WITH the help of top performances from Tynedale athletes, Northumberland were crowned northern champions.

With the district’s teens producing seven gold medals at the inter-counties final at Hexham’s Wentworth Leisure Centre, the county topped the team charts over rivals from hosts Cumbria, Cleveland and Durham even if two golds in the senior categories didn’t count towards the final total.

Continuing his electric form, Prudhoe High School sprinter Lewis Cant was again star of the show as he left with double gold.

With a time of 11.51 seconds in the 100m and 23.36 seconds in the 200m, the super quick teenager became double champion in the junior boys’ (JB) category.

He again pipped his Tynedale teammate Josh McKeown (11.74 and 23.43) into first place in both instances just as he did in the Northumberland finals.

Joining Lewis in the JB gold was Slaley’s Dan Joyce, a pupil at Durham’s St Thomas More Catholic School, in Blaydon, as he continued his excellent form to win the 800m in a time of 2:07.28, taking the win by just 0.01 of a second.

The impressive runner’s season continued to go from great to outstanding, as he recorded a phenomenal personal best time of 1:56.5 in the 800m at the British Milers Club meeting, in Chester-le-Street, on Monday evening.

Tynedale’s intermediate boys (IM) impressed too with two gold medals, Queen Elizabeth High School pupil Alex Wood taking first place in the 800m in 1:58.88, and Prudhoe’s Ellis Leonard cleared 1.80m to take the high jump title.

QE’s Max Pearson looks to better his English Schools bronze of last year, and goes into the finals in Birmingham as northern champion in the senior boys’ 1500m as his time of 4:05.94 was just under 20 seconds faster than Northumberland rival Kieran Hedley.

Prudhoe High’s Robyn Bennett is enjoying an excellent season and won the senior girls’ 3000m with 10:18.90, and Tynedale’s Rachel Forster joined her in the gold with success in the high jump with a height of 1.56m.

Tynedale’s Michael Furness missed out on gold in the IB discus, but his silver winning throw of 43.31m has earned him selection to the Northumberland team to head to the English Schools final.

Matthew Cant gained silver in the IB hammer, Sam Jolly was second in the JB javelin with a throw of 38.66m, Lottie Murphy (4.94m) was just a centimetre off gold in the JG long jump and Heather MacDonald earned silver in the JG high jump despite equaling Northumberland teammate Ellie Morris’ jump of 1.51m.

Also finishing with bronze medals were Niamh Brennan with 31.34m in the JG javelin and Will Hetherington (11.18m) in the JB shot putt.

Representing Tynedale, and Northumberland, in the northern championships but missing out on medals were Connor Williams (JB 300m), Rowan Bennett (JB 1500m), Will Hetherington (JB discus), Matthew Cant (IB 400m), Ellis Leonard (IB triple jump), Heather MacDonald (JG 200m), Sophie Walsh (JG 75m hurdles) and Chloe Wellings (IG 1500m).