On Saturday morning June 2nd 2013 thinking it was warmer than it proved to be I set off with my Olympic Games London 2012 shoulder bag in only a shirt and light jacket for the Metro Train journey to Gateshead stadium to watch the Europa Team Athletics Championship super League event where the combined British team of Male and female athletics came fourth on last holding to Russia, Germany and the Ukraine. Britain commenced the meeting with the news that the recently appointed Athletics coach after the man who steered the London Olympics Team has resigned because the of the failure to reach the targets he had set for himself and the government sponsors, had also resigned to return home to Canada, stating family reasons. He hoped that based on recent performance standings the British team could finish in the top three.
It is several year since attending Gateshead Stadium to watch European Athletics although I was present on the occasion when after the stadium was developed and officially opened in 1974 to mark the emergence of Brendan Foster as an International middle distance runner, followed soon after by that of Steve Cram of (Monkton) Jarrow where South Tyneside also provide an all weather competitive track in the town and where I also attended its opening.
There had been a running track and athletics club on the Gateshead site since the 1950’s but with the new stand and facilities and additional spectator seating, the stadium commenced its forty year rise as Tyne and Wearside’s premier athletics home, also featuring professional football, with Gateshead FC and they intend to move to a purpose built new stadium in the town centre scheduled for 2015, American football until 2011 until they moved to the Monkton stadium Jarrow and rugby League Gateshead Thunder. The stadium has hosted a number of Rock concerts with the most success Tina Turner who I have seen twice 1990 and 1996, the Police with U2 and Rod Stewart, Members of the family when to see Bryan Adams.
But it is as an Athletics venue that its main claim to fame remains although spectators numbers have not always proved great as with the European Team Championships this weekend although there was a major Rock concert at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on the same day, featuring Little Mix the X Factor winners with two members of the group from South Tyneside and James Arthur another winner, from Teeside. The stadium is also the home of Gateshead Harriers one of the foremost ongoing athletics clubs un the UK.
The story goes that at a Civic reception held for Brendan Foster, born Hebburn, then County Durham, now South Tyneside, he was promised an all weather track stadium and with the creation of a Department of Sport and Leisure he was appointed its Director and helped create the stadium where he organised the Gateshead Games. Brendan is now better known as a sport commentator and the founder and organiser of the Great North Run, the half marathon from Newcastle to the coast in South Shields (Gypsy Green Stadium area) which has tens of thousands entries raising money for charities, two international class serious races and wheelchair disability race. The event is televised nationally by the BBC. Steve Cram. Steve who won a Silver medal in the Olympic Games at 1500 metres and a Gold medal at the World Championships, is now a regular BBC Athletics commentator being its lead Athletics person for London 2012.
In 1983 Steve Cram beat Sebastian now Lord Coe at Gateshead in his final race before Cram won the gold medal at Helsinki in the World Championships in a packed stadium and I was there too.
In 1989, I attended the running of the Europa Cup. The men's competition was won for the first time by a Great Britain team captained by Linford Christie and which included Kriss Akabusi and Jack Buckner.
Four years later, on 30 July 1993, I also watched Lynford, by this time the reigning 100m Olympic champion, in action again – this time against his old rival Carl Lewis in a race where both men were reportedly paid £100000 irrespective of the result. Christie won in a time of 10.07 seconds, ahead of Jon Drummond in second and Lewis, who finished third".The 100m race was the highlight of the "high profile" Vauxhall Invitational meet, which was televised in the UK by ITV and watched by around 10 million viewers. Michael Johnson, John Regis and Steve Cram also competed.
In August 1998, Gateshead was selected to host the 2000 Europa Cup after the European Athletic Association switched the event from original host venue Martinique to avoid athletes travelling long distances in an Olympic year. This made Gateshead the first venue to host the event twice. In July 2000, spectators at Gateshead once again saw Great Britain's men's team take the title, this time by half a point from Germany in second place; the British victory came despite missing ten first-choice team members.
