There was club record
on both days of the event. On
Saturday Kirsty Smith realised her potential when she added over 60 cms
(two feet) to her three-year –old Triple Jump PB for a club u20 and
senior record. Her massive
11.71m leap added 22cms to Susan Harries’ record set in 1995 and it
would have equalled the Championship best – had Woodford’s Hannah
Frankson not got their first. Hannah finished with 12.32m to take gold
with Kirsty settling for silver. Kirsty
had earlier won gold in the u20 long jump.
On Sunday Louise
Matthews improved her own new club senior javelin record with a 46.02m
throw – just 7cms short of the Championship best.
Louise was one of three club athletes to win javelin gold on
Sunday. Bonne Buwembo returned from a finger injury to take the U17
competition in a new CBP of 59.25m, just erasing Dan carter’s 10 year
old record. In the U15 boys’ category Georgie Bean could not repeat his
50m throw of the previous week but won well with 45.44m. Emma Christmas added bronze in the u20 event and Kate
Brewington also took bronze in the senior competition.
The hurdles were a
happy hunting ground. Nicola Hill made it a hat-trick of gold medals in
the u17 women’s competition, all in PB performances. On Saturday she
smashed her 80m hurdles PB in heat and final to dip under 12 secs with a
winning 11.95s clocking, the fourth fastest ever by a club athlete. On Sunday she timed her finish to perfection in the 300m
hurdles event to come from behind to make it a golden hurdles double
slashing 1.5 secs off her PB. And for good measure her last round long
jump effort of 5.33m added 17cms to her best to complete her golden
hat-trick.
There were three more
hurdles place medals for Tony Benton’s squad as Chris Warden improved
his PB in heat and final in the u17M 100m hurdles event for bronze and
Chloe van Wulven was run into second place in the final strides of the
U20W 400m hurdles event. She
went one better in the high jump, equalling her season’s best of 1.65m.
Frankie Calder also
bettered her PB in heat and final to take bronze in the 80m hurdles on
Saturday, and on Sunday she added the 300m gold to her 200m title from day
1, improving her PB to 41.55s.
Another hurdles medal
went to Claire Brennan, also bronze, in the senior 100m hurdles event.
As usual the middle
distance events produced a fine crop of medals across the age ranges.
In the youngest age category Eleanor Bounds smashed her 800m PB
with the 3rd best ever time by a club u13 girl of 2m 24.52s to finally get
the better of Thurrock’s Jessica Judd and Rebecca O'Neill's 2m 28.31s
clocking in third place in a high quality race took her into the all-time
top-10.
In the senior
women’s events Faye Fullerton returned to winning ways after an injury
enforced break to take 1500m, beating off Woodford’s junior
international Jessica Sparke. Behind
Faye Harriet Scott also returned to the track after injury to set an new
PB in 3rd and on Sunday she went one better, claiming 800m
silver in another PB.
Katie Richardson also
made it silver and bronze in the u20 events, also with bronze in the 1500m
and 800m silver, in a time just outside her best. In the men’s middle
distance events Matt Bloy set a new PB in claiming U17M 800m silver, and
veteran Paul Berrett won bronze in the masters’ 1500m race.
Another athlete to return from a lay off in good shape was Rob
Warner, out of action for several months, who cruised to victory in the
senior men’s steeplechase.
In the jumping events
Anthony Williams adding U20 triple jump gold to his long jump bronze (PB),
Vincente Lazaro won silver in the U17 long jump with anew PB, while Bethan
Siddons won high jump silver and triple jump bronze in the u17 category.
All-rounder Kate Brewington, also easing her way back into
competition after injury, won senior long jump gold and high jump silver
and Danielle Ross claimed pole vault bronze.
There was less success
in the shorter sprints but Eugene Ayanful beat the 11secs barrier for 100m
in winning u17 gold, but the wind was over the allowable limit. Repeating
the trend of athletes returning after injury sprint star Lucy Sargent made
a cautious return, placing 2nd in the u20 100m. Scott Spencer emerged victorious in the men's 400m final and
Lauren Clark won bronze in the u20W equivalent.
The throwing events
yielded more medals. Mel Harrison won silver in the discus and bronze in
the shot, Sarah Deacon set a season’s best in gaining senior hammer
silver, as did Joe Forde for U20 hammer bronze.
More pics below
