SONY DSC
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
2017 Northern Athletics Indoor Championships
EIS Stadium, Sheffield – Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th January
The first major indoor championship meeting of 2017 took place over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of January at the English Institute of Sports stadium in Sheffield and seven of Kingston upon Hull AC’s senior athletes and 14 youth athletes travelled over to Sheffield to compete at the event.
The Kingston contingent competed in 13 event finals and between them the athletes won 11 medals, 3 of them were gold’s, 3 silver and 5 bronze.
Saturday got under way with 60 metres sprints and in the senior men’s men’s competition Kingston were represented by the clubs most experienced sprinter Luke Giblin and 19 year old Joe Cooper who has just moved up in to the senior ranks and was last year’s champion over this distance in the under 20 age category.
Joe Cooper was drawn in heat 2 where he ran a season’s best time of 7.15s to take 2nd place in the heat. Luke went in heat 5 and he was the race winner running a time of 7.06s and both of the athletes qualified for the semi finals later in the day.
They were both drawn together in the third of the semi final races where Luke was once again the race winner running a season’s best time of 6.97s with Joe taking 3rd place in 7.09s with another season’s best performance. Luke qualified for the evening final with Joe just missing the cut.
The final of the 60 metres saw another great effort from Luke Giblin who was the bronze medallist clocking a time of 7.00s to collect his 6th Northern championships medal.
Andy Morgan-Harrison’s campaign began in the under 20 men’s 60 metres sprints which saw the 2016 bronze medallist drawn in heat 3 where his run of 7.09s saw him comfortably qualify for the evenings final.
Josh Sampson was drawn in heat 2 and the 2016 County Schools 100 and 200 metre champion ran a new PB of 7.46s but it wasn’t enough to get him into the final.
Saturday evening’s 60 metre final saw Andy put in a superb effort running a new PB of 7.03s to take the bronze medal, missing out on the silver by two hundredths of a second.
In the under 17 men’s 60 metres David Morgan-Harrison was drawn in heat 5 where a season’s best run of 7.75s saw him qualify for his first semi final at a Northern indoor championships meeting.
He was drawn to compete in the in the third of the semi finals where his time of 7.76s was not enough to get him into the final. However he is looking strong this year and is making good progress there is more to come from David in 2017.
The senior women’s 60 metres saw the clubs two most experienced sprinters Great Britain international Annabelle Lewis and Megan Hoult and first year under 23 Luci Preston enter the fray.
Annabelle and Luci were both drawn in heat 1where Annabelle was the winner of the race posting a time of 7.59s with Luci running a season’s best time of 8.58s for 7th place. Megan went in the third of the heats where she claimed 3rd place with her run of 7.92s. Luci’s time was not enough to get her to the final but the other two girls safely progressed to the final race.
The women’s 60 metres final saw Annabelle well in contention but having to settle for the silver medal running a season’s best time of 7.57s with Megan Hoult in 8th place in a time of 7.92s.
Four Kingston athletes were in action in the under 20 women’s 60 metres, first up in heat 1 was England International Charlotte Paterson whose run of 7.67s saw her win the race and finish a third of a second ahead of her nearest chaser to qualify for the semi finals. Heat 2 brought Amelia Benson and Chloe Constable to the start line and Amelia ran a season’s best time of 8.16s to take her place in the semis. Chloe also put in a season’s best performance but her run of 8.75s wasn’t enough to give her further progress. Heat 4 brought Amy Sampson into action and she ran a new PB of 8.44s but missed the cut for the semis.
Charlotte ran in the first semi final where once again she was the race winner running a time of 7.65s and finishing 19 hundredths of a second ahead of the field to book her place in the final. Amelia Benson ran a time of 8.16s in the second semi final but missed out on the cut for the final.
In the under 20 women’s 60 metre final Charlotte Paterson was pressured by Charlotte Orton of Ellenborough but she showed her class and took the gold medal by two hundredths of a second in a season’s best time of 7.63s with Orton taking the silver.
In the under 17 women’s 60 metres Hannah Kynman was a comfortable winner of heat 3 where she ran a season’s best time of 8.01s to progress to the semis where she was the winner of the 3rd semi-final and recorded her first sub – 8 second clocking, registering a personal best of 7.87 sec. Unfortunately Hannah was unable to repeat her performance in the final where she finished 8th in 8.14 sec but after a long break due to injury at the end of the summer season her day at Sheffield represented a big step forward on the comeback trail.
