Cambridge Harriers Open Graded 3000m Track Walks, Sutcliffe Park (Sat. 17th Apr.)
The clubs race walkers returned to competition at the Cambridge Harriers Open Graded 3000m track walks at a sunny Sutcliffe Park and produced some impressive performances.
The event consisted of three 3000m race walks graded by personal best or anticipated finishing time.
In race two all but one athlete recorded a personal best. Jacqueline Benson (U23 - Ashford AC) led Hannah Hopper and Abigail Smith (U17 - B & B) through the first 400m in around two minutes. The pace then settled down with Benson continuing to lead with Hannah close behind. At around three quarter distance Hannah took the lead, but Benson soon re-passed her and led into the home straight where Hannah pulled along side and managed to edge ahead by the line clocking 15:40.81 removing almost 45 seconds from her previous best. Smith (who is a member of the clubs race walk training group) finished third in 15:52.45 a 43 second improvement.
The fastest race of the day was the final one which saw Luc Legon and Christian Hopper (U17) in the line up. From the gun Luc and the eventual winner George Wilkinson (U20 - Enfield & Haringey) set off at a pace well inside 13 minutes, reaching 1000m in 4:15. Luc was forced by a tightening hamstring to back off and crossed the line in second place in 13:22.22. Christian walked a fairly isolated race, although he was tracked for some of the race by Abigail Jennings (U23 - AFD), crossing the line in fourth overall with a time of 14:23.70 reducing his personal best by 44 seconds.
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