Witton Park was the scenic backdrop for a dominant display of athletics from Kingston’s ever- impressive u17 women, who outshone Northern Premier League leaders Liverpool Harriers, Blackpool and home team Blackburn. Despite the club’s 4^th place overall- 2^nd looking realistic until the final events- Kingston also took huge positives from memorable debuts for u13 distance runner Samantha Sajkovic and u15 boy Tom Smith, who showed they’re at home in the top flight of track and field.

 The tricky away fixture, against west coast teams on their home turf, started with first blood to the visitors, with a marvellous win for Zoe Garton in the 300m hurdles. Flying out of the blocks, she held her advantage in the home straight, despite having moved up from u15 and trying the event for the first time in this league. Lois Earle went well in the shorter sprint hurdles, and topped her second place there with a fine 4.65m long jump win.

 There was more silky smooth sprinting from Reiss Holmes, showing she’s made strides forward in only her second season by winning the B 200m before matching the 100m winner’s time as a tight decision saw her given second. Holmes showed versatility with a 9.77m grade 1 performance, easily good enough to take a quality triple jump in which all 6 competitors including Rachel Coupland made the grade 1 standard.

 Nicola Bates and Emily Curry took maximum points with flawless javelin throwing, Bates launching her missile 23.54m, while Alex Wilson also won at u15 girls level with a 20.68 mark. Sarah Ombler won the u17 womens’ high jump by clearing 1.45m and Matthew Fenny made a good debut to win the u17 men’s B high jump- but was upstaged by boys’ team captain, Jack Cutsforth, who took more points with his 1.50m leap than in his specialist 400m!

 The day was capped by the u17 women’s 4x300m relay victory: sprinters and distance runners uniting to produce a sensational 3.00.8 clocking. Zoe Garton led after leg one, Laura Frenneaux and Laura Jane Day keeping the team in the hunt with astonishing bursts of speed for endurance athletes who’d run gruelling 3km and 800m races. Clare McPhee took the baton- and it was lights out for Liverpool as they watched her streak away for a 4 second win, going pedal to the metal even after first place looked assured.

 Tom Smith showed no nerves on his debut in the u15 4x400m with an incredible 57.9 split to anchor the u15 boys relay team to second. Starting in the pack, Andy Anderson and Dominic Haigh put in solid runs before Mike Pope stormed through the field, closing on the magic minute mark and setting up Smith to astonish his coach and the team.

 Emma Jackson, top ranked u13 sprinter nationwide last season, showed she can give away a year and still take a clear 100m/200m double at u15 level. Her 26.1 200m earned her a grade 1 certificate, as well as a .6 winning margin- huge in the sprints.

 Samantha Sajcovic was untouchable as she demolished the field in the u13 1200m, coming home 10 seconds clear in 4.03.0 in her first Premier League outing. A hardworking bunch of u13 boys gave their all for the cause: Tom Holgate, Alec Russell, Nathan Redpath and Tom Ballantine all impressing on their debuts, Russell second in the shot by just 8cm, supported by Ballantine’s B win.

Final candidates for performance of the day were u17 men Mike Jennings, who looked more than capable moving up a weight in the u17 hammer for a huge 48.78m win over top class opponent Adam Reynolds of Liverpool, 7m adrift. Not forgetting, of course, crowd- pleasing distance duo Matty Pye and John Gilchrist who burst into rivalry after running as a team in the final 30m of their 3km, duo turning dualists with Pye just shading it. The man/woman of the match debate rages on the club's message board as the votes flood in. Match 2 on 21 May promises even more excitement as Kingston give more debuts to their young athletes, and aim to use vital home advantage to charge up the league.

On a damp dank day, KUH hosted the second NJAL match of the season, fielding a slightly stronger team than had travelled to Rotherham for the opener.

The only concern was that apart from Sarah Gibson in the 3000m, the home club couldn’t field another athlete in any event longer than 400m!

The day opened as expected with a brace of wins in the Mens Hammer from James Bedford and Pete Smith who both improved on their performances in the first match with 63.94 and 56.02 respectively.

At the same time in the sand, Chris Stephenson and Dave Wolstenholme were scoring heavily, with leaps of 5.60 and 5.44 for 2^nd ‘A’ and 1^st B.

The opening event on the track again saw a solid performance from Chris Walgate over the 400m hurdles, finishing 2^nd in 64.4. This was shortly followed by the speed boys, Chris Stephenson and Jordan Ellis who recorded 11.8 and 11.7 for 3^rd ‘A’ and 1^st ‘B’.

