A total of 7 Harriers were selected for the prestigious English Schools National Championships between the 8-9th July at Sports city in Manchester. This is a magnificent achievement, and shows the consistency of the club in producing to quality athletes in many events following the record number of participants who qualified in 2021 (8) and is testament to all the hard work the athletes put in and the quality of the coaching.
English Schools becons for (top to bollom & left to right)
Alice Bennett (800m) Maggie Gancheva (800m) Ryan Amesimeku (200m)
Dylan White (400m) Chelsie Locker (800m) & Jemima Davey (1500m)
English Schools is the most prestigious National Track Championships for school age children in the calendar, and is the 4th largest athletics event in the world. Nearly all the UK Olympic Athletics team members have featured in the ESAA Championships during their career.
The athletes participating from the Harriers feature 4 who will be experiencing the event for the first time, most from the junior age group with is highly encouraging on the development pathway the club provide its younger athletes.
Two athletes who put in brilliant performances at the English Schools Championships in 2021:
England Athletics U17 800m indoor Champion Alice Bennett (800m) makes her third English Schools appearance as a top year year U17, Bennett finished just out of the medals in a outstanding 4th place in 2021 and she as the UK ranked No 2 athlete she will be hoping to improve on this and acheive a podium finish. She has been in sparking form setting PB’s in 300m, 800m 1k & 1500m and she narrowly missed selection for the European U18 Championships after achieving the qualification standard. Bennett will have the tantalising prospect of a SIAB England vest up for grabs for a top 2 English Schools finish as compensation.
Bottom year U20 Ryan Amesimeku moves up to the 200m and makes his second appearance at the championships after finishing 6th in 2021 in the 100m. Amesimeku set a 200m PB in the County Championships and has been in dominant form in the Midland league over both 100m & 200m and is currently UK ranked 49th.
Bottom year U17 Dylan White seems to have found his event this year and is slowly getting to grips with the tricky 400m distance, UK ranked 36th, this is White’s first appearance at the championships and the experience gained at a bottom year will be invaluable for him.
There are three Junior athletes making their debut at the championships:
Top Year U15 Maggie Gancheva has been rewarded for her fantastic improvements this season and her consistency in her 800m event. Gancheva who has also set impressive PB in the 300m, 1k & 1500m is the County Champion and finished second at the highly rated Maison Trophy event, she is currently UK ranked 38th.
Top Year U15 Chelsie Locker in her first 9 months with the club has made great progress in her 800m event. She is rewarded with a call up in the Leicestershire & Rutland team after improving her 800m time by over 4 seconds and she enjoys a UK ranking of 50th.
Bottom Year Jemima Davey has continued her fine form from her record breaking year in 2021 which saw her set fine new Club records for the 800m, 1500m & 600m. Davey has set new PB’s in the 800m, 1500m & 2k and is representing Cambridgeshire in the 1500m event where she is UK ranked 32nd. Davey has also competed in her first 3,000m event where she broke the KTH U15 club record with 10:19.99 and a UK ranking of 5th.
7th and final athlete selected was bottom year U20 Alice bates was also selected for the 1500m where she is ranked UK 4th, but she looks to compete on the International stage following selection to represent GB & NI at the European U18 Championships the same week as English Schools so sadly misses the Championship.
We wish all of the athletes the very best of luck for the event