Midland Counties Under 17 & Under 15 Championship
Alexander Stadium – 6th/7th August
Last weekend, Birmingham Alexander Stadium was the venue for the Midlands under 17 and under 15 Track & Field Championships. This was 1 of only 3 area Championships, from England Athletics and a small number of Rugby & Northampton athletes entered the event with 6 medals won in total.
Top performer was under 17 Woman, Kerry Murch, who ended the weekend with a full set of medals from her 3 events. On Saturday she took the Silver medal in a competitive Long Jump competition, with a leap of 5m 20cm, despite gusting winds making take off conditions an unwelcome challenge. Team mate Hannah Scales finished 10th with a best effort of 4m 70cm. In the Sprint Hurdles, also run in less than ideal conditions with a -1.1 head wind, Kerry finished a creditable 3rd in 12.05s, to take the Bronze medal in a race won by English Schools champion Lucy Hatton from Corby AC. On Sunday she moved on to her favoured event, the Javelin, taking the Gold medal with a throw of 40m 01cm. Hannah competed in the 200m on the Sunday and progressed to the final, recording a time of 27.34s in her morning heat. In the afternoon she improved her time to 27.16s for a well deserved 5th place finish.
Ciaran Wardle, in his first year at Under 17 level, continued his excellent form by finishing a solid 4th in Saturday’s 100m Final against very strong opposition. On Sunday he ran the 200m, progressing comfortably through his heat with a win in 22.54s. In the final he was rewarded with an excellent 3rd place and bronze medal in a time of 22.74s into a strong head wind. In the Field there was a new personal best for Nick Scales in the Hammer and his throw of 40m 10cm netted a good 4th place.
On the Saturday, under 15 Natalie Goddard ran in a very competitive 800m event. Having come 3rd in her morning heat, with a fast time of 2m 29.81s, it was a big task to compete in the afternoon final against some of the best middle distance girls in the country. The result was a creditable 7th place finish in a time of 2m 34.86s and some invaluable experience in running multiple rounds. There was another promising performance from Gemma Scales who threw the Hammer to a new personal best of 22m 85cm to take 4th place. In the Javelin, Megan Exley won the Silver medal with a best throw of 29m 60cm, some way below her personal best but a decent effort considering a constantly changing wind direction.
The only under 15 boy to compete from the club was Adam Wright and his reward was a hard fought 3rd place to take the Bronze medal in the 800m. In a tactical race the medal order was in doubt up to the last few strides and he will have learned a lot from the experience.
