England Athletics Indoor Championships
Under 20, Under 17 & Under 15
E.I.S. Sheffield 28th Feb and 1st March 2015
The England Athletics Indoor Championships for the under20, under17 and under 15 age groups held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield attracted a record number of athletes from all parts of the United Kingdom. The standard of performance did not disappoint, with a number of new championship records being set over 2 busy days of competition.
Nine of our athletes earned the right to enter the England Indoor Championships, all of them having achieved the qualifying times for their relevant events. Three of them competed in the finals of their events.
Kingston’s Northern Counties bronze medallist Venus Morgan was one of 57 athletes entered in the under 15 girls’ 60m hurdles. Ranked 15th in the UK prior to the championships she safely negotiated her heat, crossing the line in 2nd place with a new personal best of 9.40 sec, 0.15 sec faster that her previous best. Not satisfied with reaching the semi-final Venus then ran even faster, clocking 9.34 sec to finish 3rd and qualify for the final where she ended up in 6th place in a very tightly contested race.
Charlotte Paterson contested the 60 metres sprints. She broke her Personal Best twice. The semi final saw her lower her best to 7.60s and in the final she lowered her PB to 7.59s. Unfortunately it was not enough to gain her a medal to go with the silver she won at the recent Northern Championships but it was yet another outstanding performance by Charlotte.
Sprinter Hannah Kynman had mixed fortunes over the weekend. On Saturday she first equalled her personal best time of 8.00 sec in the heats of the 60m before finishing 3rd in the semi-final in 8.04 sec, just missing the final by 1 place. Sunday saw Hannah contesting the 200m in which she is the reigning Northern champion. Finishing 3rd in her heat in 26.01 Hannah should have progressed to the semi-final stage but unfortunately had to withdraw on medical advice due to injury.
Adam Coles who missed a medal in the 60m hurdles in the Northern Championships at the same venue by a mere 0.04 sec last month had the misfortune to miss his goal by an even closer margin this time. A poor start meant that he had ground to make up on his rivals but even with a strong second half of the race his time of 9.48 sec fell an agonising 0.02 sec short of qualifying for the final. Even so Adam can look forward to the outdoor season with confidence such has been the improvement in his performances this winter.
Amelia Benson is 15 years old and has just moved up an age group, to the under 17’s. She is one of the clubs very promising young sprinters. Amelia ran in the heats of the 60 metres and she posted a time of 8.12s.
Emily Lyons is in her second year in the under 17’s, she was one of the Kingston sprint quartet who during the 2014 season posted the fastest time in the UK in the 4 x 100 metres relay. At Sheffield Emily ran in the heats of the 200 metres and clocked a time of 26.90s.
Brett Dorley has been with the club for just over 6 months. In that time he has trained hard and it has been good to see him improving his technique and steadily getting faster. The hard work paid off with a qualifying time for these championships. He ran in the heats of the 60 metres and he recorded a time of 7.69s.
Joe Cooper is one of the mainstays of the clubs under 20’s and senior league teams. He has spent the winter in intense training for the 2015 season. He was a 60 metres finalist at the recent Northern Championships. Joe ran the 60 metres at Sheffield, but got off to a poor start in his heat, he came out of the blocks in 8th place but pulled it back to claim 3rd at the finish line.
Marcel Dalee is a second year under 17 and is a 400 and 800 metres specialist. He is a vital and popular member of the clubs under 17/20 team. Marcel ran in the 800 metres heats and crossed the finish line in 2:05.00s.
Charlotte Paterson received fantastic news after the Championships. She was selected to represent England Under20’s in the ‘Celtic Cup’ competition which will be held in Cardiff on the weekend of 7th/8th March 2015.
