European Athletics Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey
Daryll Neita would have felt confident going into the final of the 60m final having won the second of the three semi-finals in 7.07s. It was a hotly-contested battle for medals with Daryll running a solid race to take the bronze.
Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji ran a Championship record 7.00s flat to take gold with Poland’s Ewa Swoboda taking silver in 7.09s ahead of Daryll in third in 7.12s. And Neita said: “It feels amazing to bring a medal home. It has been a fun indoor season and I have really enjoyed it. I am not particularly happy with this result, but it feels amazing to get a medal and bring it home.
“Consistency is key. I feel the way I have been running all of these 60m is a hell of a lot better than I did in my 100m outdoors last year. I already know this indoor season has put me in an amazing place heading into the outdoor season.
“I would have liked more from myself, but it is a bronze medal and I have got to be grateful. I haven’t seen the race over again, but I think my reaction wasn’t good enough and it cost me. I will go back, review it – a bronze medal is good.”
England Athletics Winter Track Race Walk Championships, Coventry
Luc Legon won his first senior England Athletics track race walk title at the England Athletics Winter Track Race Walk Championships at the University of Warwick, with an even paced race, crossing the line in a time of 45:15.72 knocking over two minutes from his personal best set at the equivalent event last year. In the women's race Hannah Hopper (U23) finished fifth overall, and third in the England championship with a time or 53:30.84 just shy of her personal best.
British Masters Winter Throws Championships, Oxford
Natalie Mann (W35) had a busy day on Saturday coming away from the BMAF Winter Throws Championships in Oxford with two gold and three silver medals. Natalie secured gold in the shot (6.99m) and javelin (20.92m) and collected silvers in the discus (22.82m), hammer (31.18m) and weight (9.60m).
Dartford Half-Marathon
Sunday saw the 46th instance of the Dartford Half Marathon, writes Peter St-Amour, and seven runners from Cambridge Harriers took the start in cool but dry conditions. Rolling road closures give the event a professional feel, underpinned by the excellent marshalling and somewhat unexpected level of support along the route. The first few miles are deceptively uphill, not feeling that way until suddenly they do when the first of the four course climbs hits shortly after three miles. Thankfully the undulating terrain and feeling of being in the countryside distract, and passing under or over the A2 and M25 twice each barely registers.
This isn’t a PB course by any means, however what goes up must come down and there are some lovely speedy descents to stretch the legs and make up time sacrificed to the ascents. Cunningly the two largest climbs are entered by right angle turns to hide the pain from view until the last possible moment. After some residential noodling to return to the starting point in the Dartford Central Park, the race concludes with a three-hundred-meter sprint round the athletics track for those with the remaining legs to do so.
Joshua Teece took the male win for a second consecutive year in 1:11:13, seven seconds faster than his time in 2022, and two minutes up on his second place in 2020. Our own James Macdonald (pictured) was the Cambridge Harrier jam in a Central Park Athletics sandwich taking an excellent second place with 1:15:19, and a wallet plumping £25 in prize money for his efforts.
Luke Martin was next in, taking fifth in the senior male (eighth overall) with a time of 1:19:23, followed by Ray Ramsay with 1:27:09 in 34th and Peter St-Amour at 1:30:09 in 41st and eighth M40. Clem Dixon and Steve Brown both ran well in the M60’s taking third and twelfth respectively in times of 1:41:33 and 1:57:19. Joanna Parke was our sole female representative finishing in a time of 2:10:38.
As the second qualifying event of our road running Grand Prix, the results are now updated at https://www.cambridgeharriers.org/road-gp. Also at this link are details of other qualifying events, with Lydd being next on 12 March.
Cambridge Half-Marathon
Almost 15,000 runners took to the streets of Cambridge for the 2023 Cambridge Half Marathon. The race route takes the runners through the beautiful city of Cambridge, passing countless historic landmarks, including two iconic colleges of the University of Cambridge. Thomas Brooke transferred the fine form he has shown over the country to the roads with an excellent 22nd place finish in 1:09:06, reducing his personal best by over five minutes. Next in was Tom Loia in 704th with 1:25:31 (PB). Our other three runners finished within 35 seconds of each other, Tom Castle with 1:27:01, Martin Leat 1:27:24, a five minute plus PB and Tom Coghill 1:27:36.
Top: Thomas Brooke & Tom Loia
Bottom: Tom Coghill & Martin Leat
(Photographs courtesy of Cambridge Harrier Angus Vosper who is currently studying at Cambridge)
Sutcliffe 60's
Sunday saw the last of our indoor 60’s promotions and included a bumper entry of just over 200 athletes, including 32 sprinters from Cambridge Harriers, writes Mick Bond.. As an experiment we added live streaming to the event courtesy of TrackstarsTV giving those not present the opportunity to watch the event live or catch up later. For those present the streaming had a short delay enabling spectators to watch the event live, then watch it on the YouTube channel which included a slow motion replay of each race. Check it out here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J6HXNvpZQo&t=1722s, (the first race starts around 11 minutes). The extra entries we took funded the cost of the streaming and the service proved very popular with all involved and looks likely to become a regular feature next year.
Performance wise there were lots of PB’s or near PB’s and it was a welcome return to Kema Jr. Onyemaechi running a UK top 30 time of 7.62s after a year out with injury.
With just a couple more indoor meets to go the club’s track athletes focus moves to the outdoor season. Our annual pre-season club trials are set for Saturday April 15th, entry information can be viewed here.
Club membership has grown post Covid and now stands at just over 500 (400 pre Covid) making competition for places in teams quite competitive.
Other events set for the summer include our series of Wednesday night Open meetings in partnership with the British Milers Club (BMC) and we are now taking entries for these via the Entry4Sport web site https://entry4sports.co.uk/#/
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