A strong EYAL team performed excellently in their second match of the season in a shade deprived St. Albans to compete in sweltering temperatures. Provisional results placed the club in third place, amassing 592 points – one of the largest scores in Harriers history.

Outstanding performances of the day came from Milly Presland (U15) in the 1500m, where she confidently took the lead round the three and three-quarter laps to finish well ahead of the second placed runner to claim a Club Record that had stood since 2012, in a time of 4:56.1s. And she still looked as fresh as a daisy at the end!

Olivia Simon once again excelled in the Pole Vault claiming pole position and equalled her indoor PB of 2.60m to garner a new outdoor Club Record and PB. (just the day before she beat her own record in U15 Hammer whilst competing at Bury St Edmunds in the throws season with 35.61m)… she will have a difficult choice to make if selected for Essex Schools as both events now place her top twelve in the UK rankings.

Zion Ateba’s High Jump continues to go from strength to strength; as a first year U15 she should be delighted with taking pole position and a clearance of 1.54m, egged on by a large Harriers following and there is still plenty of scope for development.

In the sprints U13 Hollie Martin-Whymark smashed her 70m Hurdles PB, running clean to knock a stunning 1.5 s off her previous best to finish second in 13.5s, whilst Ateba continued to reduce her U15 75m Hurdles time to 12.9s in a very fast race where she finished fourth. In the U17 age category there really is a battle for top slots amongst both women and men as each meet produces some exciting times for our youngsters.  Maya Rattray had an all round excellent meet, enjoying a very nice PB in her 100m, slicing four tenths of a second off to finish in 13.0s, clocking the quickest time of the day for our female sprinters, she then leapt to 4.52m to increase her Long Jump PB and followed that up to take 2^nd place in the 200m despite running as a non-scorer.  Not to be outdone, Georgina Smith in the U15 age category also reduced her 100m PB by four tenths to finish in fourth place in a time of 13.5s; in her 200m, she ran a storming home straight gaining ground to overtake into third place and with it a 28.5s PB.

Youngster, Thomas Ashley, shows lots of potential as a sprinter, clocking a new PB of 14.1s, with a running style very similar to U17 Daniel Jones who should be pleased with his consistent form, equalling his PB of 11.4s after an explosive start.  Henry Lawes ran a blistering race, gaining ground to finish just one tenth behind Jones in a new PB of 11.5s; both boys maintained good composure having endured a nerve jangling false start.  U15 George Lavender deserves commendation for stepping in at short notice to run a PB of 12.3s to hold an excellent third place as A string. In the U17 men’s 200m, Jones took the lead round the bend and held to take an easy A string win, dipping below 23s for the first time to finish in 22.95s. In the second race three green vests went head to head and finished in the top three slots with Jimi Sijuwola in the inside lane leading from the gun in 23.7s, with Lawes having a fantastic home straight to close down on Sijuwola to take second and relative newcomer Joe Clarke a confident third.

Thomas Palmer dominated both his U17 men’s 800m and 400m races: although a little off his 800m PB, he finished clear of the field in an outdoor seasons best time to gain confidence for forthcoming championships. Placed in the outside lane for his 400m, he showed consistent form to take the win in a time which equals his PB of 54.3s. Sister Jennifer earned herself top slot in the U17 women’s 300m and for the home meet will become A string runner for the 300m given her time of 46.3s. In the younger age groups, U13 Harrison Leek took an 800m PB; whilst making his debut for the club Alex Walder followed in the footsteps of his older brother to show grit and commitment to finish in 3:18.0s.

Eliza Betts came tantalisingly close to breaking the 5m mark in the U17 women’s Long Jump; all three jumps registering as legal, with a best of 4.98m, a gain of 11cm onto her PB was good enough to earn full points.   U15 Emily Swann will no doubt become a very useful member of the team having jumped clear at 1.35m in her first outing in the high Jump. Jimi Sijuwola shows a very natural aptitude for all jumps as well as sprints, recording 5.52m in U17 Men’s Long Jump to take third place and 1.55m in High Jump for second.  Both U17 girls Savannah Harrison and Eleanor Hopgood won their strings in the Triple Jump, earning maximum points and for Eleanor a PB of 9.13m in her first try at this event.  In the men’s equivalent Joe Clarke bagged himself his second PB in the space of a week with a leap of 10.20m taking third place.

Despite a lack of specialist throwers in some age categories valuable points were earned from U17 Bradley Hicks in Discus and Hammer, whilst George Lavender speared himself a decent PB in U15 Javelin with a throw of 36.02m.  Kayleigh Hale, showed strength in the U15 girls to bring home second place points in her Javelin missing out on first place by a mere two centimetres. Charlie Palmer showed consistent improvement in his throws events increasing both his Shot and Discus PB’s.

It was great to see Ziggy Lambton back on the track as a first year U17 in the 1500m, taking a good second place– and look forward to seeing how his season progresses. U13 Alexandra Bell- Cobbold set off at a cracking pace in her 1500m, to take the lead for the first lap, despite being overtaken she still held to earn third place points –  more consistent training would certainly reap its rewards for this young athlete who shows potential across a range of events.

The day ended with some sizzling relays from all the Harriers teams and for the first time in a while had the volume to field some non-scoring teams as well – showing a new depth of talent.  U15 Girls (Anna Ritchie, Katherine Harvey, Zion Ateba and Georgina Smith), U15 Boys (Charlie Walder, Harvey Daniels, George Lavender and George Mann), U13 girls (Chloe Prosser, Hollie Martin- Whymark and Olivia Gillon) all took second place in their races. Martin-Whymark running an excellent second leg of her race, making up good ground.  U17 women, competing without two of their strongest sprinters, also took second place (Katie Rice, Savannah Harrison, Eleanor Hopgood and Megan Stevens).  Rounding off a successful day, the U17 men (Henry Lawes, Joe Clarke, Jimi Sijuwola and Daniel Jones)stormed to a stunning victory finishing meters ahead of second place in a time of 47.0s, despite third leg Sijuwola being impeded by a competitor on his inside. With practise, could we see a club record broken by this team – and with the relay champs to look forward to on 29 June Harriers could be bringing home some bling!

Full results will be uploaded to power of ten in the next few days.