2022 National Lower Age Group YDL Final
13 September 2022
After an impressive season the Lower YDL team headed to the National Final in Manchester with much anticipation and excitement. Thanks to the phenomenal efforts of all the athletes, as well as the coaches, team managers, officials and parents, the team finished 5th overall. 161 teams originally began the competition and 5th is the clubs highest ever finishing position. 3 A string victories, 3 B string victories and overall 28 podium finishes, plus 2 club records!
The 3 A string wins all came from a motivated U15 boys team, Oliver Belbeck took the 80m hurdles, Dominic Martin won the 1500m and Charlie Mason came out on top in the javelin. Belbeck produced a huge PB, his first ever sub 12 second performance smashing through the time barrier finishing in 11.71, moving him all the way to 9th in the UK rankings. Belbeck also jumped to a 10cm pole vault PB of 2.50 for 2nd A and finished 4th in the A 300m in 38.92. Martin won the 1500m in 4:20.52, fractionally slower than his PB and his 2nd quickest time ever. Mason won the javelin with his 3rd longest throw ever, 48.88, impressively this meant he won the competition by over 1.5 metres. Mason was a valuable asset to the team adding to his victory with 3rd place in the A shot put and hammer with 10.19 and 28.55, the latter being a new PB. 
Elsewhere in the U15 boys category - Daniel Slater came 2nd in the B javelin with a best of 41.14, was 4th in the B discus with a PB of 22.73 and 5th in the A hammer with a PB of 12.56. Some brilliant performances in his first ever season. James Pound is another athlete who made his club debut this year and has proved to be a vital part of the team with 2nd in the B pole vault with 2.10 and 6th in the B 800m in 2:45.30. Fred Parry competed across the shot put, discus and hammer throwing impressively throughout. Parry threw a discus PB 0f 28.94 for 3rd A a hammer PB of 25.05 for 4th B and placed 3rd B in the shot put with 8.92. Freddie Coombe placed on the podium in the B 300m finishing 3rd in 40.65. Coombe was also 6th in the A 800m in 2:15.59. There were PBs for Robin Nishimura, Harry Knight and Emeka Nkeme in the 200m, 1500m and 80m hurdles in times of 28.27, 5:14.48 and 15.85 respectively that saw all three finish 7th B. Benjamin Parker took 6th B in the 100m in 13.43. Luke Johnson and Ethan Woodward competed in the high jump and long jump. Johnson jumped 1.50 for 5th A in the high jump and 4.33 for 7th A in the long jump, while Woodward cleared a best of 1.40 for 5th B and 3.88 for 7th B.
Moving to the U15 girls it was our hammer throwers who impressed with Skyla Turbard and Zoe Arrenberg winning 2nd A and 1st B in PBs of 30.25 and 24.79. Turbard now places in the top 30 in the UK rankings.
English Schools finalist Elinor Farrier competed over the 100m and 200m running 13.08 for 6th A in the 100m and placing a superb 2nd A in the 200m in 26.78. In the B 100m Izzy Cook placed 7th in 13.75 and in the B 200m Senni Ho was 7th in 29.71. A competitive 300m saw Georgia Howell take 5th A in 43.94 and Rosie Reynolds finish as 7th B in 48.46. Reynolds also competed in the discus throwing 18.07 for 6th A. Isla Pain knocked 0.64 seconds off her 75m hurdles PB with a fantastic time of 12.62 for 4th A. Ivayla Atanasova was 4th B in 13.10. Pain also came 3rd in the A high jump with a best of 1.50. In the distance events Bluebell Heath-Smith and Amelie Paul competed in the 800m and Maddie Thomson and Harriet Smith took on the 1500m. Heath-Smith and Paul finished 6th A and 7th B in 2:32.43 and 2:47.19. Heath-Smith then made an impressive pole vault debut with a best of 2.20 for 4th A and Paul gained extra points for the team with a throw of 6.91 for 6th B in the javelin. Thomson lowered her 1500m PB down to 4:48.15 to finish an amazing 2nd in the A 1500m while Smith ran well to finish 5th B in 5:30.27. Esme Rolfe made the B high jump podium with a best of 1.35 and threw a shot put PB of 7.53 for 6th A. Charlotte Smith was 7th A in the long jump with 4.04 and 6th B in the discus with 14.91. Josie Steer equalled Smith's long jump performance for 7th B. Jess Asquith threw a best of 6.68 in the B shot put to take 6th and Kate Mills throw of 16.18 in the javelin earned her 7th A.
