The Harriers small squad of middle distance & sprint athletes put in some terrific performances at the Midland Counties Championships, held over two days at the Nuneaton Pringles Stadium, and secured four medals, a Gold for U15 Emily Williams in the 3,000m, a fine Silver for U15 Dylan Bowley in the 1500m, a Silver for Lewis-Morgan Barton in the triple jump, who also won a Bronze in the high jump.
Emily Williams from the middle distance squad was in imperious form with her first track venture of the season at 3,000m and she quickly opened up a gap on the field from the start and after the first lap it was effectively a time trial for the multi-talented 14 year old, with the target of the KTH 3,000m club record of 10:34 a major lure. Emily continued to extend her lead and with one lap to go and the Gold medal secure it was touch and go for the target time, but she put in a superb finish over the final 200m to finish in 10:30.62 to break the 11 year old record, and secure a clean sweep of the 800, 1500 & 3,000m club records in what has been a truly outstanding season. Emily improved her PB in her less favoured track event of 3,000m by over 49 seconds to move to 10th in the UK rankings , and she still retains a UK ranking of 2 in the 1500m & 3 in the 800m. Emily will have one further race to try and improver her 1500m time before enjoining her summer break.
Emily Williams first 3k of the season to win a Gold medal, and set a new Club Record & PB.
Dylan Bowley enjoyed possibly his best ever track race ever in the U15B 1500m to secure a hard fought Silver medal. The bottom year athlete decided to sit in just behind the leaders for the first 2 laps, which were covered in swift pace, Bowley then took up the race with 500m to go and put in a hard effort which split the pack of 3 leaders. Pushing hard to the line Bowley was just pipped to the Gold medal by Cannock & Stafford’s Harrison Hardy-Smith, but drew consolation with yet another new club record and PB with a fine 4:17.86 to move to 25th in the UK rankings, which is hugealy impressive with a further year in the U15B age group. Dylan will cap what has been a sensational season which has seen him break the 1500m club record on three occasions, with his final 1500m race in the U15 AAA championships in 2 weeks’ time.
Dylan Bowley fine silver medal and another 1500m Club Record & PB
Lewis-Morgan Barton had a busy two days finishing 5th in the heats of the 100m, & 4th in the heats of the 80m hurdles, he then went on to collect a silver medal in the triple jump with a jump of 10.17, & a bronze in the high jump with a height of 1.60. His performances were all the more creditable as he trains on average once a week, & only in sprint events!
Lewis-Morgan Barton a fine weekend with a Silver & Bronze medal
U15 Erin Healy also ran well in both the 100m & 200m she made the final of the 200m and finished just outside the medal positions in 4th. Although she was initially disappointed with her position, she was able to take comfort from lowering her personal best to 26.03 that day. She bounced back the following day in the 100m to record a time of 12.94 to win her heat, the fastest time of all the heats that day. She went on to once again finish agonisingly just out of the medals in 4th place in the final in a time of 12.93.
U15 Dylan Mukhtar was able to lower both of his personal bests at the weekend. In the 100m on Saturday he finished 4th in his heat in a time of 12.36. The next day he smashed his PB to record a time of 24.99 when finishing 3rd in his heat. In the final he finished 6th & recorded a time of 25.37.
U15 Annabelle Clotworthy ran strongly in both sprint events over the weekend. She lowered her 200m time to 27.89 when finishing 5th in her heat. The next day, she recorded a time of 13.64 in her 100m heat to finish 4th.
Sprint coach Ann Inniss-Haycock, said "I'm very happy with the way that all of the athletes performed & conducted themselves this weekend. I encouraged them all to enter this event to give them an opportunity to compete with the best athletes in the Midlands. They weren't phased by any of the other competitors, or at being at a major Championship, & represented the club very well.
Well done to all the athletes who competed.