LYDL 4/9/21 & UYDL 5/9/21

10 September 2021

The final two Youth Development Leagues of the season took place over the weekend in Hereford with the U13/15s competing on Saturday and the U17/20s on Sunday. The Upper age group finished 3rd overall and the the lower age group came together brilliantly to take there second overall victory of the season.

Beginning with the U15 age category, our Harriers demonstrated sprinting dominance with 6 race victories. Over 100m Fred Fowler and James Keenan made it an A and B string double winning in 12.2 and 13.7 respectively. Cara Walsh was a close 2nd in the girls A 100m in 13.6 and Elinor Farrier produced a brilliant PB of 13.4 to win the B race. Competing as guests Annabelle Wigan ran 14.1 and Flora Hopcraft ran a PB of 14.5. In the 200m it was the girls who achieved a double victory with Elinor Farrier running her second PB of the day to win the A race in 27.4 and Cara Walsh running 28.5 to win the B race. Othneil Harris ran 26.4 to finish 3rd in the boys A 200m and Tom Gavin ran a PB of 27.6 for 2nd in the B 200m. Isobel Burfitt improved her 300m PB by 0.1 to take a well deserved 2nd place in 47.8. Oliver Belbeck was also 2nd over 300m in 42.4. James Keenan was the clear winner of the 80mh with a time of 14.9 and Florence Hampton was just outside her PB in the 75mh coming 2nd in 12.3.

The distance events produced some exciting races with our athletes holding their own against tough opposition. Tom Gavin ran a PB of 2:18.3 to finish 2nd in the A 800, just ahead of teammate Dominic Martin who ran 2:19.4 to win the B event. Freddie Coombe knocked 6seconds off his PB to secure 2nd in the A 1500m in 4:50.8 while Sam Wilson won the B string in 4:52.6. The girls 800m saw Georgia Howell dip inside her PB to win the A race in 2:27.2 and Evie Henderson ran well for 3rd in the B race in 2:45.6. Competing as guests, Ellis Woolley ran under 2:30 for the first time ever crossing the line in a superb 2:29.3 and Eleon Wightman lowered her PB to 2:34.0. Abigail Thornley and Milly Foster took on the 1500m with Thornley running 5:52.8 for 4th in the A event and Foster running 6:04.6 for 2nd in the B event. 

There was an impressive 10 PBs in the field events for our U15 athletes with 4 coming in the high jump. Alana Hazell added 7cm to her best with a clearance of 1.42 to win the A competition by 9cm and Tilly Colley jumped a PB of 1.33 to win the B event. Othniel Harris and Tom Gavin made it a Harriers clean sweep winning the boys A and B events with PBs of 1.6 and 1.1 respectively. Harris also jumped a PB in the long jump where he leaped to 4.18 and a B string victory. Oliver Belbeck jumped 4.69 to win the A event and came within 10cm of his PB. Florence Hampton was also close to her best in the girls long jump achieving her 3rd furthest jump ever, 4.59, and coming 2nd in the A string. Kitty Ellis took 2nd in the B string with 3.57. Hampton continued her successful day of athletics with victory in the A shot put with a throw of 9.33m. Alana Hazell won the B shot put with a throw of 9.15. Fred Fowler threw a PB of 6.73 to finish 2nd in the boys A shot put. Distance runners Abigail Thornley and Dominic Martin competed in the Hammer with Thornley winning with a throw of 13.25 and Martin coming a very respectable 3rd with a PB of 5.25. Kitty Ellis and Tilly Colley returned to compete in the discus with the athletes winning the A and B events respectively with throws of 15.76 and 14.35. In the boys discus Oliver Belbeck threw 22.32 for 2nd in the A competition and Sam Wilson threw a PB of 15.43 to win the B competition. In the javelin Charlie Mason produced a throw of 32.68 to win the A string convincingly and James Keenan threw a PB of 16.80 to win the B javelin. Katherine Terrell also achieved a new javelin PB, throwing the spear out to 13.44m and finishing 3rd in the A event. Tilly Colley threw 12.47 for 2nd in the B event.  

Not to be out done our U13s made the most of the competition opportunity and produced 18 PBs and 11 victories between them. 

In the throws Robin Nishimura completed a shot put/javelin double throwing a PB of 6.02 for 4th in the A shot put and 9.97 for 2nd in the A javelin. The B shot put was won by Eddie Atkins with 5.56 . Nishimura also jumped 1.15 for 4th in the A high jump and ran a 75mh PB of 16.2 to take 3rd in the A race and complete a successful day for the young Harrier. Bertie Travis won the B hurdles with a time of 17.5. Back with the throws, Charlotte Buckley was in brilliant form winning the B competition for both the shot put and javelin with PBs of 5.76 and 12.26. Jessica Asquith was 3rd in the A shot put with a PB of 6.36 and Zara Collins was 2nd in the A javelin with a PB of 12.70. Caleb Green added 30cm to his long jump PB reaching out to 4.69 and a brilliant 2nd place in the A competition. Fred Buckland was also on PB form adding 52cm to his best with a clearance of 3.71 to win the B long jump. Buckland also placed 2nd in the B high jump with 1.10 and ran an impressive 150m PB of 23.0 for 3rd in the B race. Josie Steer and Megan Amey teamed up to compete in the long jump and high jump. Steer was 2nd in the A competition for both events jumping 4.07 and 1.25 and Amey was 2nd in the B long jump with a best of 3.78 and 1st in the B high jump with 1.25. On the track Amey improved her 75mh PB by 0.07 to take 2nd in the A race in 12.9, Jessica Asquith took the B string win in 13.6. Steer competed in the 800m finishing 2nd overall but was sadly disqualified due to a lane violation. The A 800m saw Evie Avery lower her PB running a fantastic race to finish 2nd in 2:38.4. The boys 800m saw Leo Soakell finish 2nd in the A event in 2:36.1 and Caleb Green win the B event in 2:38.3. Further distance running succes came in the 1200m with Maddie Thomson storming away to win by over 10seconds from her nearest rival in a time of 4:11.2, just 0.7 slower than her PB and the quickest 1200m time of the day, male or female. Olivia Avery then took the B race win with a brilliant 4:24.2 just 1.1 slower than her PB. Eddie Atkins knocked just under a second of his PB to come 2nd in the boys A 1200m in 4:14.7 and Bertie Travis ran well to finish 2nd in the B 1200m in 4:48.0. In the 75m it was an impressive 4 Harrier PBs out of 4 with Benjamin Parker running 10.8 for 2nd in the boys A, Caleb Green running 11.1 to win the boys B, Ava Mitchell running 11.0 for 3rd in the girls A and Izzy Cook running 10.9 for 2nd in the girls B. Such is the strength in depth of our athletes Taylor Steele competed as a guest and ran a superb 11.2. Over 150m Charlotte Smith produced a PB of 21.9 for 2nd in the A race and Zara Collins also managed a PB of 23.9 for 3rd in the B race. A time matched by Eddie Atkins in the boys A 150m where he finished 4th.  

