U.K. Senior Championships, Manchester – 24th to 26th June
Ella Rush added to her growing collection of national championship medals by taking a well deserved Silver in the U.K. Senior Championships at the Manchester Arena last weekend.
Competing in the Heptathlon she amassed a total of 5469 points when finishing 2nd behind Jodie Smith (Windsor, Slough, Eaton & Hounslow) who scored 5929 points and ahead of Eloise Hind (Oxford City) who took the bronze medal on 5318 points.
Ella started Day 1 with a solid performance in the 100m Hurdles in 14:47 which was the fourth fastest of the eight athletes who started the competition. A High Jump of 1.65m maintained her position, followed by an outright won in the Shot with distance of 11:82m which moved her into 2nd place. She finished Day 1 clocking 24:97 in the 200m, the second fastest time of the day to hold on to her 2nd position overnight.
Day 2 began with the Long Jump and Ella soared out to you a new outdoor best of 6.10m. Next up was the Javelin and she was rewarded with a PB of 33.12m which kept her comfortably in the silver medal position going into the final 800m. Tactically she executed the 800m in a controlled manner knowing that Eloise Hind would have to run something spectacular to move into second place. In the end Ella kept ahead of her close rival finishing 3rd in the final event, a metre in front of Hind in a time of 2:21:29 securing a coveted silver medal.
Day 2 began with the Long Jump and Ella soared out to you a new outdoor best of 6.10m. Next up was the Javelin and she was rewarded with a PB of 33.12m which kept her comfortably in the silver medal position going into the final 800m. Tactically she executed the 800m in a controlled manner knowing that Eloise Hind would have to run something spectacular to move into second place. In the end Ella kept ahead of her close rival finishing 3rd in the final event, a metre in front of Hind in a time of 2:21:29 securing a coveted silver medal.
Also competing at the Championships were the club’s two other GB internationals, Jess Turner and Alex Knibbs and Club coach, Nisha Desai; all three contesting the 400m Hurdles. With only the winners of the four qualifying heats in both the Women’s and Men’s events guaranteed a final place it meant that athletes couldn’t afford to sit back. Jess finished 2nd in her heat in a time of 57 seconds flat which gained her a fastest loser spot. In the final she was fighting for a medal up the home straight when a stumble going over the last hurdle upset her rhythm and she ended up finishing fourth in 57:38. Although disappointed in missing out on a medal, she nonetheless did remarkably well considering the amount of training missed this year following surgery on her foot and illness.
British Masters Champion, Nisha Desai representing her home club, Morpeth Harriers, just failed to make the final of the women’s race with a third place in her heat in 62:97.
Alex Knibbs also gained a fastest loser spot to the final in the Men’s long hurdles with a second place in his heat recording 50:30. Unfortunately, he did not start the final as a precautionary measure due to a tight hamstring.
Alex Knibbs also gained a fastest loser spot to the final in the Men’s long hurdles with a second place in his heat recording 50:30. Unfortunately, he did not start the final as a precautionary measure due to a tight hamstring.
Mannheim U20 International, Germany – 2nd/3rd July
Fresh from her Heptathlon silver the weekend before, Ella Rush competed in her first U20 International for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the prestigious Mannheim Gala in Germany. She contested the individual long jump competition against some of Europe’s leading jumpers, and narrowly missed out on a bronze medal; her 6.18m (+0.9m/s) was an outdoor personal best which saw her finish fourth.
Ella also took part in the 100m and was just shy of her PB running 12.26 seconds into a slight headwind of -0.5m/s.
Upper Youth Development League, Burton – 26th June
The final fixture in this year’s Upper YDL took place at Burton. AVEAC did well finishing in third place on the day out of the eight competing teams. The team scored 345 points behind Marshall Milton Keynes on 543 points and Northampton on 427. Overall the club finished 4th in the league at the conclusion of this year’s matches.
Women’s match
Charlie Yates was AVEAC’s top scorer in the Under 20 category with two second place finishes in the High Jump (1.45m) and Triple Jump (10.58m). She also won the B Javelin and placed 4th in the 100m. Grace Bennett placed 2nd in the Javelin (25.63m) and 4th in the Discus (16.88m). Maddie Fahey was the only competitor in the 400m hurdles and therefore gained maximum points; her time was 93.1 seconds. Fran Howett gained another 4th place finish in the 800m in 3:04:7, Katie Potts was 5th in the Long Jump with a best of 4.72m and Izzy Hays jumped 3.99m as a non scoring guest. Three U17s, Daisy Kaye, Nicole Bonser and Scarlett Beddoe joined Charlie Yates in the U20, 4x100m relay and the quartet ended up crossing the finish line in third.
