Surrey T & F Champs

There were medals and personal bests for our athletes at the Surrey County Track and Field Championships held at Kingsmeadow Athletic Track last weekend (13th/14th May 2017).

Philip Bartlett had a tremendous weekend taking gold in the U17 boy’s discus with a new personal best of 47.16m on Saturday and coming back on Sunday to take silver in the shot with a new personal best of 13.40m. Tom Bullen took silver in the senior men’s discus with a throw of 40.30m. In the senior men’s shot Erasmus Dwemoh just missed winning a bronze medal finishing 4th with a throw of 13.47m. Nathan Fergus finished 5th with 13.40m and Tom Bullen 6th with 12.81m.  Frankie Evans took bronze in the U20 womens discus with a throw of 29.33m and was 6th in the hammer with 28.90m. Maya Smith who was feeling below par just missed out on a medal in the senior women’s hammer finishing 4th with a throw of 33.77m. Joanna Barnaby was 4th in the U17girls discus with 29.81m and was 5th in the shot with 10.46m. Sadia Kabeya just missed out on a medal in the U17 girls shot finishing 4th with a throw of 11.25m.

In the jumps Ella Price was 4th in the U17 girl’s long jump with a new personal best of 4.64m and was also 4th in the triple jump with 9.45m. Gabriella Thoburn has had a few issues lately in the high jump but was still prepared to come and give the U13 girls championships a go and finished 8th with a jump of 1.20m. Even Olympic Champions can have mental blocks when it comes to high jump and I am sure with a few more training sessions she will sort out the problems and be back to her amazing best.

Turning to the middle distance events it was great to see Julia Tomzcak back from a slight foot problem. Julia just missed out on a medal in the U20 women’s  800m on Saturday but she still ran a personal best of 2.19.35 She came back on Sunday to take silver in the 1500m again running a personal best of 4.48.41. There were tremendous runs by Nick Smith and Joe Seal in the final of the U15 boys 1500m. In a very competitive final with some of the fastest young athletes in the country Nick finished in 6th place with a new personal best of 4.32.64 and Joe finished 7th with a new personal best of 4.34.40 which means he can now join the British Milers Club. Thomas Porter also had an excellent weekend running a personal best in the heats of the U15 boys 800m on Saturday,  and coming back on Sunday to run another personal best of 2.16.3 to finish 6th in the final. Callum Hockley had a fine run in the U17 boys 1500m and ran a personal best of 4.31.63 in the heat but just missed out on making the final. Sam Birch had a great run in the U20mens 800m finishing in 4th place in a new personal best of 2.04.92. Ellie Osmond ran really well in her heat of the U15 girls 1500m to qualify for the final on Sunday with a new personal best of 5.13.85. It was tough to come out for the final off such a high and Ellie battled hard but finished in 12th position. On Saturday Gabriella Thoburn had an excellent run to finish 2nd in her heat of the U13 girls 800m in a time of 2.38.9. It is always hard for young athletes to come back for a final the next day and having the high jump just before the 800m final was always going to be a big ask. Gabriella did her best but couldn’t match her performance of the previous day and finished in 8th place. George Tovey in his first county championships tackled the U17 boys 3000m. George will undoubtedly gain from the experience and finished 12th in 11.44.68.Brandan Morrell in his first county championships made the final of the U13 boys 1500m and finished 10th in 5.02.47.

Turning to the sprints, Davina Ansah-Boateng ran brilliantly to take the silver medal in the very competitive U17 girls 100m. Shanice Harrison ran very well to win bronze medals in both the senior womens 100m and 200m, running times of 12.40 and 25.53. We had 2 finalists in the U20 mens 200m. Sharif Quansah ran very well to take bronze in 22.52 and new recruit Harry Callanan was 8th in 23.50 but it was a very promising performance. Harry just missed out the previous day to make the final of the 100m. Deji Bello in his county championships ran very well to make the final of the U13 boys 100m where he finished 5th in 13.44 with the same time as 4th. Nathan Huggins ran well to make the semi-final of the U15 boys 100m having finished 2nd in his heat in 12.66, and running 12.73 for 5th place in his  semi-final with the first 4 qualifying for the final. If he had been in the other semi-final he would have qualified for the final. He came back on Sunday and although he ran well in his heat of the 200m and did qualify for the semi-final, he had a tight hip muscle and decided as a first year U15 it was sensible to withdraw. Bill Porter ran in the senior men’s 100m and finished 3rd in his heat in 11.46. Gift McLaren ran the 400m and finished 8th in his heat in 53.81.

Some excellent performances by our athletes, well done to all who took part.

News

Southern Athletics League

The Southern Athletic League women’s and men’s team got off to the perfect start to the track and field season with a win at the David Weir Leisure Centre on Saturday 15th April. Up against the host club Sutton and District who had home advantage we scored 210.5 points to win the match with Sutton in second with 190.5points, Hercules Wimbledon in 3rd with 160 points, and Swale in 4th with 109 points.

The whole team worked really hard and there were excellent performances on the track and field. It was good to see some of our U17 athletes stepping up to the senior team and doing very well.

In the sprints Davina Boateng won the 100m A string and was just pipped out of first place in the 200m. Lohita Allen-Aigbodion ran very well in the B string 100m and 200m to finish 2nd in both. Amy Billups won the A string 400m and it was great to see Alison Collins winning the B string 400m. Amy also ran very well to win the A string 800m and Katie Lowe in what I believe was her first track competition won the B string. Mary James looking fully recovered from her recent sub 3 hour marathon, ran very strongly to win the A string 1500m, and was 2nd in the 3000m. Tessa Billups despite still having problems with a foot injury was 3rd in the B string 1500m. Katie Lowe followed up her run in the 800m with a solid run in the 3000m to place 3rd in the B string.

