English Schools Championships 2022
14 July 2022
17 Harriers were selected to compete for Gloucestershire at the English Schools Track and Field Championships, a competition which has seen plenty of future Olympic Champions compete in. The athletes travel down as a team Thursday evening and stay the whole weekend, supporting one another and learning to compete in a high level environment. Our athletes coped with the pressure brilliantly coming away with one medal, two club records and nine PBs.
Competing in the Senior (School years 12 + 13) girls 1500m steeplechase was club steeplechase record holder, Kiya Dee. Dee paced her race well, pushing hard off each barrier and even pulling away from her rivals at the water jump. The performance secured Dee a well deserved bronze medal in 5:04.12.
In the Inter (School years 10 + 11) boys 3000m Isaac Henderson produced the run of his life so far, appearing not at all phased by the quality of his opponents. Henderson moved his way gradually through the field and produced a superb last lap to knock 15 seconds off his PB and smash the club U17 record, which has stood since 1983, by 10 seconds, his time of 8:35.68 earned him 4th place.
Oliver Belbeck has been improving all season and after taking down the club U15 300m record earlier this season it was no surprise to see him rise to the occasion and lower it once again. Belbeck competed in the Junior (School Years 8 + 9) boys 300m running 38.44 for 5th in his heat.
Georgia Howell also competed in the 300m in the Junior girls category, running well Howell lowered her PB down to 42.56 to finish 6th in her heat. Ruby Brook competed in the Senior girls 400m running strong throughout the race to finish in 58.95 for 6th in her heat. Two Harriers competed over 200m with Lily Marchant running in the Inter girls competition and Elinor Farrier competing in the Junior girls. Marchant has had a great season so far and it was fantastic to see her run another PB finishing in 26.56 for 6th in her heat. Farrier made a dream English Schools debut knocking 0.26 off her PB in the heat with a time of 26.03 for 2nd, qualifying her safely for the final and meaning Farrier has now run over a second quicker than her pre-season best. In the final the following day Farrier produced her 3rd quickest time ever, 26.53 which saw her finish in 7th place. Jess Duncton competed in the Inter girls 80m hurdles running 11.46 in her heat, a strong performance that secured her a place in the final. Always one to rise to the occasion, Duncton produced a season’s best in the final of 11.38 for 4th place.
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(Photo: Marchant and Farrier at English Schools)
Dom Martin competed in the Junior boys 1500m and took full advantage of the opportunity pushing all the way the fast paced race enabled him to smash his PB by a massive 6 seconds running 4:19.86 for 10th. Ciara Thornley is another athlete who has proven she can bring her best to a Championship, putting up a fierce battle against the rest of the field Thornley came through to 7th place in a PB of 9:49.70.
On the field impressively 5 Harriers qualified to compete in the javelin demonstrating what a strong point the event is for the club at the moment. Mimi Davis competed in the Senior girls competition, throwing over 40 metres for the first time with a PB of 40.57 for 7th. Ruben Lombard and Luca Colombini competed in the Inter boys javelin. Lombard added over 4 metres to his previous best with a brilliant throw of 59.66 for 5th and Colombini threw well to finish 10th with 45.52. In the Junior boys javelin Daniel Slater and Charlie Mason finished 9th and 10th with throws of 42.06 and 40.71 respectively.
Alfie Wood, fresh off his first over 7 metre jump last weekend, competed in the Senior boys long jump. Wood had a solid competition finishing in 6th with a best of 6.80m. Sulaiman Ouiles competed in the Senior boys pole vault clearing just 5cm below his PB with a best of 4.00 for 8th a brilliant result in his first ever English Schools Championships.