Jack Nixon in the under-13's 1,500 metre race
Stockport's young athletes team made a great start to the Track and Field season winning the first Northern Division 1 match at Deeside by 8 points from West Cheshire and Deeside in 3rd place.
The teams individual performances were rewarded by the officials with a 'Man of the Match' award going to under-13 Paul Campbell with a jump of 1.38 metres and the 'Woman of the Match' to newcomer Katie Deutsche with a triple jump of 9.5 metres.
The teams middle distance athletes stormed to victory in all seven events, Becky Hetherington won the girls' under-13 1,200 metres in a new personal best time of 4 minutes and 11 seconds.
This was followed by one of the performances of the match given the howling wind by England cross runner Jess Coulson who smashed her personal best by 4 seconds in 4.47, only 2 seconds outside a grade 1 standard.
The wind was a factor, but it did not deter the following from leading and winning by significant margins; Micheal Logue in the boys' under-13 race won in 5.01, Steve Barber took the boys' under-15 race in 4.45, Lucy McLoughlin won the girls' under-15 race in 4.57, Ross Milington blew away the field with an opening 64 second lap to win by 100 metres in 4.16, in the under-17 boys' 1,500 metres. Harry Long ran a tactically perfect race to win the boys' under-13 800 metres in 2.30.
Chris Hesketh proved he was equally proficient over the 400 metre hurdles as he is at the high jump to win in a personal best time of 61.9, also Michelle Wiblin another high jumper excelled in her first outing over 300 metres to win in 47.9
The next match is at Macclesfield on Sunday 5th of June, the first event starts at 11.45am.
Senior Northern League
The Senior Northern league kicked off at Ellesmere Port on Sunday May 1st. Stockport’s combined men’s and ladies' team finished in 4th place, out of 6 teams. However we were only 4.5 points shy of 3rd place, and so will be aiming to finish higher after the second match.
There were several new additions to the team who have moved up into the under-17 age group. Charlotte Hesketh finished the day as highest point scorer after a brilliant victory in the high jump in a personal best of 1.47m.
Hannah Duke scorched to victory in the B string 200m in a personal best of 27.9 secs, while Ruth Jenyon and Rachael Malbon both placed second in the 800m on their debut for the team. Vicky Barratt although not an under-17, was also making her debut in the Northern League and did so in style winning the A string 3000m race.
On the men's team Neil Stevens was unlucky not to win the 200m, placing second in a blistering 23.0 secs, and later also placed 2nd in the long jump. Steve Vernon represented Stockport in the 800 and 1,500m and scored good points finishing 2nd and 1st respectively. The two Chris Hesketh’s both had busy days, with junior Chris making an impressive debut in the 400 hurdles.
The next match takes place at Bebbington on Saturday June 4th. In the first match we only had 2 people to act as officials, and so lost valuable points. If anybody is available to officiate at the next match the team would be very grateful.