The Mark Ellis Blog

Dom & I after the Great No At this time of year, for the last few years, I've written a blog with a review from the athletics year and looking forward to what's coming for the following year.  Well, this year is no exception, and it's fair to say that it's been a turbulent year both on and off the track, with more positives than negatives and we end the year on a high.  As ever, I'll talk about each of the kids in age order and maybe drop the odd bit in about what I've been up to too. So, we'll start with Dominic and his athletics year has once again seen him do allsorts as both an athlete and as a track official.  The athlete bit was slightly on the back burner this year due to completing his A levels in May/June this year.  Having said that, he still managed to get in a couple of XCountry races at the start of the year, with the track and field competition coming towards the end of the season in the NE Grand Prix and also in the Senior League....

The World Athletics Championships in London were a unique opportunity to take on a volunteering role with a difference.   I was part of Track Team 500, a group of volunteers who complete the roles that stadium staff would normally fill.   This includes all the heavy lifting stuff of moving pole vault beds and uprights, building throws cages, moving steeplechase barriers as well as the more visible roles of blocks and hurdles teams. I was in the hurdles team and I worked throughout the Championships with the exception of the first two sessions which we enjoyed from the stands. With the hurdles team, we had 400m and 100/110m events to sort out with the team carrying out different roles for each of the events.  For the 400m events, I had the fun job of driving the buggy that carried two trailers of hurdles, with us looking after putting the hurdles out for rows 3 to 8.  For the 100/110m events, I had a range of jobs from dumping (getting the...

Whilst Philippa and Dominic are seasoned competitors on the athletics scene, Lil Lexie is still a relative newcomer and she's making her U13 debut this coming season. She has had her hand in over the Winter with another season of 60m & 600m at the Monkton Indoor Series, plus she's also been competing in the Gateshead College Open Meetings.  At Gateshead, she's been doing shot putt and her pb has improved with every competition, thanks to some coaching from Alex Giles and team at Gateshead. Now Lexie has had a few issues with hoying.  She's fairly recently swapped hands and now does shot with her left hand.  So why the change is the question that I've been asked by a few people.  Well, in true Lexie tradition, she was getting pain in her right hand when she was throwing and that was due to the metalwork in her right wrist that she broke when she was a bit younger.  It wasn't just an ordinary break, but falling from the top of the climbing frame whilst doi...

Back in December last year, we decided that Philippa and I would have a trip up to Glasgow and she would compete in her first athletics event in Scotland.  We'd heard some really good things about competing in Scotland and about the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, so, the arrangements were made for a trip to the Scottish National Open on the 14th January. We booked to go up on the train and stay at a Travelodge in Glasgow City Centre, making it a bit exciting for your U15G athlete. The journey up was great and so was the Travelodge, apart from my prison bed as we we're meant to be in a room on the 12th floor & I don't do lifts ! As a result we ended up on the 5th floor in a room they probably hadn't intended to use. Competition day got off to a good start with a good breakfast and we headed off to the Emirates looking forward to a good day of competition with Philippa taking part in the 60m hurdles & shot putt. The reports we'd heard about the Emirates Are...