The Northamptonshire County Championships, held jointly with Leicestershire & Rutland at Corby, was a huge success for the Harriers who won in excess of 50 medals over the two day championship which saw the Harriers competing against the best athletes from all the County’s Clubs. Weather conditions were fine and warm, with a moderate to light wind which did affect some of the sprint performances.
Sprint Squad
The season is going extremely well for the athletes in the sprint squad, with the squad producing some outstanding performances over the weekend. The performance of the day on the Saturday came from U13 athlete, Sophie Bridgeman, who won gold in her 200m race, setting a personal best of 27.22 seconds, ranking her 12th in the UK rankings. She returned on Sunday to compete in the 100m, and won her heat in 13.59 seconds, another personal best, and a ranking of 20th in the UK. In the final, she ran 13.27 seconds to win gold again, but the wind speed was plus 2.1 and just over the legal limit. The times she ran indicate that the U13 club records will be under threat this season.
Sophie Bridgeman - Brilliant performances & a double gold medallist
Also competing in the U13 age group were Amelie Chymcakova and Jayden Nyamekye Opoku. Amelie competed in the 100m, setting a personal best of 14.32 seconds in her heat, which qualified her to compete in the final, in which she finished 7th in a wind assisted 14.39 seconds. Jayden finished 5th in his 100m race, a straight final, in a wind assisted 14.19 seconds. In his 200m, his first time running that distance, he finished 3rd in the heat in a time of 31.52 seconds, and set a PB of 30.81 seconds in the final, in which he just missed out on gaining a bronze, finishing 4th.
Heat 1 of the U15 Girls 100m was assisted by a plus 2.4 following wind. Olivia Humphrey finished in 2nd place in 14.02w to progress through to the final. Robyn
Evans and Matilda Abbott finished 4th and 5th in the race in 14.38w and 14.39w respectively but, unfortunately, did not qualify for the final. Darci Cleaver was in heat 2, and, despite running a season best time of 15.13 seconds in a legal time, also did not qualify for the final. Olivia finished equal 6th with Northampton’s Anita Alaka in the final, in 14.02 seconds.
In the 200m, the girls faired better. Olivia and Darci both competed in heat 1, finishing 2nd and 5th respectively, in 28.79 seconds and 30.80 seconds. Both of their times were personal bests and allowed them to qualify for the final. Robyn and Matilda competed in heat 2, finishing in 3rd and 4th positions in 29.89 seconds, and 31.02 seconds, with Robyn also qualifying for the final. In the final, Olivia just missed out on a medal, finishing 4th in 28.99 seconds, with Robyn 6th in 29.99 seconds, and Darci 8th in 31.70 seconds.
The U15 boys were lucky enough to have straight finals for both of their races over the weekend. In the 100m, Aaron Ampofo finished 4th in 12.02 seconds, with Kessley Williams in 6th in 12.57 seconds, and Oscar Mordon 7th in 13.02 seconds. All 3 boys ran personal bests. In the 200m, Aaron was once again edged out into 4th place, with a time of 24.49 seconds, with Kessley 6th in 25.71 seconds, and Oscar 7th in 26.82 seconds. Once again, all 3 athletes ran personal bests, with Aaron’s run ranking him 67th in the UK rankings.
Also competing in the U15 age group was Harry Smith. Harry, who was competing in the Championships for the first time, ran in the 300m and won the silver medal with a run of 38.27 seconds, a personal best. That time currently ranks him 23rd in the UK rankings.
Harry Smith - silver medallist
Mara Cotnareanu and Laura Goldberg finished 4th and 5th respectively in the U17 women’s 100m in 13.82 seconds and 14.19 seconds. Their 200m runs were both season bests, assisted by a plus 2.1 wind. Mara ran a time of 28.08 seconds in 5th place, and Laura 6th in 29.35 seconds.
