In early December, four students from Fishburn Chi Taekwondo Club were successful in achieving their 1st Dan black belts at a North East British Taekwondo grading.

The students - Katherine Cooper Young, Arlo Young, Kendra Wade and Phil Atkinson - who regularly train at Fishburn Youth and Community Centre, had to perform four patterns, pre-arranged sparring, free sparring, self-defence and breaking techniques. Club instructor, Master Mike Britton (5th Dan), said they all worked very hard for this day and excelled on the floor, along with students from other taekwondo clubs.

Taekwondo is a traditional martial art, originating from Korea, and students can expect to learn a full range of skills including kicking, punching, poomsae (patterns) and self-defence. Taekwondo is also excellent for keeping fit, building confidence, learning respect, and teaches strong ethics and moral values for children and adults alike.

Fishburn Chi Taekwondo Club meets on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6:00-7:30pm. It currently has over 30 students training, aged six to 75 years old, and is open to all who would like to learn. For more information, please call 07743 455065 or 07368 818372.

Sedgefield Squash Club has some exciting news to start the year as it has a county champion in its midst. Colin Langley became the Squash 57 (racketball) champion at the Durham & Cleveland County Closed Championships, defeating Phil Mobley from Barnard Castle 3-0. Huge congratulations to Colin.

It’s been a busy start to the new year for team players with the resumption of the Durham & Cleveland County Leagues. The standout result was the ladies’ team, who won 3-0 down at Bedale and the 5th team also had an exciting 3-2 win against Nunthorpe 3rd team. A few of the club’s players travelled over to the Carlisle Squash Open. This was the fourth and largest event of the MatchPoint one-day events. The Sedgefield successes on the day were Colin Langley who was runner up in the A Plate final and Huey Lamb who won the D event.

Two of the club’s players, Rob Pearce and Oliver Walls, were members of the county team nominated to play a touring team from South Africa called the South African Knights, at Redcar Squash Club. The South Africans were on their 30th tour and were 5-0 winners on the last night of their tour, having already played 29 matches throughout the UK. It was a well-attended event, with an audience from across the county who thoroughly enjoyed watching the high standard of squash on the night.

If you would like to get involved in squash or racket ball, you can contact the club at info@sedgefieldsquashclub.co.uk.

For Sedgefield Cricket Club, February marks the start of preparations for the 2025 season, with indoor net sessions getting underway. Senior and U17 squad members begin weekly sessions at Norton’s indoor centre on Wednesday 12 February, from 6pm to 7pm, plus fortnightly sessions at Sedgefield Community College starting on Friday 7 February, from 7:45pm to 9pm. New or returning players are welcome. The other junior squads will also begin their training at the college this month, with parents having been notified of their schedules.

The calendar year also means it’s membership renewal time, with a big thank you to everyone who has already signed up. The cricket club bar is open during the winter months. Open to everyone, but with discounted prices for members, the bar remains a great place to watch televised sport or enjoy a game of darts.

Meanwhile, the cricket club is fundraising for a project to buy equipment that will allow it to livestream matches during the summer. As part of the efforts, on Saturday 22 February, 1st XI captain Ben Swindale and fellow players Luke Henderson, Phil Reynard and David Budd will run an ultra-marathon of 56km from Bedale Cricket Club (the furthest away fixture that the first team will play in 2025) to Sedgefield. The four men will welcome people who want to join them and you will be able to find more details on the club’s social media platforms closer to the date. If you would like to contribute to the fundraising, you can do that at https://gofund.me/c327ffe0.

One of the set-piece events in the winter athletics calendar is the North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships (NEXC). Sedgefield Harriers has hosted the event twice in the last decade, which always takes place in December. This year, the championships were held in Temple Park in South Shields, on a course that is used regularly for cross country events. On a chilly but bright day, several junior and senior Harriers made the journey up the A19 to take part.

In the U13 girls’ race, Jessica Davies ran brilliantly to finish tenth and in the boys’ event Matthew Graham also ran well to finish 28th. In the U15 category, Daisy Woodward was 27th girl, and in the U17 men’s category, Sonny Russell was 36th. In the senior women’s race, Sadie Abel once again excelled, claiming 20th overall in a really competitive field. Sue Dobson and Christine Hearmon completed strong runs on a course that presented the traditional cross country challenges of mud and hills. In the men’s race, Justin Cox was the first Harrier home, followed by Chris Lines.

On Sunday 12 January, Sedgefield Harriers will host the club’s winter handicap race for the Gerry Kearsley Memorial Trophy. Starting and finishing outside the village hall in Bishop Middleham, the race is about six miles long, on two laps of a multi-terrain route along trails and old railway lines. The handicapping system is based on each runner’s best 10K time from the last 12 months, with the slowest participants setting off first, and then the rest at one-minute intervals. The format means that most runners finish within a few minutes of each other, creating some exciting racing. There will be prizes in various categories.

The event is open to – and suitable for – all runners. It’s free to enter for members of affiliated clubs, and £2 for unaffiliated participants. You can find out more about Harriers’ events on the club website (sedgefieldharriers.co.uk) and Facebook page at facebook.com/sedgefieldharriers.

I’ve reported on the progress of Sedgefield para cyclist Ben Hetherington before, and he continues to make good progress in the sport. After a poor performance in the British Para Track Championships in February, it was a time for Ben to refocus and get back to some hard training, ready for the road season.

So far, this has paid off, as he won the season’s first para road race in Nottingham at the end of April, followed up by a win at the time trial. This set him up for a trip to the World Cup races in Ostend, Belgium and Maniago, Italy, in May. The races were highly competitive, with riders and countries trying to stake their claim for Paralympic selection. Ben did well, finishing in the middle of the pack in both road races and in the top 20 in both time trials.

While on the continent, he also took part in a para race in De Panne, Belgium, which he won. More recently, Ben won a bronze medal in both a road race and time trial.

The rest of the British Para Series will be held around England, including at Middlesbrough Sports Village on Saturday 20 July. The event will be part of a day of paracycling, organised by British Cycling in conjunction with Limitless. Starting at 12 noon and aimed at people with disabilities, there will be 90 minutes of free opportunities to try out trikes, tandems, handcycles and pedal carts.

Then, from 2pm, there will be para cycle racing in a variety of categories, and Ben will be in action as he continues to try and improve his times and bike handling skills, in order to ensure a place in the development team for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The event on 20 July will also raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), which Ben and his family have been supporting since his accident in 2019. GNAAS came to Ben’s aid then and at Middlesbrough Sports Village, there will be fundraising to help the service run its two helicopters, The Guardian of the North II and the Pride of Cumbria II. The event will be a great chance for anyone to learn more about para cycling and see some great racing.

To find out more about it, contact Gary Hetherington on 07484 673796 or 01740 621214.