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Click on photo to enlarge - use browser back button to return Picture by Pete Griffiths |
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Click on photo to enlarge - use browser back button to return Picture by Pete Griffiths |
There were four Chiltern Harriers amongst the 35 Buckinghamshire young athletes travelling to Gateshead to compete against the best of all the other English counties.
Star of the show was Clarice Underwood, winner of the intermediate girls 100m. The sprinter who attends Chesham High School performed steadily through the heats and semi-final. However, Clarice saved a championship performance for the final, finishing in 12.09, four hundredths ahead of second place.
Further county medal success came from the 4x100m intermediate girls and boys relay teams coached by Chiltern's sprint coach, Peter Griffiths. The intermediate boys were a blend of Chiltern and Windsor sprinters. First leg was Adam Medcraft of Wye Valley School and Windsor. He handed the baton to Joel Williams of Chiltern and the Amersham School who passed to Chiltern team-mate and Dr Challoner's Grammar School pupil Sam Rodgers, before Tom Evans of Chesham High and Windsor brought the county team home on the final leg to the silver medal in a time of 42.80, just half a second behind winners Middlesex.
The second place was replicated by the intermediate girls team. Led off to a great start by Clarice Underwood, with a second leg by Cat Hall-Jones of Dr Challoners High School, the Wycombe High School and Windsor duo of Chloe Mays and Leah Barrow completed the team to a second place time of 48.20, just under a second adrift of winners Essex.
The other Chiltern athlete at the prestigious meeting was Maria Nikodemova who came close to a PB in the junior girls 100m finishing in 13.13, sixth place in her heat. Sam Rodgers finished his 400m hurdles in seventh spot in a very fast heat, close to a PB in a time of 57.60, and Joel Williams was fifth in his 100m semi-final in 11.28, just missing out on a final place.