NAA T&F County Championships

There was a fantastic weekend of athletics at the County Championships with the Harries securing a superb number of medals in all the disciplines, and (x2) championship best performances for Katie Gibson in the U15G hammer (40.64m) bettering the previous mark by over 10m & vet 45 Tony James in the 800m (2:09.8) showing the breadth of talent in all the age groups.

Middle Distance
The squad won an amazing 20 medals (8 Gold/ 10 Silver & 2 Bronze) as well as 17 new PB's and a real breakthrough for a number of athletes. Harriett Round secured a big new PB of 2:27.4 (UK 18th) with a terrific run in the U13 Girls 800m and then returned a day later to go one better and win Gold in the 1500m with an incredible 23 second PB in 5:07.1 (UK 10th) and this in her first ever season on track, showing that she has bags of potential going forward. Also In the 800m Jacob Asher-Relf secured a fine Silver and new PB of 2:19.6 (UK 10th) in a very close race which saw the winner go to the top 3 of the UK rankings, as well as securing a 200m Silver medal earlier in the day to underline his speed with 27.9 (UK rank 50th).

Two of the outstanding youngsters coming through, Harriett Round & Jacob Asher-Relf

Dylan Bowley ran a brave race to take on a quality field in the U17 800m but was just beaten into 2nd place, but perhaps consoled with a fine new PB of 2:02.2, and the target of going sub 2 coming into focus, with Morgan Potter continuing his impressive improvements also setting a fine new PB of 2:05.2 and just run out of the medals in 4th place. Tony James won a fine Gold & set Championship Best Performance for Vet 45 in the 800m with 2:09.8 (UK 11th) just a fraction off his PB. In the 600m new squad recruit Maggie Gancheva showed she is a real prospect winning a fine silver in 2:01.1, just outside her PB, and returned a day later to do the same in the 1200m with a strong race, only losing out to the remarkable Ella Darby who set new Championship best performances for both races.

Tony James 800/400m Double County Champion and 800m Championship best performance

Josh Cannell & Jack Watson showed their range with a great run in the U20M 5k with a Silver (17:28) & Bronze (17:33) respectively, with both returning to compete in the 1500m in a race which saw Ed & Josh Cannell in a superb battle in the SM/U20 1500m, which saw the younger sibling seemingly better recovered from the previous days 5k beating his older brother and secure an U20 Silver medal in 4:4:39.5, with U13 Lucas Rogers joining the “sub5” club and recording a fine new 3 second PB with 4:59.5 for a Silver medal. Also securing new PB’s were U15’s Josh Clutton (5:02.1) & Rio Carr 5:06.0 with U13 George Separovic with 7 second improvement in 5:16.4.

On DAY 2, the squad dominated the longer sprints with a clean sweep of the men’s longer sprints starting with U15’s Adam Jawad in the 300m taking Gold with 42.4, and Ben Brooker Bronze in a new PB of 45.9. Morgan Potter showed Electric speed in the U17 men’s 400m to easily win the Gold in a near 2 second PB of 52.6 (UK top 55), followed by Tom Jawad in the U20M 400m with a fine Gold running un troubled in 53.2. The Senior & vet men’s 400m Gold medals were wrapped up to make it a clean sweep for the squad with Mario Iwaniec with a untroubled win in 53.8 & Tony James a fine 56.2 in the vet45 (Uk =6th). Not to be outdone the U20W won Gold & Silver in the 400m with Poppy Carmichael winning in 62.8, with Harriet setting a new PB with 65.2 for Silver.

Sprint Squad

The squad produced some outstanding performances over the weekend. With a medal haul of 18 medals won, 9 personal bests, and 2 personal best equalled. A further 6 medals were won by members competing in multi events, where 3 personal bests were recorded. The medal tally was made up of 8 gold medals, 13 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals. 12 personal bests were achieved, and 2 were equalled.

In the U11 girls age group, Lulu Mowforth finished 3rd in the 75m in a time of 12.0 seconds. Meanwhile in the U13 age group, William Robertson, who just missed out on a medal in the boys 200m final on Saturday, bounced back the following day to secure 2nd place in the 100m. Also competing in this age group were Kaiden Ramsey, who reduced his personal best in the 200m heat to 29.7 seconds, and Brandon Kwei-Tagore who also ran a personal best of 30.1 seconds in the same race. Jasmine Anderson also put in some fine runs in the U13 girls age group, running 29.5 seconds in the 200m heat to equal her personal best, and following this up with a new personal best of 29.3 seconds in the final. She went on to pick up a well deserved bronze medal in the 100m the following day. She was joined in both finals by Sonal Rathod who looks like a very good prospect for the future.

In the U15 age group, Cole Sinnott picked up 2 silver medals in the boys 100m and 200m, producing a new personal best of 25.4 seconds in the latter. The winner in the 100m was his training partner,Max Mowforth, who had an outstanding run, finishing in a time of 12.0 seconds. Also competing in this age group were Cynthia Ike & Scarlett Maxwell-Munn. Cynthia collected 2 silver medals, with Etienne Maughan Of Bedford, winning both races. Scarlett finished 5th in the 100m final in a new personal best of 14.3 seconds.

The closest race of the weekend was the U17 girls 200m, which saw Alex Beale & Erin Healy given the same time of 26.6 seconds, and the officials giving the nod to Healy. She returned the following day to secure a silver medal in the 100m. In the boys sprints in this age group, Joe Bradley, competing in his first County Championships, picked up a bronze medal in the 100m, and silver in the 200m where he ran a time of 23.3 seconds.

The U20 age group saw another close race in the 100m, with all 3 medals going to Kettering athletes. Emmanuel Mbu won the race in a time of 11.6 seconds, with Matty Ritchie finishing 2nd with 11.7 seconds, and Achim Loibl finishing 3rd in 11.8 seconds. Emmanuel and Achim both competed in the 200m on the Saturday, with Emmanuel winning in 22.9 seconds, and Achim finishing 2nd, equalling his personal best of 23.4 seconds.

Clean sweep for the U20 100m, Matty Ritchie, Emmanuel Mbu & Achim Loibl

Veteran lady, Wilika Carr, was delighted to secure gold medals in both the 100m and 200m. She achieved a personal best of 30.1 seconds in the 200m. Both performances have helped to secure her position as one of the top female sprinters in the V40 age group.

Of the sprinters who also do multi events, the standout performance came from Matilda Braithwaite (U17 girl), who produced personal bests in all of the events that she entered this weekend. She ran 29.3 seconds in the 200m, jumped 4.17meters in the long Jump, threw 7.74 metres in the shot, and jumped 1.55meters in the high jump. Her improvement in the shot has been due to the coaching she has received from Lorna Barlow, while in the high jump she has been coached by former athletes Canisus Alcindor, and Pete Mills.

Also multi eventing were Kaiden Ramsey, silver in the U13 boys long jump, Scarlett Maxwell-Munn, silver in the U15 girls high jump, and Lewis-Morgan Barton, gold medals in triple and high jump.

Throws

For the throws squad there were some decent returns with x4 Gold medals & a Silver and impressive performances in particular in the Hammer with Katie Gibson easily securing the U15G Gold with a new championship best performance of 40.64m, beating the previous best by over 10m. Coaches to Katie, Matt Bell & Lorna Barlow, also secured Gold for the Vet35 Men (47.76m) & Veteran 50 Woman’s (27.28m) respectively with Lorna also setting a new PB. Lorna Barlow also secured a Vet 50 shot Gold with 6.62m, and daughter followed suit with a Silver and new PB in the U15 shot with 6.93m.

Katie Gibson Gold & Championships best performance in the U15G hammer with 40.64m