As the winter season enters its final few weeks three young athletes from Stockport were selected to represent Greater Manchester in the 2016 Sportshall Athletics UK Championships North West Regional Final which took place on Saturday March 5th at Sportcity.
In the under 13 boys’ team competition Louis Briscall – Slack (Coach: David Jackson) and Jacob Wood Doyle (Coach: Mike Doyle) were delighted to be a part of the team representing their county! Louis won the Speed Bounce competition to be crowned the North West Champion with Jacob coming 4th in the long distance 6 lap race on the track only 1 second outside of the top three.
Both boys contributed to successful Relay teams during the competition and The Greater Manchester Under 13 boys team beat competition from Lancashire, Merseyside & Cheshire to be crowned North West Regional Champions for 2016.
In the Under 15 girls competition Catherine Giller (Coach: Mike Frost) was joined by girls from across the county to form a strong team who led from the start with some fantastic sprinting in the 2 Lap races. Catherine had a strong start by winning her 2 lap time trial beating strong competition from Cheshire, Lancashire & Merseyside.
In addition to the Team Competition for the Under 15’s each athlete is entered into the All Rounder competition which provides individual athletes’ the opportunity to showcase their all round skill across the events. Jumping a new personal best of 2.42 Catherine won the long jump and collected the maximum 50 points available and went on to collect 49 points sharing the 2 lap victory with Tasmin Morrison also from Greater Manchester.
In the Speed Bounce, which is Catherine’s weaker of the three events a massive effort scored 80 bounces to finish 4th which was enough for Catherine to finish 1st overall and be crowned the 2016 Sportshall Athletics North West Regional All Rounder Champion scoring 143 points of a maximum 150! Team mate Sanna McLean coached by Stockport Coach Joe Frost was place equal second behind Catherine in the All Rounder Competition scoring highly in the 4 Laps, Shot and Standing Long Jump.
Greater Manchester Under 13 Boys & Girls teams now look forward to the Sportshall Athletics UK finals which take place on Saturday April 16th in Manchester with the top Under 13 Team from across the UK coming together to battle for the UK Championship Title! Catherine will join the rest of the Under 15 girls from the Greater Manchester team on Sunday 17th April for the Under 15’s UK Final where she will battle with her team to be crowned UK Team Champions and also compete in the National All Rounder Competition too.
Sanna finished as second all-rounder in the U15 Girls behind Catherine Giller making it a North West one-two for us. Sanna won Gold in the 4 lap race in 45.0 seconds, won Bronze in the Standing Long Jump with 2.37m and was also fourth in the Shot.
Two Athletes who are not Stockport Members presently but train with my Group also competed in the U13 Girls. Grace Goodsell won the 2 lap sprint in 21.0 and the standing long jump in 2.40m and Daisy Worthington won Bronze in the Standing long jump with 2.25m and was fifth in the 4 lap run.
Good luck to Jacob, Louis & Cat in the UK Sportshall Finals in April!
Full Results are now available at www.sportshall.org