Shippey Smashes Championship Best
The cream of the County’s talented youngsters battled for glory at the 2018 Essex County Schools Championships which took place at Chelmsford Athletics Centre on Saturday 9 June. Olivia Simon and Sam Shippey each added Schools County Champion to their list of credits having taken top podium placings in style. This event gives selectors a final opportunity to seek team members ahead of the prestigious English Schools Championships which will take place in July.
Claiming a huge PB (0.70s) just wasn’t enough for recent Green vest transferee Sam Shippey. Having qualified through to the Junior Boys 300m in comfortable fashion, he went on to simply obliterate the rest of the field. His superb speed endurance was rewarded with a terrific winning time of 37.05s which not only is a new U15 Club Record, but also claimed an incredible Championship Best Performance, knocking 0.15s from the previous best.
Hot off the press: Shippey received a letter on Monday 11 June informing him he had been selected for Team Essex to compete at English Schools Championships.
There was no hanging around for Junior Girl, Olivia Simon, competing for North East Essex District. Her opening throw of 38.17m laid down the gauntlet to the field and added an enormous two meters onto her previous best, smashing her Harriers record which she set two weeks ago. The throw, which was 8 meters ahead of the silver placed athlete earned her, her second championship title this year – and she only picked up a Hammer for the first time last autumn!
GCSE student, Thomas Palmer, put his revision to one side for the day and threw his energies into the Intermediate Boys 800m. Having admitted during his warm up for the final, that he felt quite relaxed about the race, he produced some outstanding effort and was commended with a deserved Bronze medal in a time of 1.59s
At the other end of the stadium, Javelin thrower George Lavender, continued to show great form to take a Bronze in the JB event, His throw of 38.28m in the final round clinched a PP and his podium placing amongst a strong field. In the Girls equivalent Kayleigh Hale, who having endured a winter blighted by a foot injury, threw well to finish just 25cm outside of a medal, to take 4th with a PB of 28.57m.
Eleanor Hopgood had a very early start to the day as the Intermediate Girls Triple Jump was one of the first events of the Championship. Having only recently taken this event up, Hopgood continued to show her potential by gaining an excellent fourth place finish with a furthest distance of 10.06m. (PB)
Harriers sprinters should be very pleased with their showing in the competition, each taking home excellent PB performances. Ella Gray ran well to qualify through to the Intermediate Girls 200m final as fastest qualifier in third place in her heat and in the final despite being very nervous managed to produce a strong finish to place just outside the medals after a photo-finish placed her 4th in a new PB of 26.9s. In a 100m race that was won in the second fastest every recorded time by an U15, Junior Boy, Oliver Mitchell should be enjoying a boost to his confidence by his performance of 12.32s in the 100m final (his heat produced a PB of 12.25s). Daniel Jones and Jimi Sijuwola both qualified through to the Intermediate Boys 100m (Sijuwola claiming a PB in his heat ????) and in a fast and furious race Jones was pipped into 4th in a time of 11.25s (PB) with Sijuwola drawn in lane one in a new PB of 12.41s. Not to be outdone, Maya Rattray confirmed her Harriers U17 top ranking by delivering two very consistent races with a PB gained in her heat of 12.97s and a good 5th place finish in the final in 12.98s.
Young Milly Presland produced yet another massive achievement for this diminutive athlete. Having run a safe qualifier, she poured everything into a magnificent final of the Junior Girls 1500m to take a new Club Record and PB in a time of 4.51.71s, sadly though this was only good enough for 5th place. However, with another year in this category, she is definitely one to watch next year.
Also competing were Emily Swan and Madeleine Claydon in the JG High Jump, Ermeas Afewerki took 4th in his IB boys 1500m in a time of 4.05.72 – another PB for this talented distance runner. Niamh Higgens wasn’t able to stay with the pace of her IG 1500 but did manage a PB of 5.37. Daniella O’Leary came 5th in her IG 100m heat in a time of 13.4s. Also competing was Danny Milward IB 3000k (just waiting for results to be clarified as Danny appears twice on the sheet!).