NORTH Focus

All roads pointed NORTH this weekend as the mass participation arm of Northumbria University Sport celebrated a string of stunning successes across the UK!

The NORTH Rowing Club competed at the Tyne Head and the women’s 4+ won - beating universities including Edinburgh, Durham and Newcastle on their way to a famous win.

Our men’s seniors - competing for Tyne Rowing Club - won fastest 8s in category one and two as well as winning the fastest overall boat of the day award.

The fantastic Northstar Cheerleaders travelled to Future Cheer looking to retain their Lyrical/Contemporary National title. And they came away with their most successful results to date!

In both the Pom Dance and the Cheer Routine the Northstars finished fifth and in the Lyrical/Contemporary section they were again crowned National Champions.

To cap an incredible display our cheerleaders were crowned Overall Grand Champions for their lyrical routine after bagging the best mark at the event.

The Northstars head home to Tyneside with four trophies and they’ll be back in action at Sport Central during half-time at the Stan Calvert M1 Futsal clash on Sunday.

Korfball had a 5am departure on Sunday to travel to Manchester for the BUCS playoffs. In the group stages they beat Sheffield thirds 2-1, defeated Edinburgh thirds 3-2, drew 5-5 with Manchester thirds and endured a tough 7-2 loss at the hands of Lancaster.

This put Northumbria in third place at the end of the group stages. In the 2^nd/3^rd place playoff they drew St Andrews seconds and edged a thrilling clash 7-6 to secure a place in the plate final.

In Sheffield we had Karate, Judo and Athletics all competing in the BUCS Nationals Indoor Championships.

The Karate club came away with a gold and silver medal and Northumbria judo bagged a silver and two bronzes.

There were also PBs galore for Athletics where a combination of TN and NORTH athletes competed in the Steel City.

Our Men’s Gaelic Football team started their BUCS Season as they travelled to Durham ahead of first and second team fixtures. Two fantastic results and two wins means they just need to beat Newcastle next weekend in the Stan Calvert/BUCS double header to secure the league. The Stan Calvert fixture is this Sunday at Bullocksteads starting at 2pm.

Elsewhere, Northumbria Ridgeback Quidditch coach, Ben Young, was selected to compete in the Valentines Cup in Oxford and his team came away with a gold medal. It proved to be the perfect warm-up for Northumbria’s first Quidditch tournament – the Hatchling Cup. Catch the action at Coach Lane HPC on March 3-4.

The NORTH Women’s Football club proved its huge potential as two members were selected for the Team Northumbria W3 team in their BUCS Trophy quarter-final clash. A fantastic result saw the girls come away 8-3 winners over Manchester to secure their place in the semi-finals.

Stephanie Carrillo Chavez, a key member of the NORTH Powerlifting squad, broke the British Bench record (Senior and Juniur) this weekend and is attending the British Powerlifting Training Camp. Chavez broke the British senior record by 2.5kg and the junior mark by a massive 10kg.

Finally, in Men’s Rugby Union, NORTH members William Sopp and Ben Edwards were selected for the Team Northumbria M2 team ahead of today’s quarter final fixture.

Student and staff participation manager for Northumbria Sport, Brogan O’Connor, said: “Both the football and rugby selections show the great work of NORTH members and the real development pathway available to players who aim to compete for Team Northumbria.

“Across the board NORTH has enjoyed an unprecedented weekend and I’d like to thank all of the students and staff involved for making the programme such a success.”