Northern Track & Field Championships

Seniors and Under 20’s – Sport City, Manchester

Saturday 11^th & Sunday 12^th June 2016

The Northern Championships were staged at Sport City, Manchester, over the weekend of the 11^th and 12^th of June.

On both days of the competition, the Manchester area was subjected to prolonged periods of heavy rainfall. On the Saturday it rained for the entire day and for a lot of the time the downpours were torrential. On the Sunday morning, during the hammer competition, the rain was so heavy that the throwing circle resembled a lake. It was too dangerous to throw and the under 20 women had to leave the field, halfway through the final.

All of the athletes, be they runners, jumpers or throwers performed to the best of their abilities, in spite of the atrocious weather and conditions and they were an absolute credit to the club.

The senior women in the 200 metres, 100 metre hurdles, shot putt and javelin events, found themselves in competition with Jessica Ennis-Hill. The former Olympic and World Champion was in competition on both Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend saw some outstanding performances from Kingston’s seniors and under 20 athletes.

On the Saturday World Championships bronze medallist, Annabelle Lewis made her return in the Kingston vest, in the 100 metres. The Hull Hammer Squads big two, the 2012 Olympic finalist Alex Smith and the reigning Northern Champion, James Bedford, went head to head in the hammer throw. Sprinte  Luke Giblin took the bronze medal in the 100 metres.

Four of our under 20 sprinters made their 100 metres finals, with Andy Morgan-Harrison and Joe Cooper getting on to the medal rostrum. Emily Lyons and Amy Sampson, ran in the 100 final and Josh Taylor-Brown and Jack Brothwell ran in the 1500 metres final.

In Sundays competition there was a Kingston 1-2-3 in the ladies hammer throw, where Maggie Okul won her 4^th consecutive gold medal in the under 20’s event. Her two training partners Olivia Stevenson and Alice Barnsdale, who competes for Lincoln Wellington, but does all her training with Dave Smith’s squad at Costello, taking silver and bronze respectively, with Olivia throwing a new PB with the 4 kilogram hammer.

On the track Harry Powell was crowned the Northern 5000 metres Champion, with training partner Baldvin Magnusson winning the bronze medal. Andy Morgan-Harrison picked up a second silver medal, this time in the 200 metres final. Hollie Smith won her third major medal of 2016, taking the bronze in the high jump. Dominic Singh ran in the final of the men’s 200 metres and Emily Lyons competed in the ladies 200 metres final.

Performance details of all of the clubs athletes who competed at the championships are as follows:-

Annabelle Lewis was in action in Saturday’s 100 metres competition, where she was drawn in the first of the heats. A season’s best run of 11.74s saw her win the race and successfully progress to the final. A run of 11.82s in the 100 final saw Annabelle pick up Kingston’s first gold medal of the Championships.

Megan Hoult was drawn in heat 3 of the 100 metres, where she took 3^rd place and ran a seasons best time of 12.32s, which wasn’t enough to get her into the final.

Megan was back in action in Sundays 200 metres competition, where she ran in the second of the heats. She ran another seasons best time of 25.90s, but once again missed out on the final cut.

The clubs leading male sprinter, Luke Giblin was in action on both days of the competition. He began in heat one of Saturdays 100 metre sprints, where he took 2^nd place and ran a time of 10.97s, to qualify for the final. In Saturday afternoons final, his run of 10.82s, brought him the 100 metres bronze medal.

Early on Sunday afternoon Luke was back on the start line, in heat 3 of the 200 metres, which he led from the gun to the finish line, running a time of 21.69s, to move safely into the final. He ran a season’s best time of 21.59s in the 200 metre final, where he had to settle for 4^th place.

In Saturday’s men’s hammer final, training partners Alex Smith and James Bedford were involved in a three way battle, with old adversary Mike Bomba of Liverpool Harriers, for the Northern hammer title.

James took the gold medal, with a throw of 65.85m and retained his Northern title. Alex was the bronze medallist with a best effort of 62.82m, whilst Mike sneaked between them to take the silver, with a throw of 65.18m.

Veteran athlete John Twiddle, also competed in the hammer final, where he finished in 7^th place, with a season’s best throw of 40.53m. He also took part in the shot final, where his throw of 11.93m, gave him 5^th place.

John returned to competition on the Sunday, this time in the discus throw. His effort of 33.95m, gave him another 5^th place finish.