Turning to the men Bill Porter was 2nd in the A string 100m and Sharif Quansch won the B string. They paired up again in the 200m where Sharif  was 2nd in the A string and Bill was 3rd in the B string. U20 Charlie Goriup had a fine run in the 400m to finish 3rd in the A string, and Richard Morris ran very well to finish 2nd in the B string. U20 James Lyne battled hard in the 800m to finish in 3rd place in the A string race, and he was followed in by U17 Callum Hockley who ran very well to finish 2nd in the B string race. Callum definitely looked more at home on the track after his last cross country run in the National had seen him finish covered from head to toe in mud! But the endurance he has gained over the winter will stand him in good stead for the track season and races ahead. Pat Canavan looked very smooth finishing 2nd in the A string 1500m, and John Foss finished 3rd in the B string. U20 Toby Phillip had a good run in the 1500m but in very blustery conditions he did not get the time his performance deserved.  Tom Higgs is transferring his excellent cross country form to the track and he won the 5000m A string, and there was a fine run by Dillon Wyman to finish 2nd in the B string race. Richard Morris ran really well to win the 400m hurdles A string race. Could he repeat his win in the 2016 Surrey Championships next month in the 2017 championships? Stephen Babalola also looked very strong winning the B string race in one of his many events over the course of the meet. Richard and Stephen also both took maximum points in the 110m hurdles.

Turning to the field there were tremendous performances by our throwers. In the shot Frankie Evans was 2nd in the A string and Joanna Barnaby won the B string. In the discus Joanna and Frankie were both 1st.Maya Smith won the A string hammer and Frankie won the B string. In the javelin Ella Price was 2nd in the A string and Maya 3rd in the B string. Anna Given was 2nd in the high jump, and Ella Price was 3rd in the long jump A string and Jill Lula jumped for the team and was 3rd in the B string. Ella Price did the triple jump for the first time in a competition and finished in 2nd place.

The men did equally as well with the throwers again being outstanding. Nathan Fergus won the A string shot and Erasmus Dwemoh won the B string. Nathan also won the A string discus and Tom Bullen won the B string. Ben Myburgh was 2nd in the A string hammer and Erasmus won the B string. In the javelin Tom Bullen was 2nd in the A string and Charlie Goriup was 2nd in the B string. The dynamic duo of Darren Brown and Stephen Babalola covered the jumps with them both winning the A & B triple jump, both finishing 2nd in the high jump and long jump.

There were some excellent performances in the relays with the ladies 4x100m team of Ella Price, Lohita Allen-Aigbodion, Mei Matthews and Davina Boateng winning from a strong Sutton squad. The mens 4x400m team of Richard Morris, Sharif Quansch, Bill Porter and Charlie Goriup brought the meeting to a great end winning a very exciting race with fine runs from all the team.

An excellent start to the season so hopefully we will carry the momentum to the next fixture well done to our team.

Inter counties XC

There were some fine performances by our athletes taking part in the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships held at Prestwold Hall, Leicestershire on the 11th March. All representing Surrey, Julia Tomzcak had a brilliant run to finish 4th in the U17 girls race and with two other Surrey athletes in 1st and 2nd place Surrey convincingly won the U17 girls title. Steph McCall was 27th in the Senior womens race and was the third scorer for Surrey and they took the Senior womens title. William Bardsley running in the U20 mens race was 4th Surrey scorer and the team were placed 6th.    

Medals at Surrey Indoor Champs

Anna Given and Mei Matthews represented SLH at the Surrey Indoor Championships on 19th February.  Competing in the U17 Girls High Jump Anna and Mei both equalled their personal bests of 1m 50cm to finish in 2nd and 3rd places.  Anna just pipped Mei on countback for the silver medal.  The winner was Jess Collins from HHH with an indoor personal best jump of 1m 63cm.  All age groups from across Surrey and Sussex competed together on the day and Anna and Mei finished ahead of all other athletes apart from Jess.  Following on from Amelia Clarke’s bronze in the U15 high jump at these champs last year and with Gabriella Thoburn a real high jump talent at Crystal Palace SLH is beginning to shine at high jump.  

At the same championships Philip Bartlett gained a silver medal in the U/17 Mens shot putt with a throw of 12.89m.

Young Athletes Uncover Pirie Bench on Farthing Down

For the last few weeks, some of the Junior A Squad have been doing long Sunday runs on Farthing Down, with two lap guided tours of the league course, plus extra hills to make 6-7 miles @ 7:45 pace. During our run last week, we discovered the Gordon Pirie bench looking worse for wear and completely overgrown. We therefore decided to resolve the problem the following week, prior to the home league. Hiding secateurs, gloves and Brasso by the bench, we set off for the two and a bit laps, finishing at the south cattle grid. A fast mile from the car park along the road @ 5:27 pace got us back to the bench. After 10 mins cutting back, the bench is visible and usable....but the Brasso made no impact on the many years of tarnish. In case people don't know, the bench is just ~50m up the course from the normal start, to the left of the route and backed onto a thicket and faces south west.... (L-R) in the 'After' photo below are Sam Sheppard, Nathan Sellick and Nick Smith.