The Mark Ellis Blog

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 ...

The second weekend in January has turned into a cracker for Philippa for the second year running.  This time last year saw her hit a Grade 1 time in the U15G 60m Hurdles at the Scottish National Open in Glasgow, something that we hadn't quite expected on the day.  This year was pretty similar, but this time she was competing at the Northern Indoor Championships at the EIS in Sheffield. The day started with the 60m Hurdles and the target was to make the final.  With three heats leading to a final, Philippa knew she had to be in the first two in her heat to guarantee a place in the final. She was drawn in Heat 2 with Nicole Lannie in the same heat - she's raced against Nicole since they were Under 13's and both were calm and chatty as they took to the start line.  Both girls ran well, with Philippa taking the win and Nicole 2nd (with her easing up towards the finish line.  That was the final sorted for both girls and the times came out quickly, with ...

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...