County Track & Field Championships Round-Up
WSEH athletes were spread over 5 counties amongst the Ladies section of the club. The weather was absolutely fantastic as the hottest weekend of the year so far.
Female Report
Berkshire (Bracknell, Sun 11th)
Sophie Reynolds set a new PB to claim Silver in the U15 800m (2.25.1).
In the U17 age group, Sophie Purkis went one better, winning the 300m title.
Faye Williams claimed two hurdles titles (80h 11.9 pb, & 300h 46.0 pb). The long hurdles time was a Championship Best Performance (CBP). Claire Hing won the Triple Jump title.
In the U20 age group Jenny Heckford was victorious in the 100H, as was Rose Reynolds in the 400H. Shelayna Oskan was a clear winner of the 800m event.
There were also wins for Beth Newton (400m), and Steph Brown in the High Jump.
Mary Edwards won the Senior 400m event. Karlene Turner took the honours in the Long Jump.
Rosie Semenytsh won double gold in the High Jump, and setting a CBP in the Javelin (47.90m).
Bucks (Milton Keynes, Sat 10th)
Olivia Caesar claimed gold in the U13 100m (13.8 pb). Becca Croft ran brilliantly to win the 800m (2.28.2 pb). Josslyn Stottor won gold in the Javelin event. Leah Barrow took gold in the U17 200m event.
Bex Myers set a new CBP to destroy her PB by 6 secs (2.14.8), also won the gold in the 1500m (4.49.9 pb).
Cath Hall-Jones won the 80H & High Jump titles. Jenny Yoxall (Hammer 19.53 pb) and Helen Farmer (Javelin) were also winners.
Middlesex (Copthall, Sat 10th)
Emily Barrett continued her excellent form by winning the 800m in a PB 2.20.18.
Surrey (Kingston, Sat 10th & Sun 11th)
The highlight of this meeting was the fantastic performance of 12 year old Ruth Bourne, who destroyed the U13 WSEH Club Record over 1500m which had stood since July 1999. Ruth won in a superb 5.00.74 pb (taking over 11 secs off the record).
Ruth also went for gold the following day in the 800m and won comfortably in a PB 2.27.80. This was the 3rd fastest time by a WSEH U13 athlete.
Laura Burke in the U17 age group wanted to try out the 300 Hurdles. She went out and won the race in an fantastic time of 48.54 secs (pb).
Helen Pryer took both the Senior 100m & 200m titles.
Herts (Watford, Sun 11th)
Jo Botwright was the only winner in this County, claiming the U20 Discus title (32.05m).
Male Report
At the Berks Championships in Bracknell WSEH athletes blitzed a number of Championship Best Performances. Ashley Fry led the way in the opening track event, the Under 17 Mens 400m Hurdles by knocking nearly half a second off the previous mark with his time of 56.2 secs. Max Galliers lowered his own mark of last year with a 10.8 secs victory in the Under 20100m. Sam Maguire squeezed under the old mark in the Boys 80m Hurdles in 11.8 secs.
Andy Matthews took the Senior Men 100m title in 10.8 secs, pulling Mark Holloway to a new pb in the same time. Mark went on to record a massive personal best by some 30cm in the Long Jump with 7m47.
The Under 17 100m saw more wins for the male sprinters with Ainsley Campbell claiming the honours in 11.5secs. Campbell went on to complete the sprint double with a victory in the 200m in 23.6 secs, with Stuart Challis in 2nd place in 24.2 secs.
Seamus Burke missed the County record by a whisker in winning the Under 15 200m in a pb of 23.9 secs. Steve Johnson completed the WSEH domination of the sprint events by taking the Senior Mens 200m title.
Best of the distance runners proved to be Alex Tovey who swept to victory in the Under 20 Mens 1500m in a pb of 4m8.4secs.
Matt Todd was a winner of the Under 17 Javelin with 45m97 and vet Jeremy Tigar performed likewise to annexe the Senior Mens title with 46m66.
Steve walker was on good form in the Pole vault with his winning effort of 4m06, a new pb.
The early throwing event the Under 17 Hammer also produced a new pb and gold medal for Mark White with 39m47
Over in the Bucks Championships in Milton Keynes, WSEH athletes continued to dominate the sprint events. Fahad Khan achieved the sprint double in the Senior 100m and 200m in 11.5 secs and 23.1 secs. Find of the season so far, Tom Evans won the Under 17 mens 100m in a new best of 11.4 secs but had to play second fiddle to Adam Medcraft in the 200m, both achieving pb’s in 22.9secs and 23.0 secs respectively.
James Bennington continued his winning ways in the Under 15 1500m in 4m28.4 , whilst Josh Radvan was well inside his pb in winning the 3000m in 9m23.4
Russell Waterson had the galling experience of setting two personal bests in the Under 15 Pole Vault(2m35) and the Long Jump(4m89) and then spent the next few hours in hospital with a suspected fractured ankle. Kieran Wye had to settle for 2nd in his favoured event the Under 13 Boys 1500m in 5m05.0 but then produced a surprise victory in the Javelin with 21m30.
Star performer however was Alex Matthew who had a hat trick of wins in the Under 15 Shot(10m46), the Discus(36m85) and the High Jump (1m51), the latter pair being new personal bests.
In the Middlesex Championships at Kingston, WSEH athletes continued to be prominent. Ian May won the Under 20 800m in a new best of 1m58.2, and then went on to take 2nd in the 1500m in 4m06.5. The ageless Julian Golley defied the advancing years to win the Senior Long Jump with 7m16. David Harvey from the same training squad also won the Under 17 title with 6m17. Multi event specialist Ashley Bryant had his usual busy day contesting 5 events throughout the day. He got his gold rewards in the Under 20 Pole Vault with 4m00 and surprisingly in the Discus with a modest 29m17.
Best of the throwers proved to be Blake Crowe who extended his personal best by some three metres with his winning effort of 53m20 in the Under 17 Javelin
Over at the Surrey Championships at Kingston, gold awards were harder to come by. Best of the bunch proved to be Rikki Letch who scored a middle distance double with wins in the Under 17 800m (1m56.01 and the 1500m in 4m07.27
Authors: Geoff Bayles (Female report), Dennis Daly (Male report)
