2016
The club had a handful of athletes competing in the England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships at Sheffield on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February 2016. Here's Ken Maggs' report.
EA Indoor Age Group Champs, Sheffield
13/02/2016
The club had a handful of athletes competing in the England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships at Sheffield on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February 2016. Here's Ken Maggs' report.
Hannah Molyneaux has added yet another gold medal to her ever increasing tally of national titles. Throwing later on Saturday and having just moved up an age group to under 17 she has continued where she left off by claiming the England Athletics Under 17 indoor shot putt title with a throw of 14.22m which was just 3cm off the Championships Best performance. Hannah's claimed after the event that she "can get it next year as she is still an under 17. Although her first three throws were "terrible" she dominated the competition winning by almost 40cm. Hannah was one of three Nene valley ladies in the same competition with all three finishing in the top ten nationally. Priscilla Dadzie qualified for the final three rounds of throws finishing 8th with 11.64m and Tierney Augustine just missed out finishing 9th with 11.58m.
Sprint hurdler Josh Akinwumi qualified for the under 17 men's 60m hurdle final with a third place in his heat but smashing his own club record with a time of 8.21s and looking extremely smooth over the barriers. In the final he hit the first hurdle and struggled to recover still finishing with a creditable seventh place.
18 year old middle distance runner, James McCrae finished 5th in the Under 20 Men's 1500m. Run as a straight final James's time of 4:00:83 was just under a second outside of his PB set last winter before injury blighted his 2015 track season. Heading indoors for only the second time this season provided a welcome distraction from the muddy terrain of recent weeks. On paper the race looked fairly even and when pre race favourite Jonathon Shields withdrew due to his selection for an International race there were 5 or 6 runners who fancied there chances. These races are often tactical but eventual winner Piers Copeland took the lead at 100m and never relinquished it. McCrae, running comfortably in the lead group for the first 1200m, only began to drop back as the pace increased for the final lap and his lack of speed training was exposed. Whilst disappointed not to get a podium place which was within his grasp, the race proved a useful marker for the season ahead and a good run out ahead of the forthcoming BUCS Championships next weekend.
Kane Wright continued his consistent running in his heat winning with a time of 6.97 and looking good. Unfortunately in his semi-final the four weeks he was forced to take off over Christmas due to breaking his wrist meant that he did not have sufficient fitness to qualify for the final, just missing out with a time of 7.01s. Almost all his 60m races this season have proven to be within a few hundredths of each other.
Although not at the national championships a coupe of athletes attended an open meeting at Lee Valley over the weekend. Under 15, Megan Williams ran a personal best 9.12s in her 60m sprint whilst under 13 Jose Downer also recorded a personal best of 8.86s. As well as recording a previous run of 8.90 in the 60m she then set an indoor club record and personal best of 29.43s in the 200m; effectively three personal best performances in one day.
Ken
Hannah Molyneaux has added yet another gold medal to her ever increasing tally of national titles. Throwing later on Saturday and having just moved up an age group to under 17 she has continued where she left off by claiming the England Athletics Under 17 indoor shot putt title with a throw of 14.22m which was just 3cm off the Championships Best performance. Hannah's claimed after the event that she "can get it next year as she is still an under 17. Although her first three throws were "terrible" she dominated the competition winning by almost 40cm. Hannah was one of three Nene valley ladies in the same competition with all three finishing in the top ten nationally. Priscilla Dadzie qualified for the final three rounds of throws finishing 8th with 11.64m and Tierney Augustine just missed out finishing 9th with 11.58m.
Sprint hurdler Josh Akinwumi qualified for the under 17 men's 60m hurdle final with a third place in his heat but smashing his own club record with a time of 8.21s and looking extremely smooth over the barriers. In the final he hit the first hurdle and struggled to recover still finishing with a creditable seventh place.
18 year old middle distance runner, James McCrae finished 5th in the Under 20 Men's 1500m. Run as a straight final James's time of 4:00:83 was just under a second outside of his PB set last winter before injury blighted his 2015 track season. Heading indoors for only the second time this season provided a welcome distraction from the muddy terrain of recent weeks. On paper the race looked fairly even and when pre race favourite Jonathon Shields withdrew due to his selection for an International race there were 5 or 6 runners who fancied there chances. These races are often tactical but eventual winner Piers Copeland took the lead at 100m and never relinquished it. McCrae, running comfortably in the lead group for the first 1200m, only began to drop back as the pace increased for the final lap and his lack of speed training was exposed. Whilst disappointed not to get a podium place which was within his grasp, the race proved a useful marker for the season ahead and a good run out ahead of the forthcoming BUCS Championships next weekend.
Kane Wright continued his consistent running in his heat winning with a time of 6.97 and looking good. Unfortunately in his semi-final the four weeks he was forced to take off over Christmas due to breaking his wrist meant that he did not have sufficient fitness to qualify for the final, just missing out with a time of 7.01s. Almost all his 60m races this season have proven to be within a few hundredths of each other.
Although not at the national championships a coupe of athletes attended an open meeting at Lee Valley over the weekend. Under 15, Megan Williams ran a personal best 9.12s in her 60m sprint whilst under 13 Jose Downer also recorded a personal best of 8.86s. As well as recording a previous run of 8.90 in the 60m she then set an indoor club record and personal best of 29.43s in the 200m; effectively three personal best performances in one day.
Ken