5 athletes from the Sprint Squad travelled to Nuneaton to compete in the Midland U20 Championships held over the weekend of 18th and 19th June. Weather conditions on the Saturday were cool and overcast, with rain for the majority of the day. Things improved on the Sunday with warmer weather.
The performance of the weekend came from Cole Sinnott in the 400m, in what was only his 2nd race of the season, after having to delay his season due to an injury. Drawn in lane 3, in a straight final, he ran an even paced, well controlled, race to win the bronze medal in a PB of 51.10 seconds. He will now continue to work hard in training to lower his PB.
Cole Sinnott - a well deserved bronze medal
Ryan Amesimeku chose to focus on the 100m at this meeting. It was a day of miscommunication and confusion, when having warmed up for 40 minutes, athletes were advised that the heats had been pushed back to the planned semi final time later in the day, due to technical problems with the starting equipment. Athletes were also advised before they ran that the final would be held at 4.30 pm, only to find that it was being held less than an hour after their heat at short notice.
Running in heat 2, into a headwind of minus 1.0, he finished 4th in his heat to qualify for the final. The short warm up impacted on his race in the final, with the headwind whipped up to minus 1.7, he finished 5th in a time of 11.38 seconds.
Holly Abbott was the only female athlete competing at the meeting. In the 100m on the Saturday, running into a headwind of minus 1.6, Holly, who is having her best season since joining the squad in 2020, finished 3rd in a time of 14.46 seconds to qualify for the final. She finished 5th in the final in a time of 14.32 seconds. She returned on the Sunday to compete in the 200m, which was a straight final. She finished a creditable 4th in 29.84 seconds.
Also competing at the meeting were Holly’s brother, Jack, and Luke Riches. Both athletes, unfortunately, didn’t progress through to their finals. Jack finished 7th in the 200m in 25.63 seconds, and 8th in the 100m in 12.41 seconds, a season’s best. Luke had the misfortune of straining his hamstring as he was about to accelerate off the bend into the home straight.
Well done to everybody who ran