Junior Awards Night 2016

On the first really chilly night of the winter, Friday 18 November saw over 100 junior athletes and their families meet at the Pegasus Clubhouse to celebrate the successes of the 2016 season.

Guest of honour was Harriers very own double Commonwealth and Olympian racewalker Dominic King – who wearing his inspiring GB team kit, kicked off the evening with a talk about his road to Rio followed by a Q & A session.

As well as the major awards, it was decided to recognise those who had been nominated as having particularly impressed the coaches and team managers in each event category. Paul Strutt also presented AAA Standard Certificates to those who are deemed to have reached set standards by the Amateur Athletic Association.

The first award of the evening was presented to Katie Rice for her achievement in knocking over one second off her 75m Hurdle time this season, and also for how she is adapting to training now that she has moved from a different age group with different hurdles heights and distances.

Rebecca Jeggo, Colchester Harrier’s premiere female sprinter, was awarded the Junior Sprint Girl Award after a phenomenal season that not only saw her  consistently  break her PB’s in both 100m and 200m but also achieve National Standard in both events and with it two new club records.  She won two silver medals at the Essex Championships in May and then upgraded her 200m medal to Gold at the Essex Schools Championships. Her time of 24.93s assuring her of her seat on the coach to Gateshead representing Essex at the prestigious English Schools Championships where she claimed a superb 5th place in the final.     Her wins at the Eastern County Championship in June also saw her take a new Championship Best performance in the 100m, a record that had been held since 1993. At the England Athletics Age Group Championships in Bedford at the end of the season she gained herself a place in the final placing just 0.11 seconds outside of a medal.

Nominated for achievement in a Male Sprint event was Callum Mackay whose first year as an U17 reinforced just what a talented athlete he is. Starting the year with a new club record in 60m he went on to achieve a National qualifying time in 100m.  As well as being crowned Eastern County Champion over 100m he amassed a clutch of five Bronze medals from both indoor and outdoor Championships throughout the year. He was also lead off runner for the awesome U17 men’s record breaking 4 x100m relay squad.

Despite only being able to compete in a couple of major championships this year, the winner of the Junior Sprint Boy Award, U13 Graig Anya Joseph, has certainly made his mark.  Although winning gold, an illegal tail wind denied him a Championship Best Performance in the 100m at the Essex Championships in May. However a day later and running a clear 1.5 seconds clear of the next athlete he went on to gain his second Gold and this time with it a prestigious Championship Best Performance. Wearing an Essex vest at a National inter counties meet in July, he again came back triumphant in both events. His PB’s this year of 11.94s and 24.6s (times that any U15 boy would be happy with) broke his own club records he set last year.  This year he finishes ranked No 1 in the UK in 100m and 2nd in the 200m.  All time as an U13 he is ranked 18th in both disciplines.

Nominated for achievement by a girl in Distance running, Milly Presland had already established herself on the Parkrun scene before joining the Harriers in January. Her debut track season highlight was placing 4th at The Essex County Champs U13 girls 1500m.  More recently she was the first girl home at the 30th anniversary League Cross Country meet on Abbey Fields.

Winner of the 2016 Junior Distance Girl Athlete is Hannah Watson whose hard work and determination rewarded her with a magnificent new PB in 1500m, reducing it by a staggering 23 seconds. She also helped the SAL team and had call ups for both Essex County on the track and Essex Schools over the Cross Country to run at regional and national competitions as a first year U17. A number of times this year she has been called into the senior road and cross country teams and performed well. She is currently ranked 40th in the country in her age group for park run. Her Year highlights included coming  4th at Essex Championships in  3000m as first year U17 in a new club record time (missing out her coach’s optimistic target of 11minutes by a mere 0.71 seconds!) as well as representing Essex at 3000m in a Southern Inter-Counties match claiming B string 2nd place and 5th overall.

