Diamond League, 18 August 2019
20 August 2019
The Diamond League Athletics is one of the highlights of the International Calendar, and made its stop in Birmingham on the 18th August. The main event attracts huge international interest, and was an opportunity for GB favourites including Dina Asher-Smith, Adam Gemili and Katarina Johnson-Thompson to compete in front of their home crowd.
As part of the event, Müller sponsors the Club Connect Programme. In this, the top ranked 4 x 100m Relay Teams from the age groups Under 13 to Under 20 are invited to compete as a prelude to the main timetable. These teams are invited on the strength of their position in UK Rankings. Cheltenham Harriers, following a very successful season, had two age group teams eligible and invited to compete; Under 13 boys and Under 20 ladies.
Of the Harriers squads, the boys were the first on to the track and were un-phased by the TV cameras and images on the big screen. They put in a great team performance with some smooth baton changes, to come in 6th place in a time of 54.81s.
Later it was the turn of the Under 20 ladies team from Cheltenham to step onto the track. They are a well drilled and practised squad, with three of the team actually from the under 17 age bracket. In a blistering race, won by Cardiff who went under 50seconds, Cheltenham came in at a fantastic 4th place in a season’s best time of 51.25s.
Whilst the Cheltenham teams were outpaced on the day by some bigger clubs, their experience in rubbing shoulders with some of the elite of UK and World athletics will make them even stronger for the future.
Results Under 13 Boys
1st Rugby & Northampton AC 51.77s; 2nd Cardiff AC 52.11s; 3rd Marshall Milton Keynes 52.67s; 4th Kettering Town Harriers 54.45s; 5th Preston Harriers 54.76s; 6th Cheltenham & County Harriers 54.81s; 7th Royal Sutton Coldfield AC 57.26s; 8th Sale Harriers Manchester 57.6s
Results Under 20 Ladies
1st Cardiff AC 48.89s; 2nd Birchfield Harriers 50.11s; 3rd Sale Harriers Manchester 50.31s; 4th Cheltenham & County Harriers 51.25s; 5th Trafford AC 51.44s; 6th Derby AC 51.99s; 7th Notts AC 52.34s; 8th Gateshead Harriers 52.83s