Middle Distance Squad Priliminary Report:
On a brilliant warm and sunny bank holiday Monday there were some astonishing performances again from the KTH squads who produced some quality performances throughout the day. The event also saw some world class athletes in attendance with Paralympic & world champions Richard Whitehead MBE competing in the 100m & 200m classic double and US 400m athlete Paul Dedewo a world cup 4x400m gold medallist with a PB of 44.43
Pride of place for the Harriers competing go to three brilliant performances in the 800m races which saw U20 Amelia McMurtrie finally set an 800m PB for her new club in her specialist event. With a washed out covid affected 2020, McMurtrie has worked tremendously hard over the winter, peppering her 2:17.52 800m PB in the two opening races of the season she finally made the breakthrough and sliced almost 4 seconds off her time to record an English Schools qualifying time of 2:13.63. McMurtrie ran a brilliant race, splitting in 65 she looked strong on the final lap and produced a tremendous finish over the final 130m to destroy her PB and become the 5th member of the squad to set an ES quali time this season.
Amelia McMurtrie Brilliant run to slice 4 seconds of her PB and record an ES Quali time with her 2:13.63 clocking
Not to be outdone, U20 Josh Geddes finally went sub 2:00 also destroying his 2:02.29 PB by almost 4 seconds to break through the magical barrier with a Brilliant 1:58.70. Josh ran a great race splitting in a near perfect 58, he worked hard on the back straight and powered his way into third place to move in closer to the ES quali time of 1:55.
Josh Geddes first sub 2:00 clocking in the 800m with 1:58.70
The final performance of special note was bottom year U13 Jess Lamb who sliced over 8 seconds off her PB to go below 2:30 for the first time with a fantastic run of 2:28.81, Lamb moves to UK ranking of 23rd, and 2nd for a bottom year athlete in only her second race of the season, with clearly much more to come from the 11 year old.
Jess Lamb 8 second PB to move to UK U13 ranking of 23rd as a bottom year athlete.
There were other brilliant PB performances in the 800m, U15 Ellie Separovic sliced 18 seconds from her best to go sub 3:00 in a great run to record 2:52.01, U15 Niamh Sinnot narrowly missed her first sub 3:00 clocking but ran a new PB of 3:00.82, U15 Freddie Ward sliced 10 seconds off his PB with a fine 2:28.35, U13 Finley Brooker and U15 Evie Brooker both working well together both went sub 2:40 for the first time both slicing over 3 seconds off their best with 2:39.05 & 2:39.43 respectively. U15 Nathan Lamb also set a fantastic new PB with a 4 second improvement with 2:20.13, and younger sibling U11 Bella Lamb also set a 1 second PB with 2:05.51 in the 600m, which also saw Tiggy Gutherie-Brown slice a further 2 seconds of her time with a fantastic 1:55.26.
In the 1500m, U15 Maggie Gancheva moved closer to the 5:00 min barrier with a brilliant 14 second PB with 5:04.31, which also saw great new PB’s from U15 George Separovic who sliced 9 seconds off his best with 4:50.39, U15 Dylan Ransom an 11 second improvement with 4:44.57, & U15 Ellis Johnson 5:05.32 (2 second improvement). In the A race U17 Rio Carr set a 5 second PB with 4.28.05, with U17 Lucas Mansell a 1 second PB with 4:40.36.
Sprint Squad Preliminary Report
In the 100m, U17 athlete, Harriett Cleaver, finished 2nd and lowered her personal best to 12.79 seconds. Max Mowforth, U20, ran another strong race to finish 2nd in his race in a time of 11.61 seconds. Luke Riches, U17, continued to impress in his first season with another personal best of 12.13 to finish 4th.
The 200m saw Harriett Cleaver set yet another personal best with a time of 26.95 to finish 3rd in a race that was won by Savannah Morgan of Northampton AC. U20 athlete, Cole Sinnott, had another outstanding run resulting in a wind assisted time of 22.75 to finish in 4th place. Also competing in his race was Paralympian, Richard Whitehead, who finished 6th in 24.33 seconds
Harriett Cleaver set New PB's in both the 100m & 200m
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Two other athletes running well in the 200m were William Robertson and Ryan Amesimeku. William, who has improved significantly in this event this season, posted a new PB of 25.80, while Ryan finished 3rd in this race in a wind assisted time of 23.00 seconds.
William Robertson big improvements in 2021 with a new PB of 25.80
US 400m athlete, Paul Dedewo, who has a personal best of 44.40 seconds chose to run in the 400m at the Kettering Open as part of his rehab from a hamstring injury. Paul, who has previously ranked 68th in the world, ran a strong 300m but faded in the final 100m to finish 3rd in a time of 48.01 seconds.
In the field events, Joe Harris of Manx Harriers, threw a distance of 68.63 to win the competition and qualify to compete at the British Championships. U20 athletes, Alfie Cope and Annabelle Udo, both threw PBs’ of 42.36 and 23.13 respectively, with Alfie finishing 2nd to Harris, and Annabelle finishing 9th.
The high jump was won by U17 athlete, Reinis Batna, who achieved a personal best of 1.71 in his first meeting of the season. Also, competing was U15, Ellie Warboys, who also jumped a personal best of 1.35
Well done to all athletes who competed.