The Harriers put on a great display in the Midland Counties Championships held in the less familiar setting of Saffron Lane in Leicestershire, with a fine medal haul of two Gold, four Silver and two Bronze medals.
Niamh Bailey and Bradley Fox both had busy weekends, with Niamh bringing home a gold and silver medal (12.75 in the 100m and 4.99 in the Long Jump respectively). Bradley took part in four events. He notched a PB in the 100m Heats (11.50) but took his two silver medals in the Shot and the Javelin. Courney Williams maintained his excellent form of this season when he narrowly missed out on a medal in the 100m, clocking 11.61.
In the field, Daisy Gilbert continued her excellent season with bronze in the Hammer (another fine effort of over 31m) and fourth in the Shot. Meanwhile, sister Annie took fifth places in the Discus and the Javelin. Lorna Milne was 8th in the 100m and 80m Hurdles, with 14.1 and 13.8.
In the Middle Distance Group pride of place went to Josh Coles who won Gold in the 1500m Steeple Chase and continues to show good improvement in his new event. Josh ran a terrific race to dominate the small field, and broke away from the group following the second water jump, and continued to keep the strong pace going to the finish and fight off the challenge of Birchfield's Abdi Abdi to take the Midland Counties Title and record a new PB of 4:38.8. Jack Hope also ran superbly in his first 3k of the year to take the Silver medal behind Jack Turner from Stroud AC with a new PB and club record of 9:53.67. Jake Hollins had a busy weekend with heats & final in the 100m, a hard 800m heat, but saved the best till last with a battling display in the U20 men’s 200m with a fine Bronze medal in 24.35.
There were a number of strong performances over the two days, with Matt Stewart/ Fran Ashworth & Eddie Cherry all just off the medal positions in 4th place. Matt, still suffering from the effects of a virus from his recent trip to Germany, qualified as a fastest loser in the U20 men’s 800m, but ran a brave race in the final to take on the race from the front, but ultimately he was some way down from his consistent sub 2:00 pace and finished in 4th with 2:02.63. In the U17 women’s 800m Fran Ashworth and Jess Gordon both ran well through the heats. After they both finished second for automatic qualification, the final proved tough for them both and Fran finished in 4th with 2:21.46 and Jess in 7th with 2:25.44. Eddie Cherry also qualified well in second place, and was a very close 4th in the U17 men’s 400m with 51.79.
There were also a number of PB performances with Beth Gordon recording a new lifetime best of 2:32.3 (her third PB in 5 days), Edward Cannell ran well in his debut 3k with 11:00, Gemma Vaughan recording a new PB of 11:52.09 in the U15 women’s 3k for 5th position, and Liam Kirk also setting a new lifetime best in the U17 men’s 3k with 9:59.1 for 8th position.
A fantastic effort from all the competitors…. Well Done.