Paula Radcliffe ran the 10,000m at Gateshead in 2004 when Foster's "Gateshead Games" had become the British Grand Prix, and on 13 July 21-year-old Yelena Isinbayeva set a new world record of 4.82m in the women's pole vault event. Isinbayeva's achievement in the last event of the meet was so unexpected that only 1,000 of the 10,000 spectators witnessed it, the rest having left early. For her achievement, she was given a bonus cheque for $50,000. On 27 June 2004, Isinbayeva returned to Gateshead. This time the event organisers decided to schedule the pole vault event earlier and were rewarded when Isinbayeva defied extremely windy conditions to post a new record mark of 4.87m. Isinbayeva was the second woman to set a world record in the pole vault at Gateshead; Daniela Bartova did so in 1995. In 2006, a crowd of 8,500 saw Asafa Powell equal the world record of 9.77 seconds in the men's 100m. The official, un-rounded time of 9.762 seconds was then the fastest time ever recorded. The meet was also notable for the return to competition of Dwain Chambers after his ban for using performance enhancing drugs, and for Eliud Kipchoge breaking Foster's stadium record over 3000m that had stood for more than three decades.
In 2010, the British Grand Prix at Gateshead was chosen as one of the inaugural fourteen Diamond League events but although competitors included Tyson Gay, Powell, Jessica Ennis and Vincent Chepkok, the attendance was unusually poor, causing the local press to wonder whether Gateshead's contract for the marquee event would be renewed. Those fears were to prove well-founded when UK Athletics agreed to a three-year contract to stage the event at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham The move prompted one reporter to lament that "the switch is a major blow to both Gateshead International Stadium and North-East sport in general, but can hardly be regarded as a major surprise given the dwindling support for major athletics events in the region. It is evident that the loss has continued and I was appalled at the level fo empty seats given the appearance of double Olympic winner Mo Farah in 10000 meter event. especially as this was only instance where a stadium has held the event three times.
It used to be possible to park the car free on land behind the stadium but this has since been converted into playing fields and so although eh weather looked changed able I decided to use the Metro train although I remember that there is quite along walk from the nearest station to the stadium. Since last using the station to the area has been cleared and a new estates of housing created with a direct wide walkway with a most attractive aspect including Iots trees and interspersed at pedestrian junctions into the estate with attractive metal work and other features. I was most impressed. I did see a large car park on this side of the of the main road from Sunderland to Newcastle, the A1M and South Shields. There was also an army fo Gateshead staff helpers channelling people in the right direction from the station and across the busy main road.
Since my last visit the seating opposite the main stand has been covered over and there are kiosks serving hot drinks, alcohol and snacks. There are also well looked after male and female toilets. My seat was at the aisle to one side opposite the finishing line across the stadium although close to the open air. The covering which would have been essential on the Sunday with the torrential rain took the sun away and therefore although I enjoyed the visit I was uncomfortable and needed frequent trips to the gents as walking about at the rear of the stand to try and shelter from the wind. At £10.50 via Ticketmaster the seat was exceptional good value for money, I purchased a good programme for £5 which enable to enter the result in great detail if I wish although even with the large scoreboard with visual replay at one end of the stadium it was difficult to read the results or have time to enter them. However I was confident that I would be able to obtain rhe details on line front the British Athletics Association European Athletics Federation..
The first event of the meeting and afternoon at 1.30 was the women’s Pole Vault which I once tried at a school boy barely getting off the ground. The British team was expected to gain 12 points from Holly Bleasdale who is the current European Champion at a height of 4.87. She was eighth in the final of the London Olympics but hopes to do better in Rio in 2016. She elected to come into the competition at 4.35 but failed in three attempts and registered no points. What a disaster! The second event was he Men’s hammer which I also tried at school and was hopeless. The British athlete came 11 with 2 points although he was not expected to do well. The Brit competitor Jamile Adalma in the women’s triple jump did well in 4th and was close to the third placed. For the short distance events (100, 200 metres and the 400, competitors ran in two races, with the fastest six in the second and the winner declared on times from both races. Dai Green who had failed at he Olympics was expected to bring 12 points but he was beaten into second by the German who had an exceptional performance.
In the women’s !00m Asha Philip came third in her race and fourth overall and in the 400m men Nigel Levine came second. Women’s discuss Jade Lally 6th. So it was not until the 8th event that the UK had its first success, an unexpected result with Jessica Judd 18 years of age in her first senior outing having completed her A levels last week. While she has shown considerable promise improving her times in this race and the 1500m and was selected to the team on merit in terms of times she was expected to reach 4th or 5th and it was the manner of her winning going out fast and holding off opposition which excited the spectators and the UK Athletics establishment and which makes her a prospect for the 2015 Olympic Games. A potential heroine has been discovered and my impression is that she will be well nurtured and not exploited for immediate advantage, A name to look out for.
