North East Counties Pentathlon & VAA-NEE 5000m champs 2013

[Sat 7th Sep]

Monkton Stadium hosted the final big event in the North East track & field calendar on the 7th September, with 4 Blyth athletes competing.

Making his Pentathlon debut, Calum Storey was competing in the U20M category. After successfully negotiating the 100m hurdles, Calum set a 2nd PB of the day with 6.20m in the Shot Putt. Unfortunately a strong headwind in the long jump meant a season’s best was just out of reach. More good points were achieved in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.39m, just 1cm off a PB. Calum’s first attempt at 1.39m looked like a certain clearance, with the strong breeze perhaps encouraging the bar to fall. Finally, a brilliant final sprint in the 800m gave Calum a big PB with a time of 2:25.8. A silver medal was won, and it was very well deserved.

I was competing in the Senior Men’s category, hoping to improve on the bronze medal from last year. A PB in the discus of 19.02m was a good start, and was followed by a solid 5.01m in the long jump. I managed a big PB in the 200m which was a welcome surprise, and put me into 2nd place. The javelin was always going to be weak event, but another PB kept me in the hunt for a medal. All was to play for going into the final event, with a Silver medal possible, as well as finishing 4th. Luckily I managed to the run the 800m in a PB time of 2:16.7, and finished with a bronze medal.

During the day Heather Christopher and Helen Morris took part in the VAA-NEE 5000m championships. They both did Blyth proud, with Heather producing a storming finish to win gold in her age category in 21:05, whilst Helen won gold in her category by a whisker in 22:21.

Medals for all Blyth competitors was a great result, and I’d really encourage other members to take part next year, it’s possibly the best event of the T&F season!

Daniel N'Jai