Weekend Round Up 18th-19th June 2022

20 June 2022

This week has seen action from all over, with open meets, road races, Midland, South West and English Championships events, but the report needs to begin with the impressive performance of U15 Oliver Belbeck!

(Photo: Oliver Belbeck collecting his medal)
Competing in the English and British U15 combined events Championships Belbeck produced his best ever result winning a phenomenal English Gold and British Silver! The U15 athlete had eight events to contend with, 4 of which he was making his debut in. Despite beautiful weather all week the rain came down on day one, adding an extra obstacle to overcome. Beginning with the 100m Belbeck ran 12.15, not far off his PB, a solid opener. Belbeck then produced a Javelin PB of 25.34 and jumped just 1cm short of his PB in the high jump, 1.59, impressive results in such wet conditions. The final event of day one was the 400m, Belbeck first event debut of the weekend, a solid run saw him finish in 56.43. Day two began with the 80m hurdles where Belbeck ran 12.69, he then threw 20.97 in the discus, cleared 2.40 on his pole vault debut and rounded the competition off with 3:14.12 in the 1000m. Overall, Belbeck scored 3533 to finish 25 points clear of third place in what ended up being a tight competition.

Over at the Midland Senior and U20 Champs in Nuneaton Harriers won 4 Golds, a Silver and a Bronze. Ben Wade kicked things off with a win in the senior discus with a best throw of 40.91, his second farthest throw ever. Alfie Wood then won U20 long jump Gold with a best jump of 6.63, 4cm clear of 2nd place, a solid performance in such tough weather. The weather was a bit better on Sunday when the second two golds were won by Annabel Moloney and Kiya Dee. Moloney won the senior shot Put with a best of 11.32, her first time competing at the Champs since 2013! Dee won the U20 2000m Steeplechase title with a very impressive solo run, finishing in 6:55.48. Rachel See took Silver in the senior 3000m running a PB of 10:44.11. Rebecca Hoadley ran an impressive 400ms knocking over a second off her best to win bronze in 57.63. Michael Gardiner also competed in the 400m coming in 8th in 56.34, a brilliant result against younger rivals. 

(Photo: Alfie Wood collecting golds)
A number of Harriers travelled to Exeter to form part of the Gloucestershire team at the South West Schools Championships, collectively winning 4 Golds, 6 

Silvers and 5 Bronzes. Ruby Brook won Senior (Schools years 12 + 13) 400m gold in her first year in the age group with a time of 59.23. Distance duo Kiya Dee and Kaitlyn Sheppard took comfortable victories in the Senior 1500m steeplechase and 1500m flat respectively. Dee ran 5:00.96 in the steeplechase while Sheppard ran 4:36.98 to finish well clear of her rivals and run well below the English Schools qualification standards. Ruben Lombard was the Harriers 4th gold medalist with a huge throw of 50.96 to win the Inter (Schools years 10+11) javelin. 

The javelin was a successful event for the club with a silver and two bronzes also being won. The silver came from Mimi Davis in the Senior women’s event with a best of 38.33, over 2 metres further than what is needed to go to English Schools Champs. Luca Colombini finished 3rd in the Inter boys Javelin with 46.95 and Charlie Mason was 3rd in the Junior (Schools Years 8+9) javelin with 41.29. Oliver Risborough also threw well with a best of 37.12 for 5th in the Senior competition. 

There were three more Harriers in action in the throwing events; Skyla Turbard won Junior girls Hammer bronze in a big PB of 27.05. Billy Buxton and Alana Hazell finished 5th in the Inter discus and shot put respectively with throws of 31.81 and 9.95.

Back on the track Elinor Farrier had a fantastic day winning silver in both the Junior 100m and 200m. Farrier ran 12.98 in her 100m heat, qualifying her easily for the final where she ran 13.18. In the 200m Farrier ran a PB of 26.65 in the heat before lowering it further in the final with a superb run of 26.29. Lily Marchant competed in the Inter 100m and 200m cruising through her 100m heat with a time of 13.18. Sadly Marchant just missed out on a medal despite a strong run of 13.27 in the final for 4th. However, in the 200m Marchant came back strongly, running well to finish in 26.92 and take home a well earned bronze. Also competing in the Inter 100m was Cara Walsh who ran 13.75 in her heat before finishing 8th in the final in 13.93. In the Senior 100m Alastair Klemz ran 11.55 in his heat before finishing 6th in the final with a time of 11.67. 

In the hurdles Ivayla Atanasova was 5th in the Junior 75m race in a PB of 12.50, Lydia Baldwin was 4th in the Inter 80m hurdles in a PB of 12.50 and Fred Fowler was 6th in the Inter competition.

Freddie Coombe and Georgia Howell both ran PBs over 300m. Competing in the Junior age group Coombe ran 40.18 to finish 5th in his heat and Howell ran 43.05 for 5th in her final. 

Ciara Thornley ran a brilliant 3000m race, coming in second in the Senior girls race in an English Schools Qualifying standard of 10:04.63. Chloe Sheppard was 5th in the Inter girls race in 11:04.08. Dominic Martin and Sam Wilson both competed in the Junior 1500m with Martin running a PB of 4:25.31 for 3rd and Wilson running 4:35.53 for 6th. Tom Gavin was 8th in the Inter 1500m in 4:25.95 and Bluebell Heath-Smith was 8th in the Junior 800m in 2:30.98. 

Last but not least Sulaiman Ouiles and Bexley Turbard made it double pole vault silver for the Harriers. Ouiles cleared the same height as the winner, 4.00, but earned silver on countback in the Senior category and Turbard cleared 3.30 in the Inter event. 

Earlier in the week George Watson competed at the Loughborough BMC over 1500m. Watson ended what has easily been his most successful season to date with a 1500m PB of 3:46.58. The same evening Ella Burffit competed at the Watford Open over 3000m and Kiya Dee competed in Nuneaton over 800m. Burfitt knocked 9 seconds off her PB running 10:05.45 and Dee also ran a PB, achieving her first sub 2:20 800m with a time of 2:19.51.

On the roads this week athletes competed in the Cirencester 10k and Bourton Hilly Half. In the 10k Dan Minors ran 36:36.4 to finish 4th male and 1st M50. Isobel Watt was first junior female and 8th female overall in 44:22.2 and Ross Swain ran 46:04.8 for 18th male. Jane Fairbairn competed in the Hilly Half running 1:33.29, an impressive time for such a tough course, earning her 4th female and 3rd L45.