Back to reality in the men’s Shot Put where Zane Duquemin, now that is a name, came 9th. In the 100m dash Richard Kilty came fourth in the second heat but sixth overall. It was a second woman Laura Weighman coached by Steve Cram who came second in the 3000m on her home track and she was quickly followed by Elldith Child winning the 400mm hurdles and with Charlie Grice coming second in the 1500m the position was getting much better with the tem looking good for at least third position and the possibility of second.
Greg Rutherford was to some extent an unexpected Gold Medal winner in the long jump as on paper there were other with better distances competing and therefore I have not expected him to beat everyone he now faces, especially if having gained the medal he had lost some of the original drive and competitiveness. Just how many Gold Medal UK Olympic Athletic winners has there been since the end of the Second World War? I will try and answer the question before publication, He came third, expected to have done better by some. Lennie Waite did well in the 3000 women’s Steeple chase although by this time the cold wind and inadequate clothing made me so uncomfortable that two coffee and walking about at the back of the stand failed to keep me enthusiastic and only the running of Mo Farah kept me from leaving early.
Izzy Jeffs came 9th in the women’s and then the team excelled itself. Peri Shakes Drayton the outstanding hurdler and team captain opted for the 400m and came first with a personal best to make three individual female winners on the day. There were two big disappointments in the Pole Vault already mentioned and on Sunday with Hannah England who could only finish 5th in the 1500m
Then it was time for Mo Farah and the excitement his appearance track side created was extraordinary and in terms of sports personalities I have only experience once before when the other Mo came to South Shields where he was married at the local Mosque and was given a civic reception a the Town Hall to which I was invited and witnessed first hand the impact he had on everyone present and on the public outside he waited for a glimpse. The Queen had also visited in relation to her 25 years as monarch and while there was a grand gathering at Gypsy Green stadium for her to watch and the public response was excellent, the fervour of the people was reserved for Ali.
The race looked as if it might prove a non event with Mo starting at the back and them moving close tot he front as it warmed up with a modest pace, and where he took the lead at one point to prevent the pace becoming too slow for him. With just over a lap to get he streaked like a rocket away from the rest and soon from their perspective he was no where in sight to the great delight of the ecstatic supporters. As someone said that performance was worth the entrance money and in my case the cold. I made my way home before the relays.
I decided not to attend for the second day of the meet although I had purchased a ticket because England had reached the final of Cricket one day cup and I wanted to watch the game against India. I recorded the athletics and later went through the event with the fast button, missing out the build up and the after race chat unless there was a UK performance worth noting when I sometimes ran the ran or winning field action several times. The decision was the right one as there was torrential rain sweeping the track on several occasions so that some field events were then held in the adjacent warm up hall.
So here are the rest of the results commencing with the Men’s Events
4 by 100 UK Team first
4 X 400 UK Team first
Andrew Osagie 3rd 800m
Tom Parsons 3rd High Jump
Nathan Douglas 3rd Triple Jump
Daniel Talbot came 4th in the 200m
William Sharman 5th 110 hurdles
Brett Morse 5th Discuss
David Bishop 7th 3000 m
Lee Doran 8th Javelin
Andrew Sutcliffe 9th Pole Vault
Rob Mullet 11th 3000m steeplechase
The outcome is therefore there were only three winners of the events for Males from the UK with Mo Farah the only individual winner.
While Sophie Hitchon is noteworthy in coming third and breaking the National record in the hammer which as the other events reported the UK does not do well in the field events, the women were outstanding in terms of the placements compared to those of the men and were responsible for gaining a good third position in the competition overall.
The results were
400 M relay 1st
Tiffany Porter 2nd 100m Hurdles
Emilia Gorecka 2nd 5000m
Anikya Onuora 3rd 200m
Sharah Proctor 3rd Long Jump
100m Relay 5th
Sophie McKinna 7th Shot put
Isobel Pooley 9th High Jump
Russia won the event 354,5 points with Germany 347.5 and the UK 338. Had Holly Bleasdale got the points she was expected we would have come second with 350 points and Hannah England also won we would have been half point behind the Russians and Dai green winning would have clinched victory. On the other hand there was Jessica Judd‘s extra points and several others did better than expected by several places.
Since the Games commenced the UK has won 53 gold medals and 194 medals in total for athletics with Russian 64 gold but 193 medals in total behind the USA with an incredible 320 gold and 767 medals won in total
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