Yorkshire Regional Sportshall Athletics Festival – Hull – 9th February 2014
Following the successful Trials held at Richard Dunn Sports centre the West Yorkshire teams travelled to the match in Hull for the Yorkshire Finals. The match at Hull for the first time featured both the Under 11 and the Under 13/15 teams and the opponents were Humberside, 2 teams from North Yorkshire and guesting at our Championships was teams from Tyne & Wear.
In the end the Under 11 Boys team finished in 1st place with 502 points with North Yorkshire 19 points behind, just showing that every point counted for the Team. The West Yorkshire team won the Obstacle Relay, Over Under Relay, 2+2 lap Relay, 6 Lap Paarlauf and the Grand Prix Relay. Individuals topping the rankings were Adam Powell in the Target Throw (1st equal), Andrew Stewart in the Vertical Jump, Conner Carr and Jack Longdon 1st equal in the Speed Bounce, Matthew Kershaw in the Standing Long Jump and Tom Jackson 1st equal in the Balance Test. All members of the team did very well in their individual events which are scored together with their team mates for the team positions. The West Yorkshire Tykes Girls Team finished in 2nd place just 16 points behind North Yorkshire.
The team picked up top points in the Over Under Relay, 1+1 Relay, 6 Lap Paarlauf and Hurdle Relay. In the individual events Dominika Minuta was ranked 1st in the Target Throw. All members of the team did very well in their individual events which are scored together with their team mates for the team positions. The Under 13 and Under 15 Boys and Girls teams competed in the Yorkshire Regional Final looking for places in the United Kingdom Finals to be held at Sport City in Manchester on 5th & 6th April. This was the second round of a highly competitive series of events, which is designed to keep young athletes interested in the sport through the long winter months of training. The competition was between North Yorkshire, Humberside and West Yorkshire, with Tyne & Wear guesting as they had already qualified for the UK finals as North East Representatives.
The performances on the day were outstanding with The Under 15 Boys and Under 15 Girls teams both winning and qualifying on the day for the UK Finals. Whilst both the Under 13 Boys and Under 13 Girls just lost out to Tyne & Wear but still qualified for the UK finals. In the Under 15 Girls competition Ambah Thompson was Overall Under 15 individual Champion, with West Yorkshires Rachel Crorken 2nd, Joanna Lawler-Rhodes 3rd and Roisin Ramage in 4th place. In this year’s competition the Under 13 Girls team were beaten by rivals Tyne & Wear by just 2 points. In this competition Grace Plater won the 2 Lap race and the team won the 4×1 and 4×2 relay.
The Team can now look forward to the trip to Sport City. The Under 15 Girls beat North Yorkshire by 41 points. The team came home with 10 top ranked individuals with Ambah Thompson top ranked in the 2 Lap race and in the Vertical Jump. Charlotte Hankin won the Sped Bounce , Rachel Crorken won the 4 Lap race and Roisin Ramage won the Shot Put. The under 13 Boys team came a close second to Tyne & Wear but still qualify for the UK Finals. The North Yorkshire team into 3nd place with Humberside in 4th place. Tobi Sanni was 2nd in the 2 Lap race and won the Shot Put, Sam McKinnon-Evans won the 4 Lap race and Matthew Crorken won the Speed Bounce. The Under 13 Boys won The Obstacle Relay, 4×1, 4×2 and the 8 Lap Paarlauf relay. The Under 15 Boys team won their competition beating North Yorkshire by 22 points The Under 15 Boys had winners in Lewis Ackroyd in the Standing Triple Jump and Ephrairm Madugba in the Standing Long Jump as well as a West Yorkshire win in the 8 Lap Paarlauf. In the individual championship Lewis Ackroyd finished in 2nd place behind Luke Foreman from Tyne & Wear.
Alan Oates West Yorkshire Sportshall Athletics Co-ordinator