Hot Results Warm Up A Chilly Day!

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The second EYAL meet saw Harriers take what will be their shortest journey of the year – to Ipswich on Sunday 5 May, for another day of scintillating track and field athletics. Provisional results placed the team in a fabulous third place with an amazing total of 619.5 points, placing the green vests ninth in the league.

With the sun making valiant efforts to appear and despite the chilly breeze, Harrier’s Juniors pulled out some great performances as well as showing considerable team spirit and support not just amongst themselves but also to other competitors as more than usual numbers of athletes suffered spills and sprains.

Honour of man of the match went to U15 debutant Sean Emika-Ugwuadu who gained maximum points across his three events. Kicking off his successful day, he competed his favourite event Long Jump and in less than favourable conditions managed a leap of 5.62m, an impressive run in the 100m against strong opposition from Ipswich and Thurrock saw him cross the line in 12.9s.  His final win of the day came in an exciting High Jump competition, which saw two green vests vying for top slot.  His clearance of 1.60 brought his tally of points to 21.  He also ran an excellent leg of the U15 boys 4x100m relay ensuring the team claimed third place.

It was field events that helped this young team to a good third place finish with high scoring performances coming from Wyatt Larkins who won the U13 Shot (7.80m pb), then went on to take second in Javelin (18.8m) and finishing his day with another second in Discus (16.36m).  Older sister Josephine replicated her brothers positions with first place in the U17 Hammer (34.90m), second in Discus with a best of 19.14m and another second as B string Javelin (14.93m).

Olivia Simon, shone in the hammer cage, claiming the longest female throw of the day by a whopping 22m. Her best throw reaching 41.11m, yet another consistent outing for this youngster who next week will set her sights on becoming Essex Champion. She added to the team’s tally with second in Shot (6.90m) and fourth in Discus (14.73m).

U17 Harvey Daniels enjoyed another successful meet, and will no doubt be sought after for the senior team for his Pole-vault and High Jump prowess. He claimed two new PBs in both to clear 2.50m and first place and 1.65m for equal second respectively. He would clearly benefit from specific coaching to enable his raw talent to progress. It was great to see Zion Ateba back in action following a new year injury.  She claimed a good second place finish in her U15 High Jump with a clearance of 1.55m.

Jakub Walecki joined Emika-Ugwuadu in the U15 boys High Jump and showed that with some consistent coaching this could become his favoured event.  A nice bouncy run up produced a final clearance of 1.60m and saw him clinch the B string win, equalling the height of his team mate.   Whilst in Javelin he took second place with a best throw of 28.18m and also gained third in the shot with 8.50m.

Aliyah Soames earned a long sought for PB in the U17 Javelin with a throw of 29.35m and showed great team spirit by stepping out of her comfort zone to take on discus replacing an athlete who was unable to compete due to illness.

The 1500m provided two stand out performances of the day; one of the latest signings for the club and one of its youngest, Lyla Belshaw certainly showed her potential, running a superb 1500m in 5.23.2. This first year U13 outran both A and B string runners to finish in overall third and her official time places her just outside a top 50 UK ranking. U15 Emily Swan was delighted with her new 1500m PB, having run almost a minute quicker than her time last year, cutting down to 5.50.1. Whilst Lizzie Welstead reduced her 1500m Pb by 2 seconds to 5.56.4.

Missy Buxton enjoyed great personal achievement by knocking off 9 seconds off her 1500m, having already competed the 800m.  Flying out at the start of both her races. First year U15 Alexandra Bell Cobbold, gained a good second off her 800m (2.35.6s) and ran her first ever 300m (46.6s).

Sam Shippey saw a return to form running just outside his PB’s to snatch a fantastic double win in the U17mens 200m and 400m. Dominating both races from the gun, he swiftly opened up good leads in both to finish a very healthy 4 seconds ahead in the 400m (53.3s) and a second in front in his 200m (23.8s).   With the odds stacked against from lane one, Jimi Sijuwola was equally dominant and once again earned first place points for his superb wins as A string 100m in 11.7s and B string 200m in 23.8s. Henry Lawes proved that sometimes it is worth looking at other events to add strings to a bow, and earned valuable points in the U17 men’s Javelin with a very respectable throw of 30.42m adding to his strong 100m win as B string in 12.0s.  Arnold Emeka- Ugwuada made a mark at his debut meet with a solid win in the U13 boys 100m (14.00s) a hard fought fourth in the 200m ( 29.4s) and third place in Long Jump (4.11m) – it will be exciting to see if this youngster follows in his brothers footsteps.

It was great to see a number of athletes take on Hurdles; Hollie Martin Whymark repeated her good form, running a clean race to take 3rd in 13.2s, with Chloe Prosser taking a good B string second in 14.1s. Non-scoring athlete Amelie Taylor demonstrated good technique for a first outing and will certainly be one to watch as she progresses.    In the U15 girls Georgina Smith showed great resilience after a heavy fall at the second hurdle – which many wouldn’t have recovered from – she managed to pick herself up and continue the race to finish in 14.7s.  Megan Taylor made her Hurdles debut and gained a good PB of 17.00s. What U13 Bhramav Rajesh lacks in current style he certainly makes up for with buckets of courage and determination and hopefully this will stand him in good stead as the season continues.

Special mention goes to young Jacob Castle who overcame severe nerves at the start of the day, gaining a PB in his High Jump with much needed second place points and taking third in the 1500m. New member Caleb Lee, who despite bringing up the rear of the u13 1500m, raised the loudest cheer for sheer determination and can now build on his experience for the summer ahead.

Thanks, and congratulations go to the rest of the team, many of whom achieved PB’s and earnt points for the club and of course to all the officials, Team Managers and helpers.   Once full results are published a link will be posted here.

The Third meet takes place on 2nd June in Chelmsford.

Photos by Tilly Swan