Athletes on track for new records

May 10 2010 The Journal

EIGHT records were broken at this weekend’s North Eastern Counties Track and Field Championships at Gateshead Stadium.

Yesterday, Emma Raven of Chester-le-Street took a massive 64secs off the old figures in the 2000m steeplechase – and broke the Scottish record by six secs.

Markhim Lonsdale of Gateshead set new figures in both the under-13 800m and long jump.

He broke the 1991 record by half a second in the track event and exceeded the long jump best by 35cms. Twenty-four hours earlier he took the 200m and 1500m titles.

Jarrow’s Emma Johnson added five cms on to the record in the under-13 girls’ high jump, and also won the long jump and shot.

Charlotte McEwan of Middlesbrough bettered the previous figures in the under-17 hammer by 1.62 metres.

The colder windier conditions, meant only three records were broken on Saturday.

Birtley’s Lydia Turner took a massive 21secs off the old figures, leading all the way to win the under-15 gGirls’ 3000m.

In the same age-group Gateshead’s Rachel Highfield took a tenth-of-a-second off the old record, which was set as long ago as 1988, in the 200m. Highfield added the 100m title yesterday.

Middlesbrough’s Harry Harris bettered the old figures by a mere two-hunderdths of a second in what was a quick under- 20 100metres.