Day One at the Northern Indoor Championships in Sheffield served up some cracking races, some Championship Best Performances and some tears in an action packed day.
The 60m hurdles kicked off the day and there were early gold medals for Danielle McGifford, Karla Drew, Curtis Mitchell and Jack Meredith in the U20 Women’s, Senior Women’s, U20 Men’s and Senior Men’s finals respectively.
It has been a great fortnight for Drew who took the England Athletics Combined Event Senior Women’s title last Sunday.
The 400m events saw some big names make their first appearance at the EIS this weekend, with European 4x400m silver medalist Richard Strachan going in the senior men and Clovis Asong, the fastest ever Under 15 400m boy in the Under 20 men.
Both men successfully made it through to the heat and to the final, but Strachan, suffering with some cramp early in the season, was unable to take his place in the final six.
However the finals still served up some cracking events. The Senior Women’s event was won again by Harriet Pryke who successfully defended her title with an assured and powerful run.
Asong took his second U20 title with a 48.40 running away from Scott Atkinson and Nick Petrou in the final.
The U20 win saw Jess Turner Take gold in a confident and composed run, winning from Beth Bolton and Freya Bradshaw.
The Senior Men’s race saw Luke Edward come back from a poor semi-final to take gold, from Adam Thompson and 400m hurdles specialist David Dempsey.
The Under 17 women’s 300m was won by Aileen Kearney who pipped Ella Barrett in a classic dip finish, with Rebecca Hall in third.
The next set of finals saw the 60m on the track and again there was great action and drama.
Sale Harriers athletes took the first two men’s finals, with Jona Efoloko winning the under 15 boys and Roy Ejiakuekwu the U20 Men.
Kristie Edwards and Billie Jo Harris won the Under 17 girls and Under 15 girls races respectively, with ease as the City of Sheffield club showed their young sprinting dominance.
Maegan Taylor took a very close Women’s Under 20 title with a pip finish from Rachel Highfield, with both women running the same time of 7.74. Unfortunately for one of the pre-race favourites Abbie Bishell, the race ended in disaster as she badly injured her hamstring.
The senior men’s 60m was a fiery affair, with Oliver Back knocked out in the semi-finals after he waited in his blocks expecting a false start, but the final was won by Dannish Walker-Khan, from Rickey Reeves.
Tom Somers took the u17 title with ease and looks strong for tomorrows 200m’s and Annabelle Lewis won the women’s title with a new CBP, beating favourite Louise Bloor, in a time of 7.39.
The 1500m races at the end of the day continued the great racing bu in the end it was the favourites who came away with Northern titles.
Alison Leonard easily took the Senior Women’s title, from Ellie Stevens and Hanna Tarver, before Ella Eadon continued her great recent form with a win in the under 17 girls race.
Jack Crabtree and Andrew Smith both took comfortable wins in the under 17 and under 20 men’s races before Stuart Cameron won a close fought battle with Dan Cheeseman in the final race of the day, the senior mens 1500m.
Tomorrow sees the 200m, 800m and 3000m on the track and there is sure to be some epic battles once again.
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