There were a number of highly impressive performances from the Harriers at the Midland Counties Championships which saw 3 Gold medals a Silver & Bronze secured over the two days of competition, held over in very unseasonal weather with high winds and rain on both days at the Pringles stadium at Nuneaton.
There were twelve athletes from the sprint squad competing, and just one from the in the Midland U15/U17 Championships over the weekend. The two day event saw unseasonal weather with high winds and rain on both days.
On Saturday the boys competed in the 100m while the girls competed in the 200m. The performance of the day came from Logan Reid in the U17 boys 100m. Returning to competing after a brief absence due to a foot injury, he won his heat in a time of 10.77 seconds, before winning the gold medal in a time of 10.74 seconds. Logan, who is still in his first full competitive season in the sport, was joined in the final by training partner, Joe Bradley. Joe had finished 3rd in his heat in a time of 11.26 seconds, and 5th in the final in a time of 11.11 seconds. Also reaching a final was new squad member, Jamari Hart, who finished 7th in the U15 boy 100m in a time of 12.04 seconds, after qualifying for the final as a fastest loser.
First major Championship win for Logan reid in the U17M 100m
.jpg)
Leading the girls on Saturday was Cynthia Ike, who competed in the U17 girls 200m. She won her heat in a time of 26.06 seconds, after easing up over the last 30 metres of the race. In the final she picked up the silver medal, running a time of 25.55 seconds, and narrowly missing out on winning the gold, which was won by Olivia Webber Of Solihull & Small Heath in a time of 25.41 seconds
U15 Girls Jasmine Anderson, Scarlett Maxwell-Munn, & Sonal Rathod unfortunately didn’t qualify for the next round in their races but would all have gained invaluable experience of competing in an area championship.
On Sunday, the wind had lost most of its power but still played a part in the day’s performances. The boys competed in the 200m on the day, while the girls competed in the 100m.
Fresh from setting a new 100m club record and personal best of 12.2 seconds in the Midland League meeting the week before, Cynthia Ike won her heat in a time of 12.39 seconds, before blowing away her opposition to win the final in a time of 12.29 seconds to grab a fine Gold medal. U15 girl, Jasmine Anderson lowered her 100m time to 13.86 seconds in her heat, but unfortunately did not progress to the semi final on this occasion.
Cynthia Ike won a fantastic Gold in the U17W 100m, and also bagged a Silver medal in the 200m
.jpg)
The U17 boys 200m had 4 Harrier sprinters competing, with Joe Bradley & Cole Sinnott both qualifying for the final after finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in their heat. Both ran well in their finals in which Joe finished 5th in a time of 22.78 seconds, and Cole finished 8th in 23.86 seconds. In the heats, Max Mowforth and Oliver Laskey were both given the same time of 24.26 seconds with Max finishing 4th & Oliver finishing 5th.
Multi eventer, Annabelle Udo also competed over the two days. On Saturday she competed in the 200m and ran a time of 27.59 seconds to finish 5th in her heat. Her best performance came in the shot on the Sunday in which she threw a new personal best of 9.12 metres to finish 6th. Also on Sunday, she competed in the high jump and came 4th with a jump of 1.40 metres. Annabelle is coached by Lorna Barlow in throws, and by Pete Mills and Canisus Alcindor in the high jump.
Also performing brilliantly for the throws squad, was 2018 midland Counties Champions hammer champion Katie Gibson, who defended her title in style with an impressive win, throwing 43.72m ahead of silver medallist Charlotte Colbert from Hereford & County.
Katie Gibson defended her U15G Hammer title with a fine win
The final medal was secured by a Harrier making her debut for the club, Northampton based U17 Amelia McMurtrie who has been training with the middle distance squad for 4 weeks before transferring across from Rugby & Northampton. McMurtrie fresh from an impressive first ever sub 60 sec clocking for 400m earlier in the week produced a quality run to secure a fine bronze medal in the 800m in 2:18.36, in a close finish for the medals with a time very close to her PB. The race was won by Solihull & Small Heath’s Lily Saxon in 2:17.2
Amelia McMurtrie a great KTH debut with a Bronze in the U17W 800m
Many of the medal winners will now look to close their season at the final championship of the season, the England athletics U1/U17 championships at Bedford on Aug 31st – 01st Sept.
Well done to all the athletes who competed.