Superb performances at KTH Spring Open!

There were some outstanding performances from the KTH athletes at the traditional spring open meeting, which is heralds the beginning on a new track & field season, and for once the fixture was blessed with superb weather with warm sunshine and light winds providing ideal conditions for athletes to see how they have fared over the winter period. There were numerous performances of note, and a new club record set again by Katie Gibson, Kettering U15 Hammer thrower who beat her 2 week old club record and consolidated her position as the UK number 2 with a superb throw of 44.34m.

MD Squad.

For the middle distance squad there was a total of 18 PB performances with some fantastic 800m races, and two standout performances, the first an amazing opening race from bottom year U13 Jacob Asher-Relf to comfortably win the B race and slice 14 seconds from his PB with 2:22.5 and move to 11th in the UK, showing that the hard work over the winter XC season has paid dividends, and Asher-Relf with undoubtedly have more to give as the season progresses based on this performance.

Standout performance Jacob Asher-Relf 2:22.5 in 800m

Morgan Potter also looked supremely comfortable in winning the A race with a classy run which saw him slice 6 seconds of his PB with 2:06.9 to show real potential over this event as the season progresses.

Morgan Potter fine with to set a 6 second PB in his 800m opening race

Other performances in the 800m saw a great track debut from U15 Luke Cole with 2:33.8 who looked comfortable in winning the C race and clearly will have lots more to give, and news PB’s also for U17 Jack Watson 2:13.2, & U13’s Georgia Coker-Agar 2:44.9, Aiden Lelapi 2:47.5 & Ruby McLeoad 2:54.0 Adam Jawad opted to do the 300m for some speed work and won the race comfortably in 41.9

In the 1500m Edward Cannell opened with a respectable 4:35.3 to win the A race, with a huge PB for U15 Rio Carr slicing 38 seconds of his PB with 5:18.6 in a race which also saw decent opener’s from 800m athletes Poppy Carmichael 5:19.2 & Harriett Jolly 5:32.7. In the B race there was a very decent debut from bottom year U13 Dylan White in winning the A race leading from gun to tape in 5:17.6 with plenty more to give in a more competitive race, and PB’s for Izzy Brockway 6:40.6 & Niamh Sinnott 7:10.2.

In the traditional 2km opening race for many of the athletes, there were some terrific opening performances which saw Dylan Bowley win with a front running performance of 6:00 dead, just outside his PB and a strong performance from Josh Cannell with a 15 second PB in 6:20.5, with U17 Emily Williams opening her track account with a 4 second PB with a fine run in 6:27.6. U13 Lucas Rogers following in the footsteps of squad colleague Dylan Bowley at a top year U13 in setting a high quality time of 6:50.7 to show his outstanding XC season should pay dividends on track, Josh Clutton ran an impressive race to knock 25 seconds from his PB with 7:10.3 and U15 Freya Batkin ran well in slicing 30 seconds from her best in 7:28.0 with bottom year U13 George Separovic making his debut over the distance in a very decent time of 7:53.3.

Some strong performances from the squad, and a very positive opening in the 2018 track season.

Sprint squad

The sprint squad kicked off the 2018 season with some outstanding performances at the Kettering Open Meeting & Birchfield Young Athletes Open Meeting. A total of 25 personal bests were achieved over the weekend.

The stand out performances at the Kettering Open were by U20 Emmanuel Mbu, U17 Joe Bradley, and U15 Max Mowforth who all recorded personal bests in the 100m & 200m.

Emmanuel recorded 11.2 seconds in the 100m, then went on to lower his 200m best to 22.7 seconds. Joe smashed his best times, recording times of 11.8 seconds, & 23.2 seconds. Hot on their heels was Max, who recorded times of 11.9 seconds, & 24.5 seconds.

Emmanuel Mbu with two new PB's in the 100m & 200m

Other creditable performances were achieved by U17 Lewis-Morgan Barton, who recorded a time of 11.8 seconds in the 100m, and U17 Dylan Mukhtar who ran 23.7 seconds in the 200m. U13’s Jasmine Anderson & Georgia Coker-Agar also ran well on the day and posted new personal bests in both events.

The following day at the Birchfield Young Athletes Open Meeting at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium, 8 athletes from the squad represented the Harriers very well. U13 William Robertson in his first year with the squad, lowered his personal bests to 13.81 seconds in the 100m, and 29.79 seconds in the 200m.

U17 Alex Beale managed to equal her personal best in the 100m to 13.51 seconds when she finished 3rd in her race. U17 Multi eventer, Matilda Braithwaite, competed on the shot, discus, & 200m. She managed to achieve personal bests in the shot with a throw of 6.87 metres, & in the 200m where her run was wind assisted.

Coach, Ann Inniss-Haycox, said, “All of the squad have surpassed my expectations this weekend. They all gave 100% in their races, and showed grit & determination. They have all worked hard over the winter, and I anticipate that many of them will go on to achieve higher rankings this season”.

U11 Report

The Opening fixture in the track and field calendar was the first taster for many of the Under 11s. Showing good potential was Maggie Gancheva who ran well in the 600m in 2.08.40 as well as in the 150m in 25 seconds and a decent long jump debut of 3.07.

Evie Brookner nursing a slight niggle also ran well in 2.23.80 for the 600m and 13.50 for the 75m. Lulu Mowforth who has joined the sprint squad ran exceptionally well in the 75m in 12.00 and 150m in 24.1 winning both of her heats.

The boys showed good potential to build upon with Theodore Garwe running a good sprint in 75m of 12.10. Callum Dicks also ran a fine 600m in 2.08.50 and 150m in 24.6. Jack Mowat ran an impressive 600m in 2.03.50 and 150m in 25.6.

Also running well in the 600m were James Clutton, Tristan Bamford, Freddie Temple and William Bevitt. William and Freddie also doubled up in the 75m and were joined by Dhruv Mistry and Nathan Wesley. Nathan also cleared 1.00m in the night jump. Dhruv and Tristan also competed well in the howler.

Jumps

Lewis-Morgan opened his high jump season with an excellent 1.70m. Brandon and Ryan joined him with good jumps for the start of the season 1.50m for Brandon and 1.40m for Ryan. Scarlett Maxwell-Munn also jumped her way to a new personal best of 1.39m.

In the long jump Kaiden Ramsey showed his potential with a fine jump of 4.10. Coach, Dave Folgate also jumped 4.45m.

Throws

In the Hammer, Katie Gibson who is showing great consistency, strengthened her UK Number 2 position with a new PB & club record of 44.34m, while her coach Matt Bell won the competition with a solid opening season throw of 46.84m.

Katie Gibson consolodated her position as UK No2 with a new PB & Club record of 44.34m