Weekend Round Up 24/6-26/6

30 June 2022

A busy weekend as per usual this time of year for the club with action from the part 3 of the Gloucestershire County Championships, South West Schools Combined Events Champs, Upper age group YDL and even some ultra running!

Beginning with the County Champs all 6 competing Harriers won medals over the mile distance, with all also achieving PBs. Dominic Martin was the quickest Harrier winning U15 Gold with a time of 4:56.7 ahead of teammate Sam Wilson who won Silver in 4:59.7. Oliver Wilson won Gold in the U13 race in 5:48.7. Bexley Turbard ran well to win Silver in the U17 race in 5:04.2. Evie and Olivia Avery battled all the way to the line, but it was Evie who just edged clear to take Silver in the U15 competition in 5:38.4 with Olivia crossing the line just 0.3 seconds later for Bronze.

The South West Combined Events Champs, which took place across the two days of the weekend, was hugely successful for the club with two Harriers winning Gold and two taking Silver. 

Oliver Belbeck, fresh off taking Silver at the British Combined Events Champs, won an impressive Gold this time around in the Junior (Schools years 8 + 9 Pentathlon), leading from the 1st event of the day. Beginning with a solid run in the 80m hurdles running 12.75, Belbeck then threw a shot put PB of 10.86, adding over a metre to his previous best, and jumped a long jump PB of 5.30. He cleared a best of 1.56 in the high jump before rounding off a successful day with a 800m PB of 2:24.60. Overall Belbeck scored 2429, leading the Gloucestershire team home in 1st place too.

Luke Johnson also competed in the Junior Pentathlon scoring 2069 for 4th place. Johnson made his 80m hurdles and shot put debut running 14.38 and throwing 6.57. He then jumped 4.89 in the long jump before adding 4cm to his high jump PB with a clearance of 1.59. An impressive run in the 800m saw him lower his PB to 2:16.73 and win that event overall.

Sulaiman Ouiles won a brilliant, and well deserved, Gold in the Senior (Schools years 12 + 13) decathlon with a score of 4814, over 300 points clear of 2nd place. The weekend kicked off with the 100m where Ouiles ran 12.87. In the long jump Ouiles jumped a best of 5.23, he then threw a shot put PB of 8.83 and cleared 1.65 in the high jump. The first day concluded with a brilliant 400m PB of 57.87, he finished day 1 in 4th place. Day 2 began with the 110m hurdles where Ouiles ran 17.10, the quickest overall and suddenly Ouiles was leading the event standings overall. The next three events were very successful for the Harrier, a discus PB of 30.26, a clearance of 4.00 in the pole vault, a lot higher than any other competitor managed and a javelin PB of 38.99. Ouiles produced a solid 1500m of 5:38.34 to secure victory.

(Photo: Sulaiman Ouiles with the rest of the Gloucestershire team)

Jess Duncton’s PB form saw her take down a club record that dated all the way back to 1985! Beginning with her specialist event made for the perfect start for Duncton with a solid run of 11.50 over 80m hurdles. Duncton then cleared 1.47 in the high jump and threw a shot put PB of 10.65. Rounding off the first day Duncton produced a spectacular 200m PB pulling clear of the field to run 24.62, a time that ranks her 3rd in the UK U17 rankings. The confidence from that run obviously inspired her in the long jump at the beginning of day two as it was here that she produced her most impressive performance of the weekend. A leap of 5.52 adds 9cm to the previous U17 and U20 club records set long before Duncton was born. Duncton ended the competition with 16.47 in the long jump and 2:35.55 in the 800m, this gave her an overall score of 4506 earning her Silver in the Inter (School years 10 + 11) Heptathlon.

Lydia Baldwin also competed in the Inter Heptathlon coming in 10th with a score 3136. Baldwin had a brilliant first day achieving PBs in all four of her events. In the 80m hurdles she ran 12.34, jumped 1.29 in the high jump, threw the shot put out to 7.57 and ran 27.78 in the 200m. On day two Baldwin jumped 4.05 in the long jump, threw the javelin 12.67 and ran 2:47.46 for the 800m

For Isla Pain it was basically PBs all round, the U15 is new to the sport and has impressed massively in her first two events for the Harriers. Pain won Silver in the Junior Pentathlon with a score of 2561, just 31 points behind 1st. Pain produced performances of 13.28 in the 75m hurdles, 8.55 in the shot put, 1.53 in the high jump, 4.55 in the long jump and 2:47.56 in the 800m.

Meanwhile back in Cheltenham the U17 and U20 team was competing in the third fixture of the Upper YDL. A brilliant team effort saw the team take a solid 3rd place overall on the day.

There is a list of superb performances but one of the best had to be Alfie Woods long jump PB. The U20 added 13cm to his previous best with a huge jump of 7.06, his first clearance over 7m moving him into the top 10 in the UK U20 rankings. This secured him A string victory which he replicated in the triple jump with another PB, 12.51.