Combined events specialist Venus Morgan is no stranger to success at Northern level with both indoor and outdoor medals already in her collection. This was added to at Sheffield with bronze in a closely contested 60m hurdles event. Winning her heat in a new personal best time of 9.10 sec Venus comfortably qualified for the final. This proved to be a close-run affair with another combined eventer, Preston’s Jasmine Jolly, the 2016 national indoor champion, coming out on top with a clocking of 8.90 sec. Venus just lost out to old rival Amy Carter (New Marske Harriers) who clocked 9.08 sec with Venus equalling her heat time of 9.10 to take a clear 3rd place. Later in the day Venus took to the track again, this time in the 60m sprint. In her first outing at the event at this level she clocked 8.21 sec to finish 2nd in her heat. This took her through to the semi-final where she finished 3rd, further improving her personal best to 8.17 sec, just 0.10 sec away from reaching the final.
15 year old Libby Wheeler experienced the highs and lows of sport within 3 hours at Sheffield. The Cottingham High School pupil had run-up problems in the long jump leading to her failing to qualify for the top 6 jump-off. The triple jump followed almost immediately and this time there were no mistakes from the 2016 English Schools bronze medallist. Having taken silver in last winter’s Northern Indoor Championships there was no stopping Libby going one better this year. An opening jump of 11.20m took a lead which was never headed. A further improvement to 11.30m in round 5 clinched the title but better was to follow in round 6 with a jump of 11.56m, breaking her own club and county records by 10cm. Such was Libby’s domination of the event that she produced 4 of the best 5 jumps of the competition. After a winter of major technical changes the victory was achieved using a shorter than normal run up so further improvements will be hoped for in the months to come.
Saturday’s field events saw Clare Blunt who is an absolutely indispensable member of the clubs senior league team put in a season’s best performance in the pole vault final where she cleared a height of 3.70m to take the silver medal which was her career 6th medal at Northern indoor championship meetings
Day 2 – Sunday 15th January
After a fantastic first day of competition by the Kingston athletes could they keep the run of success going, the answer to that question was a big yes.
Sunday’s competition brought Luke Giblin back into action this time in the 200 metres and also under 23 Matt Elvidge in the long jump.
Luke was drawn in heat 4 of the 200 metres where his run of 22.30s took him to victory in the race and gave him safe progression into the semi’s where he went in semi final 2 and his run of 22.25s gave him 2nd place and qualification through to the 200 metres final.
The final saw Luke run a time of 22.55s which saw him finish the race in 5th position.
Matt Elvidge is a second year under 23 and he jumped a season’s best distance of 6.10m to take 5th place in the long jump competition.
Andy Morgan-Harrison began his 200 metres campaign looking to defend the title he had won at last year’s championship meeting. There were 3 heats followed by the final and he was drawn to run in heat 1 which saw him in control of the race which he won in a time of 22.53s three tenths of a second ahead of the rest of the field.
The battle for gold and silver in the 200 metres final was between Andy and Connor Wood of Leeds AC with the other athletes fighting for the bronze. He ran a season’s best time of 21.95s but just lost out to Connor and he had to settle for the silver medal to go with his bronze from Saturday’s 60 metres final.
The under 20 women’s 200 metres saw Charlotte Paterson hoping to do the sprint double. She went in the first heat where she was the race winner running a time of 25.73s and qualified for the semi final. In the semi a season’s best run of 25.46s saw her take 2nd place which took her into the final.
However Charlotte suffered a cruel blow picking up an injury in the semi and she was unable to run in the final and had to withdraw.
The under 17 men’s 200 metres saw David Morgan-Harrison competing in heat 4 and putting in a great effort which saw him take 3rd place in the race where he also ran a new PB of 25.01s, but it wasn’t sufficient to ensure his place in what would have been a second semi final at the championships.
Hollie Smith had a big year in 2016 which included winning four major championship medals which began with a silver medal at the 2016 Northern indoors followed by a bronze at the England indoor event, two more bronze’s were secured at the English Schools Championships and the Northern track & field championships. In addition she competed in the high jump finals at both the England and the British track & field events.
At this indoor championship meeting she got 2017 off to the perfect start with a gold medal in the high jump final improving on last year’s silver with a season’s best jump going clear at a height of 1.70m.
One of Kingston’s most promising young athletes Shaun Kerry had his first outing in the under 17’s age category. He is a hammer specialist but is also an excellent shot putter and javelin thrower. The only indoor throwing event that takes place in the UK however is the shot and that is the discipline that took him to Sheffield and these Northern indoor championships.
The shot putt final saw him competing against bigger older and more experienced throwers and also this was his first competition with the heavier 5 kilogram shot. Shaun was not overawed he has confidence in his own ability and he launched a new PB of 12.45m to claim the bronze medal and make the perfect start to 2017.
Jacob Chastney made his Kingston debut in heat 1 of the 800 metres event, the former Beverley athlete ran a season’s best time of 2:12.52s, he didn’t progress from the heats but it is a good start to his new career on the track.
