DASH Athletics Club had it's most successful Northern Indoor Championships on January 14h, with more of the Club's athletes competing in the event hosted by Sheffield's English Institute of Sport than ever before.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the Club's first ever Northern Championships medal, which came from Under 17 Charlotte Ogden, who leapt 10.54m to take silver in the triple jump. This success was all the more impressive as it was Charlotte's first ever triple jump competition after just two weeks of specific training for the event. Charlotte now ranks fourth in the UK in 2012.

Another athlete making her debut was Under 15 Girl Megan Franklin, who ran a time of 9.07 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals in what was her first ever track race for the Club.

Nicky Screawn and David Ward showed that they are reaping the rewards from being part of the England Athletics Hurdles academy over the past few months, with both athletes running personal bests and Nicky making the final of the Under 15 Girls 60m Hurdles where she finished in a very respectable sixth position.

First year Under 17 girl Laura Pegler showed she is quickly developing into one of the strongest all-round athletes in the region and a Championship contender, making the triple jump final where she finished sixth, as well as qualifying for the 60m semi-finals and jumping close to her personal best in the long jump during what was a very busy day for her.

Sam Carter-Blyth ran a big personal best of 56.72 in the Under 17 Men's 400m to finish third in his heat, whilst Sam Doherty finished fifth in the Under 15 Boys 60m Hurdles and seventh in the 60m. Joe Mullin put in a solid performance in his first championship event to finish fifth in the Under 15 boys shot put. James Cash, using a new hitch-kick technique for the first time, jumped 4.46m to finish eigth in the Under 15 Boys long jump.

Ten Year-Old Katie Waterworth, competing two years ahead of her own age group, ran a personal best of 9.18 seconds in the Under 15 Girls 60m, a time that ranks her as the fastest ten year-old in the UK in 2012, and second best Under 13 Girl in the North West this year. Katie followed this up with a leap of 3.81m in the long jump, just a few centimetres away from her personal best performance. Libby Geary also ran a personal best of 9.11 in the 60m to make the semi-finals in her first year as an Under 15, while Monica Hughes ran 9.28 seconds in the same event in what was her first ever track race for the Club.

Bramhall athletes Persina 'Percy' Briscoe and Ellie Staley, both newcomers to the Club, ran close to their lifetime bests in what was easily the biggest stage they have competed on so far, demonstrating great potential and gaining valuable high-level competition experience. Percy and Ellie now rank eight and fifteenth in the North West respectively, undoubtedly with much more to come in the future.

DASH AC Head Coach, Joe Frost, said "this is a great set of results, with DASH athletes showing they can reach higher and higher levels of achievement every year since we formed the Club in 2006. But what is most pleasing is the number of athletes taking part in this Championships - more than all but two of the Clubs in the North West - showing that DASH AC is giving more and more young people in Stockport the chance to both take part and excel in track and field athletics".

Videos of the event can be viewed on the DASHAthleticsClubTV YouTube Channel (email joefrost@dashathletics.co.uk to request the password and login details).

Full results can be found at the following link: 

http://www.noeaa-athletics.org.uk/FileUploads/Indoor_Champs_full_Results_2012.xls