Buckinghamshire Track and Field Championships

10th May 2008

Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin

Chiltern Harriers had an excellent day at the County Championships on Saturday, coming home with twenty medals. Encouragingly ten of those were in the Under 13 age group.

A hot and muggy morning and stormy afternoon at Stantonbury Stadium in Milton Keynes saw some fine running and jumping from Chiltern's young athletes.

Star of the day was Michael Goddard whose track season continues to break records. His 2.10.4 in the Under 13 800 metres not only broke the Championship record by nine seconds but also put him in fourth place on the all-time list for the distance for his age group, and is the fastest time of the year by a huge margin. Not content with this, Michael went on the win the 200 metres in the afternoon in an impressive 27.5.

Also starring for the Under 13 boys were John Underwood, winning gold in the long jump with 3.69 metres and silver in the 75m hurdles in 16.1, Alex Russell who held on for gold in a tight finish in the 100 metres in 14.0 and won bronze in the 200 metres in 29.1, and Joe Cochrane who ran bravely in the afternoon rain to win bronze in the 1500 metres in 5.08.7.

Not to be outdone, the Under 13 girls also came home with some silverware. Jemma Wenman was a convincing winner of the 70m hurdles in 13.0 in her first competitive race at the event, Ellie Jones gained silver in the 1500 metres in a PB of 5.18.7, Connie Lewis won bronze in the same race in a PB of 5.23.2, and Jessica Franks impressed on her Harriers debut with bronze in the 800 metres with a time of 2.39.4.

In the U15 Boy's 1500m first year Dan Barraclough was off the pace of the leading three runners as expected but produced a Pb 4mins 46.1 run in his first race of the summer to finish 4th.

In the older age groups, coach Peter Griffiths' sprinting squad had further success. Clarice Underwood won the Under 17 100 metres in 12.6 and silver in the 200 metres in 26.5. Maria Nikodemova and Isabelle Assirati won silver and bronze respectively in the Under 15 100 metres in 13.5 and 13.6. In the very close final Sophie East was just a tenth of a second behind the medals in 13.7, finishing in sixth place. Clarice Underwood also won the Under 17 long jump with 4.52m. Maria and Isabelle repeated their second and third places in the 200 final in 27.8 and 28.4 respectively.

In the U17 Men's 1500m Final Alex Shelley had his first race of the season. The FastBreak of Chesham sponsored athlete has been plagued by pelvic and hamstring injuries associated with major growth spurts for the past 18 months. So he was delighted to record his first Pb in the event for two seasons and the 4mins 14.9 clocking, including a 64sec last lap, won him a bronze medal just behind 2nd place and only 5 metres behind the winner. First year teammate Dan Loach was 6th in 4mins 40.6. Also in the Under 17 age group Alex Watson was second in the high jump with 1.47m and William Shepherd was second in the long jump with 5.73m.

Joel Williams was the pick of the older male sprinters with silver in the Under 17 100 metres in 11.5 and William Shepherd was just outside the medals in 12.0, the same time as the bronze winning runner.

Amongst the seniors, Fiona Calder was second in the 1500 metres in 5.55.7 and in a very high calibre men's 1500 metres Tom Beedell and Stuart Ellerby ran fast times of 4.09.6 and 4.17.1 to finish in fourth and fifth spots.

At the Herts County Championships on Sunday, Sam Rogers won double gold in the Under 17 age group. His time of 60.77 was enough to take the 400 metres hurdles title and he achieved a PB to win the 400 metres flat in 52.43.

All those competing in the weekend's events performed strongly and saw hard training paying off. Those new to track and field had their first taste of a high class meeting which will be of great value going forward.

So a very positive weekend's work from Chiltern's young athletes, and with the season at an early stage, plenty of opportunity to make further progress in the Young Athletes League campaign which begins in Abingdon on Sunday 18th.