Essex Schools Championships - Chelmsford, Saturday 14^th June 2003  

Club athletes came away with 11 gold and at least 13 other medals at the Essex Schools Championships at sun-baked Chelmsford on Saturday. The junior girls and inter girls each contributed four gold, and the junior boys, and the year 7 girls and boys one each.

There was almost a clean sweep of track event golds for the junior girls as they won four of the five events, with silver in the other. Lucy Sargent was again in superb form in the 100m, twice clocking an ultra-fast 12.5 secs to finish well ahead of the field and secure a place in the Essex team for the English Schools Championships at Sheffield in July. In the longer sprint Lauren McVicar repeated her success in the Essex clubs championship to come from behind with a storming finish to claim 200m gold in a new PB of 26.5 secs. Lauren Clark put aside memories of her casual 800m heat run, where she was edged out on the line and only made the final as one of the fastest losers, to overhaul the early leader and win gold. In the 1500m Katie Richardson (1500m) emerged victorious after a battle with Southend's Natasha Bailey. Southern champion Lisa Schofield was quickest of the qualifiers for the the 75m hurdles but had to settle for silver as she was pipped on the line. The final medal in this age group was from Helen McDonnell who came away with high jump bronze. Unluckiest athlete in this age group was discus thrower Louise Yard who broke a bone in her foot in training on Thursday and could be out of action for some while, missing out on her chance of English Schools' selection.

Four of the powerful Intermediate girls squad hit the gold standard with impressive victories that look likely to merit Schools' selection while five others gained a podium place. Megan Foley confirmed her Essex team place with a front running 1500m victory, while Chloe Van Wulven's unpressed heat and final wins also put in her line for selection. Lynsey Clark again rose to the occasion, throwing a discus PB of 38.69m when it mattered to win by over 10 metres. Kirsty Smith took triple jump gold and also hopes to make the trip to Sheffield.  Although beaten on the day by rival Emma Haley, Sara Luck was satisfied after improving her 800m PB by a second, inside the tough national standard that virtually guarantees selection. Helen Roche set a new PB in the same race. Runners-up medals were also earned by Katie O'Sullivan (High jump) and Robyn Matson (3000m) with hurdlers Danielle Ross (80m) and Nicola Schofield (300m) coming back with bronze. Christina Kalejaiye looked set for a 200m medal until she pulled up injured coming off the bend.

Year 7s to win gold were Bethan Siddons (high jump) and the impressive Matthew Bloy who ran away with the 800m event. Ingrid Deane again locked horns with Newham's Katherine Foy in the year 7 600m and her reward for a battling display was a new PB, third fastest ever by a club under 13, behind only Megan Foley and Sara Luck. In the same age group newcomer Elizabeth James won 75m hurdles silver, ahead of more experienced club members Catrina McAuliffe (4th) and Nicola Hill (5th). 

Final gold star was Ashley Reece who set his stamp on the 1500m race to win from the front in a new PB, one of many on the day, with training partner Ross Clarke winning bronze. The intermediate boys missed out on gold but had three silver medals to show for their efforts.  Andrew Meech finally smashed the two minutes barrier in the 800m, while in the one-lap race Andrew Bartlett came with a late charge but had left himself too much to make up after a cautious start. On the field Terry O'Leary was close to his javelin best as the lead changed hands several times in a close contest.

Known -results - please advise any others - particularly field events! results@havering-mayesbrook.org

	Year 7
600m	Ingrid Deane	2nd	1m 44.9 secs PB
	Michaela Roberts	9th	1m 56.8 secs
75m hurd	Elizabeth James	2nd	13.5 secs PB
	Catrina McAuliffe	4th	13.8 secs PB
	Nicola Hill	5th	13.9 secs		(Heat: 13.8 secs PB)
Long Jump	Francesca Clark	?	3.55m
High Jump	Bethan Siddons	1st	1.39m
	Junior Girls
100m	Lucy Sargent	1st	12.5 secs
200m	Lauren McVicar	1st	26.5 PB
800m	Lauren Clark	1st	2m 24.6 secs
	Georgina Clark	7th	2m 40.6 secs
1500m	Katie Richardson	1st	4m 49.3 secs
	Amie Adams	ht	5m 29.9 secs
	Hayley Thomas	ht	5m 45.9 secs
75m H	Lisa Schofield	2nd	12.0 secs		Heat: 11.7w
High Jump	Helen McDonnell	3rd	1.51m
Shot	Alex Winch	?th	7.56m
	Inter Girls
200m	Christina Kalejaiye	DNF	--		Heat: 26.8 secs
	Jenny Szantai	6th	28.2 secs		Heat: 27.8 PB
300m	Carly Mottram	5th	44.5 secs
	Robyn Delivett	6th ht	45.6 secs
800m	Sara Luck	2nd	2m 13.5 secs PB
	Helen Roche	4th	2m 23.3 secs PB
1500m	Megan Foley	1st	4m 40.1 secs
	Natalie Adams	5th	5m 19.7 secs
3000m	Robyn Matson	2nd	11m 06.1 secs
80m H	Chloe Van Wulven	1st	11.9 secs		Heat 11.8 secs
	Danielle Ross	3rd	13.1 secs
300m H	Nicola Schofield	3rd	46.9 secs
Discus	Lynsey Clark	1st	38.69m
	Hayley Charman	?th	23.28m
Triple Jump	Kirsty Smith	1st	10.76m
Long Jump	Emma Bonny	?th	4.80m
High Jump	Katie O'Sullivan	2nd	1.55m
	Year 7 Boys
800m	Matthew Bloy	1st	2m 21.2 secs (PB)
	Grant Twist	8th	2m 31.6 secs		Heat: 2m 31.1 secs
75m hurd	David Creedon	4th	12.8 secs (PB)
	Junior Boys
400m	Paul Adair	ht	62.6 secs
1500m	Ashley Reece	1st	4m 16.7 secs (PB)
	Ross Clarke	3rd	4m 28.3 secs
80m hurd	Anthony Williams	7th	14.0 secs
	Inter Boys
400m	Andrew Bartlett	2nd =	51.4 secs
	David Nefs	6th	55.0 secs
800m	Andrew Meech	2nd	1m 58.6 (PB)
800m	Joe Golding	4th	2m 03.6 secs
1500m	Paul Andrews	ht	4m 43.1 secs
High Jump	Scott Keating	??
Javelin	Terry O'Leary	2nd	52.16m
	Harry Tyler	?
Discus	Christian Newton	?	29.??m