Club Awards 2023 (photos available here)
Under 11 Track/Field
Boys Dexter Bloem-Smith and Ryan
Girls Phoebe Wilson and Maddie Gowland
Under 11 Cross Country
Blossom Dunning
Coach Awards
Dave Welford Sophie Krenzler
With hard work and dedication Sophie is developing into a very good 300mts runner. Well deserved
Jane Kelsey Macy James
Macy has been with my group for a few years she came to me an extremely shy girl ! her confidence soon grew and now she is a confident very liked member of our group.
In 2021 Macy had an horrendous fall whilst representing our club at NEYDL in the 100m, she sustained very bad injuries to most of her skin and also made her nervous of sprinting, however after only a couple of weeks off Macy returned to training and gained her confidence again when a lot of athletes would probably of not returned to this day she still has scars from the fall. From then her PBs each season have got better and she is talented young athlete. Macy is an athlete that never misses training she may have the odd winge on what session we are doing but always does the session with no problems,
Macy will enter and compete in all competitions that we decide she should enter and this season stepped up her level to enter Northern Championships were she very narrowly missed out a place in the final.
Macy is a pleasure to have in the group and to coach and deserves my coaches award for 2023.10.17
Glynn Williams Haley Richardson
Peter Lillie William Atkinson
William is an extremely dedicated athlete who consistently drives and pushes himself to achieve the best he can. A great example to the other athletes within the group.
Marino Rea Danilowicz Theo Gowland
Theo’s journey in the realm of club athletics is nothing short of remarkable. He’s not just an athlete; he’s a force to be reckoned with, possessing the potential to become an outstanding all-round club athlete. What sets Theo apart is his unwavering dedication to excellence. It’s as if he has a secret formula for success, and it’s simple: give it your all, every single time.
In every event, Theo channels 100% of his effort, leaving no room for half-measures or complacency. This level of commitment is a rare gem and it’s precisely what makes Theo’s journey so fascinating. Whether he’s sprinting down the track, soaring through the air in field events, or tackling any other challenge thrown his way, his determination is unwavering.
Theo’s story is a testament to the incredible potential that exists within the world of club athletics. It’s athletes like him who remind us that with dedication and passion, there are no limits to what can be achieved on the track, field, or any sporting arena. His journey is a captivating narrative of hard work, ambition, and the pursuit of greatness in club athletics.
Tuesday Under 11 Group Florence Granger,
Florence has a bubbly energetic personality which shows when it turns to all events and engages with all the other under 11s, she always is the first to volunteer to do a task.
Cyril Banks Whitney Ofor
Broke the club U15 200m Girls Record, Bronze Medal English Schools 1 x 100m mixed relay
Martin Peevour Philippa Stone
Philippa represented England at Senior level for the first time at the Cross Cup in Belgium last winter and she’s actually been called up for England again and is running this weekend in a cross country in Belgium. She always sets a very high standard in training and shows total commitment to keep improving which is a great example for the other squad members to follow.
David Howell Elizabeth McKie and Eden Creasey
Ray Oliver Isabella Breckon
She ‘s a good all round athlete especially in sprinting and long jump, listens to our advice for improvement and mixes well with her peers .She has also attended all fantastic 4 events in the last few years.
Cross Country
U15 B – Jacob Brown
U15 G – Eden Creasey
U17 M – Joseph West
U17 W – Zoe Hill
U20W – Lois Creasey
SW – Philippa Stone
NEYDL
Summer Swift, Amelia Firman, Sophie Krenzle, Emillia Johnson,Evan Puttic,
Theo Gowland, Freddie Lloyd, Thomas Watton, William Atkinson
Northern Senior Team
Faye Winspear, Haley Richardson, Naomi Pye, Leoni Pye, Andrew Simpson, Max Creasey, Ethan Marron, Thomas McKie, Tony Wilson.
Volunteer of the Year Andrew Simpson
When I first met Andrew at the sports village a year ago, I was training a group indoors. He introduced himself as an ex-Mandela athlete who had trained under Jean Simons. About six months later, Andrew expressed his interest in coaching, I explained that the club was in need of a team manager for our NEYDL team. I was worried I might be scaring him off, but his response was a resounding “no.”
From the beginning, Andrew took on the challenge of recruiting athletes and effectively managing the team. On the coaching front, in just his first six months, Andrew completed the assistant coach certification and has embarked on the first phase of his full athletics coaching qualification. His dedication and contribution to the club have been invaluable.
Charles Stuart Award Charlotte Kelsey Under 20
Going back to Winter Training 21/22 Charlotte asked her Coach if she could train up and have a go outdoor season 2022 at the 400m after always being a 200m runner and having success at this event including medalling at English Schools.
