Lower YDL, 18 May 2019

20 May 2019

Saturday 18 May saw the Under 13 and Under 15 athletes from Cheltenham & County Harriers welcome Teams from Cardiff, Swansea, Cardiff Archers, Bristol & West and Yate to their home fixture, as Round Two of the Youth Development League Premier SW Division came to Cheltenham.

Following a strong performance in April in Round One of the league where they finished third at a windswept Swansea track, Cheltenham Harriers were looking to consolidate their overall position in the League.

They made the most of the home advantage, with all the athletes producing some excellent performances throughout. Cheltenham finished in second place on the day, just 10 points behind Swansea. To achieve this was a huge result, and is a tremendous landmark against such strong competition. There were notable performances across al the ages.

In the U15 boys Discus, Billie Buxton with 31.12m and Archie Mclean with 22.42m made it second place for Cheltenham in both the A and B string; the two athletes combining once more with Buxton taking second in the A hammer and McLean first in the B event. In the High Jump, recent addition Sulaiman Ouiles cleared 1.60m to place second in the A, with Harry Ineson clearing 1.55m to take a deserved first place in the B.

The U13 boys contributed well. In the 100m, Barney Heath-Smith finished second in the A string with 14.0s, with Jack Tanski second in the B with 14.5s. In a similar vein, there were two second places in the 200m, William Doody in the A race with 28.8s and Fred Fowler in the B race with 28.1s. Heath-Smith followed up his 100m performance with a further second place in the A Long Jump, posting 4.43m.

George Lockwood, Jack Tanski, Barney Heath-Smith and William Doody then combined to take second place in the 4x100m relay.

There was a very strong competition within the U13 girls, with some significant battles for points. In a very fast 75m competition, featuring the top rated age group sprinter in the UK, Emily Brown finished fourth in the A race in 10.9s, with Kitty Ellis taking a brilliant second place in the B race in 11.0s. In the 800m, there was a double first. In the A string, Milly Foster ran a mature race, being part of a bunched group at the end of the first lap, but then gradually moving clear of the field to finish first by over 3 seconds in 2:38.8. The B race took a similar pattern, with Ellis Woolley running a controlled first lap to again move clear of the field and win the B race by 7 seconds in 2:41.3.

In the Long Jump competition, Mya Bury put in a PB performance to take second in the A with 4.01m, with Tilda Barter similarly posting a new PB of 3.99m to win the B string. Continuing in the field events, the versatile Florence Hampton threw 17.92m to take second in the Javelin, with Anna Stanley-Jones placing third in the B.

The U15 girls also saw some strong competition. In the 100m Lorna Willmott placed second in a fast race with 13.3s. In the 1500m, recent addition Kiya Dee moved well ahead of the field to win the A race in 4:49.9; with the always strong running of Seren Jones bringing her second place in the B string. In the Discus, the girls were dominant, with Lyhnne Larbie winning the A with 20.92m and Mimi Davis winning the B with 16.73m. In the 200m event, in an excellent field, Jess Duncton looked sharp straight out of the blocks, made a smooth transition off the bend and accelerated away to win in a new PB of 26.1s.

The 4x100m relay team of Lorna Willmott, Lily Marchant, Maddie Carnes and Jess Duncton then combined to take another second place.

The overall result of second place on the day means that Cheltenham are now second in the Midland Premier Division SW, firmly in one of the Championship play off places, moving in to Round Three at Yate in June.