Spring Track Relay – Junior Race Report

A beautiful Spring day at Churchill Playing Fields track marked a number of firsts for us all on Sunday. It is the first time the event has been held, it was the first time our assistant coach Sam had put up the famous Wallsend tent (thanks Sam) and most importantly the first time our amazing Junior Multi-Event group of athletes had taken part in a competitive race.

Excitement had been building for a number of weeks at training with extra relay practice organised by our coach Daniel and the kids all taking to it like they had been doing it for years. We knew that there was a lot of interest but weren’t sure how many athletes would make it to the event so we were blown away on the day when we realised we had 14 of our kids and their families ready for the Under 11’s 4 x 100m relay with officials even remarking on how good it was to see so many Wallsend vests there.

Teams were sorted and the athletes lined up to be allocated heats and lanes and behaved impeccably, doing everything the officials asked of them. The teams were as follows:

Team 1 – Jadzia, Hugh, Ella and Luke

Team 2 – Jacob, Cara, Millie and Fintan (who was making a one-off return to our group for the day)

Team 3 – Ashlea, Zoe, Anna and Freya

Team 4 – Zack and Thomas who in the spirit of the day made up a team of 4 with athletes from Gateshead and Morpeth.

There were three separate heats and two blocks of races so our young athletes faced some serious competition each time from teams who clearly had more experience. The standard was high. For many of our kids it was the first time they had even heard a starting pistol, which proved to be a bit of a surprise for some, but when the gun went off all nerves disappeared. We saw an incredible exhibition of racing with great lane discipline, text book form and baton changes that put our seniors to shame in later races and our teams finished in a variety of good placings after giving maximum effort.

The spirit of the day carried on when, after refuelling in true Wallsend style (chocolate cakes, flapjacks and Haribos), the kids then all gathered by the track at the end of the finishing straight on what must surely now be known as ‘Wallsend Corner’ to cheer on the seniors in the later races.

The event itself turned out to be a massive success due to the hard work and organisation of event director Daniel Njai-Rowney and we couldn’t have been more proud of our young athletes for their effort and the way they behaved. The group is now buzzing with talk of a season of track and field events and we look forward to loads more fun and loads more success in the months to come. Well done kids you did us proud!

Gez