85^th English Schools Athletics Championships

Gateshead International Stadium

Friday 10^th & Saturday 11^th July 2015

For all the youth and junior athletes throughout England, the most prestigious and most anticipated competition is the annual English Schools Championships. The entry standards are set high and only the very best athletes in the country gain admission to what has often been referred to as the Mini Olympics.

Each athletic county selects a team to represent them from the athletes who have achieved the necessary standard. The City of Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire, together with North and North East Lincolnshire represent the area England Athletics designate as Humberside.

This year the two day event was situated at the Gateshead International Stadium in the north east of England, on Friday 10^th and Saturday 11^th of July. A  Team of 27 athletes were chosen to represent Humberside. Some of them had competed at these championships on previous occasions and knew what lay ahead of them, whilst for others it was their first experience of a major championship event.

Seventeen of those athletes were members of Kingston upon Hull Athletic Clubs junior and youth teams.

Five came from Scunthorpe and District Athletic Club, two from Cleethorpes and District and three from the City of York Athletic Club.

A further two Kingston athletes represented North Yorkshire at the   Championships and another was chosen by Lincolnshire raising the clubs total number of representatives to twenty.

The roll call of Kingston athletes who competed at Gateshead over the two days were as follows.

Seniors 

Daniel Gray Charlotte Paterson Luci Preston Kate Pattison Maggie Okul and Andrew Morgan-Harrison

Intermediates 

Dominic Singh, Joshua Tranmer, Emily Lyons, Olivia Stevenson, Sophie O’Hara Amelia Benson, Gabrielle Whittle and Matthew Backhouse.

Juniors 

Jack Perry Hannah Kynman Venus Morgan Libby Wheeler Shaun Kerry and Will Robinson.

Our athletes brought six medals home with them. 3 gold medals, 2 silver ones and a bronze.

Friday 10^th of July

The competition opened on a glorious summer day, virtually cloudless skies and afternoon temperatures rising to 25 degrees.

The highlight of the opening day was an unexpected but brilliant victory in the junior boy’s long jump by 14 year old Jack Perry, who was making his debut appearance in the English Schools Championships. He has only been at the club for the last eleven months. He is a talented long jumper and sprinter and has been making steady progress throughout 2015.

With his first jump he recorded a huge new PB of 6.22m which no other contestant was able to match to claim the gold medal.

The intermediate discus events saw 15 year olds Joshua Tranmer and Sophie O’Hara compete in the finals of their respective competitions. Both of them threw well and gave very good accounts of themselves.

Josh’s best throw was one of 39.97m, which gave him a 9^th placed finish and Sophie finished 8^th in her competition with her best throw of 35.02m.

Onto the track and 17 year old Andrew Morgan-Harrison ran in heat one of the senior boys 100 metres where he finished in 7^th place in a time of 11.51s.

16 year old Matthew Backhouse ran in heat 4 of the intermediate boys 100 metres. His time of 11.63s earned him a 4^th place finish.

The junior girls 100 metres saw Hannah Kynman run 12.65s for 2^nd place in her heat and safely progress to the semi final, which was held later in the day. She was placed 4^th in the semi in 12.63s and just missed out on a place in the final.

England international Charlotte Paterson began her 100 metres campaign in the senior girl’s event. She ran in heat one which she won comfortably in 12.22s to progress to the semi final later in the day. The semi final saw another victory and a quicker time of 12.18s to take her into Saturdays final.

The intermediate boys 200 metres brought Dominic Singh into the action. His 2^nd place in heat 4 with a time of 22.6s ensured a safe passage into the semi final later that day. A new PB of 22.0s gave Dom 3^rd place in the semi and entry into Saturdays final.

16 year old Emily Lyons safely negotiated her way into Saturday’s semi final in the intermediate girls 200 metres, picking up 3^rd place in her heat and running a time of 26.28s.

Daniel Gray started off his 400 metre campaign. Running in heat one he clocked an excellent time of 47.70s to win the race. He looked strong and confident and could now relax and look forward to Saturday’s final.

Making her debut appearance at the English Schools Championships was 14 year old Libby Wheeler, who is a rapidly improving young long jumper. She saw action in qualifying group B where she jumped a new PB of 5.13m, to take 3^rd place and progress into Saturday’s final.