James Bedford followed his hammer victory with a winning ‘B’ throw of 11.10, whilst the welcome return of ‘Big’ Joe Lewis saw him winning the ‘A’ event with a throw of 12.10. Meanwhile, in the javelin, making his first appearance following injury younger brother James managed 32.40 for 4^th ‘A’.

Our long distance runners were next to hit the track, Rob Clark covering the single lap in 54.7 for 4^th ‘A’ whilst, Rob Butler managed 53.7 to win the ‘B’ in the tightest finish of the day. Rob was soon back in action in the 200m, in which he finished  3^rd ‘A’ in 24.0. Jordan Ellis completed his sprint double with 24.1 to win the ‘B’.

James Bedford and Pete Smith proved equally at home hurling flat objects, with throws of 37.26 and 30.71 for 2^nd ‘A’ and 1^st ‘B’.

The relay teams performed well for 3^rd and 4^th places in 47.5 and 3.44.3.

The ladies kicked off the afternoon with the shot, Nicola Bates and Stacey Kirby teamed up for 3^rd ‘A’ and 2^nd ‘B’ with throws of 7.70 and 5.92. The same pair teamed up for the hammer, Nicolas again finished 3^rd ‘A ‘ with 25.81, whilst Stacey won the ‘B’ with 22.56.

Reiss Holmes and Amy Giblin both won well for the home club in the 100m, Reiss clocking 12.8 and Amy recording 13.4.

Another double win was being recorded in the long jump, with debutantes Anna Parkinson and Lois Earl both winning by over half a metre with leaps of 4.88 and 4.69.

The 400m saw two third place finishes from Clare Blunt and Racheal Coupland with times of 63.2 and 68.0.

As previously mentioned Sarah Gibson provided the long distance effort of the day, and finished 3^rd in the 3000m with a new PB of 11:53.9.

Stacey Kirby came 3^rd in the discus with a throw of 18.54.

The high jump saw further success, with Lois Earl clearing 1.45  for 3^rd ‘A’ and Sarah Ombler winning the ‘B’ event with 1.40. Emily Cope guested and cleared 1.35.

Anna Parkinson and Nicola Bates provided another fine pair of winning performances in the Javelin with 31.55 and 26.36 respectively.

Reiss Holmes found one too good for her in the 200m, and finished 2^nd in 26.4, whilst Anna Parkinson completed her 3^rd win of the day with 27.9.

The triple jump again saw the home side scoring good points with Reiss Holmes finishing 2^nd ‘A’ with 9.92, and Emily Cope winning the ‘B’ with 9.31.

The girls sprint squad were pipped on the line, finishing 2^nd in a time of 54.4.

Kingston took full advantage of home turf for their second Young Athletes League match, fielding a bigger team, winning more events, and sweeping both female athlete of the match awards on track and field.

Heptathlete Anna Parkinson proved more than a match for the specialists by winning the u 17 javelin, taking second in the long jump, and leaping a massive personal best 1.66m in the high jump. This was a grade 1 standard which also qualifies her for English Schools, particularly impressive in sodden conditions not conducive to the event.

Samantha Sajkovic stunned on her debut in match one, blowing away the field in the u13 girls’ 1200m- but on her home track, improved on perfection, beating her own mark by another 9 seconds for a staggering 3.54.3 performance earned by sprinting the final lap on her own. Laura Jane Day also set a tempo no one else could live with in the u17 3000m, gradually stretching her lead to 45 seconds with a 10.54.7 win.

More grade 1 performances came from u17 Clare McPhee, who shot out of the blocks and made up the stagger on her rivals instantly, going on to win by 2.6 seconds in 41.2, and the consistently brilliant Emma Jackson who ran 25.9 in the u15 200m, later adding a familiar 100m victory. Maddy Cardwell won a fiercely- contested u13 girls 80m in 10.7, adding 2^nd place over 150m.

With dominance a trend in the girls team, the boys chose to give a partisan crowd more drama with their wins, notably in the u15 4x 400m. Tom Smith was first to hand over, Dominic Haigh put in his best ever split to keep the team on the shoulder of the leaders, while Mike Pope consolidated second. Stephen Richardson closed the gap on a tiringSouthport anchor, who drifted into lane 2 as he faded, giving Richardson an invitation he couldn’t refuse, the Kingston sprinter sneaking through on the inside to take the victory. Richardson’s split of 56.4 was a scorching 6 seconds quicker than his individual 400m, “I’m going to run the Northern Championships next week with a baton in my hand,” he joked.