Such is the talent within the Junior boys middle and long distance squads that five athletes were nominated for achievement certificates: Ben Halls for being persuaded to take up 1500m Steeplechase resulting in a well-deserved U17 men’s silver medal at the Essex Championships in August as well as reducing his PB by 16 seconds over 1500m.  Max Caulfield for representing Essex at the English Schools Cross Country final where he was the fifth Essex boy home.  Ziggy Lambton  who as a first year U15 his times are quicker than those posted by athletes a year older than him at the same stage in training and also for representing Essex Schools at the Cross Country regional final. Claiming Bronze at the Essex County Championships in U15 boys 3000m and a close 4th in the 1500m Danny Millward has shown considerable talent over the longer distances although his coach has suggested he doesn’t run beyond 5k at this stage, and some of Harriers senior men would also be pretty happy to see him not run over the longer distances too! The last nominee, U17 Oscar Dawson has shown continued growth and development as an accomplished athlete and was rewarded with an exceptional year where he achieved, a superb trio of Silver medals at championships. Not only excelling in his favoured event the 800m he found the steeple chase an event that he quite liked too, so much that he is now the new club record holder in an excellent time of 6.58.71 and is also proving himself to be a promising Cross Country runner.

Winner of Junior Boy Distance Award went to Jake Young whose year rewarded him with one silver medal and no fewer than four top podium finishing positions  at County and regional championships. With the highlight of his year back in February where he gained his first national 800m Bronze medal at the National Indoor Age Group championships in Sheffield. However despite winning the Essex Schools U17 men’s 800m and having previously and firmly secured the required entry standard for the English Schools Finals, selectors denied him the opportunity of wearing the Essex vest. Continually striving for success at the Essex County Relay Champs, his second placed leg helped the team claim 4th place, and at Thurrock in the Essex League in October he came 6th.

In the Field event category. A nomination for achievement went to valuable team member  Millie Belbin, who despite battling debilitating health conditions still managed to bring home the bling – a third place in triple Jump at Essex Championships and just missing out on a medal at the Eastern Champs.  This season also saw her take up another of the most demanding of athletic events, Pole Vault.

Junior Girl Field winner, Aliyah Soames, started her U15 age band by throwing a new club record in the Javelin adding 4m to the record set in 2008 and although throwing a heavier implement, she added 5m to her PB.  In May she went on to bag a silver medal at the Essex Championships claiming it with a confident throw of 27.85m. At the Essex Schools champs despite battling with an injury she came 4th in the Junior Girls, adding valuable points for the team. Sadly the injury detected in May has resulted in a somewhat curtailed season, but it is lovely to see her back on the runway and working hard again.

Matthew Wisdom was nominated for achievement for a boy in field events. This U13 added just under 10m onto his Javelin PB this season as well as 14cm onto his High Jump, setting himself up well for U15 next year.

Winner of the Male Field Award was awarded to Jordan Fester whose season highlights included claiming bronze medal representing North East Essex at Essex Schools and at the end of this season was selected to represent Essex at U20 level despite only being an U17. He increased his PB (700g) by 5.83m and added 2.25m onto his 800g PB. Jordan is an excellent example of an athlete who came to the club set on being one thing and over the course of time through trials and tribulations he discovered another enormous talent – as a thrower.  He always has a smile on his face, is always willing to step in and do an event for the points, and is always willing to help if you ask him.

Team Manager Awards went to Amalia Dean for being a regular contributor to the team in new events, including a first try in the hammer where she gathered valuable points for the team. Joint winners for the boys were Archie French and Ben Halls, both have embraced the Harriers team spirit and tried new events to help the team score points. Both of these boys rarely competed for the team prior to this season but turned out to every event in 2016 and tried new events

Instigated by Coach Chris Akehurst five years ago the Run Jump and Throw Awards has been open to any U13 or U15 athlete, in order to encourage younger athletes to take a multi event approach to their training and competition. To qualify for  nomination athletes must have competed in at least five different track or field events since 1st January 2016 including at least one running event, one jumping event and one throwing event.  These performances can be achieved either indoors or outdoors.   Best performances in each event are then converted to points using the IAAF scoring tables that are used to score pentathlons, heptathlons, decathlons etc all over the world.

