Gloucestershire County Championships Part 1 - 30/4/22

06 May 2022

The first day of the Gloucestershire County Championships saw 33 Harrier Gold medals, plus 14 Silver medals and 9 Bronzes. Thanks to brilliant conditions on the day it enabled perfect PB conditions which our athletes took full advantage of, with at least 43 Harrier PBs occurring over the day.

Beginning on the track, Megan Amey took victory in the U13 70mH and Robin Nishimura took victory in the U15 80m hurdles in times of 13.6 and 17.5, the latter being a PB for Nishimura. In the 400mH Alice English took Gold in her event debut running 71.8. Moving to the flat sprints, U15 Oliver Belbeck won 300m gold in 41.1. Lily Marchant took U17W 300m Gold in a PB run of 44.1, knocking 0.32 off her previous best. Isobel Burfitt was close behind, securing U17W Silver in 46.2, a massive 1.6 seconds faster than her PB set last year. Ruby Brook impressed in the 400m, running under 59 seconds for the second time and winning U20W Gold in 58.6

(Photo: Lily Marchant showing off her Gold medal)

The 800m proved a popular event for the Harriers with 15 taking part and 9 medals won. In the U13W race Olivia and Evie Avery battled all the way to the line with Olivia just pulling ahead to take Silver in 2:31.9 (PB) from Evie’s 2:32.6 (PB). In the same race Ellie Thomson ran well to finish 5th in 2:46.6. The U15Ws race also produced a Harrier’s Silver and Bronze, with Bluebell Heath-Smith running a PB of 2:28.8 for 2nd place and Georgia Howell running 2:34.1 for 3rd. Ellis Woolley was close behind in 2:35.9 for 4th. Patrick Paul took victory in the U13B 800m in 2:25.0 (PB), exactly 6 seconds clear of his teammate Teddy Spurr who also ran a PB of 2:31.0 for 2nd. Oliver Wilson and Noah Chatterton finished in 4th and 5th in times of 2:38.4 and 2:45.9 making it PBs for all 4 U13B. Freddie Coombe and Luke Johnson made it another Harriers 1-2 in the U15B race. An impressive run by Coombe saw him knock 5 seconds off his PB to run 2:13.6, Johnson also lowered his PB to 2:23.3. Leo Soakell finished 5th in 2:31.5 and Harry Knight ran 2:32.6 for 6th. In a tough race, competing against senior men Freya Howell produced a brilliant run to take U17W Bronze in 2:38.8.

Moving up to the 3000m there was a thrilling race between U15B Dominic Martin and Sam Wilson. The duo pulled well clear of the rest of the field, which included senior athletes. The 7.5 lap race eventually came down to a sprint with Martin just holding off his teammate to take Gold in 9:43.5 (PB) from Wilson’s 9:44.9 (PB) for Silver. Impressively the next athlete to cross the line was U15G Maddie Thomson, who made a brilliant 3000m debut to win Gold in 10:40.5. Harriet Smith won U15G Silver in 11:18.5 a 20 second PB. Isobel Watt took U17W Gold knocking 4 seconds off her previous PB finishing in 11:42.3 and Jessica Sheppard won U15G Bronze in 12:39.7 her 3000m debut.

Two more athletes making their event debuts at the weekend were Ciara Thornley and Guy Green who both took on the 5000m. A tough event at the best of times was made harder due to the field becoming so spread out. Both athletes ran fantastic races with Thornley taking U20W Gold in 17:45.9 and Green taking U20M Gold in 18:50.5. 

There was plenty of action taking place on the field as well. One of the most impressive performances was a big high jump PB by Luke Burden. The Harrier added 10cm to his previous best to take U20M Gold with a clearance of 1.90. U15M Gold was won by Luke Johnson in a PB of 1.55. Despite also clearing 1.55 (PB) Edward Palmer had to settle for Silver on countback, while a clearance of 1.50 earned Oliver Belbeck bronze. Celia Darwent won U20W Gold with a best of 1.45, Cicely Moore won SW Gold with 1.35 (PB) and Maria-Carlotta Boas cleared 1.25 for U15W Gold. 

Continuing the Gold medal stream, Bexley Turbard won U17M pole vault gold with a 3.00 best. 

Another popular event for the Harriers was the long jump with 10 medals being won. In the U11B competition Bertie Brookes jumped 3.74 for Silver and Joseph Rackowe jumped 3.71 (PB) for Bronze. George Phillimore produced a best of 3.53 for 4th. Harriet Bennet won U11G Gold with a 3.17 jump. Caleb Green was just 2cm shy of his PB in winning U13B Gold with 4.67. 

Megan Amey added to her hurdles Gold with U13G long jump gold with a best of 3.97. Amber Tandy produced a PB of 3.53 for Silver. Maria-Carlotta Boas upgraded her high jump Silver to Gold in the long jump with a 4.47 jump. Oliver Belbeck was also close to his best, jumping 5.23 for U15B long jump Gold. Luke Johnson was 2nd with 4.82 (PB), Benjamin Meech was 3rd with 4.21 (PB), Robin Nishimura was 4th with 4.05 (PB) and Benjamin Parker was 5th with a best of 3.92. 

Last but certainly not least was the throwing events. In the discus Billy Buxton (U17M), Fred Parry (U15M), Maia Bliss (U17W) and Linsey Hutchins (SW) all won Gold with throws of 27.00, 23.29 (PB), 20.77 and 17.06 respectively. Sulaiman Ouiles took U20M discus Silver in a PB of 27.86 before throwing 35.65 in the javelin, another PB and a brilliant Gold medal. Sam Northern produced a huge throw of 53.34 to take a superb SM Gold. Luca Colombini added close to 4metres to his previous best throwing 48.07 for U17M Gold. In the U15M javelin, Charlie Mason threw 41.73 for Silver, Fred Parry won Bronze with a PB of 27.59 and Benjamin Parker threw a PB of 15.26 for 4th. Mimi Davis was in fantastic form launching the javelin out to a 2 metre best of 37.57 for U20W Gold. Cicely Moore won SW Silver with 20.33 and Linsey Hutchins was 4th with a best of 19.90. Melissa Watson’s performance for 30.75 earned her U17W Gold and Megan AMey’s PB of 13.94 earned her U13G Bronze.