Multi eventer Clare Blunt joined the action in Sundays pole vault competition. She was involved in a very close contest with Jessica Swannick of Preston Harriers, which eventually saw the two athletes involved in a jump off. Clare took the gold medal, with a clearance at a height of 3.60m

Kate Pattison took time off from her studies at Warwick University, to compete in the discus final, where she took 4^th place, with a season’s best throw of 41.47m.

Sprinters, Andy Morgan-Harrison and Joe Coopers campaigns began on the Saturday’s opening day of the Championships.

Both of them were drawn together in heat two of the 100 metres, which saw Joe, the Northern indoor 60 metres champion run a new PB of 11.01s, to take 2^nd place. Andy took 3^rd place in the race and he too recorded a good time of 11.19s. Both of them qualified for the 100 metres final.

The 100 final saw Andy Morgan-Harrison take the silver medal and post a time of 11.00s. Joe Cooper was the bronze medallist and he recorded a time of 11.15s.

The women’s 100 metres saw England International Charlotte Paterson, drawn in the first heat, as were two of her training partners, Emily Lyons and Chloe Constable. Charlotte won the race and posted a time of 12.14s, Emily took 4^th place, in a time of 12.73s, with Chloe finishing in 5^th in 14.04s.

Amy Sampson went in heat two, where her run of 12.96s, saw her take a 4^th place finish.

Amy qualified for the final, as did Emily and Charlotte. However Charlotte suffered a hamstring injury in her heat and was unable to run in the final.

Emily Lyons took 6^th place in the 100 metres final, where she ran a time of 12.98s, with Amy Sampson taking 7^th place in 13.09s.

Kingston had two representatives in Saturday’s, men’s 1500 metres final, the 2016 County champion Josh Taylor-Brown and the silver medallist Jack Brothwell. Josh ran a new PB of 4:13.3s, which saw him finish in 6^th place, with Jack taking 7^th position in a time of 4:27.4s.

Onto Sunday, the second day of the championships and the first of the clubs athletes in competition were three members of the Hull Hammer Squad. Maggie Okul, Ollie Stevenson and Alice Barnsdale.

The women’s hammer final began under dark skies and persistent rainfall. The under 17 Champion Ollie Stevenson, competing out of age range and with a 4kg hammer, opened up with a huge throw of 52.09m, a new PB with the heavier hammer, to take the lead, with Maggie and Alice hot on her heels. The rain became heavier and with the throwing area awash with water, the conditions were dangerous and the athletes were brought off the field for a short time. After 10 minutes or so the competition resumed. Going in to the final round Olllie sill held the lead. Maggie Okul with one final attempt, launched a throw of 54.65m, to take the gold medal and retain her title. This was Maggie’s 4^th consecutive under 20’s hammer gold, following on from her back to back under 17’s titles.

Ollie Stevenson was the silver medallist, with her new PB of 52.09m, with Alice Barnsdale taking the bronze with a throw of 50.61m. A 1-2-3 for their coach Dave Smith.

Next up were the sprinters for the heats of the 200 metres. In the men’s competition, Andy Morgan-Harrison and Dominic Singh were drawn in the first heat, with Joe Cooper going in the second.

Andy and Dom finished in 2^nd and 3^rd places in their race, with Andy running a time of 22.10s and Dom a time of 22.30s. Both qualifying for the final.

In heat 2 Joe finished in 5^th place and ran a time of 22.88s, which saw him miss out on a final berth.

The men’s final saw another superb performance from Andy Morgan-Harrison, who won the silver medal and posted the same time as his heat, 22.10s. Dominic Singh took 6^th place and his recorded time was 22.52s.

In the women’s event Kingston’s representative was Emily Lyons, was drawn in the second of the heats, where she took 4^th place and ran a time of 26.45s, which was enough to book her place in the afternoons final.

Emily produced a season’s best performance of 26.29s, to take a 7^th place finish in the final.

County cross country champion and International representative Harry Powell and middle distance and cross country specialist, Baldvin Magnusson, were in action on the track, in the 5000 metres final.

Both Harry and Baldvin ran new PB’s. Harry was the gold medallist in the arduous twelve and a half lap race, where he posted a time of 15:34.77s. Baldvin took the bronze medal and his new PB was a time of 16:14.61s.

Hollie Smith’s clearance at a height of 1.60m in the high jump, brought her the bronze medal.

This was her fourth championship medal of 2016, having already won bronze at the England Indoors, silver at the Northern Indoors and gold at the County championships.

Jonny Beharrell was in competition in the 800 metres final, where he took 7^th place and ran a time of 1:57.27s.