Shildon’s young athletes travelled to Gateshead on Sunday 24th August to compete in the Tartan Games.
U13g Maddie Wells and Rachel Bennett easily won their individual heats in the 100m with Katie Williams coming a fantastic 3rd place in her heat. The two heat winners went on to produce a Shildon one two in the 100m final with Maddie crossing the line in 1st place in a time of 13.00 seconds with Rachel a close 2nd in 13.22. Katie Williams finished 5th in a time of 14.42.
In the 200m Rachel and Maddie once again made sure of their places in the final by winning their heats. Katie Williams came 5th in the heat but unfortunately did not make the final. This time the girls traded places as Rachel claimed 1st place in the final with a time of 27.96 followed by Maddie in 2nd in a time of 28.13.
In the U15 Long Jump Jade Hepple produced a confident jump of 4.21m to secure her 10th place.
In the Junior Women’s Long Jump Rachel McHugh had double reason to celebrate as she not only claimed 1st place with a jump of 5.25m, but also wrote her name into the record books with this distance having set a new games record, the previous being 5.20m.
Not content with this fantastic achievement, she also took 1st in the Triple Jump as she leapt to 11.84m.
The Tartan Games was the final event of the summer before the beginning of winter training.
The Sprint Group worked hard under coach Darren Hirst throughout a long summer of competition producing some excellent, consistent and rewarding results with Maddie and Rachel now both ranked in the UK top ten at distances between 60m and 200m. Maddie currently stands 9th in the 60m, 3rd in the 100m and 10th in the 200m, whilst Rachel is 7th in 60m, 8th in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m.
The hard work of Shildon’s athletes is capped by their medal winning performances in championships and events across the region.
In the Jumps group Rachel McHugh’s tireless training under the guidance of her Coach Charlie Metie has reaped its own rewards; Rachel is now ranked 4th in the UK for U20 girls Triple Jump.
Other club athletes stepped up the distances at the 5k Hackworth parkrun on Saturday 23rd August. Coming 1st in the Junior Men 11-14 age category, Ryan Watson led the Middle Distance group charge as he finished in 1st place overall in a time of 21.24. Running in his first parkrun, fellow MD group member Joshua Wraith took 8th place overall in 23.24, a time which gave him a 1st place finish in his age category Junior Men 10.
Shildon Running & Athletic Club is open to anyone from the age of 8 upwards. If you are interested in joining the club, go along for a free tryout session. For details of club nights and times to suit your age group, please check out the website www.shildonrunning.co.uk or email secretary@shildonrunning.co.uk.
Hackworth parkrun is open to everyone, is free to enter and takes place each Saturday morning starting at 9:00am prompt. To register, go to www.parkrun.org.uk.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
