A summary of my weekend in numbers;
My weekend of athletics begun on Sunday with the first NEYDL meetings, for league 2 South which was down at Darlington. As an under 17 athlete I really enjoyed my first season back competing for Houghton competing at the league meetings and now still enjoy them helping the club with their officiating duties. From an officials perspective the league has its positives and negatives. The main positive for me is we get to work with different people. But league meetings are also where the shortage of officials is really highlighted. Unfortunately we don't have enough parents, coaches and spectators giving something back to the sport and becoming an official for their club. On a more positive note the sun was out for a change which set the event up for a great start the hurdles were few and far between which gave the track officials a chance to do the most important thing at a meeting: collect their lunch! The next event on the track was the 800m, I was asked to watch the break-line. I went across before the first 800m race to set up the marker cones, and had a trickle of the more inexperienced middle-distance runners asking where the break line was; obviously I was more than happy to explain! With nearly a full collection of white flags I returned to the judges stand for the sprint events. These were closely followed by the second longer distance event of the day the 1500m, or for the track judges; lunch time. As the afternoon progressed we moved on to 200m. I was asked to judge the last 3 only so proceeded to the very top of the judges stand. There was a slight cross wind on the track but on the top of the stand the wind was a lot stronger. This led to the final event of the day the relays. For the first time since I’ve been track judging we hand enough volunteers to have 2 people on each changeover. I was placed on change over 2 so took the walk down with the parent that was pared with me. This was my final chance of the day to wave a flag, and after a couple more red flags the day was done. On to bank holiday Monday, no lie in fo me as I was helping NOTAN at their quadkids. These type of events are designed to be a nice relaxing introduction to competition. Though judging the 50m can be entertaining to say the least, and having upto 20 in a race over the 600m was also a moment where I had to be focused on the job in hand. Nevertheless it was a relaxing morning with what I believe was a record entry which is encouraging for the future.
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Dominic EllisI’m Dominic Ellis, I’m 17 and a proud member of Houghton Harriers. I have been involved in athletics for 6 years, though, I had a spell of not competing until I moved to Houghton 2 years ago. My athletics involvement comprises of being a competing athlete, UKA Technical official and an athletics leader. I’ve settled on being a mediocre 400m runner and a discus thrower, after trying every event except for hurdles and pole vault. I became an official just over a year ago, and have absolutely loved it. I am now a level 2 track judge and the youngest official in the North East region. Over the past year I have been given some excellent opportunities such as English Schools and the British Indoor Team Trials. I have also have been helping out with our Under 11 group at Houghton for around 18 months once a week, which is never dull. I’m now sharing my experiences in athletics for all to see Archives
September 2017
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