Sam sprints to double gold at North East Athletics Championships

A FORMER Teesdale School student raced to the sprint double at the North East Athletics Championships.
The 19-year-old bagged golds in the 100m and 200m senior men’s events at Gateshead Stadium.
Sam competes for Middlesbrough AC and is now studying at Teesside University where he is part of their Elite Athlete Scheme.
Sam took gold in the 100m blue ribband race on day one of the competition, winning in a season’s best time of 10.95 seconds, despite running into a strong head wind.
He then returned on the Sunday to contest the senior 200 metres where he comfortably won his heat to qualify for the finals.
In the final, a close race was expected between Sam and Christian Carson (Newham and Essex Beagles) but it was Sam who came home first to add a second gold.
Again running into the wind, he took the title in 22.07 with Carson more than half a second behind in 22.62. Sam, who is coached by Rick Betts, is now preparing for the Northern Championships, in Manchester, where he won the 100m and 200m Gold in 2014, before moving on to the English Championships, in Bedford, at the end of June.