All 3 athletes in the U17 boys 100m ran personal bests in their heats. James Atkins was 4th in 12.02 seconds, crossing the line just ahead of Reuben Sloley, who ran 12.08 seconds. Oliver Davies was 6th in 13.03 seconds but sadly did not qualify for the final. Assisted by a plus 2.4 wind, roles were reversed in the final, with Reuben finishing 5th in 12.00 seconds, and James was 8th in 12.25 seconds. Both boys did well to reach the final as it was their first time competing at the meeting.
Heat 1 of the 200m saw Reuben finish 3rd in a wind assisted 24.96 seconds, with Aidan Hooks 4th in 25.45 seconds. Iesaldo Barbosa, competing over the distance for the first time, was 3rd in heat 2 in 24.64 seconds, with Oliver Davies running a personal best of 28.57 seconds in 5th place. In the final, Iesaldo finished 5th in 24.81 seconds, and Reuben was 7th in 25.59 seconds. Aidan had to withdraw from competing in the final as he picked up an achilles injury.
U20 woman, Elizabeth Reading, won gold in the final of the 200m, in a time of 26.29 seconds. It was a close run race with training partner, Abina Funy Soares da Gama finishing 2nd for silver, in a personal best of 26.34 seconds. Lulu Mowforth was 4th in 30.27 seconds, her first race of the season.
200m - Elizabeth & Abina
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Abina raised her game to win gold in the 100m in 12.73 seconds, setting another personal best. Elizabeth picked up the bronze medal in 3rd place in a season best time of 12.98 seconds. Also setting season bests were Abigail Akinyemi-West in 4th with 13.38 seconds, Culley Cleaver in 5th in 13.42 seconds, and Lulu Mowforth in 14.64 seconds.
100m - Abina & Elizabeth
Jacob Smith, who like his brother Harry was competing at the meeting for the first time, set a personal best of 11.94 seconds to win gold in the U20 men’s 100m. The previous day he had run another personal best of 24.10 seconds in the 200m to win silver.
Jacob Smith - ran personal bests over the weekend
Harriet Cleaver won gold in the Senior women’s 100m in a season best time of 13.11 seconds. Setting a personal best in second place was Holly Abbott in a time of 13.65 seconds. The wind was at plus 3.8 seconds when they ran their 200m the day before, but Harriet once again won gold in 26.79 seconds. New club member, Charlotte Rainbow, won silver in 27.86 seconds, and Holly picked up bronze in 28.77 seconds.
Senior women medalists- Harriet, Charlotte, & Holly
Lewis-Morgan Barton opened his season by winning gold in the Senior men’s 200m with a time of 22.27 seconds. He, however, had to settle for silver in the 100m with a time of 11.07 seconds. Lewis also won gold in the triple jump with a jump of 12.08 metres, bronze in the high jump with 1.70 metres, and finished 5th in the long jump, with a jump of 5.91 metres into a minus 1.7 headwind.
Veteran athlete, Wilika Carr, won gold in both of her races. A plus 3.8 wind pushed her to success in the 200m, resulting in her posting a time of 29.97 second, and in the 100m she ran 14.16 seconds. In the men’s races, Peter Kraftl won silver in the 200m in 25.56 seconds. The 100m was a close run race with Matt Griffiths just edging Peter into bronze position with both athletes running personal bests of 12.33 seconds and 12.45 seconds respectively. Matt and Peter also battled it out in the long jump, with Matt winning the gold with a jump of 5.20 metres into a minus 0.9 headwind, to Peter’s bronze medal jump of 4.79 metres into a minus 2.5 headwind.
In the 400m, U23 athlete, Charlotte Rainbow, ran well to win gold in 64.04 seconds. Also running a strong race was U23 athlete, Cole Sinnott, who was untroubled in his race to win gold in 49.76 seconds. Cole, had realised his dream of reaching the BUCS 400m final the previous weekend. He put together a good series of runs in all of his races that weekend, which was his final opportunity to compete at BUCS. He ran 49.56 seconds in his heat to finish 2nd, and followed that up with 49.85 seconds for 2nd place in the semi final. He capped that off with 49.83 for 7th place in the final.
Cole Sinnott - gold medallist & BUCS finalist
Well done to every one who competed.