News from South London Harriers
February 29th, 2008: Sportshall Season Roundup 2007-8
Posted by Ian Field at 12:39 pmWell done to all who competed in the Sportshall events this winter. We had some successes as we did last year, and some excellent individual as well as team performances.
SLH managed to put out 2 or 3 U13 Girls teams, 2 or 3 U13 Boys teams and an U15 Girls team. Unfortunately we were unable to field an U15 Boys team this season. We also fielded U11 Boys and U11 Girls teams of 14 athletes each, for their event at Westcroft Leisure Centre.
U11 event
The venue was the Westcroft Leisure Centre for an exciting introduction to Athletics competition for our youngest athletes. There were 8 teams there, 4 of which were representing whole London boroughs. In reality SLH were competing for 5th place. The Boys achieved that, with a brilliant 5th place finish, beating all the other clubs. The Girls went one better, and managed an exceptional 4th place, so well done to all involved. The sheer volume of noise (mainly from the SLH parents and friends) during the races produced a fantastic atmosphere. This came to a head in the last event, The Grand Prix relay, which was won by our Boys team by 0.1secs !! Many of the athletes also competed in the U13 events at Guildford, which was really good to see. Look forward to seeing them progress.
U13/U15 events
There were 3 matches, all at the Guildford Spectrum Leisure Centre. The entertainment was great, and the atmosphere electric. The other teams were clubs from all over Surrey and parts of London. It was good to see the Crystal Palace and Coulsdon athletes combining well and building up a good team spirit over the course of the events. The matches added individual event points to the various relays available to produce a team points total and match position. The U15 Girls started brilliantly, carrying on from where they left of last season, by winning the first match. They faded slightly, and struggled to get a full team for the last match. The U13 boys were outstanding in a fierce competition. The A team shone, and came 3rd in each event, and the younger athletes in the B team and (for the first time) C team performed well also. The U13 Girls started well, but faded a little. The girls were a very young team overall so this bodes well for next season.
Summary
U15 girls - A team 3rd out of 9 teams
U13 boys - A team 3rd out of 16 teams
B team 10th
C team 13th
U13 girls - A team 7th out of 18 teams
B team 13th
C team 15th
The team spirit was good, and it was nice to see athletes cheering on their team-mates. The behaviour and sportsmanship was excellent also, so well done for that. It’s always nice to see competitors shaking hands with each other after a race.
Athletes worthy of a special mention are :-
Creston Harrison - went from the C team to the A team with excellent performances in the relays and 4-lap.
Maya Bruney - went from the B to the A team after performing exceptionally well overall in the first 2 matches.
Leanne Cooper - unusually, showed great form in both the sprints AND the long distances, as well as the Vertical Jump.
Mitchell Scott – the fastest man of his size, with a superb attitude and determination !
Alex Roberts – Smiled constanty, and was exceptional in her first ever attempt at the High Jump to her Mum’s delight and surprise.
The Billups girls – Up for any event, and always giving 100%.
Aaron Wells – superb in the longer events, and provided a highlight with victory in the PAARLAUF with Tyrie.
As a result of all these performances, 4 SLH athletes were chosen to represent Surrey on 17th Feb. This was a match against the other South Eastern counties, Kent, Sussex, Middlesex and Essex.
U15 girls - Sophie Small
U13 boys - Tyrie Obuks and Saul Thompson
U13 girls - Jahisha Thomas
Several other SLH athletes were considered by the selectors. Harriet Field (U15G), Shanice Harrison (U15G), Vanessa La Fon (U13G) and Finn Nightingale (U13B) were unlucky to miss out.
U13 Boys were 2nd . Tyrie and Saul unfortunately missed out to Middlesex in a very close match.
U13 Girls were 1st which means that Jahisha Thomas will go to the UK final with the Surrey team. Good luck Jahisha !!
U15 Girls were also 1st, but Sophie Small was unfortunately unable to compete on the day.
Well done all, and we look forward to the track season, as we have gained some important pointers as to the possibilities of selection for the SLH teams. There are a lot of events coming up in the summer, starting in March. It would be good to see as many of you as possible competing, whether it be in the team or in the Open meetings. See me or Anne for further details.
Just one more person to thank, and that’s Vanessa’s mum ! She provided endless entertainment in the crowd she shouted and screamed the house down during many of the races !!
Keep up the hard work, enjoy yourselves, and well done to you all so far.
Ian and Anne
Posted in Young Athletes, Sportshall
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