The 85th annual County Schools T&F championships, held in quite horrendous conditions at the traditional venue of Rockingham triangle in Corby saw some great performances from the Harriers which saw 13 progress through to the next round, the prestigious Mason Trophy Inter-Counties match held at Birmingham Alexander.
Middle Distance
Despite a cold and strong swirling wind and driving rain there were some highly credible performances from the Middle Distance squad with no less than 4 of the Squad crowned County Schools Champion. U15 Ben Brooker ran a gutsy race, sitting in behind James Elson in the opening lap to surge past with 200m to go and hold off a late challenge from Elson to win in 2:12.7 to add to his NAA U15 title become double County 800m Champion. There was a good performance also from Adam Jawad to finish in third place with a rare outing over 800m finishing in 2:16.6. U17 Dylan Bowley was also crowned County Schools Champion with a fine front running race to with his 800m in style in a very respectable time for the conditions of 2:00.8
Ben Brooker fine race to win the U15B 800m & become double 800m County Champion
In the 1500m there were two more Double County Champions crowned, Alice Bates won the U15 race by a huge margin with a stylish run leading from gun to tape to match her recent NAA county championship Gold, finishing in a respectable 5:11.8 and she will hope for a better quality race at the Mason Trophy in a week’s time. This was matched with the Boys with U15 Luke Cole also winning his Junior Boys 1500m, with a close run battel with club colleague Rio Carr where the lead changed place a number of times, with a decisive kick on the last lap to seal his win in 4:39.50 & seal his position as double County Champion. Rio Carr was second place in the race (4:45.0) to secure his place for the County team for next week’s Mason Trophy with a squad 1,2,3 sealed with a fine run from Lucas Rogers in third place in 5:02.06.
Luke Cole (2) & Rio Carr battle in the U15B 1500m which saw Cole winning to become double 1500m County Champion
Also sealing their places in the County Schools team for the Mason Trophy was U15 Idayi Jumbe who ran a fine race in the 400m to finish in second place in 55.8, which also saw good performances from Josh Geddes & Ryan Raulia in 4th & 5th respectively.
U15 Alice Bennett ran a brave race to finish a close second in her 800m, and will perhaps regret front running in the appalling conditions with driving rain & a strong wind perhaps sapping her finish with Madeleine Meyers just managing to finish ahead of her in the final 20m.
There was a very respectable performance from Josh Clutton running in the 3,000m in 10:17.6 with a fine third place which secured his place in the Mason Trophy as the first two will compete over the 1500m steeplechase.
An excellent result with 8 of the squad making their way through to the Mason Trophy, with a chance to impress the selectors before the English Schools team is selected!
Sprints Report
The sprint squad athletes were challenged by rain and blustery conditions. This, however, didn’t stop them from putting in some fine performances. It was a day for securing qualifying positions, rather than times, for those athletes who had already achieved the English Schools Entry Standard - Cynthia Ike, Logan Reid, and Joe Bradley who all crowned County Schools Champions in their events.
Athletes had to finish in the top 2 in their races to secure automatic selection, while those finishing 3rd were selected as reserves. Max Mowforth finished 2nd in the Inter Boys 100m to be automatically selected, and Jack Abbott finished 3rd, in what was his debut competing in this meeting, to be selected as reserve. This completed a 1,2,3 for the Harriers in that race, with Logan Reid winning the race.
In the Inter Boys 200m, Joe Bradley won his race with ease, while Max Mowforth finished 3rd to secure the reserve place. The Inter Girls 100m saw Cynthia Ike win her race, with Natalie Short just missing out on selection by finishing 4th.
A further 3 athletes from the squad also competed on the day, but unfortunately did not manage to get through to the next round on Saturday. All 3 will be looking to challenge for positions at next season’s meeting.
Throws
A special mention to the Harriers Katie Gibson who cruised through to the Mason trophy with a superb throw in the JG Hammer of 43.36m to set a new Championship Best Performance.
Well Done to all who competed and best of luck to .