Well done to all the CoNAC athletes taking part in the England Athletics National Age Group Championships in Sheffield last weekend. As is often the way with higher level competition, there were both thrills and frustrations for the athletes.
In the u17w 60m, Lily Bradley continued her fine form, blasting through the heats and the semi-finals, with a new PB and club and county record of 7.53s along the way – that places her 14th on the All Time UK rankings! In the final she ran 7.55s to pick up a well-earned bronze medal.
Calvin Smith was back in action in the u20m 400m, qualifying from his heat in a season’s best time to the semi-final which took place right at the end of the day on Saturday.
Evie Patrick made the semi-finals of the u20w 60m on the Saturday and was back on Sunday for her favoured 200m. She missed out on a place in the final by the narrowest of margins, but ran a new club and county indoor 200m record of 25.20s, as a first year in the age group.
Joel Burgess (u20m) also competed on both days, running well in the 60m on Saturday before picking up a new indoor 200m PB in the heats to reach a competitive semi-final on Sunday.
Isabelle Mardle and Conrad Winter both performed well in the long jump, with Conrad in action again shortly after in the u20m shot put, and Maddie Powles-Warren placing well in her first national champs in u17w shot.
We had five hurdlers competing on Sunday – Isla Hibbett, Barney Clarke and Finlay Barnard all performing well under pressure in their first national champs (PBs for Barney and Fin!). Isabelle Mardle looked on good form through to the final of the u17w 60m hurdles, but a rare (for her) mishap at the start left her with a lot of work to do. She recovered well and sped through for the silver medal in the fastest ever u17w 60m hurdles race!
Jaiden Dean qualified fastest through the heats in the u20m 60m hurdles, in his first year in the age group. His 7.74s places him 9th on the UK All Time rankings and is another new club and county record. In the hotly contested final he was off balance after clipping the first hurdle and had to settle for 4th place. With the 8th, 9th and 14th fastest ever u20m 60m hurdlers all in the same race, there look set to be more records fall in that age group the next couple of years – watch this space!
Well done all of you for making the tough qualifying standards and representing your club so well at that level.