County Championships Day 1
On a superb weekend of athletics in near ideal warm and still conditions the KTH athletes produced the goods at the 2015 NAA County Championships held at it’s usual Corby Rockingham Triangle venue.
There was a record Haul of Medals in the Middle Distance squad who enjoyed two great days, and the Sprint/ Multi Event and masters also made a significant contribution to the total medal haul of 54 medals over the weekend, and many superb PB performances to boot.
Pride of place goes to x4 Harriers who all secured a Golden double, with Jed Hayes & Jake Trent both securing the 800/ 400m double in the U20/ U17 Mens respectively, Emily Williams securing a 800m/ 1500m double & Lewis-Morgan Barton securing a Triple Jump/ High jump double, with a Silver in the Long Jump and an additional two Bronze medals in the U15B 80m Hurdles & 100m. There was also superb Gold/ Silver doubles for U15 Sprinter Erin Healy in the 200m & 100m, U20 Sheena Britten in the 200m & 400m and for New Middle Distance recruit Ella Palmer in the 800m/ 300m.
Day one showed the dominance of the KTH middle distance squad 600/ 800m with a total of 11 medals (4 Gold/ 4 Silver/ 3 Bronze) with 18 PB’s and a Club Record. If we include the 5k & a surprise 200m bronze the total for the day was an incredible 14 medals and 22 PB’s from the on-fire KTH middle distance squad!
Performance of the day was with U13 Dylan Bowley who had a magnificent battle with Corby’s Archie Parkinson, in the U13 Boys 800m, with Dylan setting off at a tremendous pace which was matched stride by stride with his competitor, both battling throughout the race and both smashing their PB’s to move to number 2 & 4 in the UK rankings with 2:16.2 & 2:17.1 respectively, such was the quality of the race. Dylan although disappointed on this occasion with Silver, was consoled with a new U13 boys 800m club record by more than 3 seconds, set by Henri Codling in 2014!
In the U17 Women's race the Harriers produced a clean sweep of the medal positions with a magnificent 1,2,3 Ella Palmer was determined to win her new event and looked in control throughout to secure a county championship Gold Medal with 2:22.1, Hannah Winstone also produced a quality run to finish in seconds place a bag a Silver medal with a superb new PB of over 3 seconds with 2:24.3, and the fast improving sophie Moss was hugely surprised with a Bronze medal and a 5 second PB to finish in 2:25.5. also running well in a race packed with KTH athletes was Amy Robinson who also set a new 3 second PB with 2:29.1.
Gold medals & new PB’s were also secured in the men's U20 & U17 800m with Jed hayes enjoying a superb race against ex Harrier & senior man Johnny Goringe which ended in both securing the identical time of 1:56.5, and both winning gold in their respective races, & Jake Trent edged even closer to the magical 2:00 min barriers with a comfortable win the U17M race to bag a Gold and a new PB by over 2 seconds with 2:01.8.
the final Gold on the day in the MD squad was won my U15 Emily Williams who put on a display of classy and controlled 800m racing to comfortably win in 2:21.2, Danielle Gaskell opted to push for a fast race with a sizzling opening lap was rewarded with a Bronze medal and superb new PB of 2:27.2, with Jennifer Robinson also running an excellent race also setting an incredible 22 second PB with 2:30.5!
Other medal winners included Fran Ashworth also had a humdinger of a battle with Corby’s Ellie Welch and was just beaten on the home straight to be denied a Gold, but secured a silver and In the 5000m race Edward Cannell ran a terrific race to finish 2nd U20 with a fine time of 17:40.1, and Matt Brookes finished in third place with 17:43.6. Hal and Emma Robinson both secured fine silver medals in the U11 600m races & Natalie short showed she has speed a plenty by securing an U13 G 200m Bronze medal with 29.5.
In the Sprint Group U15 Erin Healy eased into the 200m final following a 3 week period of injury and showed she meant business, returning a few hours later to secure a superb Gold medal with a comfortable win in 27.0. Sheena Britten also secured a Gold in the U20W 200m. Lewis-Morgan Barton secured a 200m Bronze, and a silver in the 80m Hurdles.
In the field events Millie Toseland secured a Bronze medal in the U13G Discus, & Lewis Morgan- Barton won the first of his medals medals in the Long Jump & a superb Gold in the High Jump & Triple Jump. In the U13 Boys High Jump the Harries secured a fantastic clean sweep of the medals with Cole Sinott taking Gold, Ryan Raulia Silver & Brandon Raulia Bronze. Henri Colding also bagged a Silver in the U15B shot put.
