Ella Rush received the welcome news on Tuesday that she has been selected for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Under 20 team to take part in the prestigious Mannheim Gala in Germany on the 2nd & 3rd of July. Ella will line up in the 100m and Long Jump against some of Europe’s top athletes. The meeting is one of the biggest gatherings of U20 athletes outside of the World and European Championships. The selection is Ella’s fourth international appearance having competed last year for the GB Under 18 team at the Manchester International in the Long Jump and twice previously for the England School’s team in Combined Events Indoor Internationals.
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Schools Championships, June 11th at Burton and Newark
Many of our athletes swapped their club vests for their school ones as they took part in county schools championships on Saturday.
One of the best ever Intermediate Boy’s Long Jump contests in the history of the county schools event was witnessed at the Derbyshire meeting with both George Reynolds and Ryan Rawlinson recording distances of 6.61m and 6.60m to take silver and bronze medals. The winner Kaiden Ramsay jumped 6.69m and all three athletes were well ahead of the 6.40m qualifying standard for the English School’s finals next month. George and Ryan filled the same positions in the 200m sprinting to more personal bests with times of 23:09 and 23:25.
In the Intermediate Girl’s Long Jump, Mae Jones took the Gold medal returning to something like her best form with a season’s best of 5.15m. Imogen Laugharne produced double winning performances in the Inter Girl’s High Jump and 80m hurdles. She cleared 1.50m in the jump and recorded 12.16 in the sprint hurdles. In the 200m Jasmine Ellis picked up a Bronze medal and there was a Bronze as well in the 100m for Katie Fitzpatrick.
Isla Hiscocks sped her way to victory in the Junior Girl’s 100m knocking over two tenths off her previous best with an excellent 13:01 clocking. Later in the afternoon she added a Bronze medal to her collection in the 200m with another good time of 28:75. Freya Kirby continued her recent spate of good form in the Javelin getting over 30m for the first time, throwing 30:05m. Not to be outdone Gino Franco also produced a PB in the Boy’s Javelin with an excellent effort of 34.70m. In the Junior Girl’s Long Jump, Poppy Weller picked up a Bronze medal recording a distance of 4.27m.
In the Senior Events, High Jump golds were the order of the day for Ben Pitts with a new personal best of 1.84m in the Boy’s event and for Charlie Yates in the Girl’s section who cleared 1.55m. Ben also picked up a Bronze in the Pole Vault getting over a height of 3.40m Katie Potts won the Senior Long Jump while Izzy Hays finished with a Bronze medal in the same event.
Our sole representative at the Nottinghamshire School’s was Daisy Kaye. Competing in the 300m and Javelin, she put in two sterling performances to take the Gold medal in both events. Battling a headwind in the final straight in the 300m, her winning time was 46 seconds flat. A good series of throws in the Javelin resulted in a best effort of 33.24m.
Athletes finishing 1st and 2nd in their events at Junior and Intermediate level will now represent their respective counties at the Mason Trophy event at Stoke on Saturday 18th June. Next to the English School’s finals the Mason event is one of the biggest events in England for young athletes involving ten counties across the Midlands and North West England. Gaining their county vests are:
Juniors – Isla Hiscocks , Freya Kirby and Gino Franco
Intermediates – Daisy Kaye, Mae Jones, Imogen Laugharne & George Reynolds
British Masters, Moorways June 11th/12th – Gold for Nisha
Club coach Nisha Desai, representing her home club, Morpeth Harriers, won the Gold medal at the British Masters Championships in the 400m Hurdles. Competing in the W35 category Nisha crossed the finish line in 61:20. Her winning time has gained her entry to the U.K. Senior Championships in Manchester on 25/26 June.
BMC Gold Standard Meeting, University of Birmingham – 8th June
Tamsin McGraw continued her return to form with a another 800m season’s best of 2:10:86 at the British Miler’s Club Gold standard meeting at the University of Birmingham on Wednesday 8th June.
World Athletics Meetings, Switzerland, 11th June and 14th June – Good openers from Alex Knibbs
Another one of our GB internationals, Alex Knibbs had his first outings of the season over the 400m Hurdles during the past week at competitions in the Swiss cities of Geneva and Bern. At the Geneva meeting on Saturday he finished 2nd in a time of 50:46 while on Tuesday at the Bern event, in a higher quality field, he was a few tenths quicker on 50:10 to finish 5th. Jess Turner also took part in the Geneva meeting finishing 8th in the Women’s 400m hurdles in 57:93.
Northern League , Doncaster, 12th June
Charlie Yates and Henry Knighton competed for Chesterfield at the second Northern League match on Sunday. Henry won the Men’s High Jump with a 1.75m clearance. Charlie finished 2nd in both the High and Triple Jumps, clearing 1.50m in the High Jump and then went on to hop, step and jump 10.58m.
DADA Open Meeting, Moorways, Tuesday 14th June – Big Javelin PB for Jessie Brown
Senior Javelin thrower Jessie Brown broke new ground in her speciality at the mid week DADA meeting in Derby. Throwing consistently around the 40 metre mark in earlier season competitions she unleashed the 600g spear to a new best of 45.20m. The distance moves her up to 12th in the U.K. Senior rankings and 3rd in the Under 23 category. Jessie’s training partner Nickie Bell (University of Nottingham) was also in fine form with a seasons best of 40.57m. Younger throwers Freya Kirby, Gino Franco and Jasmine Shore performed with distinction on the evening as well. Freya added a few more centimetres to her PB set at the school’s championship recording a throw of 30.13m. Gino Franco produced another solid performance of 33.46m while Jasmine throwing the 400 gram spear threw 18.84m to win the U13 Girls event. She also was the fastest sprinter out of seven graded 75m races returning a time of 11:01. Other younger athletes who performed well were Summer Biggs in the 75m (12:42), 600m (2:28:90) and Long Jump (3.14m); Rosie Boyer also in the 75m (13:64), 600m (2:25:01) and Long Jump (2.43m); Joe Moss in the 100m (13.91) and 200m (28:80), Riley Jones in the 75m (12:20) and Shot (6.34m) and Charlie Halford in the 800m (2:44:34).
Words – Joe McColgan
Photos – Joe McColgan, Sarah Kaye and Antoinette Franco
Thanks to Sarah Kaye for providing the update of the Notts Schools