As the indoor season gathers momentum there was a number of medal winning performances from a small contingent of Harriers athletes who compete in the indoor circuit.
Masters 45 athlete David Locker was competing at the British Masters indoor competition and he produced brilliant back to back performances to win Silver medals in both the 800m & 1500m. The 800m race was run late Saturday evening saw Locker cruised to a superb Silver medal in 2:05.17, with a comfortable 3 second gap to 3rd place Steven Prosser. The Gold was won by Andy Brown in 2:01.20.
Returning the following day Locker was competing over 1500m and it was the same three athletes sharing the medals, with Locker again securing the Silver medal in 4:20.90, behind Brown (4:11.62) but ahead again of Prosser (4:22.31). Locker who is using the British Championships as preparation for European masters Championship in Poland in 4 weeks, was satisfied with his haul, especially doubling up over two days, which will put him in good stead for the inevitable 800m rounds in 4 weeks’ time at the European Masters.
David Locker (Left) with his second Silver medal of the Championship won over 1500m
Also having a busy few weeks was U20 Harriers, Alice Bennett, who won a fine Bronze medal in the U20 Indoor Championships in Sheffield. Bennett qualified with a fine run in the heats in 2:11.64, upgraded to win due to a disqualification for the winning athlete, overall Bennett was the second fastest qualifier from the three heats.
Returning the next day, Bennett ran a superb race to clinch the Bronze medal, just lacking a little race sharpness she was unable to respond to a challenge for the Silver medal on the final lap but held on strong to retain her third place. Bennett was delighted to make the podium in another National Championship race with a SB time of 2:11.58.
Alice Bennett (493) competing in the final of the U20 Indoor Championships where she won a fine Bronze medal
Bennett returned the following week to compete in the invite only British Senior Women’s Indoor Championships, again over 800m. This was the 17 year old’s first British Championship and was great experience for her to be competing against the best Senior Athletes in UK.
Competing in heat two with just the first two athletes making progress to the final, Bennett approached the race in a positive way and was in a terrific position chasing the two leaders in third place at the start of the fourth lap. Again, perhaps just lacking specific race sharpness, Bennett was unable to respond to the change in pace with 100m to go, but she ran a fine race to finish in 4th place in a SB time of 2:10.43. Bennett was the 10th fastest athlete from the three heats, and the fastest of the six U20 athletes competing, so fully justifying her selection, and she moves to 5th in the UK rankings.
Alice Bennett with a fine 4th place finish in her heat, competing in her first senior womens British Championship
Bennett now switches her focus to the remainder of the cross season remaining, with English Schools XC just a few weeks away and targeting her best ever finish at the championships.
Congratulations to both athletes on their medal winning performances.