Skip to main content

Here come the Phoenix Flyers.......



The North East Relay Championships has always been an event close to my heart as I love watching relay races and the kids (& I) have enjoyed competing in them.


Relays are a fine art and the NE Champs always generates a fine atmosphere with a big crowd, lots of clubs competing and most of the races under the floodlights to add to the tension.


This year was different though and for a very special reason, the first time that the Phoenix Flyers (our fledgling new club), joined the fray.





We had three teams competing in the U11 boys, U13 girls & U13 boys races. The build up was tense on the night with a bit of rearranging needed to the teams (thanks to Blyth for the loanee for the U13 boys race) & once the teamsheets were in, it was time to enjoy the action.


The U11 boys were first to go, with Huw, Will, Dylan & Dominic creating a little bit of history by being the first Phoenix Flyers relay team to appear on a results sheet. The boys ran well, finishing in a time of 1.07.64


The U13 teams got two races each, with the first race for the girls being a bit untidy but the team of Ava, Niamh, Chloe & Alana got the baton around safely. Their second race was a huge improvement, with the girls changing the order and all four ran extremely well with much better changeovers. It was a very tight finish, with the girls taking 4th place in a time of 1.03.79, some 2 seconds faster than their first race.


The U13 boys had two great races too, especially as most of them prefer middle distance running. Luke lead the team off and had two very strong races with good changeovers to Dan in the first race & Marcus in the 2nd. Marcus & Dan ran strongly too, with Dan taking part in his first ever competition & Marcus still recovering from surgery earlier in the year. Chad, our loanee from Blyth put in a good 3rd leg in both races, leaving it to Marcus & Dan to finish the races off. The boys finished 6th in each race with 1.07.24 being their fastest time.


In recent years, the relays have been joined by the NE Throws Festival & Amy McLellan was representing the Phoenix Flyers in the U15G Shot Putt. Amy's throwing has improved a lot this season, as has her confidence in competition. Amy made her own piece of history in the competition, becoming the first Phoenix Flyers medal winner, gaining the bronze medal with a new pb throw of 5.87m.




All in all, a great night of action for our new club and thanks to Louise & Steve for their team management and to our athletes and parents for competing and creating a great atmosphere for the kids.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media, pt 3

Social Media is still a great way for businesses to communicate with their customers.  I did blog some time ago about how frustrating it can be if the businesses don't communicate with you and its time to name and shame a few more as they aren't talking back or aren't thinking about what they write. One of the most frustrating recent web experience was with Primark - the Mrs wanted to have a look at their store in Sunderland when we where there for the match on New Years Day. So, I checked their website to make sure they were open and I was surprised that the website said the store was open from 9am until 5.30pm, with them even having a countdown timer as to how long they'd be open for. Champion we thought, until we got to Sunderland to find the store closed, all the other shops closed and it chucking down with rain.  Not a happy teddy and Cafe Nero scored for our discretionary spend.  I had a moan about Primark and hashtagged them and didn't get a response. I the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chester-le-Street Athletics Club - a Parents View

After my experience yesterday with one of the coaches at Chester-le-Street Athletics Club, I thought I'd blog about my experiences as a parent, sort of athlete and recently qualified coaching assistant. We've had an involvement with the club for a number of years as Dominic has trained there since he packed in football just over 4 years ago.  When he first joined he was getting info on competitions and competing, but he wasn't great and soon the mentions of competitions stopped.  However, it didn't put him off and he kept going, with a number of different coaches, some of whom didn't turn up regularly and he seemed to be passed from pillar to post until he settled in Brian's group. Once she reached the right age, Philippa also joined and she did really well in her first few events at Quadkids at Gateshead.  She really enjoyed it and progressed even further in the second year at Quadkids, where she came 2nd.  Unfortunately though, she seemed to be overlooked ...
2 comments
Read more

Athletics Review 2017 & Looking Forward to 2018

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....
Post a Comment
Read more