2016 Northern Athletics Indoor Championships

Seniors – Under 20’s & under 17’s

E.I.S. Stadium, Sheffield – Saturday 16^th/Sunday 17^th January

Six of Kingston’s senior athletes and nineteen youth team athletes were in competition at the English Institute of Sports Stadium in Sheffield, at the annual Northern Athletics Indoor Championship meeting. There was a big turnout from all parts of Northern England, and as usual the competition was intense, with all the best athletes in the north striving to win a championship medal, at the first big event of 2016.

The team returned home with 2 gold medals, 4 silver ones, and 4 bronze medals, and Kingston athletes competed in 20 event finals over the weekend.

Luke Giblin was in action on both days, on Saturdays first day of competition he was in action in the 60 metre sprint event. He was drawn in heat 3, where his run of 7.06s saw him safely through to the semi finals. In his semi he ran a time of 7.09s, which unfortunately was not sufficient to get him into the final.

Day two of the championships saw Luke commence his 200 metre campaign. His day began with a winning start, in the first heat of the day, where his run of 22.82s put him two tenths of a second ahead of his nearest challenger, and took him into the semi final.

He was drawn in semi final 3, where an excellent run of 22.23s, gave him another victory, and a place in the final.

His training partner and great rival, Callum Giles, was another 200 metre competitor, and his run of 22.71s got him off to a winning start in heat 5, and booked his berth in the semi finals, where he was drawn in the competitions second semi.

An excellent run of 22.26s gave Callum 2^nd place in the race and progression through to the final.

The 200 metre final saw Luke Giblin win the silver medal, running a season’s best time of 22.10s, and missing out on the gold by just one tenth of a second. Callum Giles took the bronze behind Luke, and he also put in a season’s best performance of 22.25s.

Multi eventer Clare Blunt was in action in the pole vault competition at Sheffield, where her clearance at 3.60m, earned her the silver medal. This was Clare’s 9^th championship medal since her pole vault career really took off in 2012.

The club’s number one senior women’s sprinter Megan Hoult joined the action in the 60 metre sprint competition.

Megan was drawn in heat 3, where she finished in 2^nd place and ran a new PB of 7.68s, to take her into the semi finals. She ran in the first semi final, where a 3^rd place finish in a time of 7.73s, took her into the final.

In the 60 metre final Megan Hoult took a 6^th place finish, and ran a time of 7.81s.

Veteran athlete, prolific competitor, and all round nice guy John Twiddle was in competition in the shot putt final, where a season’s best throw of 12.36m, earned John a 5^th place finish.

First season decathlete Matthew Elvidge took on three events over the weekend.

In the 60 metre sprints he ran in heat 2, taking 6^th place and running a time of 7.75m.

The 200 metres saw him in action in the second heat, where he ran a season’s best time of 24.41s, for 4^th place.

In the long jump final Matt finished in 9^th place with 2.93m.

The club is blessed with 5 outstanding under 20 men sprinters, and three of them were in action at Sheffield.

Joe Cooper has worked tremendously hard during the autumn and winter of 2015/16, he spends countless hours on weekday evenings, after a full day at work, and on Sunday mornings, working on his fitness, strength, and speed. He is dedicated to his sport and strives to achieve his full potential.

Joe competed in the 60 metres race at the championships, where the heats, semi finals and final, took place on the Saturday.

He was drawn in heat 5, along with his team mate Andy Morgan-Harrison, the two of them dominated the heat, and they finished 1^st and 2^nd with the same time of 7.19s, a new PB for both of them. Andy was awarded 1^st place with Joe 2^nd, with both progressing to the semi finals.

Joe was drawn in the first semi final, where he stormed to victory in a time of 7.10s, breaking his PB once again.

Andy was drawn in the third semi final, and he too powered to victory, setting his second new PB of the day with a time of 7.17s. Two Kingston sprinters were into the final.

Eliot Gay was the third of the clubs sprint trio, he too is an outstanding athlete. He is a great sprinter, and a very good long and triple jumper, who had awful problems with injuries during 2015. He too has been working hard throughout the autumn and winter, and he has looked quick and strong in training.

