Athlets were in action in Sheffield, Leeds and London on one of the busiest weekends of the season.
The climax of the indoor season saw Chisom Nwafor capture her anticipated first National Championship medal in the National Indoors at English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Going into her first Nationals ranked three in the U15 Shot she performed to the form book with a securely taken bronze medal. Her nest effort on the day was a distance of 11 .84m .
Earlier she had just missed out on another medal in the Long Jump where her best effort of 5.03 metres was sufficient to finish in a good fifth place.
Another athlete making his debut at this level was Monty Gurney and he acquitted himself in very impressive fashion. Opening with the 60m he clocked a PB of 7.95 secs to break eight seconds for the first time.
But he performed even better in the 300m. Going into the event with one of the slowest times of those entered, he worked powerfully in his heat which proved to be the faster of the two on the day. And he took full advantage to secure a fastest loser spot as all the additional athletes came from his heat for the Final spots. In addition he was rewarded with an expected PB of 39.48 secs.
The Final on Sunday proved to be one of the fastest ever for this age group and Monty had to settle for sixth spot with a more modest time of 39.78 secs.
Matching his achievements was Laurie Sutcliffe who also clocked new bests in both the 60m and the 400m. Using the 60m like Monty as a warm up Laurie's new best of 7.31 secured him the first of the fastest loser spots in the semi-final. The unfortunate timetabling meant that he had to contend with his heat of the 400m in between 60m rounds and here he took full advantage of a very fast paced race to add to his PB tally. He beat his indoor and outdoor best for a new figure of 52.35 secs.
He wrapped up his day with another good time in the 60m Semis of 7.32 secs.
On Day Two Abby Masqulelier led the hurdles contingent of four athletes from Beaconsfield High School in the U17 event.
Abby got off to a cracking start in the heats clocking up a new Personal Best of 9.16 secs and ensuring herself f a guaranteed spot in the Semi-Finals. Here she had to deal with an athlete who really clattered in her hurdle in the lane next to her,, putting Abby off her rhythm and also hitting a hurdle with some force putting paid t a second PB.
Isla Brown , Sophia Martin and Alexia Martin all ran strong races in exceptional quality competition but missed out on qualifying through the rounds on this occasion.
Also in action at Sheffield were Finn Hobson who missed out on a 60m PB by one hundreth of a second with a time of 7.44 secs while Desola Omonijo on her Nationals debut also scrapped a time only just outside of her best with 8.57 secs.
Meanwhile, In london, more athletes were in action at the Lee Valley U13 & U15 Open. Amber Galley made her debut over 800m and thrashed her outdoor best time down to 2 mins 40. 74 secs, a 20 sec improvement.
Also setting PBs were more of the hurdlers. Gabi Riley made her season debut and set consecutive imprroved marks in the U15 Girls. In the first round she clocked, 10.36 secs and ran one tneth faster in the second. This was a massive jump on her previous pre-season best of 10.71 secs.
Also clocking a new Hurdles best was Jo Snelling who clocked 11.93 secs in the second round to break 12 seconds for the first time.
Squad Results fro m lee Valley
60m U15 Boys Day Akinjobi 8.58 secs 8.77 secs
U13 Boys Alexander Eldridge 9.33 secs 9.47 secs
Tate Fahey 9.85 secs 9.80 secs (PB)
Max Roughton 9.50 secs (PB)
200m U15 Boys Dayo Akinjobi 28.96 secs (PB)
U15 Girls Jo Snelling 32.62 secs (PB)
60m Hurdles U13 Boys Alexander Eldridge 11.73 secs 11.54 secs
U15 Girls Gabi Riley 10.36 secs (PB) 10.26 secs (PB)
Jo Snelling 12.00 secs (PB) 11.93 secs (PB)
Long Jump U13 Boys Alexander Eldridge 3.81 m
Max Roughton 3.68m (PB)
Tate Fahey 3.47m (PB)
U15 Girls Gabi Riley 4.25m (SB)
800m U15 Girls Amber Galley 2 mins 40.74 secs (PB)
Meanwhile at Woolaton Park, Leeds Phoebe Anderson was helping her club Herne Hill Harriers to third place in the National Cross-Country Championships in the U20 age group. Phoebe finished 21st and second placed of the HHH athletes for yet another National Championship medal.
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