15 July 2017 - U13/15 - Norman Park
Full results
We saved the best to last, comfortably winning our
final UKYDL fixture. The scene was set early with club tent, beer tent and
BBQ all in place ready for the day’s action and our young athletes weren’t
to disappoint. With over 40 personal bests, two new club records, club
debuts and great team spirit our U13 and U15 boys and girls did the club
proud securing a place in September’s National final.
The U13 boy’s day began with Oliver Robertson showing
great determination in winning a fast 75m hurdle race and as impressively,
Emmanuel Oniwinde placing second in the B string hurdles having only ever
hurdled in training the week before. Emmanuel also had a good run out over
100m as did Jack Horn in what turned out to be a good warm up for the relay.
Ben Platt was just short of his best in the shot and
javelin but scored many valuable points for the club in the process. Great
to have Matt Smith back in the team despite still recovering from a foot
injury again scoring good points in the shot put. Josh Buddle Smith put his
recent training to good practice placing 4th in the javelin just short of
his best.
Next up were the sprinters and Connor Sutton tore
apart the opposition winning the 200m by over 1.5 seconds and recording a
huge new personal best of 25.82, that now places him well inside the top 10
in the country. Young Ethan Alapafuja continues to impress despite being a
year young, running well and aggressively in the B string 200m. Connor
continued his great form winning the 100m with a another big new PB while in
the B string new boy Tom Afelumo was making his mark with a fantastic debut
performance, winning in a fast 12.67 and jumping straight into the top 20 in
the national rankings.
Oliver Robertson again cleared 1.40 in the high jump
to secure 3rd in the A string and Jamie Sears showing great clubman ship
stepped up to fill the B string slot not only making his field debut but
also his high jump debut. Jamie’s efforts earned him 3rd place in the B
string and a nasty cut on his thigh from his own spike, proving that track
and field can be dangerous!
It was a double win in the 800m as ever improving Max
Gregson ran the perfect race beating his Bracknell AC rival who was hoping
to make it 4 wins in 4! However, Max had other plans as he tracked his
opponent for 400m before pressing at the bell then finally opening up with
200m to go creating a sizeable 3.5 sec gap and breaking the 2:20 barrier for
the first time clocking 2:19.68. Equally impressive was Jake Anthony as he
flew off from the gun leaving the field in his wake and crossing the line 5
seconds up from 2nd place and getting a new PB for his efforts.
Over at the long jump Oliver Robertson and Connor
Sutton finished 2nd and 3rd respectively despite being slightly down on
their best but both had already excelled in two previous events each.
Back to the track and the 1500m and a great run from
Bren Campbell breaking 5 minutes once again securing 4th in the A string and
Jamie Sears sporting a rather large plaster on his thigh ran determinedly
placing a fine 2nd in the B string and topping it with a great new PB.
Last event of the day for the U13 boys was the 4 x
100m relay and debutant Tom Afelumo speed off on leg 1 handing to Oliver
down the back straight then to Jack Horn on the top bend leaving Connor
Sutton to bring the team home in 1st having run a seasons best time.
A fantastic collective effort from the U13 boys but
both our U15 boys and girls 4 x 300m relay teams smashed club records in
winning both their relays.
Blackheath won five of the six relays events at the
end of the day rounding off a superb victory that now sees up travelling up
to Birmingham for the final on Saturday 2nd September 2017.
Many thanks to all who helped to make the day a great
success and especially to Graham and Josh Smith and John Reardon who worked
tirelessly cooking and selling hundreds of burgers and sausages on the BBQ
and good to see our President Nick Brooks in attendance giving great support
as always.
Paul
Photos from Jay Galley