Training commenced and April 2022 her 1st 400m was at Charles Stewart were she ran against all men and placed a fantastic 4th the following weekend ran in North East Champs to get gold and break a 21 year championship record ! this continued throughout this season were she also became Northern Champion in 400m & 200m her final race of 2022 was at the Welsh International were she was selected to represent England and was first in her first ever International
Fast forward to 2023 concentrating solely on 400m Charlotte started off the season winning North East Championships, she went onto place 1st in Loughborough International, then 1st in Northern Championships, and 3rd in England National Championships each time taking her PB down.
From getting a medal in Nationals, she was given her Great Britain kit were she travelled with the squad to Germany and got 3rd place in 400m individual and 2nd in 4 x 400m relay.
Charlotte then travelled with the Great Britain team to Europeans in Jerusalem were she competed in a 400m individual and 4 x 400m relay was unfortunately was DQD.
Charlotte also holds club records in
U17 100 & 200
U20 60, 100, 200 400
She ended her 2023 with a pb of 54.18 and 5th in UK
Charlotte has proved that you can change event don’t be scared to have a go at a different race event, if Charlotte hadn’t she would not of had the success she has had today. Also proving that if you work hard, be determined and focus the results will come.
13.08.21 Club Crowned 2021 North East Youth Development League (NEYDL) Champions
Congratulations to team manager, Peter Lillie, and all competing athletes, coaches, helpers, and club officials who contributed to the team winning the NEYDL Division 2 South League.
Normally this would have got the club promoted into Division 1, however, due to the disruption caused by Covid 19, the league postponed promotion this season.
Cyril Banks, Chairman.
19.11.20 Award Recognition for Long-Standing Committee Member
At the recent Regional Volunteer Awards, Middlesbrough AC life member, Jill King was recognised for her outstanding service to athletics.
The virtual presentation event was organised and hosted by England Athletics and showcased the hard work of many volunteers throughout the North East. There were several awards handed out during the evening, with all but one focusing on the exceptional commitment from volunteers in the last year. In contrast, the Services to Athletics award recognises a volunteer with outstanding service to the sport over the long term. This year’s worthy winner of the Services to Athletics award was Jill King.
In her nomination Jill was described as an inspiration to others, she has been the membership secretary for over 35 years and without her hard work and dedication as the backbone of the club, Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) wouldn’t exist. She has also taken on other roles on the committee at challenging times or when a lack of volunteers have been available, such as chairperson and secretary, and this has been the case during this very difficult time. Jill is an amazing role model in terms of commitment, drive, and passion to keep the club in existence and provide the best opportunities for local athletes. She also volunteers at local school track and cross country competitions, which allows her to not only support the local area but club athletes. Jill has helped increase membership by providing opportunities for participation via Fantastic 4 and allowing other clubs to compete and raising the profile of primary athletics in the local area. She recognises the importance of rewarding athletes by organising and hosting annual awards nights, liaising with coaches to provide personal messages to each athlete in order to add a special touch.
At the end of 2020, Jill will be stepping down from the committee and the various roles and responsibilities she has within the Middlesbrough AC. She is looking forward to spending more time with her partner, Alan, completing long walks in the hills and getting back to the Riverside to watch the Boro. Jill still plans to support the club and its activities in the future but feels the time is right for the younger generation to lead the club forward.
20.10.16 Gazette Sportsperson of the year awards
Following on from our club awards congratulations go to Joshua Cowperthwaite Gazette Under 18 Sportsperson of the year 2016 and Martin Peevor runner up in the coach/mentor category and unsung sporting hero Luke Pettit.
14.10.16 Club Awards The Hub Teesside University
Club chairman Kevin Morris kick off the night welcoming everyone to a packed Hub with over 350 people attending, Kevin gave a brief introduction to the evening’s event, Kevin said that the 2016 season had been the best for some considerable time in the clubs 
history, all Three of our league teams had come first in their respective leagues, this was down to their hard work as well as all the hours that coaches and officials had put in not just over this year but since the club had been founded. The U11, U13 and U15 awards were presented followed by a mass presentation of medals to the U13/15 promotion team, then a break for the enjoyment of the buffet.
Before the resumption of the awards Kevin said that this year the club had won at the England Athletics Regional awards, we had received Club of the Year award this had been presented to the team managers Jane Kelsey, Peter Johnson, Richard Jeal and Brian Walsh, also that Marino Rea Danilowicz had picked up in his own right Project of the Year award for the Fantastic Four series and Rick Betts had picked up Runner Up Coach of the Year.
Kevin went on to make the audience aware to continue the clubs success we needed more coaches and especially volunteers to help run athletics meetings, not just in the 
background but in officiating as track, field and timing officials, if any people could help out to please approach one of the club coaches or a committee member down at the track available during the week.
