The Midland Counties U15/U17 championships
A number of the middle distance squad were in action during the weekend of the 29/30th May at the Alexander Stadium, tasting completion at this level for the first time. A quartet of 800m runners all performed well; first off for U15 girls was Fran Ashworth who ran impressively to qualify for the final in third position in a new lifetime best of 2.26.27, knocking 3 seconds her previous best. Kayli Walford went in heat 2 and ran well to record 2.31.58 in 5th position. In the final later in the day Fran again ran well to finish in 5th position with 2.28.99.
On Sunday it was the U15/ U17 Boys turn, with Edward Cherry first off in the U15boys 800m. Eddie, looking for an English schools qualification mark of 2.07, was thwarted by the blustery conditions but won his heat with ease clocking 2.10.42 to qualify for the final. Matt Stewart followed in the U17 boys heats, and ran well to qualify for the final in 3rd position with a time virtually identical to his lifetime best, 2.08.07. In their respective finals both boy performed well, Eddie narrowly missing a bronze medal finishing 4th with 2.16.91, and Matt finishing 5th with 2.09.89.
Gina Diaz-Santana was also competing in the U15G 1500m, and run well in the conditions to finish 12th with a clocking of 5.26.30.
BMC meeting
A number of the Harriers middle distance squad were in action at the regional BMC meeting at Birmingham University on 02nd June. In perfect conditions with a warm and wind free evening there were some blistering performances. First off looking for a sub 5.00 1500m time was Jack Hope and Maisie Green. Jack ran a superb race and narrowly missed a sub 5.00 clocking, but recorded a new lifetime best of 5.01.82, finishing strongly to take 3rd position. Maisie also smashed her previous PB by 7 seconds and achieved a solid grade 1 time recording 5.09.54 to move into the top 20 in the national rankings.
Next up were the 800m runners; Jake Waples looking for a sub 2.00 clocking was again agonising close with 2.00.06, finishing with his trademark sprint finish for 4th position. Next off were Fran Ashworth & Kayli Walford competing in a 2.23 paced 800m race & looking to improve their PB’s. Fran ran an immensely impressive race to finish 5th and knock over 6 seconds her PB to record a new lifetime best of 2.20.72, and achieve a grade 1 time, and top 30 national ranking. Fran narrowly missed the English schools time of 2.19.00 but now try to achieve this in her first season of competing in the next few weeks. Kayli also ran well to also achieve a lifetime best of 2.28.05 and finishing in 9th position.
Also in action was Kayli’s younger sister, Tabby, who was competing in the Open Race, winning her 150m race and coming second in the 600m with a new PB