English Athletics Combined Events Championships, Bedford, 28/29 May
The club’s senior Decathlete, Scott Ram put together a great series of performances at last weekend’s English Combined Events Championships at Bedford resulting in a new personal best and in the process broke the 6000 points barrier for the first time. His final tally after the ten run, jump and throw disciplines was 6144 which added over 400 points to his previous PB set last Summer. Overall he finished in 8th place out of a field of twenty four starters.
In the individual events, he recorded personal bests in the 100m and 400m with times of 11:31 and 50:40. Field event PBs came in the High Jump and Pole Vault with clearances of 1.77m and 3.40m. A fifth best ever mark in the Discus resulted in a throw of 29.97m while in the Javelin he was a mere 3 centimetres behind his previous best with a fine effort of 38.22m. Performances in the remaining disciplines were; Shot – 11.11m, Long Jump – 6.40m, 110m Hurdles – 15:90 and 1500m – 4:45:83.
Overall this was a great achievement by Scott who has improved consistently over the last few years and no doubt will continue to do so as the season progresses.
Ben Pitts also took part in the Under 20 Decathlon at Bedford and unfortunately had to withdraw after four events with an injury which flared up during the High Jump.
Come back races for Jess Turner and Tamsin McGraw
It was great to see Jessica Turner return to 400m Hurdles track duty at the recent Diamond League fixture in Birmingham. Jess who had suffered a leg injury while competing at last year’s Olympics underwent surgery last Autumn and has had to undergo months of rehabilitation to get her fit to compete again. At the Diamond League she finished in 8th place in time of 57:43. Last weekend she bettered that performance when finishing 5th at the IFAM Europe Meeting in Oordegem, Belgium; her time on this occasion was 56:72. Jess is slowly returning to her old form which last year saw her go under the 55 second barrier four times.
Another senior athlete on the comeback trail is 800m specialist, Tamsin McGraw. The England Indoor international from 2019 had also been out of action with an injury. Over the past month she has resumed competitive racing at meetings in Sheffield and Manchester. At an Sheffield Open event on 25th May she clocked 58:41 in the 400m and followed that up a few days later finishing 2nd in the 800m at a British Milers Club event in Manchester. Her time of 2:12:54 was a decent opener for the season and suggests that she will be pushing on to better her PB which stands at 2:08:43.
Upper Youth Development League, Sunday 29th May
Our U17 and U20 athletes were at Banbury, for the second YDL match of the season. We were modest in numbers with only 9 athletes across the age groups, but strong in spirit.
U17 team
The U17 women had two new athletes joining their team. Scarlett Beddoe and Neve Watson collected valuable points for the team in the 100m. Scarlett ran 13.8, finishing 2nd place in the A string, Neve battled the nerves and finished 4th in the B string. Both girls competed in the long jump, jumping 4.22m and 3.54m respectively. Scarlett then stepped up to join the U20 women relay team and ran a great 4th leg.
Nicole Bonser was the only other athlete for the U17 women; putting in three solid performances in the 200m, long jump and shot. Running into a slight head wind, she secured 3rd place in the 200m with a personal best of 28.4. Her long jump of 4.72m was just shy of her best ever and gave her another 3rd place finish. In the Shot she went one better finishing 2nd with a throw of 8.30m. Nicole completed the day running the 3rd leg of the relay for the U20 women.
The U17 men consisted of two athletes, George Reynolds and Corey Tatum, both athletes put in great performances. George was A string for all events, gaining valuable points for the team. He won the Shot with 9.93m, placed 3rd in 100m with a time of 12 seconds dead and was 3rd as well in a highly competitive Long Jump with 6.22m. Corey ran a time of 54.3 in the 400m placing him 2nd, he placed 3rd in both 200m and B string Long Jump.
U20 team
The U20 women had four athletes in action. Three athletes picked up extra events to gain valuable points for the team. Madeleine Fahey put herself forward for several events, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She was the only athlete in the 400mH and ran with the men. This really pulled her along, rewarded with a PB in a time of 87.8. She then went on to complete a 200m, long jump and threw a javelin for the first time in a competition! She finished the day off by running the second leg in the relay. Grace Young travelled all the way to Banbury for the Long Jump. She jumped 4.63m finishing 4th in the A string whilst Isabelle Hays finished 2nd in the B competition. Isabelle also stepped in for the 200m and ran a personal best time, finishing 4th in the B string. She also threw the shot for the U20 women. Charlie Yates started the day off with 100m, running into stiff headwind of -2.2, she placed 4th. Jumping 1.55m in the high jump placed her 2nd, whilst her jump of 10.62m also placed her 2nd in the triple jump. Charlie ended the day by running 1st leg of the 100m relay.
A big thank you to all athletes and parents who made the journey to Banbury, especially those parents helping on the day. There were a fair few athletes missing from the team due to holidays, GCSEs and clashes with other events. Our team placed 7th overall on the day, which is understandable considering the number of athletes attending. This has moved us down the league table now from 4th overall to 6th. The next match at Burton on 26th June, being local will hopefully see a much better turnout. AVEAC are co-hosting the next match, so will need parents to volunteer to help on the day.
Northern U15/17 Inter Counties – 2nd June at York.
As we go to publication congratulations are due to seven of our athletes who competed for Derbyshire at the Northern Inter Counties yesterday. Well done to Isla Hiscocks, Freya Kirby, Imogen Laugharne, Nicole Bonser, Joe Bennett and Gino Franco. A fuller report on their performances will be published next week when the official results are released.
Words
English Combined Events and Jess Turner comeback, Inter Counties – Joe McColgan
YDL Match – Karen Yates
Photo – Joe McColgan