The final match of this "summer's" 4 league meetings on Sunday 23 July meant a return visit to Abingdon and once again hot weather conditions prevailed. Although numbers were down due to the start of the school holiday period Chiltern Harriers young athletes produced their best performance of the summer finishing 4th in the match and moving up to 4th overall. There were 16 individual wins and 3 relay team wins plus loads of personal best performances.
Probably the star performance of the day was Clarice Underwood's U15 girls 100m win in a new personal best of 12.1 secs which moved her to 2nd place in the UK ranking list for this year. Training partner Tom Evans also produced an outstanding run to win the U15 boys 100m in a new Pb of 11.8 secs and inside the AAA's Grade 1 standard.
In the U13 Boys events Sam Norris and Michael Palfreeman won the 'A' and 'B' string High Jump competition. Michael followed that by winning the 'A' string 800m. There was another double win in the 1500m with Oliver Church and first year Jack Dutton taking the honours. At the end of the afternoon Palfreeman, Dutton and Church teamed up with first year sprinter Jim Goddard to win a thrilling 4x100m relay race with Oliver Church just chesting the line first ahead of the team from Division champions Radley.
For the U15 boys Alex Shelley won the 'A' string 800m and 'B' string 400m. Nick Lingley in a new Pb of 56.6 secs won the 'A' string 400m. First year in the age group, indeed still only 12 years old, Joel Williams made a promising debut in the 200m just missing out on 2nd place with a time of 25.6 secs (AAA's grade 3 standard). He joined teammates Tom Evans, Faris Churcher and Zac Underwood in a very strong 4x100m team that ran out convincing winners by over 2 seconds in the relay race. The last event of the day saw another outstanding win by the 4x400m relay team consisting of Alex Shelley, Nick Lingley, Tom Kirby and Barney Banks.
The latest of these fortnightly events produced some great runs by Chiltern Harriers athletes. Personal bests or season's best times were recorded by most of the athletes competing.
Excellent runs by 14 year olds Nick Lingley and Alex Shelley in the 1500m with both setting new personal bests after a terrific last lap battle. Nick recorded 4.16.87 finishing 2nd in his heat and he was followed home closely by Alex in 4.17.55 for 3rd place. These performances put them 11th and 13th respectively in the UK rankings for U15 boys in 2006. On this occasion they were outkicked over the last 300m by 20 year old Chiltern Harrier Tom Beedell who recorded a season's best 4.14.06 in only his 2nd competitive run of the season.
Another senior Chiltern Harrier running in a British Milers Club 800m heat on the night was Fabian Downs. He has been improving his times all season since returning from university and did so again finishing 4th in his heat in a new best 1.55.83.
In the 800m heats personal best times were achieved by Eloise Loach (U13) 2.42.15, Oliver Church (U13) 2.27.68, Michael Palfreeman (U13) 2.29.71 and first year U13 Jack Dutton 2.34.42. First year U15 Jenny Hayward improved her best to 2.32.67 and first year U17 Michael Belcher took more than a second off to record 2.05.25.
In the 1500m races first year U15 Bex Myers produced a strong finishing kick to improve her best time to 4.55.18 and first year U17 Louisa Lingley achieved a season's best of 5.08.11. U20 Stewart Ellerby chopped 7 seconds off his best time in his first 1500m of the summer with a new Pb of 4.14.88.
Clarice Underwood (100m), Nick Lingley (800m), Alex Shelley (1500m) and Bex Myers (800m or 1500m) are all taking part in the AAA's U15/U17 Championships at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on 5/6 August. They go into the National competition with the confidence of improved times throughout the last 6 weeks and should gain a lot from the experience.
Gary Howells
Coach/ Team Manager
Chiltern Harriers AC