The winner of the award is the athlete who has scored the most points from the five events.  Deserving winners this year were Lauren Strutt who over the past year has steadily improved her score from 1,257 point in her first multi events competition in 2013 to 2,096 in September this year.  In 2016 she has competed in nine different events – five running events – 60m indoors, 100m, 200m, 800m and 75m hurdles, three jumping events, high jump, long jump and triple jump and one throwing event, the shot putt with many personal best performances during the year. She won a bronze medal at the Eastern Counties Championships in her first triple jump competition.  There has been an excellent improvement of 1.80m in the shot put since last year; 8.64m at Southend in August being a new under 15 girls club record for the 3kg shot

And Graig Anya Joseph who ended his outstanding year with UK rankings 1st in 100m, 2nd in 200m 3rd in Discus and 10th in Long Jump – an event he doesn’t really like!  His only 800m race clocked the fastest time by an U13 at Harriers this year and is a distance he hasn’t yet trained for.  He shows enormous potential as an excellent multi eventer.

Colchester Harriers Junior team ended the season placed 14th in the league. For the first time this year it was decided to reward those athletes who had competed for the club at least four or more of the EYAL meets, in recognition of their dedication and commitment to the team. The recipients list was as follows

Name Appearances
Millie Presland 5
Amelia Dean
Savanna Harrison
Isabella Minda
Hannah Rodgers
Lauren Strutt
Millie Belbin
Archie French
Callum McKay
Jake Young
Ben Halls
Grace Gardiner 4
Olivia Simon
Lily Upton
Hollie Speller
Katie Rice
Molly Whiteford
Graig Anya-Joseph
Ronnie Oliver
Henry Lawes
Ziggy Lambton
Jed Asemota

 

There were a number of nominations of achievement for the Most Improved Junior Athlete. Over the last two years Madeleine Claydon progressed from a non-scorer to one of our top U13 scoring athletes, where she has improved her 800m PB by more than 12 seconds and represented North East Essex at a Year 7 Inter schools match.  Her Cross Country improves with each race and her jumping really improved leaving her at the end of the season as best/equal best under 13 girls in the high jump and long jump and shares a new club record in pole vault (1.80m). Daniel Jones had another great season and despite missing training due to injury, over the last season he has taken 1.59s and 2.43s off of his 200 and 300m respectively. He claimed two brilliant silver medals and one bronze medal at championships this year.  He is certainly one to watch next year as he not only moves to a new coach, but moves up into U17s.

Winner of the Most Improved Junior went to U17 Charlie Dobson.  Although small improvements had occurred in the previous season they had not been significant enough to secure an AAA standard let alone any podium places. However 2016 started with a massive boost of confidence when over two indoor championships he had smashed his PBs in both 60m and 200m, knocking off 1.7s and 1.8s respectively. He gained a silver medal and a first national qualifying time for the National Indoor Age Group Championships and took a club record that had stood for five years. An injury then delayed his progression, but once back, his outdoor times tumbled too and gained him silver at the Essex Schools Championships where he missed out on Gold by a breath-taking two 100ths of a second and achieved entry standard for English Schools. He was also another member of the record breaking U17 Men’s relay squad. He ended his season as 9th fastest qualifier at the England Athletic Age Group Championships in Bedford with another impressive PB running 22.53s which also broke a club record that had stood for a number of years…He finished the year outdoors running 1.8 secs quicker in his 200m, gaining an AAA Grade 1 and ranked 37th in the UK 515 places higher than the year before.

The final two awards of the night were awarded to the Male and Female athletes of the year. These are awarded to those who have achieved significantly in their event.

The very deserving Junior Female Athlete of the Year was awarded to Rebecca Jeggo as the highest achieving junior female club athlete this year ranked 19th in UK for 100m and 12th for 200m – she has also been invited to join the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence scheme which identifies young talent. Her coach, Steve Garnham, “has no doubt she has the talent and ability to go on to achieve at a very high level in the sport “and is looking forward to helping her on her journey.

The Junior Male Athlete of the Year was awarded to Jake Young. Dave Smith his Coach said that “Jake had committed totally to training, missing only a small number of sessions through sickness or holiday and despite not quite achieving all of his goals he has achieved massively with a huge haul of national, regional and county medals”. As well as his 800m, he was consistent member of the U17 Men’s relay team, he PB’d in 400m, Long Jump, Javelin and Hammer. Providing valuable points for both EYAL and SAL teams. He finished his year ranked 27th in the UK for 800m and 33rd for 400m. Like Becky he has also been invited onto the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence scheme. Jake has won an award each year he has been a junior member of the club – showing just what a consummate athlete he is.