On day 2 the sprints were off first on a pleasantly warm but overcast day, with Kate Nellis first medal in the U11G 75m Bronze, and Dylan Mukhtar also winning an U15B Silver in the 300m. the longer sprints also showed the talent within the MD squad. In the U17 Women's 300m Ella Palmer fresh from her 800m Gold in action and she won a superb Silver Medal and new PB of over a second in her first 300m of the season with 41.8, with Amy Robinson running her first ever 300m also running a fantastic race to collect a Bronze with a swift 46.6. In the U20 W 400m Sheen Britten returned from her 200m Gold to bag a fine Silver in a new PB time of 66.1.
Both Jake Trent and Jed Hayes returned on day two fresh from winning Gold in their 800m races to prove their undoubted level of speed endurance by winning their 400m races & become double Gold medal winners! U17 Jake Trent did not panic when Corby AC Matthew Patterson set off at a frantic pace over the first 200m, and he slowly reeled him in over the last 100m to take a superb victory in a new PB of 53.1 and take the Gold Medal. U20 Jed Hayes followed next and in only his second ever flat 400m he set of a little leisurely over the first 200m which saw R&N Connor Aldridge surge ahead, but again the MD endurance told in the end as Jed surged ahead in the last 200m to win by a comfortable margin to snatch Gold in a near 1 second PB of 51.5
In the 100m Berny Kwei-Tagoe won a close fought battle in the U13G final to win a superb Bronze medal. Max Mowforth also won a fine Silver in the U13 B 100m, while U15 Erin Healy narrowly missed out on the 100m/ 200m double, being edged out by Katie Print by the narrowest of margins in the U15 G 100m.
in the U11 1200m Alfie Frayne was in action and he ran a superbly paced first ever 1200m to take a Silver medal in 4:23.9 and show that the 9 year old has plenty to give over the next few years.
Just like the U13 B 800m, the U13 B 1500 was the race of the day with Dylan Bowley & Corby AC Archie Parkinson making this very much a two horse race. Dylan was determined to sit in on this occasion and allow his rival to set the pace, and this was a superb pace right from the start. Dylan managed to stay with his rival throughout despite an uplift in the pace with 5-600m to go and he remained on his rivals shoulder and decided to take it on on the final lap to test his opponent, with both once again neck & neck on the home straight with Archie just proving slightly the stronger just edging Dylan out for Silver. But once again Dylan was richly rewarded with a new 15 second PB & Club Record with a magnificent time of 4:39.0 just 0.2 seconds behind Archie. Once again on this performance Archie & Dylan move to a UK ranking of 2nd & 3rd respectively, and both once again broke the NAA Championship Best Performance time set last year. It is remarkable that Dylan set two new significant PB’s, broke two club records and broke the NAA championships best performances for both the 800 & 1500m & sits top 5 in the UK in both events but only won two silver medals, such is the level of competition at a local level, which is fantastic for both athletes.
Emily Williams was the final double Gold medalist from the squad when she returned in the U15 G 1500m to complete the 800/1500m double in style. Sitting in behind the early pace setter R&N Amy Walker for the first 800m she then decided to stretch the pace and gradually wound up the pace over the last 700m to surge ahead of her rival and break through the 5:00 barrier for the first time (official timing!) and set a superb 8 second PB to take Gold in style in 4:52.4, and show she has plenty to offer at the longer distance as well. Pulled along by the superb pace, Dannielle McCann-Gaskill, also set a superb new 18 second PB with 5:06 .2 to narrowly miss out in the medals in 4th place, Jennifer Robinson also set a 9 second PB to finish in 7th with 5:23.0.
Further medals come in the combined U17/ U20 womens 1500m with both Jess Gordon & Claudia Nevett securing runner up positions to take Silver Medals with solid runs & SB in 5:00.5 & 5:04.2 respectively.
U20 Jack Hope was the final squad member in action in the 1500m and having never won a Track Gold medal he was in a determined mood to win. It was a cagey first few laps with the group completing the first 800 in a leisurely 2:25, things gradually started to quicken and there was some jostling of positions between Jack & R&N rival Ben Musgrove & Senior Male, ex Harrier Johnny Goringe, but Jack held his ground and responded to all the challenges to surge ahead of his rival along the back straight of the final lap in hot pursuit of Johnny Goringe, Jack held the lead to romp home to secure a magnificent win & first ever county track Gold in 4:15 to complete the second day in fine style.
It was truly a magnificent two days of competition and the performances from all were a fantastic testament to the clubs ethos of hard work in training and confident racing.
Well Done to all who competed regardless of winning a medal or setting a PB, this shows the club has a wealth of talent in it’s athletes and we can go from strength to strength.