He was drawn in heat 4 of the 60 metres, and ran a time of 7.26s for 3^rd place, which saw him progress to the semi final. Eliot was drawn in the second semi final, where a new PB of 7.16s, took him into the final. Kingston had three sprinters in the 60 metre final.

On the Saturday evening the three of them lined up for Northern 60 metre final. Joe Cooper broke his PB for the third time in one day, running a superb 7.02s, to take the gold medal and become the new champion of Northern England.

Andy Morgan-Harrison broke his PB for the third time in a day, taking the bronze medal, with an outstanding run of 7.11s.

Eliot Gay took 5^th place in the final, running an excellent time of 7.20s.

There was more to come from Andy and Eliot in Sunday’s 200 metre competition.

Andy Morgan-Harrison is a tall powerful and long legged runner, who seems to ooze power as he eats up the metres on the track. Like Eliot, Andy also suffered injury problems during the 2015 campaign, but both of them have looked very good in training and hopefully they will enjoy plenty of success in 2016.

They both made easy progress into the semi finals, with Eliot Gay winning heat 3 and running a time of 22.95s, and Andy Morgan-Harrison running 23.23s, for 2^nd place in heat 4.

They were drawn together in semi final 2, which saw Andy win the race with a time 22.68s, and Eliot take 2^nd place in 22.74s.

The 200 metre final saw Andy Morgan-Harrison crowned the new Northern Champion, taking the gold medal with a new PB of 22.16s. Eliot Gay took 4^th place, running a time of 22.82s.

Two of the clubs under 20 middle distance runners Jonny Beharrell and Josh Taylor-Brown were in action in the 800 metres competition.

Josh was drawn in heat 2, where he took 4^th place in the race, and ran a time of 2:05.27s, unfortunately not enough to get him through to the final. Jonny’s draw saw him running in heat 3, which he won in a time of 2:01.16s, to take him through to the final.

In the 800 metre final Jonny Beharrell ran a time of 2:00.01s, for a 5^th place finish. He is still not fully fit and he competed at these championships with an injury. In fact he spent the best part of 15 months out of action with injuries, from the summer of 2014 to late autumn in 2015.

In the under 17 men’s age category, two 14 year olds who have just made the move up from the under 15’s went head to head in the long jump final.

Jack Perry, the 2015 English Schools, East Riding Schools, and Humberside Schools, long jump champion, and Adam Coles the County and Humberside Schools hurdles champion did battle in the long jump pit.

Jack put in a season’s best effort of 5.93m, to take the Northern silver medal.

Adam Coles claimed the bronze medal, jumping a new PB of 5.70m, an increase of 20cm, after having already added 20cm at the Leeds Open on the previous weekend. This was Adam’s second Northern Championship medal, to go with the silver he won in the 80 metre hurdles at the outdoor championships in Middlesbrough in 2015.

Adam also saw action in the 60 metre hurdles final, where he ran a new PB of 9.17s, to take a 5^th place finish.

Jack Perry also ran in heat 2 of the 60 metres, where he took 3^rd place and ran a season’s best time of 7.65s.

14 year old David Morgan-Harrison, saw championship action in heat 4 of the 60 metres, taking 5^th place and running a time of 8.40s.

Another 14 year old, middle distance runner Kyle Foster, ran in heat 1 of the under 17’s 800 metres, taking 5^th place and setting a new PB of 2:10.05s.

15 year old pole vaulter Harry Stutely had an excellent day. After early jitters and take off problems in warm-up, he cleared 3.00m and 3.20m at first attempts, and a second time clearance at a personal best height of 3.40m, brought him a bronze medal, his first at a Northern indoor competition. He previously won pole vault bronze at the 2014 Northern track & field Championships in Wigan.

Six of the clubs youth team women sprinters competed at the championship meeting.

16 year old Emily Lyons has just begun her first year in the under 20 age category. She was the 100 and 200 metre gold medallist at the 2015 Humberside Schools, East Riding Schools and Humberside County Championship’s. She was also a semi finalist at the English Schools Championships. Emily entered the 60 metre and 200 metre events at Sheffield, the heats, semi’s and final of the 60’s, were held on the Saturday, and the 200’s on the Sunday.

She was drawn in heat 2 of the 60 metres, where she took 2^nd place, running a time of 8.16s, to secure her place in the semi final.

