SONY DSC
SONY DSC
English Institute of Sports Stadium, Sheffield,
Sunday 29th January 2017
Five of Kingston’s under 17 and 20 women sprinters ran in the senior women’s 60 metres race series.
Seeded together in race one were training partners senior Great Britain international Annabelle Lewis and England youth international Charlotte Paterson who were having their first run outs since the Northern Indoor championships two weeks previously where Annabelle had won the silver medal in the senior final and Charlotte the gold in the under 20 final. A season’s best run of 7.55 sec by Annabelle saw her take victory in the race with Charlotte claiming 3rd place with her run of 7.68 sec.
Two Kingston athletes were drawn together in race 4 under 17 Cosima Fawcett and under 20 Amy Sampson. Cosima was the race winner with a new personal best time of 8.28 sec taking 12 hundredths of a second off her old best mark. Amy took 4th place and also ran a new PB of 8.39 sec clipping 5 hundredths off her previous best time. Race 5 saw under 20 athlete Chloe Constable having her third outing of the year and she ran a season’s best time of 8.67 sec for a 7th place finish.
In the under 17 men’s sprints David Morgan-Harrison was in competition in both the 60 metres and 200 metres races. He was drawn in race 8 of the 60 series where he ran a season’s best time of 7.71s to take victory and in the 200 metres he was drawn in the 11th race where he took 4th place and posted a new PB of 24.87 sec clipping 14 hundredths of a second from his previous best time.
The under 15 boy’s sprints saw Brody Hinson make his first appearance of 2017. He has been with the club since the summer of 2015 where he competed in two local Open meetings. His athletics career really began at the start of the 2016 track & field season and he made significant progress throughout the year under the tutelage of sprint coach Paul Curtis. He was the County champion over 100 and 200 metres and also took both the sprint titles at the County schools championships. Two County vests were won at the Inter Counties championship meetings and he became an integral part of the Kingston Junior team in their campaign in the UK Youth Development league.
His first race at the Sheffield Festival meet was in race 1 of the 60 metres where he ran a season’s best of 7.64 sec and the race had to be decided by means of photo finish with himself and Anthony Douglas of City of Stoke AC finishing together with the same recorded time. Anthony got the verdict and Brody had to settle for 2nd place.
The two athletes renewed acquaintances later in the day in race 1 of the 200 metres where Brody ran a magnificent race smashing his old PB and setting a new personal best of 23.73s to win the race and take three quarters of a second off his old mark. He finished 0.62 of a second ahead of the 2nd place finisher and 1.03 seconds in front Anthony Douglas who was 3rd.
Also worthy of mention is the fact that Brody Hinson achieved the qualifying time for the English Schools Championships at this meeting and hopefully will be making his debut at the biggest Youth Championships in the UK this July at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. The time he ran at the Sheffield festival also fired him high up the rankings where he is now stands as the No. 3 ranked under15 boy in the UK.
Adam Coles continued the fine form he has shown this indoor season with a big personal best of 5.90m to comfortably take gold in the under 17 men’s long jump. This jump also places Adam at the top of the regional rankings for 2017. The hurdles specialist continued to work on his flat speed in the 60m where he came close to his best with 7.60 sec and then rounded off a long delay with a rare appearance over 200m. Despite a delay in proceedings due to an emergency evacuation of the building as the athletes were about to take their marks Adam stormed round the track in 24.43 sec, almost a second faster than his best time recorded in the same meeting in 2016.
Combined eventer Venus Morgan was her usual busy self at Sheffield where she also contested 3 events in the under 17 women’s age group. Her day started with 4th place in the shot with a personal best putt of 10.63m. She continued her fine sprinting form which saw her reach the semi-final of the recent Northern Championships with another all-time best, clocking 8.15 sec in the 60m to take 2nd spot overall and then rounded off her day with a 1.50m clearance in the high jump.
Also in the under 17 women’s age group Libby Wheeler the Northern triple jump champion this time contested the long jump where she took bronze with a season’s best performance of 5.17m. Libby also clocked 8.50 sec in her heat of the 60m.
A number of Kingston’s under 15 girls produced extremely promising performances on both track & field. These were led by Alanah Thoresby with a bronze medal in the high jump. Her lifetime best of 1.50m was the same height as the winning jump with countback being required to decide the finishing positions. This places Alanah joint first in the Yorkshire & Humberside rankings for 2017. Another personal best in the same event went to Ellie Townsend who cleared 1.40m after a long spell out of competition due to injury. Alanah also contested the long jump where her best jump of the day was 4.30m. Also taking part in that event were Evie Watson & Emily Dye who cleared 4.50m & 4.43m respectively. The same 2 girls were drawn in the same heat of the 60m along with training partner Gina de Lancey. All 3 recorded personal bests with Emily crossing the line in first place in 8.77 sec. Evie finished 2nd in 8.82 sec with Gina a close 3rd with 8.87 sec. In another heat of the 60m Sophie Reed in her first competition as an under 15 also took first spot with another lifetime best of 8.80sec.
Race 2 of the under 20 men’s 800 metres saw Kyle Foster and Jacob Chastney in competition, this was the second outing of the year for both of them and it was only Jacob’s second appearance in the blue and gold vest of Kingston.
The 2016 County and County Schools 800 metres champion Kyle Foster ran a season’s best time of 2:04.35 sec to take 2nd place at the festival of athletics whilst Jacob Chastney who was the silver medallist at last year’s County championships also ran a season’s best time of 2:09.72 sec for 5th place in the race.
