2019 Northern Indoor Championships
E.I.S. Stadium Sheffield
Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th January
Fifteen athletes from Kingston upon Hull Athletics club, made the journey across to Sheffield, to compete at the Northern indoor Championships event. Nine of the Kingston contingent competed in their event finals, five of them were medal winners. They brought one gold medal, one silver and three bronze medals, back home to Costello.
Adam Coles was Kingston Upon Hull ACs star performer at the first major meeting of the indoor athletics season, when the Northern Championships were staged at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport stadium.. The 17 year old Wyke College student produced an outstanding performance to win the under 20 men’s 60m hurdles, his first Northern indoor title, to go with his previous wins outdoors, firstly as an under 17 in the 100m hurdles and then in 2018 where he took the under 20’s 110m hurdles title. In a small but high quality field Adam’s main rival was his namesake Edward Coles (Preston Harriers). The 2 were never more than inches apart from blocks to tape but Adam’s perfectly timed dip finish ensured that he crossed the line just 0.03 sec ahead of his Lancastrian rival. Bronze medal went to Adam’s long-time rival Oliver Dakin (Chesterfield Harriers) last year’s under 17 60m hurdles champion. Adam’s time of 8.50 sec was a new lifetime best and sets him up for a return to Sheffield next month for the England Athletics Indoor Championships where he will be looking for a further improvement in what is guaranteed to be a top quality event. Adam also contested the 60m sprint where he finished 4th in his heat. Unfortunately the electronic timing system malfunctioned meaning that only manual times could be given, with Adam’s 7.5 sec equalling his previous personal best.
Holly Adams made her Northern indoor debut at the 2015 event, where she was the 10th place finisher, in the shot putt. In 2016 she was the Northern indoor champion, the silver medal was secured in 2017. The following year saw her take the bronze medal. 2019 has seen Holly make the move up from the under 15’s to the under 17’s. This meeting marked her first appearance in the under 17 age category. She was in action in Sundays shot final, where she took the silver medal, throwing a new PB of 11.74 metres, an improvement of 61 centimetres. She had set her previous PB at last Februarys England indoor championships, where she was also the silver medallist.
Adam’s training partner and fellow Wyke College student Venus Morgan also produced an outstanding run at Sheffield in the under 20 women’s 60m hurdles. The best start of her career saw her lead the field over the first hurdle and remain well in contention until she clipped the third barrier, losing valuable time coming into the latter stages of the race. A good recovery kept her in a medal position, taking bronze in a lifetime best of 8.98 sec. Such was the quality ahead of her that the winner, Lucy Haddaway (City of York AC) set a new championship record of 8.74 sec, erasing the old time set by no less than Katarina Johnson Thompson, the current world indoor pentathlon champion. Second place went to Venus’s perennial rival Amy Carter (Middlesbrough) Mandale AC who not for the first time pipped her in a photo finish, clocking 8.96 sec. Venus also went on to contest the 60m sprint where she acquitted herself well by finishing 3rd in her heat in 8.03 sec, equalling her lifetime best and narrowly missing the final.
Charlotte Paterson made her Northern indoor debut back in 2011, where she was a semi finalist in the 60 metres competition. She repeated this in 2013, where she ran in that year’s 60 metres semi final. 2014 saw her take her first Northern indoor 60 metres title. The following year Charlotte was the 60 metres silver medallist. Her second Northern 60 metres title was secured in 2017. Charlotte was back among the medals at the 2019 event. running heat two, of Saturdays 60 metres, in a season’s best time of 7.70 sec, gave her a place in the 60 metres final, where she took the bronze medal, running a time of 7.72 sec.
Hammer thrower Shaun Kerry, is the reigning UK School games champion. He is also the reigning Northern champion. The indoor season always finds Shaun competing in the shot, which is the only indoor throwing event. He was the 2016 Northern indoor shot champion, and was the bronze medallist in 2015 and 2017. He collected a third bronze medal, at these championships, where he threw a new PB of 13.75 metres, an improvement of 83 centimetres on his previous best.
In contrast to her 2 training partners (Adam and Venus), this was Evie Watson’s first experience of such a high level of competition, when she took part in the under 17 women’s triple jump. Finishing 8th with a jump of 9.47m Evie gained what should be valuable experience to carry into the forthcoming outdoor season when she will be looking to improve on her 2018 best performance of 10.16m which placed her 3rd on the Yorkshire & Humberside rankings.
Prior to Sundays under 20 men’s 200 metres sprints competition, Josh Sampson’s Northern indoor championship campaigns, had been restricted to the heats. This year he put together three excellent races. He was drawn in the 4th race of the heats, where a season’s best time of 23.33 sec, saw him take 2nd place in the race and gain qualification for the semi finals. He went in the second of the semi final races, where another good run of 23.48 sec, saw him cross the line in 3rd place and qualify to compete in the final. In the 200 metres final Josh was the 4th place finisher, running a time of 23.51 sec.
Jack Singleton made his Northern indoor championship debut at the 2018 event, where he ran in the final of the 60 metres hurdles. He repeated the feat at these championships, running a new PB of 9.24 sec, an improvement of nine hundredths of a second, to take a 6th place finish in the 60 metre hurdles final. Jack was also in action in 60 metres sprints event, where he was drawn to run in heat 4. He ran his season’s best time of 8.25 sec, for 7th place in the race, but missed the cut for the semi finals.
Saturdays under 17 women’s 60 metres sprints saw three Kingston athletes in competition. Alanah Thoresby ran in heat 2 of the series, where she took a 4th place finish, running a new PB of 8.48 sec, an improvement of 5 hundredths of a second. Also running in heat 2 was her training partner Ellie Townsend, who took 6th place with her run of 8.76 sec. Emily Dye was drawn in the 5th heat, where she was the 5th place finisher, running a time of 8.63 sec. Alanah Thoresby saw further action in the high jump final, where she took 4th place, going clear at a season’s best height of 1.60 metres. Emily Dye was in further competition in the long jump final, taking 12th place, with her season’s best effort of 4.87 metres.
Chloe Constable and Sonia Santos were in competition, in the senior women’s 60 metres. They were both drawn in heat three, where Chloe took 5th place, running a new PB of 8.29 sec, an improvement of 0.11 of a second. Sonia was the 6th place finisher, running a season’s best time of 8.54 sec.
British Masters, throws combined events champion, John Twiddle was in action in the shot final, where he threw a season’s best effort of 12.53 metres, to take a 4th place finish. Another maters athlete Lawrence Baird, ran in the first of the 400 metres heats, running a season’s best time of 54.06 sec, for a 5th place finish.
