National Young Athletes League - Regional Final
Birmingham Alexandra Stadium - Sunday 17th July 2011
Rugby & Northampton’s Young Athletes Progress to the National Final in style
The team travelled to Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Sunday to compete in the Midland Regional Final of the McCain National Young Athletes League. Up for grabs was a place in the National Final in September and having won the Midland Premier South division, the club faced a tough task. Opposition was provided by host club Birchfield Harriers, Marshall Milton Keynes, City of Stoke, Nene Valley, Swansea, Cheltenham and Notts AC.
With 8 teams competing, the track events were split into A and B races, with the field events run with 2 athletes per team, throwing or jumping together. Despite blustery wind and showers, the team performed superbly, winning the competition with a mammoth score of 942 points, from Birchfield Harriers, 2nd on 826 and a further 54 point gap to 3rd placed City of Stoke. The victory was testimony to the strength in depth, throughout the squad and some outstanding individual performances, with over 20 Personal Bests. There were 13 wins amongst the A athletes, a further 21 from the B’s and 4 from 9 relays were won.
The under 13 girls had a particularly difficult task, in the face of some very strong opposition. This kind of event can be challenging as it is a step up in standard from the Divisional events. Brittany Wood again performed superbly, with Silver medal performances in the 70m hurdles, 12.02s and a personal best of 8m 20cm in the shot. Constantia Libburd showed her versatility with Bronze medals in the 150m, a personal best of 21.03s and the 800m in 2m 37.72s. There was also some excellent sprinting from Sophie Henderson, who took Bronze in the 75m with a personal best of 10.59s, before setting another personal best of 20.62s to win the 150m B race. These 3, along with Charlotte Vessey, also went on to victory in the 4x100m Relay. In the 1200m there was a silver medal for Lily Carmichael, who finished in 4m 10.61s and an excellent 2nd place in the B race for Georgia Willix in 4m 23.63. In the field events it was a good day for Milan Clues, who took silver in the Long Jump, with a leap of 4m 20cm and won the High Jump B competition, jumping 1m 20cm. There were also promising performances from Ella Bromley, 3rd in the 800m B race and Joella Ronchetti, 6m 15cm in the Shot.
There were some outstanding performances amongst the Under 13 boys. Sprinter Toisin Segun, is having a tremendous season and he won Gold in both the 100m and 200m, with Personal Bests of 12.72s and 25.99s respectively. Tom Cheyne was also on fine form, taking silver in the 75m hurdles, in 13.34s, bronze in the Long Jump with 4m 53cm and winning the 200m B race in 26.94s. These 2, along with Aidan Wardle and Thomas Bailie also won an exciting 4x100m relay. There was a good performance from Haydn Arnall, who set a PB of 2m 24.74 in his less favoured distance, the 800m, to take 4th place. Joshua Lay continued his improvement and won the bronze medal in the 1500m in a time of 5m 01.66s. In the B events Reece Canavan claimed victory in the 1500m, with a personal best of 5m 06.89 and Ewan Roberts performed well to finish 2nd in the 800m. There was a double victory in the Shot, with Matthew Tildesley putting 8m 70cm to take gold and Jake Watts taking the B competition with a promising put of 7m 30cm.
The under 15 girls have shown real promise throughout the season with several athletes in their first year in the category. English School’s finalist Simone Ager had another excellent day, winning bronze medals in the 100m, 12.67s, 200m, 26.24s and the Long Jump 4m 76cm. Regan Traynor took the bronze medal in the High Jump, clearing 1m 48cm, finished a close 5th in the hurdles in 13.04s and equaled her personal best in the pole vault, clearing 1m 90cm. In the latter event there was also a personal best for Tia Clues, who achieved a height of 1m 80cm. In the B events Ellie Sobers claimed 1st place in the 100m, clocking 13.39s and Imogen Downing leapt to a graded height of 1m 40cm, to finish 3rd in the high Jump. Elsewhere in the field, there was a gold medal for Megan Exley, who threw her Javelin to a personal best of 31m 07cm, winning the event comfortably and maintaining her unbeaten record in league competition. Gemma Scales showed her prowess as an all-round thrower, winning the bronze in the Discus with a 20m 48cm effort, taking 5th place in the Shot and 2nd place in the Javelin B competition. There was great consistency in the middle distance events with a bronze medal for Natalie Goddard, who finished the 800m in 2m 28.62s and a solid effort of 5m 16.73s by Charlotte Murphy to take 4th in the 1500m. There was more success in the B string events with Katie Clubb 2nd in the 800m and Alison Inwood 3rd in the 1500m. Late in the day the 4x100m relay squad of Regan Traynor, Ellie Sobers, Libby Lea and Simone Ager took the bronze medal and in doing so got tantalizingly close to the club record of 51.5s with their time of 51.53s.