Emily was in action in the second semi final, where a 3^rd place finish, and a time of 8.17s gave her a final spot.

She ran a new PB of 8.10s in the final, where she took 5^th place.

On the Sunday Emily was back in action, this time in the 200 metres. She was drawn in heat 2, where she took 4^th place, running a time of 26.85s, and qualified for the semi final.

She ran in the second semi final, finishing in 6^th place and recording a time of 27.27s, which couldn’t get her in to the final.

17 year old Amy Sampson was drawn in heat 4 of the 60 metres, where she took 5^th place and ran a new PB of 8.56s, which qualified her for the semi final.

In the semi final Amy produced another new PB of 8.52s, giving her a 7^th place finish, but it wasn’t quite enough to get her into the final.

This was Amy’s first competition for 9 months, and she did really well to reach a Northern semi final.

2015 was the first full competitive season for 16 year old Chloe Constable, one in which she became a regular member of the Kingston Youth Team. She put in some very good performances, and fully played her part in the team’s promotion campaign.

Chloe ran in heat 1 of the 60 metres where she recorded a time of 8.79s, which wasn’t enough to secure a semi final berth.

16 year old Charlotte McIvor was also in action in the 60 metres, running in heat three and crossing the finish line in a time of 9.17s.Which unfortunately was not enough to get her into the semi final.

This was only Charlotte’s fifth competitive outing, and she gained valuable championship experience.

17 year old high jumper Hollie Smith, collected a silver medal in the high jump final, improving on the bronze that she took home from the 2015 Northern Indoor Championships.

In the under 17 age category Amelia Benson was in competition in both the 60 metre and 200 metre sprint events.

In Saturdays 60 metres event she was drawn to run in heat 4, where a good run of 8.05s gave her 2^nd place, and progression to the semi final.

She ran in the second of the semi finals, and another fine run, in the same time as her heat, gave her another 2^nd place finish, and a place in the final.

Amelia put in another quality performance, running the race in 8.06s, to finish in 6^th place in the 60 metre final.

On to Sunday and Amelia got her 200 metre campaign up and running in heat 6, where she stormed into the semi final, with a victory, recording a time of 26.42s.

She ran in the second semi final, where she finished 3^rd, in a time of 26.35s. Unfortunately she missed out on the cut for the final.

15 year old Jessica Fields was also in action in Saturday’s 60 metre event, where she was drawn in heat 1. Jess ran a new PB of 8.52s, for a 6^th place finish.

14 year old heptathlete Venus Morgan, who has recently moved up to the under 17 age category, was in action over the weekend in the 60 metre hurdles competition and in the long jump event.

She ran in heat 1 of the 60 metre hurdles, where she posted a new PB of 9.28s, to take 3^rd place and secure her spot in the final.

The final saw her run the same time of 9.28s again, and finish in 5^th place. She finished just in front of Amy Carter of New Marske AC, who pipped Venus to last year’s outdoor 75 hurdles title by 0.01 of a second.

In the high jump final Venus cleared a season’s best height of 1.55m, to take 6^th place.

Another 14 year old who has just moved up to the under 17’s, is the 2015 English Schools long jump finalist Libby Wheeler. At these championships Libby was competing in both the long jump and triple jump events.

She won her first Northern medal, taking silver in the triple jump final, where her winning jump, a new PB of 10.95m, was 90 centimetres further than her old PB.

In the long jump competition she was drawn in qualifying pool A, where she posted a season’s best effort of 5.23m to book her place in the final.

The final saw her finish in 6^th place, with her best jump was one of 5.12m.

15 year old Natalie Varga specialises in that most demanding of events, the pole vault. She was unfortunate enough to be one of the victims of a field judging error. Having cleared 2.30m, 2.40m, and what was thought to be 2.50m, at the first attempts, she was informed that the lead judge had failed to instruct that the bar be raised from 2.40m. This oversighthad a psychological effect on those vaulters affected by the error, some subsequently failing to clear the real 2.50m.

Natalie cleared the height at the 2^nd attempt, but the mishap had clearly had an effect on her and she was ‘timed out’ twice at 2.60m, and then failed her final attempt, finishing 6^th out of the 13 vaulters.