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Guy Spencer

England U20 / U23 Champs

Updated: Oct 9, 2020


Five club members travelled to Bedford for the U20 & U23 England Championships, which also double-up as the trials for the European Championships – hence they attract entries from all four home countries.

The Cambridge Harriers Man of the Match award must go to Daniel Falode in the U20 Triple Jump.  Moving up an age-group, Daniel was in 2nd place after three rounds.  However, in the 4th round he jumped a new PB (and club record) of 15.24m to move into the lead by just 2cm.  He still retained this slender lead into the final round, and as the officials were adhering to IAAF rules they reversed the jumping order, so Daniel was the last to jump.

With nobody able to surpass his leading mark, he started his final jump in the knowledge that he had already won.  Using the benefit of the maximal legal wind reading Daniel was able to stretch-out even further to yet another PB of 15.49m.  A distance that elevates him to 5th place on the all-time u17 rankings, and just missing the European qualifying standard by 11cm – a Championship that he still eligible for in 2021!

As I mentioned in a previous report Bedford is often bedevilled by windy conditions, meaning that the Middle Distance races are usually tactical affairs – though apparently somebody forgot to inform Max Burgin about this, prior to him breaking the UK U20 800m record with a phenomenal 1:45.36!

Sabrina Sinha’s U23 1500m though, did conform to the usual tactical pattern, with a final lap burn-up.  Sabrina did not quite have the legs in the last 200m, but fought all the way to the line to finish 5th in 4:26.69 – just missing her season’s best.  I am not sure if she was happy with her performance, but it is great to see her once again competitive at the National level, after two difficult years.

Bedford’s strong winds, coupled with the fast Mondo track, usually make this meet a bit of a sprint fest.  However, they were running into a strong headwind, so performances were down across the board.  Therefore, Luke Moore’s times of 100m – 11.25 (heat) & 11.20 (semi) and 200m – 22.63 were more impressive that they initially may appear.  Also, in the U20 100m, Brandon Mingeli clocked 10.89 to win his heat, but did not appear for the semi-final.

Luke Okosieme cleared 1.92m in the u20 High Jump for 8th place – before failing at 1.97m.  Which, I know was frustrating for him, as he had comfortably cleared this height in warm-up.

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