Lower YDL - 8/5/22

13 May 2022

A large group of Harriers, including athletes, officials, team managers and parents, made the long trip to Wales for the first round of the Lower Youth Development League Midlands South West Premier Division . The trip was definitely worthwhile with athlete after athlete smashing there PB. The athletes came together for the team with many competing in events they’d never done before just to gain each point they could. The hard work earned them all an amazing 1st place, 79 points clear of 2nd, a phenomenal start to the season. 

(Photo: U15 girls 4x 300m relay team)

Beginning with the U15 boys events; Fred Parry competed in three events with the highlight being an A string win in the javelin with a PB of 31.77 to put him into 30th in the UK rankings. Parry was 2nd in the A discus with 23.13 and 3rd in the A hammer with 21.87. Parry was joined in the discus and javelin by Benjamin Parker who threw 14.38 (PB) and 14.69, and was joined in the hammer by Sam Wilson who threw 14.54 (PB). In the final throws event, the shot put, Robin Nishimura and Eddie Atkins were 5th in the A and B string with throws of 5.84 and 4.26 (PB) respectively. Ethan Woodward and Benjamin Meech doubled up to take on the two jumping events. Woodward finished 4th in the A long jump with 4.14 (PB) and 2nd in the A high jump with 1.45 (PB), meanwhile Meech was 3rd in the B long jump with exactly 4.00 and 2nd in the B high jump with 1.20. Parker, Wilson, Nishimura, Atkins and Woodward also all competed in track events too. Parker ran a 100m PB of 13.63 for 6th in the A race, Wilson was 2nd in the A 1500m in a PB of 4:34.48, Nishimura was 5th in the A 200m in 30.14 (PB) and won the B 80mH in 16.20 (PB), Atkins ran a 300m PB of 48.26 for 5th in the B race and Woodward ran an 80mH PB of 15.87 for 5th in the A race. Harry Knight ran a brilliant 100m/200m double coming 5th in the B 100m in 14.47 (PB) and 4th in the B 200m in 29.65 (PB). Knight also made a debut appearance over 1500m where he finished 3rd in the B race in 5:28.99. Meanwhile Freddie Coombe doubled up in the 300m and 800m. Coombe came 2nd in the A 300m in a PB of 40.59 and 5th in the A 800m in 2:14.47. In the relays Woodward, Parker, Meech and Nishimura combined for the 4x100m finishing 4th in 58.40 and Coombe, Atkins, Wilson and Knight combined for the 4x300m also finishing 4th in 3:07.11.

Moving on to the U15 girls competition; Elinor Farrier took A string victory in the 200m running an impressive 26.80 (PB). Farrier also ran a PB in the 100m where she finished 2nd in the A race in 12.95. It was double sprints PBs for Izzy Cook as well competing in the B strings. In the 100m Cook was 4th in 13.81 and in the 200m she was 2nd in 28.47. Two Harriers also competed in the 100m as guests, Esme Rolfe ran 14.04 (PB) and Francesca Robinson ran 14.59 (PB). Over 300m Rosie Reynolds was 6th in the A race in 48.34 (PB) and Ellis Woolley took 0.32 off her PB for 2nd in the B race in 47.98. Woolley also ran her 3rd quickest 800m ever to win the B race in 2:32.76. Georgia Howell ran well to finish 4th in the A race in 2:33.62. Harriet Smith was the sole Harrier in the 1500m knocking 17 seconds off her PB to finish 6th in 5:20.07. The 75m hurdles saw Ivayla Atanasova win the B string in 13.04 (PB) and Francesca Robinson run 15.27 for 5th in the A string. Moving onto the field Josie Steer leaped out to 4.14 in the long jump for 4th in the A event, before jumping 1.35 (PB) in the high jump for 3rd in the B event. Charlotte Smith jumped a long jump B of 4.10 for 2nd in the B and Esme Rolfe added 5cm to her high jump PB with a best of 1.40 for 3rd in the A competition. Smith also competed in the shot put where she threw 6.78 (PB) for 4th A with Atanasova coming 4th in the B event with 6.51. As well as a 300m PB Reynolds also won the A discus with a brilliant performance of 18.65 (PB). Skyla Turbard was 2nd in the B discus with 13.81 (PB) and 3rd in the A hammer with 24.04 (PB). Sprinter’s Farrier and Rolfe competed in the A and B javelin respectively, throwing 10.55 and 10.31 for 6th and 2nd. The 4x100m team took 4th place in 53.92 thanks to Cook, Smith, Atanasova and Farrier and the 4x300m team were 3rd in 3:10.53 due to the efforts of Reynolds, Howell, Paul and Woolley.

