Midsummer Open 1 - 7/7/2021

10 July 2021

*Club Record for Jessica Duncton*

While the country buzzed with the build up to England’s Euro semi-final match the Prince of Wales stadium was also buzzing with the return of the Midsummer Open series. A huge number of athletes took part with plenty making their event debuts.  

Jessica Duncton was making her last preparations before she competes in the English Schools Championships this weekend. The Harrier has been on form all season, progressing with each competition. Wednesday was no different, Duncton was in flying form running an incredible PB of 11.4 over 80m hurdles to beat the club record set by Great Britain international Sophie Yorke and easily win the race. Duncton is currently ranked 4th in the U17W UK rankings and appears to be improving all the time. In the same race Senior Women Ellen Horder ran well to finish 3rd in 13.8. In the U15 boys 80m hurdles Fred Fowler took the win in a new PB of 12.6 and was followed in by James Keenan in 2nd also with a PB of 14.8.

(Photo: New club record holder Jessica Duncton)
Florence Hampton made her pentathlon debut just over a week ago, but was focusing on just the 75m hurdles at the Midsummer Open. Hampton ran well to equal her PB of 12.2 and take 3rd place in a competitive race. Finishing in 4th and 5th Matilda Barter and Tilly Coley made their 75m hurdle debuts showing potential to finish in 13.4 and 13.9 respectively. Alana Hazell impressed in race 2 finishing 2nd and running a huge PB of 13.4, beating her previous best by over a second. In the U13 boys 75m hurdles Caleb Green made his hurdles debut, having previously only competed in cross country. Green showed his adaptability finishing 1st in 14.8. Teammate Daniel Webb was also making his debut and was 2nd in 15.3.

Megan Amey ran a big PB in the 70m hurdles to finish 3rd in 13.0. The time moves Amey from 59th to 35th in the UK U13 rankings. In 4th place Tilly Burton ran well to finish in 14.1.

Although a rarely run distance the mile track event is steeped in history and an important fixture of our yearly open events. Harrison Miles was the quickest of the Harriers dipping under 5 minutes with a PB of 4:56.3 for 10th place. Although having PBs in distances from 800m to 40miles Andy Gore made his mile debut finishing 11th in 5:01.7. Fellow V50 athlete Daniel Minos wasn’t too far behind with a PB of 5:14.4 for 14th. In race 2 U15 Sam wilson beat his previous best by over 30seconds running 5:15.9 to finish in 5th place. U15 Dominic Martin won race 3 with a brilliant 5:11.4 and Chloe Sheppard ran under 6 minutes for the first time with a big PB of 5:35.2 for 6th. Race 5 was won by an in form Georgia Howell, the U15 ran a superb race to finish in a 36 second PB of 5:32.1. U13 boys Tom Wightman and Harry Knight finished in 13th and 17th respectively in times of 5:45.6 and 6:07 and  U17 Molly Dibden was 16th in 5:54.7. Race 5 was a double event debut for U15 girls Harriet Smith (6:02.7) and Isobel Burfitt (6:36.0), both athletes did great to finish in 6th and 12th.

33 Harriers took part in the 100m, an impressive number showing the club’s potential depth. Leading the Harriers home was English Schools bound 400m runner Sam Howell. The U20 athlete was 3rd in race 1 with a brilliant 11.4, his second quickest time ever. There were 3 PBs out of 3 U17 athletes in race 2 with Oliver Spencer staying composed to win the race in 11.6. Fred Fowler followed up his hurdles PB with 2nd place in the 100m in 11.9, a massive PB by over a second. Archie Mclean completed the trio in a PB of 12.0  for 4th. U15 Ralph Nicklin won race 3 in 12.5 followed closely by Oliver Belbeck who ran a PB of 12.6 for 2nd. Elinor Farrier missed her PB by 0.1, but ran a great race nonetheless to finish 8th in 13.5. Making it a 3rd Harrier race win in a row U17 Philip Hunt won race 4 in a PB of 12.9 and was followed home by Senior Women Abi Williams who was 2nd in 13.0. Race 5 was another PB hat-trick for the Harriers led by Sulaiman Ouiles in 2nd with 13.6, Cara Walsh also finished in 13.6 for 3rd and Jackson James was 7th in 14.4 beating his previous best by over a second. 6 Harriers competed in race 6 led by Katie Terrell who was 2nd in 13.8. Finishing 4th-8th was U20 Emily Spencer (14.1), U15 Senni Ho (14.2 PB), U15 Sophia Bevan (14.6), U15 Ilsa Tomkins (14.7) and U13 Benjamin Parker (14.7) respectively. In race 7 Lily Marchant just missed her PB runner 13.4 for 5th. U13 Megan Amey (14.5), U15 Luke Johnson (14.7), U15 Kate Mills (14.9 PB) and U15 Sophie Osude (15.0) finished 2nd, 4th, 7th and 8th in race 8. Meanwhile, there was a PB and race win for U15 James Keenan in race 9 with a time of 13.6. In the same race U13 Zara Collins was 8th in 16.3. There were two big PBs for our Harriers in race 10. U17 George Hemus flew away from the field, beating his previous best set back in 2018 by 2.3 seconds. Hemus crossed the line in 12.8. Not to be out done, U15 Alana Hazell ran a 1.2 second PB to finish 2nd in 14.9. Senior Women Cicely Moore ran well to finish 4th in 15.2. It was the turn of a younger athletes in the final 2 races with U13s Fred Buckland (15.5), Zayne Rowe (16.0) and U11 Rufus Buckland (16.5) finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th in race 11 and U13s Amber Tandy (14.6) and Daisy Hopcraft (15.4) finishing 2nd and 3rd in race 12. 

Over in the javelin Linsey Hutchins showed consistency throwing just 1cm below her SB to come 1st SW in 20.65. Cicely Moore is building up a lot of experience this year, having returned to the sport for the first time since 2007, Moore threw 17.26 for 3rd. Elinor Farrier made her javelin debut with a best throw of 19.14 and finishing 1st in the U15 age group. In the same age group Kate Mills was 2nd with a best of 14.16. Despite not having competed since 2019 George Elliot was in brilliant form winning the javelin with a best of 53.68. Not far behind in 2nd was Sam Northen who threw a massive 5.58m PB of 47.55 in only his 2nd ever competition. Another athlete showing brilliant consistency is Alex Merret who finished 4th with a best of 26.77. Chris Picken has thrown a Pb in every competition so far this season and he seems to be gaining more and more momentum, he finished as 1st U20 with a throw of 44.12, a 1.64 improvement on his previous best.  Ruben Lombard took the win in the U17 mens event with a PB throw of 45.13. In 2nd was Oliver Risborough who progressed his previous best by close to 5metres with a throw of 41.35. Luca Colombini was 3rd with 41.04 and Sulaiman Ouiles was 5th with 35.83. 

Despite a busy evening competing in 3 events Elinor Farrier won the U15 girls long jump beating her PB by 1cm with a jump of 4.28. Isobel Burfitt and Kate Mills were both within 10cm of their best jumping 4.00 for 4th and 3.36 for 6th. Rosie Wood finished 3rdin the U17 event with a best of 3.91, her second best ever. Edward Andrews-Flint was in PB form winning the U13 boys competition with 3.88. U15 boys Oliver Belbeck and James Keenan were 2nd and 3rd with bests of 4.68 and 4.42, the latter being a PB for Keenan. Last but not least Oliver Spencer won the U17 mens competition adding 3cm to his PB with a jump of 5.37 and William Andrews-Flint was 2nd just outside his PB with 5.36.