Kidderminster and Stourport Open - 8/8/21

18 August 2021

On the 8th of August a large group of Harriers headed to Stourport for the 2021 Summer Open. Despite windy conditions which forced all sprint events to tackle a strong headwind, our athletes managed to produce an array of impressive performances and PBs. 

Arguably one of the most impressive performances of the day came from U17M Luca Colombini in the javelin. Colombini produced a huge PB adding 1.48m to his previous best and moving himself from into the top 50 in the UK rankings. Colombini's throw of 44.52m also gave him the win. In the other throwing events Billy Buxton produced his 3rd farthest throw ever to win the discus with 34.40, Florence Hampton took the win in the shot put with a best of 8.35 and Ellis Woolley equalled her shot put PB with 6.27 for 7th. 

12 Harriers competed in the sprint events with 4 taking on a 100m/200m double. One of these 4 was U17M Alastair Klemz who made his competition debut in style. Klemz looked at home on the track taking 1st place in both the 100m and 200m running very impressive times. Klemz ran 11.8 in the 100m and 25.1 in the 200m, the 2nd fastest by an U17M Harrier this year for both distances. U13W Amber Tandy also competed in the 100m and 200m, running 15.2 for 3rd in the 100m and on her 200m debut Tandy ran 31.6 for 4th. U17W Lily Marchant has been running well this year and has demonstrated brilliant consistency equalling her SB in both the 100m and 200m. In the 200m Marchant finished in 27.7 for 5th and in the 100m Marchant was just 0.1 slower than her PB taking the win in 13.4, a big breakthrough looks on the cards very soon. The final Harrier to complete the double was U20M Tom Pritchard. Pritchard ran well to finish 6th in his 100m race in 11.5 and 5th in his 200m in 23.8.

Also competing in the 100m and 200m was SEN Harry Boswell, U13W Izzy Cook, U15M Oliver Belbeck, U13W Megan Amey and U13M Fred Buckland. Boswell took part in the 200m, running 24.7 for 4th. Cook ran 14.1 in the 100m for 7th and in a different heat Amey also finished 7th in 14.8. Buckland was just 0.1 slower than his PB to finish 6th in his 100m race in 15.6 and Belbeck was 6th in a different heat in 12.9. Belbeck also competed in the 300m winning the fastest heat of the day by 1.7seconds and crossing the line in 41.9. U15W Ellis Woolley was also flying in the 300m knocking 1.4 seconds off her PB to finish 4th in 48.3. U17W Tamsin Hatton ran a superb race to finish in her 2nd quickest time ever, just 0.06 slower than her PB, 47.3 for 5th. U20W Jorja Webb competed over 400m and is another athlete who has shown incredible consistency this year. Webb finished 3rd in 62.0 her 3rd quickest ever and 6th race under 62.5.

The shortest event of the day, the 75m, was an opportunity for our U11 athletes to compete. Lottie Cook was the fastest Harrier of the day stroming home to win her race in 11.6. Rufus Buckland was 3rd in his race in 13.2 and Heidi Woolley was 4th in hers in 13.1.

U15W Florence Hampton also competed over 75m but had the added difficulty of hurdles to overcome. Despite battling a -1.9 headwind Hampton finished just 0.1 slower than her PB in 12.3, her 3rd fastest 75m hurdles race ever, and took 1st place in a close race. 

In the 600m U11W Heidi Woolley ran well to finish 6th in 2:11.4. U15W Ellis Woolley and Milly Foster competed in the 800m running 2:33.6 and 2:50.2 respectively.

Back in the field events U13M Fred Buckland jumped a PB in the high jump of 1.15 for 8th and U15M Oliver Belbeck jumped 9.79 for 6th in the triple jump. Having won the hurdles U15W Florence Hampton continued her brilliant form equalling her long jump PB of 4.65. U11s Rufus Buckland and Heidi Woolley jumped 2.88 and 2.49 respectively. While U13s Fred Buckland and Megan Amey jumped 3.19 and 3.77.