Continuing with the awards for the U17, U20 and senior and team mass medal presentations followed by the coach’s awards finally the John Simpson, Coach of the Year and Volunteer of the year awards which concluded the evening’s presentations.
Kevin closed the evening by asking everyone to give a round of applause for the catering suppliers on doing such a great job and thanking the announcer Barbara and Rachel for their help and all the other people working in the background to make the evening such a success.
Full List of awardees and write ups
Full list of names of promotion teams
Photos available here
England Athletics North East regional Awards 2016
The annual England Athletics Regional Awards ceremony took place at the historic venue of Lumley Castle last week with Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) scooping two out of the three awards that they were shortlisted for, there was also an award for one of Middlesbrough’s newest running clubs Swift Tees.
The first award the club received was for Project of the Year. The award was for their “Fantastic Four” project. The brainchild of club coach and official Marino Danilowicz the competition provides opportunities for young athletes aged 11 and under to compete on a regular basis in a run, jump, throw competition. With medals awarded at each meeting and an overall series winner at the end of each season the competition has grown from its small beginnings in 2015 to now attracting young athletes from all over the north east region.
The competition has been held both indoors with the support of Macmillan Academy and outdoors with the support of Middlesbrough Sports Village over the last 12 months.
Receiving the award for on behalf of Middlesbrough AC were Marino Danilowicz and club official and event organiser Kate Brazukas. Mr Danilowicz said of the award “I really was shocked when I heard that the Fantastic Four had been shortlisted and even more shocked to find out we had won”, he added “this competition has only been made possible the through the support of the Sports Village and Macmillan Academy over our first 12 months and all the volunteer officials who help me at these competitions and I would personally like to thank them all for their support”.
The second award for Middlesbrough AC was the prestigious Club of the year title.
Up against stiff competition from local north east rivals and previous winners Morpeth Harriers and Gateshead Harriers the award panel thought that the overall season of Middlesbrough AC teams and having no fewer than 7 athletes selected for various international duties and two youngsters winning national titles was enough to take the award.
With three teams competing in various leagues and age groups across the North of England all three squads gained promotion from their respective divisions in 2016 winning their league titles along the way.
The under 13 and under 15 teams won three of their four matches finishing second in the final match to win promotion to the Northern Premier Division 2 for 2017. The under 20 and under 17 teams were competing in division 2 east and also won three of their 4 matches to take the overall title and win promotion to Division 1 East for 2017. The final team the senior men’s and women’s team were competing in Division 3 of the Northern League and like their younger counterparts won three out of four matches to win the league title and gain promotion to Division 2 for 2017.
The 7 club athletes selected in 2016 for representative duties were Richard Kilty (Olympic Games-4×100 metre relay), Charlie Myers (World Junior Championships – Pole Vault), Joshua Cowperthwaite, Daniel Currie (England Cross Country), Philippa Stone, Sam Griffin and Sam Day (England North cross country and track).
The club also provided 20 of the members of this year’s Cleveland Schools team for the English Schools Championships and three representatives (Steven Wheater, Jasmine Clark and Ella Maxwell) being selected for the North East team at the UK School games in early September.
The two athletes winning National titles were Joshua Cowperthwaite (English National Cross Country, British Mile Championships and England u17 300 metres) and Amy Carr (England u20 200 metres).
Receiving the club of the year award on behalf of the club were team managers Richard Jeal (under 20/17), Peter Johnson and Jane Bartram (under 15/13).
Middlesbrough AC’s last award nominee was coach Rick Betts. A previous winner in this category Rick finished runner up in this year for his work with his athletes from both Middlesbrough AC, Gateshead Harriers and City of York. With male and female athletes aged from aged 11 to 29 competing across a range of events in 2016, his group won 15 medals at the North Eastern Championships in May with 9 of them gold. They then went on to win 9 medals at Northern level with 3 gold. With two athletes Amy Carr and Chelsea Walker (York) going on to win national titles.
Five athletes were also chosen to represent their respective counties at the English Schools Championships in July, with Sam Day and Sam Griffin representing England North at the Welsh international. Walker was selected to represent Great Britain at the World Junior Championships in July and Ella Maxwell was selected for the UK School Games.
Club chairman Kevin Morris said of the awards success “it really has been a great year for the club, but none of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of all of our coaches, team managers and club officials, who work so hard for 12 months of the year, I personally would like to thank all of them for their efforts”
The final award of the evening went to Middlesbrough’s Newest running club, Swift Tees. Based at Hemlington’s Habinteg Community Centre the club not only prides itself on its charity work for which it puts on three races a year to help the local community but on having a membership of over 200.
The club was formed only 5 years ago and has a membership ranging from toddlers to 70-year-olds and has three sessions a week at present based around Hemlington Lake. Roseanne Lightfoot who is also the founder of the club has also recently begun sessions for people with mental health issues with the support of MIND. The award for Swift Tees was gratefully accepted by Miss Lightfoot and club chairman Michael McCann.
