Midsummer Open 2

19 July 2022

The second Midsummer Open of the season took place on a sunny evening, ideal conditions before the real heat wave began a few days later.

SM Brendon Chirisah once again impressed in the sprints this time competing over 100m. Chirisah was the quickest athlete of the day running 11.4, but it was a very close race with the top 3 all being awarded the same time. This meant two Harriers ran 11.4, with U20 Alastair Klemz coming in 3rd. U17 Fred Fowler took the win in race 2 with a time of 12.1, winning by a fraction of a second from teammate Ralph Nicklin who was also timed at 12.1. U17 Barnabas Shaw ran a PB of 12.2 for 4th, U15 Oliver Belbeck was 5th in 12.3 and U17s Max and Alfie Beer were 6th and 8th respectively in PBs of 12.4 and 12.6. In race 3 U20 Philip Hunt was 2nd in 12.8, holding off U17 Max Stanley-Jones who ran a PB of 12.9. SW Rebecca Hoadley had a good run to finish 5th in 13.5. The third Harrier victory of the day came from U17 Barnaby Heath-Smith who won race 4 in a 0.12 seconds PB of 12.8. U17 Lydia Baldwin equalled her PB of 13.6 for 3rd and U17 Emily Brown ran 13.8 for 4th. U17s Beatrice Morley and Alana Hazell competed in race 5. Morley knocked 0.58 off her PB running 13.8 for 5th and Hazell ran 14.0 for 6th. Next up, in race 6, U13 Jack Johnson and U15 Charlotte Smith made it a Harriers 1-2. Johnson was making his 100m debut and ran a brilliant time of 13.8 and Smith was just off her PB with a time of 14.1. U17 flora Hopcraft was 4th in 14.1 and U13 Megan Amey was 6th in 14.3. U13 Caleb Green took a superb win in race 7, running 13.8. U17 Isobel Burfitt was 3rd in 14.1 on her event debut. U13 Zara Collins ran 15.2 for 4th in race 8. The 6th and final Harriers victory came from U17 Sophia Bevan, knocking 0.24 off her previous best Bevan ran 14.4 to pull 0.4 clear of second place. U13 Daisy Hopcraft ran 15.2 to finish in 6th. In the final 100m race of the evening U11 Matty Collins ran 17.5 for 6th. 

6 Harriers competed across various distances in the sprint hurdles. U13 Megan Amey competed over 70m running 12.9 for 2nd place. U13 Bertie Travis ran 18.5 for 2nd place in the 75m hurdles. U15 Oliver Belbeck lowered his PB down to 12.5 for 80m hurdles. U17s Lydia Baldwin and Zoe Thorogood also competed over 80ms with Baldwin taking the win in 13.0 and Thorogood running a PB of 14.4 for 2nd place. F65 Jane Horder returned from the World Masters Championships to run 13.8 over 80m hurdles. 

The longest event of the day was the 3000m. Competing in the first race was SW Rachel See and U17s Isobel Watt and Milly Foster. See ran a PB of 10:40.3 for 2nd, Watt ran a strong race in hot conditions to finish just 3 seconds off her PB with 11:45.1 for 4th and Foster made a good event debut with 12:47.6 for 7th. In race 2 SW Ella Burfiit went out hard, sticking with the pacemaker in the early stages. A determined effort saw Burfitt finish in 3rd in 10:24.5. Race 3 was taken out hard by the leaders, but smart running by U17 Bexley Turbard and M50 Dan Minors saw them judge their efforts well and rewarded them both with PBs. Turbard finished in 10:13.2 for 11th, just holding off his teammate who ran 10:15.3 for 12th. 

Over on the field athletes competed in the high jump, long jump, shot and discus. 

U15s  Luke Johnson and Oliver Belbeck both cleared 1.55 in the high jump. U15 Edward Palmer jumped a best of 1.45 and U17 Caspar Thomson jumped a PB of 1.40. A successful evening for Caleb Green saw him jump 1.45 on his high jump debut. U17 Alana Hazell, U15 Esme Rolfe, U15 Ben Meech and U13 Megan Amey all cleared 1.40 with it being a PB for Rolfe, Meech and Amey. U13 Bertie Travis equalled his PB with a clearance of 1.35. U13s Lexie Wiggett, Zara Collins, Verity Gaskin and Scarlett Eagland all made their high jump debuts clearing 1.35, 1.25, 1.25, 1.15 and 1.00 respectively. 

U17 Barnabas Shaw impressed in the long jump with the biggest jump of the day, 5.38. Fellow U17 Max Stanley-jones jumped a PB of 5.20 for 2nd furthest of the day. U15 Oliver Belbeck, competing in his 4th event of the evening, jumped 5.14. U15 Luke Jonson achieved a best of 4.81. U17 Isobel Burfitt had the biggest female jump of the day with 4.49. In his first ever competition U17 Caspar Thomson added to a strong performance in the high jump with a jump of 4.37 in the long jump. U11 Bertie Brookes was just 1cm behind his PB with a best of 3.73, a clearance that was equalled by U15 Charlotte Smith. U13 Lexie Wiggett jumped 3.67, U13 Zara Collins jumped 3.33, U13 Scarlett Eagland jumped 2.83 and U11 Matty Collins cleared 2.82. 

Amy Eastcott competed in the F33 shot put throwing PB of 2.44 and Gareth Picken threw a PB of 15.75 in the F56 javelin.