Smith and Pope had already wowed supporters with a dual in the 1500m well ahead of runners from York, Preston and Southport. Pope built up a gap, but it was not enough to see off the sprint of Smith, who won in 4.29.9; Pope’s 4.35.6 easily good enough for the B win. Andy Burrluck made a welcome return to the team- and it was as though he’d never been away, performing astutely to kick for first in the 800m in a personal best 2.15.5, Haigh 2^nd in the B race a whisker from the win.

Maximum points came in the u13 boys shot and long jump, Alec Russell pushed by team mate Nathan Barr to throw 7.53m as Barr won the B event beating all other A competitors on his debut in the league. Russell was the support act to James McCartney, as both Kingston A and B jumpers outleaped the rest and spurred each other with close 4.24 and 4.21 marks. Callum Skinner was a valiant 2^nd in the 1500m backed by Alex Randerson’s B win, both runners again making debuts that secure their place in the team. Tom Holgate went all out for glory in the A 800m and again came close as yet another fine debut gave Jon Hewitt the B win. U 13 girls Katie Michaels and Alice Middleton took 7 points from 8 in the 800m with equally gutsy performances as Beth Gray and Hannah Bentley did the same in the u15 1500m.

Mike Jennings’ unblemished record in the hammer continued with a 48.34m win, backed by a B win in the unlikely form of distance runner John Gilchrist. Kingston’s tradition in mens’ hammer now extends to the women’s event, Stacey Kirby and Nicola Bates clearly the best with throws of 24.43 and 23.70m respectively. Bates took the B javelin and the B discus, both throws only bettered slightly by her Kingston colleagues and A string winners Parkinson and Chloe Smyrk. Reiss Holmes again won the u17 women’s triple jump, took close seconds in both sprints and shrugged of York’s challenge to anchor the 4x100m team to gold.

Many thanks also go to all the parents and athletes who helped at this match. This included stewarding, officiating, announcing results, processing results, running the tuck-shop and of course, cheering on the team!

Kingston star sprinter Emma Jackson showed she was heading for yet more success this season as she dazzled at the Northern Championships in Leeds. Jackson was one of the star performers in the UK as an under-13 last year, so much so that she was ranked No 1 in the rankings over 150m. And such is her awesome potential that following an impressive step up to under-15s at the Humberside Championships, where she won the 100m and 200m, she further impressed with a fine showing over 200m at the South Leeds Stadium.

Jackson finished second in her heat in 25.70sec but was narrowly pipped to the gold she so coveted as she had to settle for silver in the final, in a time of 25.82sec.

Clare McPhee further hit home her intentions over the sprint distances, following her step down from the 800m, as she took bronze in the under-17 300m in 41.0sec. This after she had won her heat in 40.92s, with Rachael Coupland finishing sixth in her heat in 47.05s.

McPhee was attempting a double by competing over 200m, but after finishing second in her heat in 26.35s she was ran out into seventh in the final (26.55s).

Further medal success came from Laura-Jane Day in the 3,000m. Following a good cross-country season Day made the step into the senior women's team at the first senior Northern League match in Boston and showed this was fully justified as she claimed bronze in the under-17 event in 10:23.46.

Michelle Stone, moving up an age group this season, finished with sixth (10:43.43), while Lauren Havercroft was 11th in 11:41.95.

Kingston's other medallists were the ever-reliable Mike Jennings, who was second in the under-17 hammer with a best of 51.82m, and Stephen Richardson who won bronze in the under-15 long jump (5.21m).

Richardson narrowly missed out on glory in the 400m with a fourth place finish (58.87sec), while he was not the only athlete to try his luck at more than one event.

The ever-enthusiastic Mark Cage competed in three events in total; the 100m (7th in heat in 13.14sec), the 1500m (17th in heat in 5:11.8) and the 100m hurdles (6th in heat in 18.37s).

Nicola Bates competed in three events but had the agony of finishing just outside the medals in fourth in all of them - the hammer (26.27m), discus (24.57m) and javelin (27.26m).

Elsewhere, Zoe Garton finished eighth in the under-17 300m hurdles final in 48.15sec, Tom Smith (10:10.5) fourth and Michael Pope (10:21.59) sixth in the under-15 3,000m and Beth Woodrow was seventh in her heat of the under-15 800m in a time of 2:37.89.

Kingston's athletes all across the spectrum teamed up to keep the club on course for promotion from Division four of the Northern senior league. With the daunting prospect of taking on City of Sheffield and Hallamshire on their own patch Kingston's young and more senior stars pulled out all the stops to kee