Recent newcomer to the Club, Scarlett Beddoe showed some excellent sprint form in the U17 100m breaking the 13 second barrier for the first time with a hand timed 12.8 seconds to finish 2nd in the A race. Daisy Kaye won both the B 100m and 200m recording times of 13.5 in the former and 28.4 in the latter; Daisy also placed 2nd in the A Shot (9.06m). Nicole Bonser set a new personal best in the A 200m; a 27.5 seconds finish placed her 3rd. She also had a good day in the field winning the B Shot (8.39m) and finishing 2nd in the A Long Jump with a distance of 4.72m.
Izzy Haworth broke new ground in the Triple Jump with an 11.02m personal best and national Grade 1 performance when placing first and she also won the B Long Jump recording 4.72m. Scarlett Beddoe competed as a non-scoring guest in the Long Jump and recorded a fine leap of 4.52m.
Men’s Match
In the Men’s competition a number of our U17s stepped up into the U20 category as well as competing in their own age group.
Ryan Rawlinson had another outstanding Long Jump of 6.52m to won the U20 event and in his own age group also won the U17 B 200m in 23.7 and placed 2nd in the B 100m with a hand timed personal best of 11.4. Also stepping up to the U20 match was Archie Protheroe who won the High Jump with a 1.50m clearance and gained more valuable points finishing in 3rd place in the 400m and 4th in the 800m. U17 Lewis Carter was also 4th in the 100m with his best ever time of 12.1 seconds. George Reynolds and Corey Tatum joined Ryan and Archie in the U20, 4 x 100m relay; their time of 47.6 seconds placed them second.
In the actual U17 age group match, George Reynolds sped to a hand timed personal best in the 100m with a victory in 11.1 seconds. He went on to place 3rd in a very good standard Long Jump with a 6.33m jump and took the 3rd spot as well in the Shot throwing 10.30m.
Corey Tatum was 2nd in the A 200m in the 24.7 seconds had two 3rd place finishes in the B Long Jump (5.20m) and A 400m (57.1 seconds). Hugo Thomas taking part in his first competitive Shot finished 3rd in the B event with a ‘put’ of 9.54m. Hugo also took part as a non-scorer in the 100m equalling his PB of 11.9 and had a season’s best of 5.71m in the Long Jump.
Midland Schools Combined Events Championships, Banbury – 25&26 June
While their team mates were competing at the YDL match, Ben Pitts and Imogen Laugharne were representing the Derbyshire Schools Team at the Midland Combined Events Championships at Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Ben competing in the Senior Boys Decathlon took the bronze medal overall with a very fine score of 5057 points. The highlights of his ten events over the two days were a 100m personal best of 12.3 seconds and a Javelin PB of 41.73m. He also equalled his Pole Vault previous best clearing 3.70m and was just below his best in the High Jump with a height of 1.80m.
Imogen scored 3727 points in the Intermediate Heptathlon and finished fourth overall. She secured a gold medal along with her County team mates Alicia Wells, Emma Johnson and May Mannion in the team event. Her best events were the 80m Hurdles and High Jump both of which she won outright. Her hurdles time was 12.2 while in the High Jump she cleared 1.59m, a centimetre below her best ever.
By virtue of their performances both Ben and Imogen will now take part in the English Schools Combined Events Championships in mid September.
Lower YDL , Sunday 3rd July, Mansfield
As we go to publication, the results of the final fixture in the Lower YDL have just been published and fuller report will appear soon.
English Schools
This Friday and Saturday five AVEAV athletes will take part in the English Schools finals in Manchester. The athletes chosen to represent Derbyshire are:
Freya Kirby – Junior Girls, Javelin
Imogen Laugharne – Intermediate Girls, 80m Hurdles
George Reynolds – Intermediate Boys, Long Jump
Ryan Rawlinson – Intermediate Boys, Long Jump
Ben Pitts – Senior Boys, High Jump
Well done to the athletes and their coaches. Enjoy the experience!
Acknowledgements
Words – Joe McColgan
Photos:
Ella Rush – Joe McColgan
YDL – Chris Kirby
Midland Schools – Derbyshire Schools Athletics Association