News from South London Harriers
April 12th, 2008: Sportshall National Finals
Posted by Ian Field at 12:12 pmWith 3 SLH athletes looking forward to competing at this fantastic event, hopes were suddenly dashed. The finals were reduced to a “Field Events only” competition as several accidents forced organisers to halt all the running events.
2 SLH Young Athletes travelled to Birmingham NEC for the National Sportshall Finals. Another, luckily, had not left home before disaster struck.
The Finals had been switched from the NIA to the NEC. However, after the first few running events produced falls and crashes, it became clear that the athletes could not maintain their balance on the slippery polished floor, and that the event was becoming a farce. In the Vertical Jump, competitors could not gain any purchase from the floor, and performances were well below normal. Races were delayed while the team managers got together to assess the situation, and the decision was finally taken to restrict the competition to Field Events only for safety reasons.
In the Under 13 Girls, Jahisha Thomas proceeded to jump brilliantly, and achieved a PB of 1.45m in the High Jump for an excellent Silver medal. Surrey finished 5th of the 13 teams.
In the Under 15 Girls, Sophie Small competed in the Speed Bounce and Vertical Jump, to come 29th individually of the 78 competitors. Harriet Field was not due to compete until 3pm, and luckily had not left home when the decision was made, so did not travel. Surrey were 7th overall.
Better luck next year guys !
Posted in Young Athletes, Sportshall
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