It was amazing to see the club field relay teams in all six events, with 4 of the teams producing victories, two of which came from our U15 girls. Flora Hopcraft, Elinor Farrier, Annabelle Wigan and Cara Walsh combined to win the U15 4x100m in 53.9. In a very close race Isobel Burfitt, Milly Foster, Georgia Howell and Ellis Woolley held on brilliantly, digging deep, to win the U15 4x300m in 3:12.8. The U13G team of Izzy Cook, Taylor Steele, Ava Mitchell and Charlotte Smith demonstrated there talent with 4x100m victory in 55.8. 

(Photo: The U15G winning 4x300m relay team)

In the boys relays Fred Fowler, Othniel Harris, James Keenan and Oliver Belbeck combined in the U15 4x100m, the team ran a smooth race to win in 50.6. The U15B 4x300m team of Charlie Mason, Freddie Coombe, Tom Gavin and Sam Wilson finished 2nd, but due to a slight lane issue were disqualified. Finally the U13B 4x100m team of Caleb Green, Fred Buckland, Bertie Travis and Benjamin Parker ran well to finish 2nd in 60.6.  

At the Upper Youth Development League the following day there was a host of impressive performances. In the U20M events, Alastair Klemz impressively navigated around the track in the 100m and 200m events. Coming third in both races, the U17 sprinter came agonisingly close to running personal bests, missing out by 0.06 and 0.11 seconds, respectively. Tom Samuel and Alfie Wood competed in the long jump winning the A and B event. Samuel equalled his PB with 6.64 and Alfie Wood jumped a best of 6.55.

U20W Grace Pitman put on a determined display in the 100m, 200m and long jump. Pitman won the 100m with her 2nd quickest time of the year 12.9 and then took 2nd in the 200m in her 3rd quickest time ever, 26.6. Finally Pitman made a rare appearance on the field jumping 4.55 for 2nd in the long jump. In the U20W shot put Lily Carpenter was a class apart, winning the event by over 2metres. Carpenter improved her PB by 41cm throwing 10.36 and moved into the top 40 in the UK rankings. 

The U20W 4x100m team consisting of Tamsin Hatton (U17), Ruby Brook (U17), Lily Marchant (U17) and Grace Pitman flew around the track working amazingly as a unit to win in 52.0. 

(Photo: The winning U20W 4x100m relay team)

Moving to the U17 age group, Oliver Spencer, Philip Hunt and Lily Marchant took part in the 100m and 200m. Spencer placed 3rd in the A 100m in 11.7 and 2nd in the A 200m in 23.9. Meanwhile, Hunt ran a 100m PB in the B race of 12.7 and was just 0.01 behind his PB in the B 200m, running 26.5 for 3rd. Marchant was at her very best running a 100m PB of 13.1 for 3rd and a 200m SB of 26.9 to win the B race. Ruby Brook took on the A 200m running a PB of 26.2 to win a closely fought race. In her main event, the 300m, Brook made it two victories crossing the line 0.7 ahead of second place in 41.8. Tamsin Hatton ran well in the B 300m coming 2nd in 48.4. Freya Howell was our sole 800m competitor and ran well to come 2nd in 2:38.1. Isaac Henderson battled hard in the 3000m and although he missed out on first place by just 0.6 he was rewarded with his second quickest time ever, 9:10.0. Molly Dibden took victory in the U17W 3000m running 12:31.7.

In the field, Ruben Lombard threw a huge javelin PB improving his previous best by 6metres. Lombard won the competition with a throw of 51.44 moving him up to 21st in the UK rankings. Luca Colombini threw well to win the B competition with a best of 42.29 and Oliver Risborough threw 37.71 as a guest. Mimi Davis took 2nd place in the U17W javelin with 35.46. The discus saw Billy Buxton finish 3rd with a throw of 25.78 and Tamsin Hatton threw a shot put PB of 7.91 for 4th. Celia Darwent jumped superbly to clear a SB and =PB of 1.45 in the high jump claiming 2nd place. There were A and B string victories in the pole vault with Sulaiman Ouiles clearing 3.65 in the A event and Bexley Turbard jumping 2.75 in the B competition. 

Overall our younger athletes have competed brilliant in the two leagues this season and been a shining example of the club demonstrating, hard work, perseverance and brilliant team spirit that has been rewarded with a huge number of PBs, victories and experiences that stand them in good stead for the seasons to come.