(Photo: Alfie Wood after big long jump PB)

Sticking with the U20 men, Alastair Klemz ran an 100m PB of 11.1 for 3rd in the A, finished 4th in the A 200m in 23.5 and threw the shot put 6.98 for 5th in the A event. Philip Hunt also ran a 100m PB finishing 4th in the B race in 12.3. Jamie Bell once again proved he is a valuable asset to the team competing in the 200m, 800m, 3000m and hammer throw. Bell ran a 200m PB of 30.3 for 3rd in the B race, a performance of 2:36.4 saw him finish 3rd in the A 800m, 10:10.6 achieved 2nd in the A 3000m and a throw of 7.05 earned 2nd in the A hammer. Luke Burden competed in the high jump clearing a best of 1.75 and javelin throwing a PB of 33.33 to finish 2nd in the A for both events. U17 Ruben Lombard moved up an age group to compete in the U20 discus where he finished 3rd in the A event with 20.02. The 4x100m relay team was 5th in 52.8.

The U17 men's performance was highlighted by Hugh javelin PBs by Ruben Lombard and Luca Colombini. The duo produced double PBs to win the A and B string respectively. Lombard threw a massive 55.36 and Colombini threw 49.82, they now both sit in the top 20 in the UK rankings with Lombard breaking into the top 10. Colombini also won the A discus with 25.03 and threw a shot put PB of 10.61 for 3rd A. Billy Buxton competed across three field events with a 3rd place finish in the A discus with 31.59, 4th in the A triple jump with a best of 9.94 and a long jump PB of 4.72 for 2nd in the B. In the sprints Ralph Nicklin and Fred Fowler both ran 100m PBs. Nicklin ran 11.7 in the A race for 5th and Fowler equalled the time for 3rd in the B race. Nicklin also ran a 200m PB or 23.9 to also finish 5th A in this event, while Fowler competed in the 100m hurdles running a PB of 16.6 for 2nd B. Barnabas Shaw was the B 200m runner achieving a PB of 24.3 for 2nd and also jumped 5.70 in the long jump for 2nd A. Max Stanley-Jones demonstrated he is in good form with a 400m PB of 58.9 for 3rd A and a 100m hurdles PB of 16.3 for 4th A. Tom Gavin and George Quartermaine competed in both the 800m and 1500 both putting in incredible effort to run PBs in both events. Gavin ran 2:14.9 in the 800m and 4:21.8 in the 1500m to finish as 2nd A in both. Quartermaine ran 2:31.0 and 5:03.6 for 2nd B in both. Bexley Turbard was the lone competitor in the 1500m steeplechase where he ran well to finish in 5:13.5. The U17 4x100m relay team came 3rd in 47.1. 

In the U20 women's events Harriers had two A string victories through Ruby Brook and Mimi Davies. Brook ran 60.0 to take the 400m while Davies threw 36.41 to win the javelin. Emily Brown ran a PB of 12.9 to come 5th in the A 100m. It was brilliant to see Isabel Kiey-Thomas return to competition for the first time since 2020 with a javelin PB of 30.29 for 1st in the B.

(Photo: Isabel Kiey-Thomas making her return to competition) 

For our U17 women the day proved to be ideal for PBs with 8 athletes achieving new marks. In the 100m Flora Hopcraft ran a PB of 13.6 for 5th A and Zoe Thorogood ran a PB of 14.2 for 3rd B. Hopcraft also jumped 9.64 in the triple jump for 2nd A. Lily Marchant knocked half a second off her 300m PB with a fantastic run of 42.9 for 4th A, she backed this up with 4th in the A 200m in 26.9. Katherine Terrell competed in the B 200m running 27.7 for 3rd and Tamsin Hatton ran 47.0 for 3rd in the B 300m. Milly Foster took on the 800m and 1500m finishing in 2:49.6 and 5:46.7 respectively for 5th A and 3rd B. Isobel Watt also took on a distance double competing in the 1500m and 3000m. Watt was 3rd in the A 1500m in 5:32.8 and ran 12:11.3 for 1st in the A 3000m. Abigail Thornley ran 12:42.9 for 1st in the B 3000m. Isobel Burfitt was in brilliant form running an 800m PB of 2:46.2 for 3rd B and adding 57cm to her Long jump PB, clearing 5m for the first time, with a jump of 5.02 for 2nd A. Rosie Wood jumped 3.93 for 2nd in the B long jump. In the 80m hurdles Alana Hazel was 4th A in a PB of 13.4 she was also 4th A in the javelin with 14.65. Emily Brown took A string victory in the high jump with a PB of 1.45 and Sophie Osude took 2nd in the A shot with 8.35. Osude also ran 29.1 in the non-scoring 200m. In the relays the team finished 3rd in the 4x100 in 52.1 and 5th in the 4x300 in 3:20.7.

Three Harriers took part in the Ultra trail race, Race to the Tower, a hilly route that sees athletes take on the Cotswold Way to finish at Broadway tower. Ashley Stevens and Alex Farrell-Thomas took on the full 52milte distance finishing in 11:32.41 and 14:52.31 respectively

Leah Hopton also competed in Race to the Tower opting for the marathon distance event, her first marathon since having a baby. The tough course saw Leah finish as 4th female in 6:17.28