There were a number of Harriers in action at the Birmingham Games and a chance for some of the sprinters to stretch their legs in their first outing on the new year and for the MD squad to continue their great 2022 form. Held at the impressive Birmingham indoor track which the day before was playing host to the world athletics Indoor Tour Gold which saw some outstanding performances from many of the world’s top athletes including a new British 800m indoor record from Keely Hodgkinson.
There was a sparking performance from U15 Maggie Gancheva who ran a superb 1 second PB to win the U15G 800m competition. Gancheva ran a very sensible race sitting behind the early pace setter Eva Barton who is UK ranked 8th and then moving past her at the 350m mark as the pace slowed slightly. She split in a fine 66 seconds running the final 2 laps in control of the race with a fine finish in the final 60m to better her season opener set I week earlier by 2 seconds and setting a lifetime best of 2:20.87 to move to UK number 13. This was only Gancheva’s 2nd ever indoor race and she has enjoyed the short break from the mid-winter cross country, which beckon once more as she heads towards the National XC championships at Parliament hill in a week’s time. Also in action in the 800m were U20's Ben Brooker & Dylan Bowley, with Brooker running a fine SB with a great final 60m to clock 2:00.34, with Bowley clocking 2:01.10
Maggie Gancheva fine win in the U15G 800m race to move to UK ranking of 13th.
Erin Healy was in action in the 60m with a welcome return to competing on track. Healy has not enjoyed the best time over the past few years with only 3 races completed since Summer 2018 due to a combination of persistent injury niggles, changes in her coaching set up and 2 years of interruptions to her training during the pandemic. Healy has now settled in well in her first year studying exercise & sport physiology at Birmingham University, training with the University sprint group seems to be paying dividends with an excellent block of training under her belt. Healey was the fastest of the KTH female contingent on the day with a fine season opening time of 8.26 for 60m, followed up with a respectable opening 200m time of 27.45 and she will look to build of these opening performances for the coming track season.
Erin Healy (centre) who has settled well at Birmingham University, opened her season with a fine 60m & 200m.
The Sprint squad were in action with 10 athletes from the squad who also travelled to Birmingham on Sunday to compete in the City of Birmingham Games. It was their debut competing indoors and was a break from their winter training schedule. All athletes competed in the 60m event.
The U17 women were the first to compete on the day, and saw a close run race between Harriet Cleaver and Jasmine Anderson, who finished 3rd and 4th respectively in 8.43 and 8.62 seconds. Elizabeth Reading had a better second phase in her race to also finish 3rd in a time of 8.56, while Sonal Rathod finished 7th in her race in a time of 8.74 seconds. Holly Abbott was the sole U20 woman competing from the squad, and recorded a time of 9.05 to finish 7th in her race.
William Rawcliffe was also the only U17 athlete competing on the day, recording a creditable time of 7.90 to finish 5th. The remaining athletes that competed were all in the U20 men age group. The performance of the day came from Ryan Amesimeku who finished 2nd to Coventry’s Stephen Baffour in a time of 7.21, with Baffour, who is currently ranked 8th in the UK over 60m, recording a time of 6.94 seconds.
Luke Riches and Cole Sinnott were drawn in the same race, with Luke just edging out Cole by a small margin to finish 5th in 7.51 to Cole’s 6th place in 7.58 seconds. The final athlete to compete on the day was Jack Abbott who finished 6th in his race in 8.06 seconds.
The athletes will now resume winter training to prepare for their season opening races in April.
Well done to everyone who competed.