London Schools Year 7 & 8 Cross Country, Avery Hill (Tue. 11th Mar.)
As usual, this event was organised by Cambridge Harriers and saw athletes from London boroughs descend on Avery Hill Park, writes Mark Newell. The club had a number of our members representing their respective boroughs and there were a number of notable performances on the day.
Charlotte Foster placed first in a time of 10:32 in the year 8 girls race, followed by Lizzie Sanders in second (11:11) with Esther and Seren Yeatman 4th an 6th respectively. Daisy O'Brien was our other representative in 12th place.
In the year 7 boys race, Christian Hughes placed 2nd in a time of 10:25 and Phoenix London 14th. In the he last race of the day, year 8 for boys, saw Herbie Tobin 3rd and Harry Carmody 17th.
English Schools Cross Country Championships, West Sussex (Sat. 15th Mar.)
The English Schools Cross Country Championships were held at Ardingly Showground, Sussex, on Saturday, with Cambridge Harriers having six members competing for London across the four of the six age group races, writes Mark Newell. Each race has 300 plus competitors.
Amelia Lawrence (pictured), placed 88th in the senior girls’ race, helping London to 5th team spot, the best London team performance of the day. In the junior girls Charlotte Foster (113th) was first to finish for London, having placed sixth in the qualifying event in February, whilst Lizzie Sanders was 183rd.
Olly Cook got the better of Aniket Iyengar for the first time this season, placing 100th in the intermediate boys race. What made this a more impressive run from Olly was that he was first to finish for London having been 8th in the qualifying race. Aniket was third scorer for London in 111th position. In the final race of the day, Olly Buck (senior boys) was fourth scorer for London in 139th.
Podium Festival, Leicester (Sat. 15th Mar.)
In Leicester, on Saturday, at the Podium Festival, Holly Dixon and Lara Atkinson recorded 5k personal bests. Both seeded in the elite women's race Holly (pictured) recorded 15:36 a 33 second improvement, whilst Lara knocked 24 seconds from her previous best with 16:54.
Kent Indoor Championships, Lee Valley (Sat. 15th & Sun. 16th Mar.)
The domestic indoor season came to a close last weekend with the County indoor championships at Lee Valley although internationally the World Masters Indoor Championships go ahead next week in Florida with several club members making the trip, reports Mick Bond.
Known locally as the Tri-Counties meeting, the organisation and officiating is shared with Middlesex and Hertfordshire whose championships run in parallel across the two days. This event has always been a happy hunting ground for us and this year proved no different.
Under 15 Girls: Miya Cook had her first competition with a heavier shot having moved up an age group, using a rotational technique, she improved in each round and finished with a best of 10.40m. Sophie Floyd took bronze in the 300m (47.30s), whilst Ester Yeatman won bronze in the 800m (2:35.00s).
Under 15 Boys: Two of our recruits from Dartford Grammar shone with Elazar Adejinmi clearing a PB of 1.70m in the high jump to take gold and Kendrick Onolememen throwing 13.65m in the shot for silver. Austin Richards was the fastest qualifier in the 800m on the Saturday but an unfortunate clash with football finals on Sunday meant he wasn’t able to run in the final.
Under 17 Women: With Emily Cadman out injured it was left to Nia Thomas to carry the flag in the sprints which she didn’t admirably winning silver in the 60m (8.09s) and bronze in the 60 hurdles (9.22s). Meredith Cummings front ran the 1500m shaking off all competitors bar one, who over took her in the closing stages, but she still came away with silver.
Under 17 Men: Club athletes took gold in five out of the 12 events on offer showing the strength of this age group in the club. Hans Nmaju took gold in the 60m hurdles despite losing his balance over the last obstacle and was backed up by Elijah Olaleye who took silver. Hans then went on to take silver in the 60 flat (7.17s) whilst Elijah took gold in the 400m (50.89s). Luca Glyde-Jones won gold in a very close fought 200m (23.03s) and Thomas Ellis won the 1500m (4:41.31s). Zavier Brathwaite picked up bronze medals in the both the 60 flat (7.26s) and 200m (23.15s). In the field Daniel Obike jumped 1.91m and was very close at 1.95m, winning the high jump.
Under 20 Men: Owen Emuze won the triple jump with his only valid jump clearing a PB of 12.62m
Under 20 Women: Keziah Olaleye set a pb of 10.28 for silver in the Triple Jump whilst Lily Gayle dipped under 9 seconds for the first time with an 8.93 clocking for bronze in the 60m hurdles
Senior Women: With most of our senior women opting to get back into training for the outdoor season it was left to Hannah Hopper and Natalie Mann to fly the flag which they both did admirably. Natalie with a 20cm PB in the shot to take bronze (8.37m) improving her own W40 club record, whilst Hannah dominated the mixed 3000m race walk recording a 24 second PB (indoor or out) going sub-14 minutes for the first time with 13:52.95s.
Senior Men: Omari Markland-Montgomery had the closest race of the day with a winning margin of just 4/1000th of a second in the 60m – 6.895s vs 6.899s according to the photo-finish team. Shaquille Fernandez-Folkes had his best run for some time taking silver in the 200m (23.23s) and Chris Louden (pictured) front ran the 1500m to win in 4:05.95s, whilst Matt Preston added our last medal, with a bronze in the 800m
Amstelveen Lentemarathon, Netherlands (Sun. 16th Mar.)
I'm a fan of doubling up marathons, writes Clem Dixon. If things don't go right the first time you get a second chance, and if they do you get a free hit, you can take more of a risk and not mind too much of it doesn't pay off. Four weeks is an ideal gap but you can get away with three. And so, four weeks after ticking the sub 3:30 box, I decided to have a crack at a sub 3:25. I could see that the wind would be a problem towards the end, so got to half way at 3:20 pace and hung on for 3:23:30.
Amstelveen is just South of Amsterdam, it is a small enough place for most of the course to be in the surrounding countryside rather than in the town itself and it is dead flat. They call it the Lentemarathon where lente means spring which is pushing it in mid-March: the sun was out which was welcome but there was nothing spring like about the biting North wind.
Bath Half-Marathon (Sun. 16th Mar.)
Vincent Bleu finished the Bath Half-Marathon on Sunday, in a personal best of 1:54.12, a four minute improvement, whilst Maryse Ford completed the race in 2:37:38.
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