KTH Middle Distance Squad Day 1 County Championships.
On day one of the 66th Northants County Championships, the 800m specialist were out in force looking for medals and fast times. Conditions were much improved from the preceding days, with warm sunshine and just a slight breeze.
first of in the U13 girls race was the fast improving Emily Williams, who had a tough lane draw in lane 8, and she found herself a little off the early pace in 6th position at the bell with Poppy Carmichael leading the pack. Emily started to make her move along the back straight and had moved into 2nd place with 100m to go with her typical strong finish and was closing down the leader in the finishing straight but unfortunately the gap proved to be too much, but Emily was richly rewarded for her excellent run with a Silver medal and a 3.5 second PB, her 4th consecutive, to record 2:33.3
In the U13 Boys race there was again a single Harrier competing Doyle Standishby who was running in his first ever race, Doyle ran a super race to finish in 7th place with 2:44.2 and will look to build on this.
In the U15 girls race the younger of the in form Gordon sisters, Beth, was competing agains the elder of the Carmichael sisters, Lilly. From the bell Beth went out with real determination and took the lead from the break and forced on at a scorching pace to ensure the race would be a quick one, splitting at 67 seconds, beth continued to push hard up to 700m with Lilly right on her shoulder, and both athletes well clear of the pack, Beth unfortunately paid the price with the fast first lap and leading throughout the race, and Lilly just managed to ease past her in the home straight, with Beth tiring at the finish line to take second place but a fine Silver medal with 2:23.7
In the U15 Boys race, in form Ethan Mehmet was competing in a surprisingly small field, and easily managed to control the race throughout and win in a leisurely 2:22.6 with a comfortable race to take Gold in style.
The eagerly awaited battle in the U17 Women's 800m with Jess Gordon, Fran Ashworth, Kirsty Goddard and Ellie Welch was somewhat dampened when Ellie decided not to race, but it still proved to be an excellent race. Jess much like her sister went out hard from the start and lead from gun to tape to win her first county championship in superb style, easily holding off the challenge from Kirsty Goddard to finish strongly to take Gold in 2:22, defending county champion Fran Ashworth was surprising off the pace and had to settle for bronze with 2:32.
In the last 800m of the day the U20m were combined with the senior mens race, and Matt steward & Liam Kirk were the only competitors in a small field, Matt settled in behind the early leaders Rory Grant, and Seb Goodall, at the bell Seb kicked hard with Rory in pursuit and Matt quickly found himself 10m adrift, abandoning any chance of making up the gap, Matt did enough to with the U20 age group to take his 4th consecutive 800m title with 2:03, Liam Kirk finished strongly to take Silver in 2:05.
Also in action over the 800's was U15 Pricilla Wilson who finished just outside the medals in 4th and set a 13 second PB with 2:33.8, and Rebecca Hughes in 7th with 2:42, Chloe Hearne also setting a big new PB for 9th in 2:52, Edward Cannell U17 still working his way back to fitness ran 2:25 for 8th, and Andrew Clawson VM who ran well for silver medal with 2:24
In all it was superb first day for the Harriers middle distance squad with three Gold & Silver medals, and a bronze to show, day two its the turn of the 1500m athletes with a chance of more medals to come.
Day 2 County Championships
With a somewhat unusual 2nd consecutive warm conditions on day 2 at the county championships, there were again superb conditions for the athletes to compete in.
Back from her 800m Silver medal Emily Williams was first in action in the shorter 100m sprint heats looking for an opportunity to improve her speed, and she did fantastically well to qualify as a fastest looser, then to return for the final and finish in joint 4th place which was a superb achievement.
Also in action in the sprints was Rebecca Hughes who by her standards did not enjoy a good race the previous day in the 800, but she made up for this with a superb Silver medal in the 300m.
In the first of the middle distance action was U11 Rory Nevett running in his first 1500m race, Rory ran superbly paced race and was in contention for a medal throughout and he managed to hold onto 3rd position and break his initial target of 5:45 with a super clocking of 5:38.8, also running well was U13 Josh Cannell who finished 12 with 2:56.
Next it was big sisters turn with Claudia Nevett in action in the U15G 1500, Claudia has been steadily improving on track and ran an excellent race in a strong field to finish in 5th place just off the medal positions, but she was rewarded with a superb new 4th consecutive PB of 5:17.1
Jack hope was dropping down in distance in the 1500 U17B and in a tough race, the first two laps proved to be fairly tactical with nobody wanting to take the pace on, but with 800m to go Jack and eventual winner Kyran Wilson, started to gradually wind up the pace, and by the bell the field had stretched and Jack was chasing Kyran hard all the way but was unable to take him, but a Silver medal and a new PB of 4:29.4 would ensure Jack was not too disappointed. Also running well in the same race was VM Andrew Clawson with a busy weekend running 5:03.9, for silver a medal.
In the U17/ senior women's combined race race Abigail Coleman and Gemma Vaughan were in one of the most eagerly awaited races of the weekend, with a very high quality field. the race set of steady for the first 2 laps and then the paces started to pick up, Abigail found herself off the pace and had too much to do to close the field down, and had to settle for a Bronze medal with a relatively slow 5:10, with the U17 medals going to Kirsty Goddard & Ellie Welch, Gemma was a little isolated in the field but ran well for 5:23 a xx position.
In the final race of the day it was a case of saving the best till last with Lewis Hayes competing in his first Championships in the U20 mens race, again combined with the senior Mens race. Lewis quickly got into his stride and was in early contention with a pack of 4 runners, Jacob Allen (U20), and Rory Grant/ Seb Goodall (Senior Men), and this pack steadily pulled away from the pack and pushed on a a decent pace throughout, at the Bell Lewis went with the SM leader Rory, and opened up a gap on his U20 rival, and he managed to maintain this with a strong last 300 to take the U20 Gold in great style, and record his 4th consecutive PB with 4:07.6
Well done to all the athletes who competed.