Shildon Running Club’s Stadium 2000 recently provided the venue for the Anne Marie Readshaw Memorial Open Track & Field meeting, where many of the club’s athletes began their track season.
The Sprint and Jumps group began their outdoor season with a flurry of medals and personal best performances, despite the cold, wet and windy conditions. In the U11 girls Rachel Bennett led the way with gold medal performance’s in both 60m and Long Jump, while also taking home the bronze medal over 150m.
Also taking home a triple medal haul from this age group was Maddy Wells, who despite tying with the winner of the 60m, took home the silver medal as a result of a slower semi final time. Maddy complemented this performance by earning a further two silvers in the Long Jump and 150m.
Leah Rutherford reinforced the strength in the U11 girls category when recording huge personal bests over both the 60m and 150m, earning her 6th and 8th place finishes from over 30 competitors.
Meanwhile Jade Hepple leapt to a pb and bronze medal in the U13 girls Long Jump, then sped to another pb in the 100m before winding up her day with a battling 9th place in the 200m.
The U15 girls also had some fine performances with Emily Gledhill recording a pb (13.1s) and earning the silver medal over 100m, whilst also putting in a strong performance which gave her the bronze medal in the 200m.
Ciara Hughes was also in impressive early season form running pb’s in both the 100m and 200m.
Courtnie Mills took home the bronze medal from the U15 girls Long Jump and then stretched her legs in the 200m where she finished in a respectable 5th place.
Girl power was again the order of the day in the junior women and U17 women age groups. Georgia Hirst returned to the shorter distances in the U17 women and blasted her way to a double medal haul. Georgia earned two silver medals when running pb’s over both the 100m and 200m.
Over in the JW age group Scottish National Triple Jump champion Rachel McHugh took time away from her main event to soar to double gold success in both the long jump and 200m.
Laura Walker matched this medal haul in the same age group when storming to victory in the 100m and then following Rachel home in the 200m to finish in the silver medal place.
The club’s Middle Distance athletes took to the track in some of the longer races.
In the U15 girls 800m event Lizzie Cramb came 7th in a time of 2.37.9. Competing in their first track event for the club were Cameron Stainsby and Ethan Edwards. Both ran well in the U15 boys 800m, Cameron finished in 4th place in a time of 2.23.6 with Ethan only a second behind finishing 6th in 2.24.6.
In the U17 boys 800m Joseph Bell was 7th in 2.19.3.
Amy Etherington was the youngest competitor in the Senior Ladies 3000m finishing in 5th place in a time of 10.59.8.
Shildon’s Disability group also fielded several athletes.
In the U15 girls events Erica Dixon was 2nd in the 60m in 10.2s and 1st in the 300m in 60.2 s. In the U17 boys events Matthew Howard was 1st and Andrew Hallett Taylor was 2nd in both the 60m and 300m. Matthew’s times were 8.3 and 45.3 and Andrew’s times were 9.3 and 57.7.
Both boys also competed in the High Jump against able bodied athletes. Matthew came 1st clearing the bar at 1.40m and Andrew was 3rd with 1.25m. David Parkin, also in the U17 boys age group, came 1st in the Shot Putt with a throw of 4.8m. David Dobson, competing as a Senior, was 1st in the 60m in 10.9 seconds and 1st in the Shot Putt with a throw of 6.7m.
Shildon’s next generation of keen athletes were also out in force with the boys and girls from the Under Eleven’s group competing in events too numerous to mention them all but they showed us they’d all had their Weetabix that morning with some brilliant results.
Picking out just a few performances:
In the Boys 60m Jack Hobbs finished in 10.00s and Callum Gibbon in 10.10;
The U11 girls 60m were run across a number of heats with Katie Sayers running, 10.10s Chloe Morton, 10.30 and Ellie Sisterson 10.80. Ellie Usher and Patsy Parnaby were evenly matched in 10.80 and Millie Foster in 11.60;
In the U11 Girls 600m Chloe Fairclough ran a time of 2.16.6s Ellie Usher 2.29.9, Ellie Sisterson 2.30.0, Millie Foster 2.30.2, Millie Dunn 2.36.0, Emily Teasdale,2.49.0;
In the Long Jump Megan Ross jumped 1.41m;
Jack Hobbs also placed 2nd in the U11 boys 600m with a time of 2.04.7s.
Shildon Running & Athletic Club is open to anyone from the age of 8 upwards. If anyone is interested in joining the club please come along for a free try-out session. For information and contact details check out www.shildonrunning.co.uk for nights and times to suit your age group.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
