England U20/U23 Championships
This year’s meeting was held in Chelmsford. It was Cole Sinnott’s first time competing at this level of competition having achieved the qualifying time at the Midland Championships at the beginning of the month.
With the slowest qualifying time out of the 17 competitors, it was going to be a challenge for him to qualify for the final, but he was undaunted by this. Drawn in heat 2, lane 6, he had a fast start, maintaining a comfortable speed to the 200m mark. He then gathered momentum around the 200m bend and accelerated with 130m remaining to run, to continue being competitive going into the final 100m of the race and finished 4th. His time of 49.23 seconds was a personal best, his 5th PB set over the distance this season. It also currently ranks him 34th in the UK U23 men’s 400m rankings, and was a club record, erasing the previous record set by Ashley McClintock in 2013. He will now focus on the shorter sprints in preparation for his next race over 400m next month.
Cole Sinnott - a superb run in his debut at the England U23 Championships
(2).jpg)
In the MD events three of the Harriers were in Action and there were some terrific performances with two athletes making the final, U20 Alice Bates & U23 Emily Williams both in the 1500m.
Alice Bates went into the U20 Championships still shy of the European U20 Champs qualifying standard by just over 0.1 sec and her main aim was to ensure she made the final, with the prospect of running a PB over the weekend unlikely. With the first 4 in the Heat certain to qualify Bates took a hold of the race from the start, controlling the race which was at a very respectable mid 4:20 pace, she held this position and when challenged on the final lap Bates always managed to find another gear to hold them off. Perhaps sensing that a qualification time was possible Bates pushed hard with just 150m to go to pull away from the field and win in 4:24.59 her second fastest time ever to head the qualifiers from the Heats.
Alice Bates with a fine race to qualify for the U20 1500m finals in her first domestic Championships
The final the following day saw Bates try to repeat her strategy, but with perhaps too much taken out of her qualifying performance Bates was unable to go with the pace after 800m and she eventually finished in a very respectable 8th place in 4:30.04. This was Bates first ever home National Championships and she will takes lots of positives away from the weekend.
U23 Emily Marmion-Williams finished in a very respectable 9th place in her final in 4:28.78 to show she is still making good progress back to full fitness. Marmion-Williams qualified with an impressive run in her heat to take the 3rd automatic qualifying spot in 4:30.43.
Also competing over 800m was Alice Bennett who didn’t produce her best form in her heat just failing to make the final. Bennett was torn as to whether she should compete or not in a head to head with some of her rivals for the Commonwealth Youth Games in August, and with a series of recent races still in her legs she tired from 2nd place in the home straight and narrowly missed making the cut for the final. The championships was not an official trail race for the Commonwealth games so Bennett will be hoping her impressive season & high ranking will still see her get the nod?
County Schools Championships and Mason Trophy
The County Schools Track and Field Championships were held at Corby on Saturday 10th June. Elizabeth Reading (U17), Neng Yan (U15), and Abina Funy Soares Da Gama (U17) competed in the sprint events.
Elizabeth was involved a couple of close run races, both of which she won, setting new personal bests. In the 100m, she was joined by training partner Abina. Elizabeth came out on top, winning in 12.8 seconds, with Abina finishing 3rd in 13.2 seconds. The 200m saw her involved in a battle for supremacy after managing to recover from a slow start to just hold off Summer Maradzika of Northampton, winning in a time of 26.7 seconds, to Maradzika’s 26.8 seconds. Neng competed in the U15 boys 200m. He managed to claw his way back from a poor start to finish 3rd in a personal best of 25.4 seconds.
Elizabeth Reading (173) in fine form setting PB in both the 100m & 200m
Elizabeth was the only athlete to progress through to compete in the Mason Trophy in Stoke on Saturday 17th June. Once again she competed in the 100m and 200m races. In the 100m, she finished 4th in 13.14 seconds after leading for 40m. A minus 2.1 headwind affected her run in the 200m in which she finished 3rd in the 200m in 27.21 seconds. The experience of running at that level of competition will have served her well as she will be competing at the Midland Championships later this summer.
Other performances of note at the Mason Trophy was a superb win for George Mills in the U15B Javelin with a throw of 41.74m, a fine run from U17 Lara Turner in the 800m with third place in the 'B' race and a SB time of 2:23.58 and Zachary Scott produced another PB in the 1500m to finish in 8th place in 4:31.62.
Well done to every one who ran.