Starting Off Strong

The 2023 season of the Northern Senior League got underway for Spenborough at the John Charles Stadium in Leeds. Last year’s season was a rather positive one finishing second overall, so we wanted a good start to keep this good form going.

Molly Waring and Soraya Crodden kicked the track off with a second place and first place in the 400m Hurdles A and B string respectively, with Molly picking up a Seasons Best time. The pair then continued onto claim second place in the Long Jump A and B string, with the pair both picking up Personal Best distances. Molly continued the good form, picking up a victory and PB time in the 100m Hurdles and a third place in the 400m. Soraya equalled her SB time in the 100m claiming first place in the B String and a SB throw in the discus.

Isabel White continued her form from the Yorkshires, dominating in the 1oom and 200m with two victories in the A string.

Estelle Williams joined the team again and set out on a determined performance in the 400m, claiming a new PB time and a first place finish in the B string. Also newly acquainted with the Hurdles, Estelle gave a strong performance to set a PB time in the 100m Hurdles and yet another first place finish in the B String, topped off with a equal PB height in the High Jump for a second place finish in the A string.

Summer Haynes also re-joined the team an leapt to a victory in the High Jump B String with a PB jump, a second place in the 200m B string as well as tallying up the points in the 1,500m.

Lily Croughan was another to re-join the team and took no time to get back into the swing of things, claiming a first place finish in the Hammer A string with a PB throw, a second place in the Shot Putt A string with another PB throw, Discus B string before finishing her day with a fourth place in the Javelin A string.

Siobhan Maskill joined the team for the first time and with limited preparation time earned a second place in the B string Javelin along with a fourth place in the Triple Jump A string.

On the Men’s side, reliable Glenn Aspindle returned to stack up the points with a victory in the 110m Hurdles A string, along with second place finishes in the Long Jump, High Jump and Javelin A string.

Jake Darby also helped pull in points with an early victory in the Hammer A string, Triple Jump B String and 110m Hurdles B string. As well as a third place finish in the A string Shot Putt and a SB throw in the Discus.

Connor Bell also showed his strength in the throws with a first place finish in the B string Hammer and a third place finish in the B string Discus.

An equal PB jump in the High Jump saw Elliot Hoyland finish victorious in the B string, backed up with a third place in both the 100m and 200m B string races.

James Bell re-joined the team with a second place finish in the Javelin B string with a PB distance and set a PB distance with the full men’s weight Shot Putt to finish fourth in the B string.

Reuben Byfield excelled in the Triple Jump once again jumping to a first place finish and within centimetres of a Seasons Best.

Back to the track where Simon Bolland-Cage kept up the pace from the Yorkshire Champs to achieve a second place finish in the 5,000m and a third place finish in the 800m. Whilst Kevin Ogden picked up a hard earnt third place in the 5,000m B string.

Tyler Cossins helped increase the teams total with two Seasons best run in the 100m and 200m sprint A string finishing forth in both, along with a third place finish in the B string Long Jump.

We got all four relay teams out at the end of the day with the womens team dominating the 4x100m with Crodden, Waring, Williams and White and the 4x400m with a team of White, Haynes, Waring and Crodden picking up victories in them both.

The mens team also finished the day strong with a third place in the 4x100m with a team of Cossins, Bell, Hoyland and Darby, and the 4x400m matching the third place finish as well with Cossins, Ogden, Bolland-Cage and Aspindle successfully getting the baton around.

As the day drew to a close the team were proud of their performances as it had led to a second place finish with a good distance in front of third place.

The next fixture sees us back on home soil as we host the second fixture at the Princess Mary Stadium on the 18th June.

Final Scores for the day:
Leeds City AC 391
Spenborough & District AC 371
Skyrac AC 238
Harrogate Harriers 235
Pontefract AC 217
Holmfirth Harriers 116