Gateshead Stadium Open Meeting 22 Apr 2007

Weather fair but warm. The usual head wind on the finishing straight, a feature of Gateshead stadium, just to add a bit of pressure on the athletes. Four of our intrepid athletes headed down to Gateshead to compete against Gateshead's athletic show case. I have to say our four showed the courage and self belief to be proud of, we achieved 3 Golds and 1 Silver and some very close positioning.

First event went to Kate Murphy in the 100 Metres in a very convincing time of 14.30 in a very positive and credible lead over the nearest athlete. Next three of our athletes were into the long jump Kate Murphy 4th 3:59 Meters, Hannah Craig 5th 3:50 Meters and Paige Gillespie with a credible 9th at 2.78 Metres.

Event 3 had another 3 of our 4 athletes in the running. I know this sounds a bit of nepotism but Sophie's second lap was a flyer. First lap time of 73 Secs and passing the 600 Meter mark 2 seconds behind the previous heat lead. After a little encouragement i.e. she was 3 seconds faster than you, type of encouragement, get moving. She switches to sprint mode and took off to finish Gold with a PB of 2.31.3. 2 sec's faster than the Silver position. Our Hannah and Paige did very well in their heat. We need a smaller top for Paige, the poor lass had to keep adjusting her straps to keep her top on. Hannah was complaining of a sore knee but still dug in to finish well with a time of 2.54.3 and Paige with a time of 3.10.1, a very good showing against a vast Gateshead team.

We have not got to forget the eagerness of our 4 athletes to have a try at the 4 X 100 metres relay. After a hard 800 they were all asking to have a go at the relay. A little confusion on the baton changing but they got a 2nd out of the 2 teams. An experience, but you have to start somewhere. Well done.

We were at it again in the 200 Metres. All 4 athletes trying their hand. And we did it again 1st for Kate in 30.30 and 2nd for Sophie at 30.80. Hannah finishing in 33.80 and Page in 36.10. I have to say they did well a first time for some of our athletes in this type of field but they still gave a gutsy performance.

It was a pity with the exception of a number of our athletes who are not well or events out of their control, it was a poor showing in numbers for a club with our number of athletes. We even had a willing athlete Kayleigh Brown, who was too young to compete but still came with her mam to give support to those who dared. Sorry Kayleigh for making you dash for a water stop, I will not allow Janet to test out the spicy crisps on the supporters next time.

Kieran was there in his supporting role as coach to help in the warm ups. The weather started to change as the events come to a close. In all we did well for only 4 athletes and 4 medals and some personal goals achieved and a good day was had.

As your stand in for YB who was reporting on the footy, I have tried my best but the words just don't flow as well. V.T