English Schools Multi Events North East Regional Final 

Five athletes from the Scunthorpe & District Athletic Club competed in the regional final of the the English schools combined events at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium athletic track over the 28th & 29th of June competing against a strong field of athletes from Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland , North York’s, West York’s and South York’s.

Senior Boy Daniel Harmes amassed a points total of 4387 in his first decathlon. Daniel set personnel best time in the 100m sprint clocking 11.1 seconds smashing his previous best time. Not content with one PB, Daniel continued to set personnel best’s in the shot putt , high jump and discus to come a respectable 6th overall in a strong field.

Intermediate Girls saw Aneleise Spindley smash four personnel bests and end with a points total of 2935 in her first heptathlon. Aneleise set new personnel best’s in the high jump, shot putt, 200m sprint and long jump.

Rebecca Saxby scored a total of 3077 points and set personnel bests in hurdles and shot putt.

Jessica Garrod scored a total of 3111 points and set personnel bests in the high jump, 200m and long jump.

Junior girl Freya Bradshaw who competed in the one day junior girls pentathlon continued to follow the trend and set personnel bests in the Shot putt, long jump and the 800m setting a point’s total of 1866 in her first ever pentathlon.

Well done to you all.

English Schools Championships, Gateshead, 11th and 12th July 2008

Eight athletes from Scunthorpe and District Athletics club travelled up to Gateshead to compete in the 78^th annual English Schools track and field competition at the international stadium. All eight compete on a regular basis for Scunthorpe but on this occasion were representing their county school team, that saw athletes brought together from every corner of the country. The athletes have been working hard for months just to achieve the stringent qualification standards that are required to enter their events. If the occasion itself was not enough, then the opportunity to strut their stuff in front of a large crowd and live Skysports tv coverage added to the wonderful weekend.

Hmberside Schools (Back Row, left to right)

Rachel Robinson, Daniel Harmes, Ashley Wren, Josh Bones, Sophie Croft and Beth Pattison

Lincolnshire Schools (Front Row, left to right)

Adam Parkinson and Emma Simpson
 

Whilst all of the athletes worked extremely hard in their own events, Ashley Wren was the one that came back home with a medal around his neck. Competing in the junior boys long jump, Ashley was in second place until he pulled out an excellent leap of 6m 21cm to put him into gold medal position. Unfortunately for Ashley his main rival pulled out a top drawer leap to on his last jump of the competition to steal first place.

In the junior girls 200m Beth Pattison ran well to finish 3^rd in her heat with a time of 26.33s, which qualified her for the semi-final. Unfortunately Beth was not able to progress to the final, but achieved the goal she had set herself. As well as the individual sprint, Beth ran in the 4 x 100m relay and reached the final, where they finished in a creditable 6^th place out of 15 county teams.

In the intermediate girls 800m, Rachel Robinson was delighted to reach the semi-final in a very competitive event. Rachel recorded a typically gutsy performance with a best of 2m 18.8 seconds, but missed out on a premium spot in the final.

In the intermediate girls 200m Sophie Croft showed true athletic spirit by overcoming a recent lengthy injury to record a time of 26.24 seconds. She also ran in the 4 x 100m relay for Humberside, who were just pipped at the tape for a place in the final.

In the intermediate boys, Josh Bones jumped 12.41m to finish 16^th overall. This was a good performance from Josh, who is able to compete at the same age group level next year.

In the senior age group, Emma Simpson competed for Lincolnshire Schools in the shot put. where she recorded 11.13m for an excellent 5^th place overall. Again, Emma will be back next year to compete in the same age group.

Adam Parkinson, also competing for Lincolnshire schools ran in the intermediate boys 100m, with a time of 11.69s for 5^th place in his heat. He also ran in the 4 x 100m relay heats for his team.

Completing the performances was Daniel Harmes who ran in the senior boys 4 x 100m relay. His Humberside team did really well to reach the final, but missed out on the medals.

This was a great weekend for the Scunthorpe athletes and one that they will never forget. They have all done themselves, their school, club and county proud at the championships. Their dedication and hard work as well as that of their coaches is a testament to the strength of local athletic ability.