The list of athletes receiving AAA certificates is given here

Name Grade Event Time/Dist
Graig Anya-Joseph 1 100m 11.94s
200m 24.6s
Long Jump 5.10m
Discus 33.97m
4 800m 2mins 34.1s
Charlie Dobson 1 200m 22.53s
2 100m 11.24s
3 60m 7.31s
Rebecca Jeggo 1 100m 12.16s
200m 24.97s
2 60m 7.98s
Callum McKay 1 100m 11.1s
60m 7.20s
2 200m 22.8s
Finn O’Reilly 1 Javelin 48.65m
4 300m 41.1s
Jake Young 1 400m 51.07s
2 800m 1min 57.07s
4 200m 23.5s
1500m 4mins 21.1s
Millie Belbin 2 Triple Jump 10.68m
Jordan Fester 2 Javelin 48.65m
Daniel Jones 2 300m 38.72s
4 200m 25.3s
Henry Lawes 2 Long Jump 5.54m
3 100m 12.1s
Ronnie Oliver 2 100m 11.9s
3 200m 24.7s
Long Jump 5.39m
Kira Wealls 2 60m 8.30s
3 100m 13.0s
4 200m 27.61s
Jed Asemota 3 400m 52.46s
4 100m 11.73s
Long Jump 5.76m
Zion Ateba 3 High Jump 1.30m
Madeleine Claydon 3 High Jump 1.30m
Oscar Dawson 3 800m 1min 59.73s
Marcus Holmes 3 800m 2mins 12.1s
John Magill 3 Javelin 27.33m
4 High Jump 1.30m
Mufaro Shava 3 100m 11.40s
60m 7.35s
4 200m 23.5s
Aliyah Soames 3 Javelin 28.49m
Megan Stevens 3 60m 8.35s
4 200m 27.6s
Max Caulfield 4 1500m 4mins 35.32s
Archie French 4 300m 40.8s
Savanna Harrison 4 300m 45.3s
60m 8.55s
Rachel Hoddell 4 High Jump 1.44m
Eleanor Hopgood 4 100m 13.4s
David Ignoba 4 Shot Put 11.28m
Ziggy Lambton 4 1500m 4mins 40.3s
Danny Millward 4 1500m 4mins 35.0s
3000m 9mins 50.15s
Milly Presland 4 1500m 5mins 26.49s
High Jump 1.25m
Georgina Smith 4 100m 14.5s
200m 30.5s
Lauren Strutt 4 Long Jump 4.52m
Shot Put 8.64m
Pentathlon 2096
60m 8.59s
Hannah Watson 4 3000m 11mins 00.71s
Matthew Wisdom 4 High Jump 1.34m
Javelin 25.18m

 

 

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Dominic King was guest presenter and presented the awards

Katie Rice - Nominated for Achievement - Sprints

Rebecca Jeggo - Junior Sprint Girl

Callum McKay - Nominated for Achievement - Sprints

Graig Anya-Joseph - Junior Sprint Boy and Winner of boy's Run, Jump Throw award

Millie Presland - Nominated for achievement - Endurance

Ziggy Lambton, Ben Halls and Oscar Dawson - Nominated for achievement - Endurance

Jake Young - Junior Endurance Boy

Aliyah Soames - Junior Field Girl

Jordan Fester - Junior Field Boys

Amelia Dean - Team Managers Award - Girls

Ben Halls - Team Managers Award - Boys

Lauren Strutt - Run Jump Throw Award - Girls

Some of the athletes receiving medals for competing in 4 or more EYAL fixtures in 2016

Madeleine Claydon - Nominated for Achievement - Improvement

Charlie Dobson - Most Improved Athlete of the Year

Rebecca Jeggo - Junior Female Athlete of the Year

Jake Young - Junior Male Athlete of the Year

Charlie Dobson and Rebecca Jeggo with coach Steve Garnham

AAA grade 1 winners

AAA grade 3 winners

AAA grade 4 winners