The weather for both days of these championships was dry and a nice temperature, however Saturday's events were seriously affected by blustery winds up to 25 mph in strength. Although personal best times were unlikely in such windy conditions it didn't spoil an excellent weekend of competition for athletes and spectators alike. Four of Chiltern Harriers young athletes took part and gained from the experience with two appearing in finals after qualifying from heats.
First year U15 Clarice Underwood was one athlete who used the wind to good effect by producing an excellent personal best run in the 100m heats. Her time was 12.87 secs and she finished 3rd in the heat behind the eventual 100m champion but failed to make the final by just 8 hundredth's of a second as the 9th fastest runner. Clarice was very pleased with her time but also frustrated when she realised that it was just 7 hundredth's of a second outside the English Schools qualifying time of 12.8 secs.
Continuing his successful start to the season U17 Matthew Bennett raced in the 800m heats late on Saturday afternoon and finished on the heat winner's shoulder to easily qualify for Sunday's final, emulating his performance of two years ago as an U15. On Sunday, as he toed the line for the final, his main target was the English Schools qualifying time of 1min 59 secs. However, with the favourite Jordan West from Cornwell setting a hot pace for the first lap, a tactic he would ultimately pay for, Matthew went through the bell in 55 5secs in 5th place a full 3 secs faster than planned. This effort took its toll as he finished in 6th place and missed out on the qualifying time. Undeterred, immediately after the race Matthew told coach Gary Howells that he was now equipped to improve his pb of 2.00.10 by the necessary margin.
U15 Louisa Lingley was another athlete looking to use the heats of the 1500m to achieve a qualifying time. Unfortunately the wind seemed to be at its worst for her race. She ran very well in her first major track championship and qualified for the final as one of 4 fastest losers with higher ranked athletes missing out. The final turned out to be a very high quality race and Louisa finished 11th.
First year U15 Alex Shelley was another to suffer in the strong winds in his 1500m heat as he finished in 10th place, but the experience will stand him in good stead.
Gemma Turtle, running in Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers colours on this occasion took part in the U20 Women's 1500m heats on Saturday. On the Saturday she comfortably qualified for the final finishing in the first four in her heat. In Sunday's final she worked hard to repeat last summer's 5th place in a season's best of 4mins 36.37. A good performance as her training has been aimed at the longer 3000m and 5000m events that were not held at this meeting.
Another talented young Chiltern Harriers athlete Bex Myers (U13) continues to improve with every middle distance race she takes part in. At a recent Watford Open meeting she posted a new 800m pb of 2 mins 32.86 when finishing 2nd in her race. On Bank Holiday Monday evening she raced in this high standard meeting at Watford competing against U15, U17 girls and even an U20 women in a 1500m race. Bex has developed good pace judgement and coach Gary Howells was delighted to see her run to plan and bring out her competitive spirit in the last 400m to come home 4th in a new pb of 5 mins 9.28 secs a full 9 seconds faster than her previous best. This time puts her into the UK's top 10 for U13 girls