Midland League, Coventry
Match 2 of the Midland League saw some great runs from the Harriers squad.
In the women’s 100m A race, Harriet Cleaver had a close run race, finishing 3rd in 13.09. The winner was Coventry’s, Emmanuela Asante in 12.85, who is currently ranked 36th in the UK. Abingdon’s Tiffany Cox was 2nd in 13.02 seconds. The B race was won by Elizabeth Reading in 13.51 seconds, and Abina Funy Soares da Gama won the C in 13.08 seconds. Non scoring in this event were Charlotte Rainbow, Culley Cleaver, & Holly Abbott who ran times of 13.90, 13.91, and 14.41 seconds respectively.
Culley Cleaver, Abina Funy Soares da Gama, & Harriet Cleaver
Lewis-Morgan Barton won the men’s 100m A race in 11.30 seconds, beating Coventry’s Kyle Enticott who was 2nd in 11.48 seconds. Zorhann Giraud & Austin Ideh also won their B & C races in 11.47 & 11.77 respectively. The non scoring athletes in this event were Jamie Shaw and Aidan Hooks, who posted times of 12.08 seconds and 12.60 seconds. All of the 100m races were affected by strong headwinds ranging from minus 0.8 to minus 2.6 metres per second.
The A race of the women’s 200m saw Elizabeth Reading finish 3rd in 27.32 seconds to Solihull & Small Heath’s, Kyarna Yearwood, who won in 26.14 seconds. Sister’s Harriet and Culley Cleaver both won their respective B & C races on 26.96 and 28.00 seconds.
Elizabeth Reading - 3rd in the 200m
Lewis-Morgan managed to hold off Kyle Enticott again in the A 200m, winning in 22.84 seconds to Enticott’s 23.19 in 2nd place. Zorhann and Austin also won their races again in 23.43 and 23.66 seconds. All of the 200m races were once again affected by the headwinds. Jacob Smith and Aidan Hooks competed as non scorers finishing with times of 24.34 seconds and 25.84 seconds.
Cole Sinnott made a welcome return to competing in the league at this meeting, winning the A 400m with ease in 50.08 seconds. Veteran athlete, Peter Kraftl, ran as a non scorer in this event running a time of 60.08 seconds
Cole Sinnott - a strong, relaxed run
Jamie Shaw had a busy day, competing in a further 3 events - 110m hurdles, long & triple jump. In the 110m hurdles, he finished 3rd in 19.91 seconds. In the long jump he competed in the B event, finishing 6th with a jump of 4.38 metres. The A stream saw veteran athlete, Peter Kraftl, finish 7th with a personal best jump of 4.95 metres. Jamie set a new PB in the triple jump, increasing it from 10.86 metres to 11.01 metres. Peter’s daughter, Emily, also competed in the long jump with veteran, Wilika Carr. Emily registered a jump of 4.12 metres, while Wilika jumped a PB of 4.01 metres.
The men’s 4 x 100m relay team won in 44.11 seconds, followed home by Leicester Coritanian in 45.51 seconds. The women’s 4 x 100m relay team also won their race in 50.46 seconds, ahead of Coventry Godiva Harriers who finished with a time of 50.80 seconds. The men had to settle for 2nd place behind Stratford-Upon-Avon AC in the 4 x 400m relay, with a time of 4.03.02 seconds.
England Athletics U15 National Championships, Alexander Stadium
Harry Smith and Aaron Ampofo both achieved the qualifying times to compete in this championships early in the season. It was their third opportunity to represent the squad, and club, at a major championships this season, having already competed at the Midland Championships in June, where Aaron won a silver medal in the 100m, and the English Schools Championships in July.
Harry, who transferred into the squad in October, competed in the 300m, the heats of which were held on the Friday evening. Drawn in lane 6 of heat 4, he had to finish in the top 4 in order to progress through to the semi final later that evening. He led the race for 280m before Sam Robert’s, UK ranked 2nd, overtook him in the final 20 metres to win the race in 37.74 seconds to Harry’s second place run in 38.14 seconds. In the semi final, he was drawn in heat 2 to run in lane 5, with Jericho Senior, ranked 3rd in the UK, just inside him in lane 4. Qualification to go through to the final was lowered to only 3 athletes. Senior had a very good start, and led all the way to win the race in 37.14 seconds, however, Harry wasn’t phased by this and also had a very good run & finished 3rd in 38.08 seconds to secure a place in the final.
In the final, the following evening, he was drawn in lane 3, with the faster athletes drawn in the next 3 lanes outside of him. The first phase of his race wasn’t as strong and he had ran the previous day, but as he gathered momentum around the 200m bend, he was able to have a strong finish in the home straight to finish 7th out of 9 athletes in 39.15 seconds. The race was won by English Schools gold medallist, and UK number 1 ranked, Tommaso Crosara of Hercules Wimbledon in 36.66 seconds, with Jericho Senior of Blackheath and Bromley in 2nd in 37.20 seconds, and Sam Roberts of Burton in 3rd in 37.23 seconds.
Harry Smith - an outstanding series of runs on his national debut
On the Sunday, Aaron Ampofo competed in the 200m. Aaron who has been in the squad for the last 4 years has had a very good season, having knocked over a second off of his 200m PB. Qualification to progress through to the final later that day was extremely tough, with only the winner of each of the 4 heats, plus 4 fastest losers going through to the final. The first phase of his race saw him coming off the bend in 7th position meaning that he had to work extremely hard in the home straight. He managed to pass 2 more athletes to finish in 5th position, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to qualify for the final. His time of 24.12 seconds was, however, an automatically timed PB.
Aaron Ampofo - a strong finish in the 200m
Well done to all the athletes who competed.