South West Intercounties Championships 2022
25 July 2022
26 Harriers were selected to compete for Gloucestershire at the South West Inter Counties Championships in Exeter. From these athletes there were 19 podium finishes and 8 Gold medals.
One of the most impressive performances of the day came from U15 Isla Pain. Pain is new to the sport this year but has quickly proven she has all the potential to be one of the best! Competing in the high jump in Exeter Pain added 9 cm to her PB clearing a best of 1.62, the performance won her the competition and added 1cm to the club record, this in just her 3rd ever high jump competition. Pain now sits 8th in the UK U15 rankings. On the same day Pain also lowered her 75m hurdles PB with a time of 13.37 for 6th.
It was the javelin that proved to be the clubs most successful event with 3 Golds won. Charlie Mason was arguably the most impressive winning the U15 boys title by over 7 metres. Mason threw 47.37 adding close to 5 metres to his previous PB moving him up to 3rd in the UK U15 rankings. Mimi Davis' best throw of 39.14 was enough to secure her U20 gold in her first year in the age group. Luca Colombini was the clear winner in the U17 men’s event producing his second farthest throw ever, 48.48. Sam Jeenes competed in the U13 javelin throwing a best of 23.38 for 5th. Jeenes also competed in the 200m, making his debut he ran 29.66 for 5th in his race and 11th overall.
It was brilliant to see Annabel Moloney secure the Senior Women’s shot put title with a season's best of 12.63, after only returning to the sport again last year after a 7 year break, it’s fantastic to see Moloney already back throwing over 12 metres so consistently. Alana Hazell threw well in the U17 event winning silver in 10.49. Billy Buxton also won a throwing silver, adding 5 metres to his discus season’s best with a best of 37.15 in the U17 men’s event.
4 Harriers competed in the long jump and all 4 walked away with a medal. Alfie Wood added to his Midland U20 Champs gold with Gold again in Exeter. Woods' farthest jump of 6.82 was enough to see him finish 55cm clear of 2nd place. Wood was also 4th in his 100m race in a PB of 11.46, placing him 8th overall in the event. U13 Caleb Green won long jump silver with a best of 4.69, his second best jump ever. Isobel Burfitt and Megan Amey took bronzes in the U17 and U13 girls long jump respectively. Burfitt produced a best jump of 4.91 while Amey’s best was 4.33, again both producing their second best performances ever. Amey had a busy day also winning gold in the high jump equalling her PB with a clearance of 1.40 and finished 4th in the 70m hurdles in 12.76.
(Photo: Isobel Burfitt competing in the U17 women’s long jump)
Kiya Dee was the unsurprising winner of the U20 1500m steeplechase. Dee won U20 gold last weekend and was unphased by the pressure of being the favourite. Dee’s winning time of 5:07.90 was faster than the senior gold medalist as well. Competing over the flat 1500m U13 Olivia Avery ran 5:14.77 for 5th place. Twin sister Evie Avery was 4th in the U13 800m in 2:31.03. Dom Martin and Sam Wilson competed in the U15 3000m. Martin went with the fast pace and was rewarded with a 17 seconds PB of 9:26.57 for 6th. Wilson ran well, missing his PB by just a 0.4 of a second finishing 10th in 9:45.33.
Elinor Farrier enjoyed the perfect day winning double silver and running double PBs. In the 100m Farrier took 0.18 off her previous best stopping the clock in 12.77 and in the 200m Farrier ran 26.00, although in this event the wind was slightly over the legal limit. U13 Aidan John ran an 100m PB of 13.14 to win his race but finished just outside the medals in 4th overall. John then produced a near identical time in the 75m hurdles, 13.15, the performance earned him a fantastic silver medal. Lydia Baldwin also won a hurdles silver competing in the U17 80m hurdles. Baldwin ran a wind assisted PB of 12.20. In the U20 100m Alastair Klemz finished 5th in race 1 in 11.54 and 10th overall. Ralph Nicklin competed in the U17 100m and 200m coming 5th in both in 11.90 and 24.14 respectively. Frustratingly for the sprinters the strong winds continued and a flying run by Lily Marchant in the U17 200m 0f 26.32 fell foul to high wind readings. Regardless the performance is still a wind assisted PB and earned Marchant bronze. Marchant also finished 5th in the 300m in a time of 43.23. Georgia Howell ran well in the U15 300m finishing in 43.02 for silver. Howell ran 27.54 for 4th in her 200m race and 8th U15 overall. Last but definitely not least Rebecca Hoadley brought home Senior Women’s 400m silver in a time of 59.12.