Incredibly across the U13 boy’s events there were 4 A string wins and two came from Caleb Green. Green won the 800m in a 7 second PB of 2:29.45 and then won the long jump with a best of 4.36. Patrick Paul won the other distance event, the 1200m, in a 14 second PB of 3:49.06 and Samuel Jeenes won the javelin in a PB of 22.78. The performances rank the three athletes all within the top 50 in the country, with Paul’s 1200m ranking him inside the top 10. Paul also competed in the long jump where he jumped 3.46 (PB) for 2nd in the B event. Jeenes also competed in the 150m where he ran 22.13 (PB) for 4th in the A string and jumped 1.30 (PB) in the high jump for 1st in the B event. Oliver Wilson and Bertie Travis competed in the B string 800m and 1200m respectively, with Wilson running 2:42.31 for 2nd and Travis running 4:16.70 (PB), and both athletes finished 2nd. Travis also took 2nd in the A high jump with 1.30 (PB) and Wilson was 2nd in the B shot with 4.29 (PB). In the 75m Arthur Roberts ran a PB of 11.66 for 3rd A runner and ran 13.39 (PB) in the 75m hurdles for 2nd A runner. Roberts then threw a shot put PB of 4.29 for 3rd in the A event. Harry Jones competed in the B 75m race running 12.91 (PB). The U13 boys relay team of Green, Jeenes, Paul and Travis ran a superb 57.14 to finish over a second and a half clear of their nearest rival. 

Megan Amey had a brilliant competition winning two A string events, the 70m hurdles and high jump. In the hurdles Amey ran a strong race to take victory in 13.19 and in the high jump Amey added 6cm to her PB with a clearance of 1.36. Amey was also 1st in the B long jump with 3.70. Lottie Cook competed in the B hurdles coming 2nd in a PB of 15.59, Daisy Hopcraft took on the B high jump clearing a PB of 1.05 for 5th  and Lexie Wiggett achieved a PB in the A long jump of 3.97 for 2nd. Hopcraft and Wiggett also competed in the A string 75m and 150m respectively. Hopcraft ran 11.08 (PB) for 4th and Wiggett ran 22.43 (PB) for 5th. Amber Tandy was in flying form when she competed in the B 75m running 10.64 (PB) for the win and Lottie Cook impressed with 2nd in the B 150m in 22.76 (PB). Evie Avery and Olivia Avery both came 2nd in the A 800m and 1200m respectively, Evie ran 2:37.00 while Olivia finished in 4:06.55 (PB). Scarlett Eagland ran well to win the B 800m in 2:46.45 (PB) and Freya Braiden had a good run for 4th in the B 1200m in 4:38.55 (PB). In the shot put Evie Avery was 4th in the A in 5.55 (PB) and Lexie Wiggett was 2nd in the B in 4.58 (PB) and in the javelin Wiggett was 3rd in the A in 11.97 (PB) and Lottie Cook was 4th in the B in 7.81 (PB). Finally the relay team of Hopcraft, Tandy, Cook and Amey were 4th in 58.15

An impressive array of results, and as can be seen almost all the athletes competed in 2 or more events, showing dedication to the club and determination to succeed.