, 18 made it on to the podium.
Seven reached the top tier while there were six silver medalists and five bronze winners.
Conditions on Merseyside were not ideal, a strong wind hampering the sprinters on both days of the championships.
However, that did not deter Gateshead’s Joy Eze, the English Schools’ 200m silver medalist, from putting her best foot forward.
Competing in the under-15 age group, the youngster opted for the 100m this time round and proceeded to take the title against a strong head wind in a new lifetime best of 12.46secs after negotiating both the heats and the semi-final.
It was a superb championship for the Gateshead club - not only did Eze claim gold but there was a double victory in the same age group for Jack Halpin.
He won the hammer with a throw of 51:21m before going on to set a new championship record of 14:61 in the shot put - a record which goes back to 1994 when one of Britain’s leading athletes Carl Myerscough recorded 14:59m.
Gateshead’s final victory came in the under-17 300m when Liam Eastaugh won the 300m in 37.49s.
In the women’s under-17 300m, Durham City’s Tia Anderson put in a champion performance to triumph in 40.48s while Houghton’s Will Bellamy was a class apart in the under17 1,500 - prevailing comfortably in 4:09.94,
The region’s final gold medal went to Morpeth’s Andrew Knight, who came out on top in the under-17 shot put contest with 16:93m.
Gateshead’s Josh McKeown can count himself unfortunate not to join the winners on the podium.
In the under-17 200m he was pipped on the line and had to be content with second place after recording 23.74s - the same time as the winner!
There were second-place finishes also for Birtley’s Molly Elliott in the under-17 pole vault (3:30m) and Joel Brown-King (Gateshead) in the under-13 200m (28.00s).
Philippa Ellis (Gateshead) was second in the under-17 long jump (5:32m) and also won bronze in the 80m hurdles (12.20s).
Gateshead’s Orla Carty competed the silver-medal haul with a 28:00m throw in the under-15 girls’ javelin.
Other bronze medals were won by Morpeth’s Jessica Gardiner in the under-15 hammer (34:89m) - she also just missed out on a medal in the discus where she finished fourth with a throw of 28:65m.
North Shields Poly’s Josh Blevins finished third in the under-15 boys ‘ 1,500m (4:25.56) and Morpeth’s Amy Lott was third in the under-15 75m hurdles (11.78s).
Tynedale’s Kate Smith finished fourth in 11.82s and Gateshead’s Lucy Giles completed the region’s bronze winners with a put of 11:09m in the under-17 shot put contest.
However, there were many other notable performances to add to the medal winners.
There were fourth-place finishes for Gateshead’s Daniel Lennie in the under-15 200m (24:34s) and Ines Curran (Gateshead) in the under-15 800m (2:17.28) - North Shields Poly’s Rosie Hughes eighth.
Houghton’s Sam Gibson was fourth in the under-17 3,000m (9:22.49) and Lexi Ellis (Gateshead) just missed out on a medal in the under-13 shot put with a personalbest put of 8:59m.
Joshua Crisp (Blyth) was sixth in the under-13 long jump (4:58m).
Gateshead’s Exodus Guanqul was sixth in the under-15 80m hurdles (12.81s).
Megan Costello (Gateshead) was sixth in the under-17 100m (13.24s), Will Collinson (Blaydon) was fifth in the under-15 3,000m (10:15.88) and Blyth’s Ellie Morris finished sixth in the under-17 high jump (1:50).
Gateshead’s David Race produced a huge personal best of 2:04.67 to secure fifth in the under-15 800m while team-mate Matthew Lawson clinched sixth in the under-17 100m in 12.10.