Dylan Bowley & Emily Williams lead the middle distance squad’s charge at a super Watford open meeting, both setting hugely impressive PB’s and both breaking club records.
The Watford open beloved by so many in the MD squad for its consistency in delivering high quality races, was somewhat depleted from normal with less than half the number of races ran than typical in May due to some horrendously wet weather deterring competitors, but the rain did not dampen an on fire MD squad with 5 fantastic new PB’s from those that braved the weather.
15 year old Emily Williams fresh from leaping to UK No 2 in the UK rankings for 1500m a few day earlier was is stunning form in the 800m, competing exclusively against U20 Men & U15 B she showed terrific speed as she took the race by the scuff of the neck from the start and lead the race through the bell in a swift 65 seconds, and then battled against her male competitors all the way to the finish line to finish in third place in 2:09.01 to smash her PB & U17 W club record by over 3 seconds, and move agonisingly close to bettering the newly set UK No1 time for U17 W of 2:08.89, to match her No2 UK ranking for 1500m. Emily who sliced over 8 seconds from her opening 800m race also bettered the ES qualification time by 7 seconds and faces a difficult decision in deciding if she opts to compete in the 800m or 1500m at English Schools in July?
Emily Williams on route to a fine PB/ Club record of 2:09.01 & UK No2 Ranking
14 year Dylan Bowley, fresh from completing the 800/ 1500m double at the County Championships a few days earlier was not to be outdone, and matched his training partner’s achievements with a similarly impressive performance racing against much older competitors in search of a fast time. Dylan also started positively and immediately settled in to the front leading pack to split at 400m in 61 seconds, and then he continued to match his competitors stride for stride, and with his customary fast final 100m he finished 6th in 2:02.61 to slice over 2 seconds from his PB and the KTH U15B club record, and move into the top 10 UK rankings for both 800m & 1500m. Dylan also set the all-important ES qualification time for 800 as well as 1500m which he set in his opening race of the season, and also faces a similar dilemma in deciding which distance he prefers to compete in if selected for his first English Schools.
Dylan Bowley Superb race for a significant new PB/ Club record of 2:02.61
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There were other terrific performances from the squad with bottom year U15 Brandon Raulia continuing his fantastic improvement since joining the squad at the start of the season setting an impressive new PB of 2:16.24, some 4 seconds quicker from the county championships a few days earlier, where the time would have seen him claim a silver medal behind Bowley. Twin Ryan Raulia who favours the 1500m ran well in his race with 2:25.3. U17 Poppy Carmichael continued her strong improvement in the 800m with a fine new PB of 2:21.73 to show she is starting to get to grips with the event in just her third race of the season & really starting to benefit from the squad training. SW Krisztina Kurucz also ran a fine race in her opening 800m to set a UK PB of 2:28.11 to show she should plenty more to give as the season progresses.
It was a fantastic night of athletics and the squad is showing real strength and they start to move into top gear over the next few weeks.
Well done to all who ran.