A small U13 boys team of just seven athletes showed true dedication to the club, competing in multiple events outside of their comfort zones and doing everything they could to gain points. Aidan John has gradually improved throughout the 2022 season and brought his best to Manchester. Having smashed the U13 75m club record earlier this year John took a further 0.4 seconds off his PB finishing in 9.90, a huge margin for such a short distance and making him the first U13 Harrier to run below 10 seconds for the distance! The performance ranks John 15th in the UK rankings and earned him 1st B comfortably. John also placed 5th in the A 75m hurdles with 13.57 and 7th in the A shot put with 4.84.
Caleb Green was in PB form achieving two PBs and two A string podium finishes. Green lowered his 800m PB to 2:22.60 for 2nd A, finished 3rd A in the long jump with 4.67 and ran a 75m PB of 10.13 for 5th A, a time that also was under the previous club record. Jack Johnson matched Green with two PBs and two podium finishes, for Johnson the PBs came in the 150m with 19.79 for 4th A and long jump where he produced a best of 4.53 for 2nd B. Johnson was also 2nd B in the 800m in a time of 2:24.73. Samuel Jeenes and Bertie Travis also had busy days competing across three individual events. Jeenes produced a 150m PB of 21.85 for 6th B, jumped 1.20 in the high jump for 6th B and threw the javelin out to 17.00 for 7th A. Travis was just short of his PB in the 1200m running 4:19.02 for 6th B, his second best time ever, he jumped 1.25 in the high jump for 4th A and threw a javelin best of 15.93 for 6th B. Patrick Paul took 2nd in a very fast A 1200m running 3:46.33. It was double PBs for Zac Litman running 17.06 in the 75m hurdles and throwing 4.81 in the shot put, to finish 7th B in both.
The U13 girls team produced 5 podium finishes across the day with Olivia Avery achieving the highest finish, 2nd A. In what was a very close race, Avery smashed her 1200m PB by almost 4 seconds, missing the top spot by just half a second, but nonetheless producing one of her best performances to date, her time of 4:01.98 puts her into the top 40 in the UK. Amber Tandy took 0.2 off her 75m best to finish 3rd A in 10.40, in the B race Lottie Cook was 5th in a PB of 10.87, her first sub 11 clocking. Despite a busy day Megan Amey picked up 3rd A in the long jump with 4.53, just 3cm shy of her PB and her 2nd furthest ever, ran a 70m hurdles PB of 12.33 for 4th A and finished 4th A in the high jump with 1.35. Lexie Wiggett was just as busy competing in the high jump, long jump and javelin. Wiggett was 3rd B in the high jump with 1.30, 4th B in the long jump with 3.77 and threw 14.60 in the javelin for 6th A. Kitty Buckland lowered her 150m PB to 21.85 on her way to 7th in the A race, while Zara Collins ran 22.20 for 7th B. Buckland was also 6th in the B 70m hurdles in 13.31 and Collins was 6th A in the shot put with 7.04. U13 girls 800m club record holder Evie Avery showed her class with her third sub 2:30 clocking, 2:29.04, for 4th A. Avery also gained valuable points with 6th B in the shot put with 5.45 and javelin with 8.75. Eleanor Thomson and Scarlett Eagland ran well in the B 800 and 1200 respectively. Thomson was 3rd with 2:39.91 and Eagland was 4th in 4:17.55.
After a strong day across all events the athletes came together to take on the relays. The U15 boys finished 7th in the 4x100m in 53.06 and in the 4x300m took a massive 5 seconds off the club record set back in 2012 finishing 4th in 2:44.58! The U15 girls took 6th in the 4x100m and 7th in the 4x300m in 53.52 and 3:09.97. The U13 girls and boys both finished 5th in the 4x100m in near identical times, the boys ran 55.98 and the girls 55.94. 