Track & Field

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by Alex Hird On Saturday I made the trip down the A1 to Doncaster, for my 2nd track race in the space of a few days. It's the first time I've been to the facility, which is situated right next to the Doncaster Rovers football stadium, and it's a cracking setup. I was told that it was built at the same time as the football stadium, and given to the athletics club, which now boasts over 700 members. The event was a well

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by Alex Hird It was the final North East Track & Field meeting of the season on Sunday 27th, this time at the Gateshead International Stadium. Sam Etherington and myself were our only entrants, both in the mile. The weather was absolutely shocking. The track was covered in puddles. Not what you want to see when you're sat waiting for your race to be called. It's a shame because it was a day jam packed with events. Of the 17 seniors in the mile,

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by Alex Hird What a cracking day it was on Sunday at our very own Shildon Stadium. Despite the heavens opening just as the meeting got underway, the weather soon turned, and it became a fantastic summers day. Summer, remember that? Overall, it was a really well attended meeting, which can only work in favour of Shildon being used more next year. People (Athletes, Officials, and spectators) could not believe how good the facility is compared to the more regularly used facilities,

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by Alex Hird Last Wednesday was the 6th and final NEGP fixture of the season at Monkton Stadium. Its been an incredibly popular series this year, with most events for each fixture selling out within an hour of entries opening. Despite this, I've managed to do all six. I was entered in the 800m for the final fixture. When the heats were announced 48 hours before, I was shocked, and a little bit worried, to find myself in the 'A race' with

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  Meeting 5 The penultimate NEMAA Track & Field League took place on Monday 31st July. As was the case with most of July (or so it seemed) it had rained quite a bit during the day, and a particularly heavy deluge in the vicinity of Monkton Stadium at about 5pm resulted in the cancellation of all field events. Here’s the post that appeared on the NEMAA website: “It’s a washout!” "Huge apologies to those athletes who turned up tonight to find that all

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by Alex Hird On Wednesday I was back at Monkton Stadium for the penultimate NEGP fixture of the season. Only me there again, but this time I'd signed up to two events; 1500m and 400m. My 400m race was up first, I had a good draw in lane 3, and I had a good battle down the home straight to finish 2nd in a time of 55.20s, which was a PB by nearly 2 seconds. That doesn't sound like much, but it's

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by Geoff Hewitson The fourth NEMAA Track & Field League meeting took place at Monkton Stadium on Monday 17th July, where once again the weather conditions were generally favourable for competition, (apart from the almost obligatory headwind down the home straight!). Our club had a total of 11 competitors (8 men and 3 ladies) – not massive numbers by any means but at least we’ve managed to field complete teams (and therefore score League points) at every meeting so far. The men’s

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by Alex Hird Whilst the majority of our members were in Crook for the club 10K Championships, I headed for Middlesbrough to take part in the NYSD T&F League. This should've been the 4th NYSD fixture of the summer, but unfortunately the first three were cancelled for various reasons. Also, this fixture should've been held at out track at Shildon whilst we vacated to do the club 10K, but following feedback from officials and volunteers the decision was made to switch it

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by Colin Everson Joe and Alex took part in the C.D.A.N. Summer Festival which is a ‘Quadkids’ type event for young athletes who are members of County Durham clubs. It encompasses all the key aspects of athletics - endurance, speed, agility and strength. The young athletes were in four groups Under 9’s; Under 11’s; Under 13’s and Under 15/ 17’s. They took part in Howler Throws, Long Jump, Longer Runs and Sprints. 79 athletes participated in the event including some of the best junior

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by Alex Hird Wednesday evening was the 4th North East Grand Prix fixture of the season at Monkton Stadium. The NEGP has been incredibly popular this year, with events selling out within an hour of entries opening. Luckily, I managed to grab an 800m place. My goal for 800m is to go sub 2 minutes this year, but after 10 days of eating and drinking rubbish in Cornwall, I knew it wouldn't be tonight. I was in the B heat, which was super