Another debutant at the Championships was 14 year old Venus Morgan a very talented and popular combined events specialist. Venus contested the 75 metre hurdles where she ran a new PB of 11.59s for a 5^th place finish in heat 2.

Olivia Stevenson was drawn in qualifying pool B for the intermediate girls hammer. She achieved the required distance with her first throw, launching the hammer out to 53.90m, to move effortlessly into Saturdays final.

Saturday 11^th of July

A complete change in the weather saw cloud and gusting winds set in for the day with temperatures going down into the mid teens. The spectators from Hull and the East Riding who packed out both the stadium and the throwing areas were not perturbed by it and they gave unbelievable support to the athletes. Kingston’s young stars responded, winning a further 5 medals on the day.

Saturdays highlight was Daniel Gray, who was competing at his last English Schools Championships, picking up the gold medal in the senior 400 metre final, with a majestic run and a lifetime best performance of 47.18s. The support for Dan in the stadium was unbelievable, an electric atmosphere, it seemed like the whole population of Hull were there. It may be an old cliché but never was success more richly deserved.

When asked for his thoughts, the response from Dan was typical of him. “I owe it all to my coach (Steve Wymark) and my parents (Julie and John) I couldn’t have done any of this without them”

Another very popular and well respected athlete at the club is 17 year old Charlotte Paterson. Supremely gifted, she appears to effortlessly glide down the track. Over the past year or so she has been picking up medals and accolades wherever she goes. She won the senior girls 100 metre final and once again went under 12 seconds with a time of 11.99s. She now has an English Schools gold to add to her collection.

16 year old Dominic Singh was taking part in this third English Schools event and was appearing in his first final. He contested the intermediate boys 200 metres where his run 22.39s gained him a 7^th placed finish. He has bags of talent and plenty of time on his side. Dom will be back, bigger and better.

Emily Lyons ran in the intermediate girls 200 metres, where improved on the time she set in Fridays heats. This time she clocked 26.14s but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to secure a final spot for her. Once again, Emily is young, she has the talent and the ability, she too will be back.

Libby Wheeler put on another terrific display in the long jump final. She broke the PB she set the day before, adding a further 17 centimetres to her best and extended her PB out to 5.30m, to claim a 6^th place finish.

A large and enthusiastic crowd were present in the throwing area to take in the hammer and discus finals. Family and friends of all the throwers made their voices heard throughout the day and they were well appreciated by all of the athletes. Three of Papua New Guinea’s 2013 World Cup Squad came along to watch Maggie Okul and they cheered on all the Hull throwers.

15 year old Olivia Stevenson, UK ranked no.3, was expected to be involved in a three way contest with her two closest rivals Katie Head and Katie Lambert, in the intermediate girls hammer final. However it didn’t quite work out that way. Ollie was indeed in a very close and impossible to call contest with Katie Head but no one else got near enough to bother them. The other Katie failed to make the top eight cut and was eliminated. Ollie’s best effort on the day was 59.02m which won her the silver medal.

Fellow Hull Hammer Squad member Alice Barnsdale also qualified for the final and she threw a new PB of 49.14m to finish in 9^th place.

In the senior girls hammer final 17 year old Maggie Okul was looking to pick up her first medal at English Schools. She too was involved in a three way fight against her two main rivals, Rebecca Keating and Amy Herrington. Maggie saw off Amy’s challenge but couldn’t quite get to Rebecca who put a great set of throws together. Maggie’s best throw on the day was one of 50.76m, which gave her the silver medal. She was disappointed not to win but was delighted with her medal.

In the senior girls discus final Kate Pattison, who has been unable to train as much as she would have wished to in recent months, still managed to pull out another excellent performance. Her best throw of the day, which measured 40.34m, was enough to win her the bronze medal.

13 year old Shaun Kerry and 14 year old Will Robinson are two of the youngest members of the Hull Hammer Squad and together they contested the junior boys hammer final. Both are still very much in the learning stage but they show great promise. They gained invaluable experience at Gateshead and they performed well. Will finished in 9^th place with a throw of 41.88m and Shaun 13^th with 39.76m.