There were some commanding performances from the under 15 boys. Rotimi Segun is another athlete having an exceptional season and he won gold in 100m and 200m, running 11.41s and 23.37s. He later finished a creditable 4th in the Javelin, throwing 33.94m. Luke Bromley is also having a year to remember and he took Gold in the 80m hurdles, in a very quick time of 11.87s, before taking silver in the shot, with a put of 10m 75cm and running a personal best of 57.84s in the 400m. The high standard of sprinting and hurdling within the club was emphasized in the B races, by victories for Adam Wright in the 80m hurdles and 400m, Timothy Kerr-Chin 100m and Caleb Downes 200m. There were Bronze Medals in both Middle Distance events, Adam Wright 2m 08.89s in the 800m and Jack Murphy 4m 31.55s in the 1500m. There were also silver medals for Timothy Kerr-Chin in the Long Jump, 5m 22cm and Jacob North in the Hammer, 33m 40cm and a promising 4th in the Discus for Josh Arimoro who threw 25m 24cm. There were other good performances in the B events where Cameron MacLean set a personal best in the Javelin of 33m 73cm to take 2nd place and this was matched by Jacob North who managed 10m 07cm in the Shot Put. It was a similar story in the middle distance B races, with Harry Hughes setting a personal best of 4m 41.61 to claim 1st in the 1500m and Sam Sherratt a creditable 2nd in the 800m. The day ended well with gold for the 4x100m relay squad of Luke Bromley, Timothy Kerr-Chin, Zachary Stapleton and Rotimi Segun.
The under 17 Women have performed well all season and have often been required to compete in additional events to make up the team. With several athletes in their final season at this level there is clearly a desire to go out on a high. Top performer on the day was Female Team Captain, Kerry Murch, who set a personal best of 11.78s in the 80m hurdles, before dominating the Javelin with a throw of 41.06 to take her 2nd gold. There was also a big effort from Grace Adeyinka, who took bronze in the 200m, in 26.95 and achieved a personal best of 42.88s in winning the 300m B race, a time that would have seen her medal in the A race. There were also silver medals for Hannah Scales in the 300m hurdles, 48.29s, Sarah Bennett in the 3000m, 11m 04.64s and Asia Ercan, who cleared a personal best of 1m 45cm in the High Jump. The B athletes again scored a lot of points with wins for debutant Morgan Butler in the Discus, 21m 82cm and Favour Anayhoa who cleared 1m 40cm in the High Jump. There were also strong performances from Yasmin Webb in the 80m hurdles, 300m hurdles and Long Jump and from Alexa Shaw who set a personal best of 13.39s in the 100m. In the middle distance events there was another fast 800m from Mary Hughes, 2m 27.56s and a good B race 2nd place for Genevieve Roberts in 2m 29.96s. Click Blake finished 2nd in the 3000m B race and there was also an improved performance from Tilly Lee, who clocked 5m 28.58s in the 1500m. A strong finish from the 4x100m relay squad of Alexa Shaw, Hannah Scales, Kerry Murch and Grace Adeyinka netted them the silver medal in a time of 51.5s
The under 17 Mens squad are well known for their resilience, willingness to go the extra mile and of course their comedy value. This team spirit was rewarded with new club records in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. The sprint relay squad of Macauley Burke, Clinton Osoba-George, Luke Townsend and Ciaran Wardle won their event against strong opposition in 44.8s. The longer relay squad was made up of Tom Charteress, Logan Roberts, Ozzi Njie and Ciaran Wardle and their run of 3m 40.37 won the silver. In the individual events Ciaran Wardle was again to the fore, winning the 100m and 200m in very quick times of 11.20s and 22.72s respectively. Luke Townsend also had a stellar day, winning the 100m hurdles gold in 14.27s, setting a personal best in taking silver in the 400m hurdles, with a time of 60.96s and jumping a solid 5m 55cm for 5th in the Long Jump. Tom Charteress doubled up in the 800m and 400m, winning the bronze in the shorter event and setting a personal best of 2m 02.19s in the 800m. In the B races there were victories for Ozzi Njie, 100m hurdles, Logan Roberts, 400m hurdles, George Goodwin, 3000m and Clinton Osoba-George in the 400m, where he set a new personal best of 53.40s. Osoba-George also took strong 2nd places in the 100m and 200m, with a personal best of 23.01s in the latter event. In the field events Male Team Captain Harry Ronchetti won silver in the Shot Put with 11m 46cm, bronze in the Discus with 38m 31cm and was 2nd in the javelin B event. Silver medal in the Javelin went to Macauley Burke, with a throw of 44m 31cm and he also took 2nd in the B shot with a throw of 11m 34cm. Gold in the Hammer went to Nick Scales, with a personal best of 36m 78cm, with the B competition taken by Oli Dancer. There was also a personal best for Shane Brewer who won the B Discus with a throw of 29m 31cm. Ozzi Njie won bronze in the triple Jump, leaping 12m 18cm and Yan Francis followed up 4th place in the High Jump with 2nd in the B Triple Jump and 5th in the B long Jump. Late in the day a special cheer was reserved for the sprint finish from Nick Scales to take the final point in the 1500m steeplechase.
The team is now looking forward to the National Final on Sunday 4th September, to be held at Alexandra Stadium and hoping to improve and last years 4th place finish.
