Katie Gibson produced the throw of her life at the England Athletics U15/U17 Championships to secure her first ever National medal, a brilliant bronze, in the U15 Girls Hammer throw. The event was held over two days in Bedford with some of the best athletes in England competing over the weekend.
Gibson who went into the competition as the UK number 5 ranked athlete, knew that she would be competing with the best of her age group and that the competition was going to be tough and that a medal could be out of reach, a painful reality of her performance at English schools earlier in the season which saw her finish agonisingly just out of the medals in 4th place.
Gibson’s first throw of 43 meters was enough to see her book her place through to the final rounds, and by the 4th round Katie was content with the fact she way lying in fifth place which helped her relax going into round 5. This allowed Gibson to deliver a PB throw that provided the boost she needed going into the final round, with the extra adrenaline pumping she stepped into the circle and gave it everything she had and threw another PB of 47.65 a full 2m further than the previous throw moving her into the Bronze medal position.
Brilliant Bronze medal for Katie Gibson her first podium finish at a National champs
This was a brilliant performance from the youngster who has finally delivered with podium finish at a National Championships something many at the Harriers believed she was capable off. After collecting her medal an ecstatic Gibson said “I felt very nervous at the start of the competition but was overjoyed at a setting a new PB twice during the competition and winning my first National medal” she added “The training has been hard work but missing out of the medals at English Schools really drove me on and it’s all been worthwhile”.
There was also some excellent performances from the Harriers with Promising sprinter Logan Reid made his debut at the meeting. Competing in the U17 100m, he ran well in his heat to finish 3rd in a time of 11.04 seconds to progress through to the semi final. In the semi final he had an excellent start, and finished 4th in 11.02 seconds. This run qualified him to compete in the final to line up next to Joel Pascall-Menzie, who heads the UK rankings in his age group. The final was bittersweet, with Logan finishing in 8th position in a time of 11.33 seconds after suffering a groin injury. Reid will no doubt take great satisfaction that he was able to make his first National Championship final.
Logan Reid made his first ever Championship final in the U17M 100m
Also competing in the 100m for the 3rd year was Cynthia Ike. Running into a 3 metre headwind, she finished 4th in her heat in a time 12.57 seconds, and progressed through to the semi final. She, however, wasn’t able to progress through to the final as she finished 6th in the semi, recording a time of 12.43 seconds.
On Sunday, Joe Bradley competed in the U17 200m. This was his first time competing at the championships. Despite running well in his heat in which he recorded a time of 22.95 seconds, he just missed out on progressing through to the semi final. The heat was won by Joel Pascall-Menzie who went on to win the final.
Amelia McMurtrie competing in the U17 800m put in a very respectable performance to finish in 5th place in her heat, and after a long season the 16 year old now looks to take a well earned break before starting her assault over the cross country season.
Well done to all the athletes who competed.