Just like the England football team there were huge high’s and lows over the weekend as most of the club’s track and field athletes competed in one place or another. Dejaune Lingard probably suffered the most, winning the prestigious English Schools Under 17 boys 200m title in 21.75 only to be told a few moments latter he had been disqualified for stepping on or over the line round the bend!
The club had six other athletes competing at the English Schools in Manchester in what was a very scaled down version of the usual event due to COVID restrictions. Chichi Cooper, Hannah Bridge and Dante Legister all finished just outside the medals in 4th place, with Chichi and Hannah both setting PBs (Chichi 10.99m in the triple jump and Hannah 12.77m shot put), whilst Dante somehow manged to run 11.04 in the 100m on a strained hamstring! Shaquille Fernandez Folkes and Keziah Olaleye both ran in the 200m but couldn’t quite make the A final. Back on the field Katie Marsh threw a very creditable 39.22m just below her PB to take 5th place in the javelin.
Elsewhere Brandon Mingeli competed for Team GB at the European Under 23 championships in Estonia making the 100m final where he finished 7th in 10.55.
At Dartford on Saturday the Under 13/Under 15 team showed how much they have improved over the last few months moving up from 8th place at the first match in May to 3rd this time round. There were lots of new faces getting their first taste of club competitions and a multitude of PBs. Best performances of the day were probably from Michael Bridge – U13 shot put 10.62m backed up with a 25.78m javelin and Emily Cadman’s 10.3/20.2 double in the U13 girls 75/150m.
On Sunday it was the turn of the senior team to compete this time on home turf at Sutcliffe. A good day’s competitions for all. Highlights included Holly Dixon and Kate Curren both running away from the field to win the A and B string 800 and 1500. With Sabrina Sinha also down from Birmingham to contest the 400 people’s minds are starting to think about what sort of cross country team we can put out this coming winter.
Finally well done to all those involved with putting the Greenwich Schools championships on over the past two weeks. Eight Schools attended the boy’s event and 10 at the girls with a number of athletes being “scouted” to join the club during both days action.
The athletics continues a pace this week with another sold out Open Meeting at Sutcliffe on Wednesday night, another U15/U13 fixture at Erith on Saturday and Daniel Falode competing for Team GB at the European U20 championships in Tallin.