The two award winners the Fantastic Four project and the club will now go forward to a national panel in one week’s time to decide which winners from the nine England Athletics regions will be shortlisted for a the national awards ceremony in Birmingham on October 15th.
2015 England Athletics Regional Awards
Kick-starting the awards season this year’s regional awards were held at the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground, volunteers, coaches, athletes and officials from athletics clubs and organisations across the north east were presented with awards by English Athletics Board Director, Neil Costello.
England Athletics North East region volunteer awards – Mike Kaiser Official of the Year (Video clip)
From left to right
Neil Mack of Mack Solicitors, our club sponsors received the Retiring Chairman’s award for their work in supporting athletics in the region specifically with our club in its support with the Cyril Elliott Open meeting.
Mike Kaiser received the Official of the year award for his commitment to athletics in officiating.
The Tony Blair Foundation, Participation project of the year, in recognition of the work they have done in supporting our club with officials and coaches
Finally Jill King was officially presented with our clubs Clubmark certification.
2015 Club Awards
This years awards were presented by Craig Heap, retired Commonwealth Games Gold medal winning gymnast who has represented England over 100 times in various international gymnastic competitions, including at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He has been the English and British champion as well as the captain on many occasions.
Craig began as a gymnast when he was just nine years old after his parents took him to classes out of simple desperation as he was very hyperactive as a child, in an interview with the BBC he stated;
“I was a bit of a tearaway as a kid, always jumping over the sofas and racing around the yard. My sister Nicola used to go to gym classes and one day my mum said: ‘Instead of leaping over the furniture, get yourself down to the gym with your sister.”
After progressing as a junior gymnast Craig eventually became professional and trained full-time though he struggled for money as the grants from Sport England were not vast sums of money nor was much money generated through sponsorship. A series of injuries only helped to exacerbate his financial shortfalls as long periods out meant even less money. Heap had many such injuries throughout his career, undergoing five operations on his left elbow, surgery to both shoulders,calves, shins, an ankle and a wrist. Since retiring from gymnastics Craig has taken a more media related role, appearing on Blue Peter, BBC’s ‘They Think its all Over’, TV advert for Physio Sport, ‘Simply the Best’ and commentating for the BBC on gymnastics. He now visits schools around the UK.
From Wikipedia
Under 11 Girls Field Lucy Johnson, Track Lucy Johnson Cross Country Ella Hedger
Under 11 Boys Field Benji Savage, Track Dylan Appleby, Cross Country Benjamin Johnson
Under 13 Girls Field Bethan Lee, Track Tamara Miller, Cross Country Courtney Johnson
Under 13 Boys Field Ben Johnson, Track Daniel Payne, Cross Country Daniel Currie, Club Robert Ward
Under 15 Girls Field Catherine Burns, Track Jasmin Clarke, Cross Country Libby Hedger, Club Charlotte Paterson
Under 15 Boys Track Josh Cowperthwaite, Field Steven Wheater, Cross Country Josh Cowperthwaite, Club Sam Byrne
Under 17 Women Field Beth Carter, Track Ella Maxwell, Cross Country Phillippa Stone, Club Lauren Howells
Under 17 Men Field Aaron Jeal, Track Nathan Baker, Cross Country Nathan Baker, Club Joe Martin
Junior Women Field Jess Welburn, Track Philippa Stone, Club Sophie McCarthy
Junior Men Field Charlie Myers, Track Matthew Bailey, Cross Country Matthew Bailey, Club Sam Day
Senior Women Field Abigail Reveley, Track Josephine Stone, Club Faye Winspear
Senior Men Field Rob Longstaff, Track Ben Stephenson, Cross Country Adam Mitchell, Club Aedan Moloney
Disability Athlete of Year Lee Hunter
Club Athlete of the Year Amy Carr
Coaches Squad Athlete of the Year
Rick Betts – Kathryn Page
Charles Stuart – George Dawson
Marino Danilowicz – Isabelle Hall
Peter Johnson – Georgina Saha
Cyril Banks – Tom Weston
Martin Peevor – Josh Allen
Brian Walsh – Martin Croft
Dave Wilkinson – Ryan Stallard
Ray Oliver – Zoe Hill
David Howells – Cameron Spence
Dave Welford – Emily McGee
Glynn & Carol – Caleb Hanif
Steve Hay – Dominic Cuff
Mike Kaiser – Daniel Brazukas
Kevin Morris – Abigail Pountain
Jon Simpson Trophy Martin Croft
Services to Coaching Award David Wilkinson
Club Volunteer Award Jill King
Life Time Membership awarded to Andy Ward, Charles Stuart, Jill King,