England Under17 & Under 15 Combined Events Championships
Bedford International Stadium
Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th August 2015
The National Combined Events Championships, for athletes in the under 17 and under 15 age ranges, took place at the Bedford International Stadium, over the weekend of the 8th and 9th of August 2015.
Kingston upon Athletic Club were represented at these championships by our 16 year old combined events specialist Nathan Hood, who put both his body and mind to the test over two full days of action, in the most demanding event in the athletic world, the Decathlon.
On the Saturday, Nathan saw action in the 100 metre sprint, the long jump, shot putt, high jump and the 400 metre race.
A fine run in the 100 metres produced a new PB of 13.12s and got his competition off to a good start.
Next on the agenda was the long jump, where his best jump on the day was one 5.29m.
Nathan’s next action came in the shot putt, where another excellent performance saw him set his second new PB of the day, with a throw of 8.54m.
His penultimate discipline of the opening day was the high jump, where his clearance at 1.45m left him reasonably satisfied.
The closing event of day one was the one lap race, the 400 metres. A run of 63.95s took him close to his personal best time, and gave him a good finish to the first day.
Day two of the championships, on Sunday 9th of August, began in the best possible way, with an excellent new PB of 18.06s, in the 110 metre hurdles.
Next event on the agenda was the discus throw, where his best effort of the competition was a throw of 21.85m.
The points Nathan has picked up in the youth team’s league campaign this season have played a big part in the team’s successful promotion campaign. Especially in the pole vault, one of his strongest disciplines. The fates were against him at Bedford and the eighth event did not go to plan.
Nathan is built of stern stuff. He rallied himself and went into the javelin, the ninth event, and gave it his best. He put in a good effort of 30.20m, to further increase his points total.
He negotiated the 10th and final discipline, the intimidating and exhausting 1500 metres, recording a time of 5:34.9s.
He was out of contention for the National medals, but his grit and determination in carrying on after his major disappointment, earned him the points to claim the Northern bronze medal.
Nathan’s points total for the decathlon competition was a new personal best of 3315.
