South West Schools Combined Events Championships & UYDL

28 June 2021

The South West Schools Combined Events Championships saw three Harriers representing Gloucestershire. Florence Hampton competed in the Junior Girls pentathlon. Getting out to a flying start Hampton won the 75m hurdles in a new PB of 12.2. Hampton then threw a shot put PB with 9.52, 38cm further than her previous best, jumped 1.41 in the high jump and a huge 4.65 in the long jump, which was also a big PB. With just the 800m remaining Hampton placed 2nd just 38 points ahead of the athlete in 3rd. Running a determined race Hampton took 7 seconds off her previous best time running 2:42.59 to secure the silver medal and make it 4 PBs out of 5 events. An overall score of 2683 saw Hampton break the U15 girls club record and was cheered on all the way by previous record holder Jessica Duncton who was competing in the Inter Girls Heptathlon. Duncton showed her class from the start winning the 80m hurdles in 11.56, just outside her PB and took the momentum into the high jump where she went 18cm clear of her previous best with a clearance of 1.56. Duncton threw 9.68 in the shot before finishing day 1 with another sprint win in the 200m where she stormed away from the rest of the field to run a PB of 25.24. Day 2 saw Duncton produce three solid performances, in the long jump, javelin and 800m where she jumped 4.79, threw 21.19 and ran 2:32.6, all performances not far outside her best. After 7 events Duncton finished with a score of 4396 for an amazing 3rd place. Both Hampton and Duncton showed brilliant team spirit supporting each other throughout the weekend and did amazingly well in their debut at the pentathlon and heptathlon respectively. Both athletes have now qualified to compete for Gloucestershire in the English Schools Combined events championships in September.

(Photo: Jess Duncton and Florence Hampton with there certificates)

In the Junior Boys pentathlon Isaac Evans was also making his multi-events debut. Starting day 1 with the 80m hurdles Evans ran well to finish 9th in 14.25. The shot put saw Evans throw 6.70 before jumping exactly 5.00 in the long jump and 1.38 in the high jump. Evans placed 11th with one event to go, but ran a brilliant 800m in 2:25.78 to move up to 9th and finish with an overall score of 1832.

A small team of Harriers headed to Yate for the 2nd event in the Upper Age Group Youth Development League. The athletes who made the trip worked hard to do the club proud, with many producing impressive performances, with gusts of up to -4.5 it was a tough day for all the athletes.

Our two U20 men, Alfie Wood and Chris Picken, led by example both convincingly winning their events. Chris Picken took the Javelin in a new PB of 42.48, 20cm further than he threw to win the senior league a week ago, and Alfie Wood won the triple jump with a jump of 11.84.

In the U20 women’s events Grace Pitman took 2nd in the A string 100m with a time of 12.97 and then went on to jump a PB in the long jump of 4.16 to finish 2nd in the B string. Jorja Webb was just 0.01 outside her PB in the 100m running 13.81 for 2nd in the B race and then made a rare appearance on the field competing in the discus where she finished 1st in the B string with 11.46. Mia Hopkins was our sole U20 middle distance runner, Hopkins competed in the 800m, running well to finish 2nd in 2:28.04, her 2nd quickest time ever. Not only was Molly Gould competing for the 1st time since 2019 she was also making her 400m hurdles debut. Gould ran a brilliant race to finish 3rd in 78.98. Multi-eventer Gemma Veal competed in the long jump for the first time since before the pandemic, finishing a brilliant 2nd in the A event with a leap of 4.35. Thea Vine threw well in the discus coming a solid 2nd in the A event with 21.29. Emily Spencer competed in the 100m as a guest, running close to her best with 14.64. Veal, Webb, Spencer and Pitman teamed up to compete in the 4x100m finishing a solid 2nd in 52.66.

A small U17 women’s team of Lydia Baldwin, Erin Thomas and Hetty Mccartney performed well throughout the day. Baldwin (14.36) and Thomas (15.39) competed in the 100m finishing 4th and 3rd in the A and B string respectively. Thomas also competed in the long jump, coming 4th with a jump of 3.72. Mccartney competed in the 800m, running consistently this season, Mccartney was once again just outside her PB in 2:41.72 for 5th.

In the U17 men’s 200m Oliver Spencer was in flying form, winning the A race in a huge PB of 23.82. In the B 200m Philip Hunt was also in PB form, taking 0.91seconds off his previous best to finish 2nd in 26.49. In the 1500m Isaac Henderson ran his 2nd quickest time ever, 4:23.60, to finish 4th in the A string, just ahead of teammate Luke Davis who ran a brilliant PB of 4:26.19 to take 2nd in the B string. In the field events, Ruben Lombard was in amazing form, throwing a huge javelin PB of 44.29 to win the A string. Also throwing well Luca Colombini finished 2nd in the B string with 41.05. Billy Buxton competed in the high jump and triple jump, putting together a strong day Buxton jumped just outside his PB in both events with 1.5 for 4th in the high jump and 10.47 for 2nd in the B string triple jump. William Andrews-Flint competed well to take 3rd in the A triple jump with 10.77.