Sunday 27 April saw the opening fixture of the Southern Premier Youth Development League track and field meeting at the UEA Sportspark.
Team Norfolk were the hosts for a top of the table clash with Shaftesbury Barnet, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow (WSEH), Blackheath & Bromley, Reading and Tonbridge. Photo finish and electronic distance measurement were in use for the first time ever in Norfolk.
On a day that saw ten National League records broken by some of the finest U20’s and U17’s in the country, Team Norfolk finished a very credible third place, not that far behind the winners.
- WSEH AC 645 points
- Shaftesbury Barnet AC 639.5 points
- Team Norfolk 617 points
- Blackheath & Bromley AC 583 points
- Reading AC 566 points
- Tonbridge AC 535.5 points
Full results are here and photographs by Karina Fuller are here.
All of our athletes can be truly proud of their performances setting numerous personal bests in the process. It is rare to win an event in this company but we had lots to cheer.
Men U20
- 1500m – a double first for Tom Hook 4.06.02 and Scott Greeves 4.06.16
- Triple Jump – Jerry Dasaolu 13.07m
Men U17
- 100m – double first for Dominic Burnham 11.18s and Jordan Livermore 11.75s
- 200m – double first for Dominic Burnham 22.85s and Ben Matsuka-Williams 23.31s
- 400m – double first for Elliot Holland 50.05s (New National League record) and Tom Lake 52.05s
- 3000m – B event Daniel Crow 10.13.08
- 100 hurdles – James Greenhalgh 16.08s and 400MH B event 1.08.43
- Discus – Oliver Massingham 34.33m and shot 12.20m
- Javelin – Daniel Bainbridge 56.71m
- Long Jump – Jack Dearden 5.99m
- 4 x 100m relay – Dominic, Jordan, Danny and Jack – 44.40s (with some baton practice the National record is within reach)
- 4 x 400m relay – Elliot, Tom, Ben, Ashley Waterson (won only to the DTQ for a technical foul – their winning time being within a second off the National record)
Women U20
- 3000m – B event Jihanna Bonilla-Allard – 11.32.0
- Hammer – B event Gemma Vickery 41.97m
- 4 x 100m relay – Harriett Searjeant, Ellie Blunt, Eleanor Frankland, Laura Johnson 51.30s
We must also recognise the magnificent contribution made by our volunteers. The team managers, event organisers, the Saturday grounds team, setup and take down and the officials who all worked their socks off to make the match so memorable. We are indebted to you for everything you do.
On the day we had some exceptional performances for some of the best juniors in the country. As well as our own Elliot Holland breaking a National League Record we had:
- Taylor Campbell throwing the U20 hammer out to 70.66m
- Dina Asher-Smith running 11.49s for 100m and 23.08s for 200m both into a head wind (Dina is already a full GB International)
- Shona Richards knocking nearly 3 seconds off the 400m hurdles with 57.91s
- Amber Try pole vaulting to 3.65m
- Jess Keane knocking 3 seconds off the 1500m with 4.42.73
- Amy Herrington added 3 meters to the hammer with 51.33m
- And two other records reduced by a few tenths.
The next YDL match for Team Norfolk is on Sunday 1 June – let’s hope that we can maintain this level of performance when we travel to London.
It was indeed a Red Letter day as we put on a show to be very proud of and made the other clubs in the league take notice of Team Norfolk.