England Athletics Under15, Under17 & under 20 Indoor Championships
English Institute of Sports Stadium Sheffield
23rd & 24th February 2019
Over 1,500 of the nation’s top athletes in the under 20, under 17 & under 15 age groups gathered in Sheffield for the much anticipated England Athletics Indoor Championships. With athletes from all 4 home countries together with the Channel Islands and even one Spanish-based competitor a highly competitive weekend was anticipated as levels of performance continue to rise. Over the years these championships have been a breeding ground for future top seniors with a glance at some of the record holders showing future world and Olympic medallists Dina Asher-Smith, Katarina Johnson Thompson, Duane Chambers and Katharine Merry all made their mark as young athletes on their way to the top.
Kingston upon Hull AC’s leading hurdlers Venus Morgan and Adam Coles both experienced elation and frustration in equal measures, within a few minutes of each other, when contesting their respective under 20 60m hurdles events. First on track was Venus who far exceeded her expected placing based on national rankings when finishing 3rd in her heat in a new lifetime best of 8.87 sec. The frustration came a few minutes later when the results showed that she had missed qualification for the final by one place and a mere 0.01 sec – less than 10 centimetres! Adam’s event followed a few minutes after his training partner had competed and he too produced an outstanding performance. Having recorded a personal best time of 8.50 sec when winning the Northern title, at the same venue last month, he went even faster, stopping the clock at 8.44 sec finishing in 5th place in his heat. To prove that lightning can strike twice, he also saw a lane in the final elude him by one place, only 0.02 sec behind the 8th placed qualifier!
Adam and Venus have now concluded their indoor campaigns and will now start to prepare for their longer outdoor events of 110m & 100m hurdles respectively whilst juggling their training with the demands of completing their A level studies at Wyke College.
Under 20 sprinter David Morgan-Harrison, had his second competitive outing of 2019, at these national championships. He had prepared for them at January’s, Sheffield Festival of athletics meeting, which were also staged at the same venue. The former County 200 metres Champion, was in action in the 60 metres sprints event, where he was drawn to run in heat 6. He took 6th place in the race running a new PB of 7.27 sec, an improvement of 0.12 sec on his old mark, which he had set at the 2018 National Championships.
This meeting was the 5th competition of 2019, for under 17 sprinter and jumper Alanah Thoresby. This January had seen her take a 4th place finish, in the Northern high jump final, where she had missed out on the bronze medal by 5 centimetres. She was also in competition in the high jump final, at these National Championships, where her clearance at a height of 1.55 metres, gave her a 13th place finish, which was an improvement of one place, on her performance at the 2018 championship meeting.
2018 was another successful year, for under 20 hammer thrower Shaun Kerry. He was the gold medallist at the UK School Games, the silver medallist at the England Championships and he took the bronze at the English Schools Championships. At the Northern Championships he secured his 4th consecutive gold medal. There are no long throws at indoor meetings. So, like at January’s Northern indoor Championship’s, Shaun was in competition once again, in the shot putt, where he took a 9th place finish in the final.
