Wanda Diamond League, Stockholm (Sun. 2nd July)
Daryll Neita edged out her British compatriot Dina Asher-Smith in the 200m at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm, winning in a time of 22.50s, for her first ever Diamond League win.
English Schools Championships, Birmingham (Fri. 30th June/Sat. 1st July)
The annual English Schools’ Championships are the pinnacle of most of our juniors’ ambitions and it was great to see a record fifteen selected and competing for either the Kent of London teams, writes Mick Bond. Emily Cadman won the U15G 200m last year when only in Year 8 so was hot favourite to retain her title. A comfortable win in the heats was followed up by a nervy final with three false starts before the athletes got going. Coming off the bend equal first Emily (video below) edged ahead to win into a strong headwind and her endurance prevailed as she won gold in 25.54s.
Hans Nmaju was also a hot favourite going into these championships having run 11.01s seconds for the U15B 80m hurdles and leading the power of ten rankings by a huge 0.4 seconds. With our other excellent 80m hurdler Elijah Olaleye sitting at home nursing a broken toe the field was clear for Hans but with a following wind pushing the athletes onto the hurdles his trail leg clipped hurdle five. Hans stumbled and nearly fell and had to settle for a round of applause as he jogged in last in his heat. Another hurdler hitting hurdles was Lily Gayle who, after a great win in the heats of the U17W 80m hurdles in what would have been a club record of 11.44s if it hadn’t been for the following wind, hit the penultimate hurdles in the final and jogged in with 11.85s. (Click here to view Lily's win in her heat).
We did win another medal however in the U15B high jump with Daniel Obike (video below). First time clearances at 1.75m, 1.78m and 1.81m put him in pole position with just three athletes left attempting 1.84m. All three failed on their first and second attempts but on the last attempt one of the other athletes cleared leaving Daniel with the silver medal. His 1.81m leaves him tantalising short of the club record of 1.82m!
Elsewhere in the field and frustratingly just outside the medals were brother and sister Michael and Hannah Bridge. Both competing in the shot they both finished 4th with best throws of 13.52m and 12.77m respectively.
The standard to get to these championships is incredibly high and when you get there the standard goes up again. A number of our athletes didn’t make it out of the heats but did really well to make their county teams in the first place. Big well done to Arianna Clarke (PB of 12.85s in U15G 100m heats), Junior Onyemaechi (11.80 in U15B 100m heats) Osagie Imanswuomo (11.26s in U19B 100m heats) Keziah Olaleye (46.61s in the U17W 300 hurdles heats), Michael Somade-Makinde (23.39s in the U17B 200m heats), Shaquille Fernandez-Folkes (23.46s in the U19M 200m heats) and Josh Wellings (PB of 37.64s in the U15B 300m heats).
Sam Scrase-Field just missed out on the final of the U15B 1500m last year. This year, at the bottom of the U17 age group he went one better claiming one of the fastest loser spots with a PB of 4.02.77s. In the final he got tailed off as the pace picked up on the third lap but with another year in the age group Paul Williams club record of 3.59.9s which has only stood for 52 years might be under threat.
Watford Harriers Open Graded Meeting (Wed. 28th June)
Another personal best for Iris Williams (U15G) at Watford, removing three seconds from her previous best with a time of 4:37.60s.
Club members filled three of the first four places in race one of the 3000m. Aniket Iyengar (U15B) took the overall win in a PB of 9:49.62s. Duncan Hope (M40) recorded a PB of 9:56.33 for third and Daniel Easton (M35) a PB in 4th with 9:58.92s.
Dartford Road Runners Joydens Wood 5km (Wed. 28th June)
Another excellent turnout by club members for the second of the Dartford Road Runners Joydens Wood 5km with a number registering age group wins.
Susan Dixon - Mark Penny - Joanne Barber
Results: 5. James Macdonald 18:20, 6. Luke Ford 18:30, 8. Mark Penny 20:00, 10. Raymond Ramsay 20:24, 19. Liam Carr (U20) 21:41, 22. Catherine Gonzalez 22:14, 25. Susan Dixon 22:29, 37. Donna Martin 24:22, 39. Graham Maynard 24:33, 44. Sally Carr 24:55, 45. Christine Bond 24:58, 51. Paul Ford 25:18, 54. James Collis 26:01, 66. Joanne Barber 27:23, 78. Angela Ford 29:05, 86. Keith Dungate 30:02, 93. Peter Hadley 31:46, 95. Maria Macdonald 32:37 & 110. Stephanie Dungate 36:04.
Newham & Essex Beagles Track Open Meetings Summer Series (Fri. 30th June)
Brandon Mingeli ran a windy seasons best of 10.23s in round one of the 100 metres, which would have bettered his own club record had it not been for the wind. He followed this up with a legal 10.29s in round 2, to equal his club record.
British Milers Club Watford Grand Prix (Sat. 1st July)
Personal best of 9:21.99s over 3000m for Holly Dixon at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Watford.
Charmouth Challenge, 12.4km, 580m ascent, category BM (Sat. 1st July)
The Charmouth Challenge bills itself as the "South West's Premier Fell Run", but I don't know if anyone has told them that it is pretty much the only fell race in the South West, writes Clem Dixon. In truth whether an event like this is called a fell race or a trail race is just down to whichever governing body the organizers choose to affiliate to. As far as fell races go it is about as beginner friendly as you can get: no entry qualifications, no mandatory kit, no fear of getting lost, no scary descents, just eight miles of lovely coastal countryside, although there is the small matter of getting yourself to the top of Golden Cap, at 191m the highest point on the South Coast.
Four of us took the challenge this year and two came away with age category wins: Christian Poulton first M50 and Graham Maynard first M60. The local community goes out of its way to embrace the event and there is a great atmosphere at the finish. Options for cooling down afterwards include being hosed down by the local fire brigade, having a dip in the sea, and quaffing local ale while listening to the Lyme Regis brass band.
Clem Dixon - Christian Poulton - Graham Maynard - Patrick Austin
Results: 9. Christian Poulton 1:03:15, 36. Graham Maynard 1:15:58, 48. Clem Dixon 1:19:43 102 Pat Austin 1:34:57.
South of England U20 / Senior Inter Counties, Oxford (Sun. 2nd July)
Four club members were selected to represent Kent at the South of England Inter Counties match held at Horspath, Oxford. Katie Marsh took gold in the U20W javelin with a best of 35:58m. Hannah Bridge (U20W) added 35 centimetres to her discus personal best with throw of 34.96m. Brandon Sikity won bronze in the senior men's long jump with a best of 6.21m and Chris Loudon clocked a time of 2:01.89s over 800m.
Medway & Maidstone T & F Open, Gillingham (Sun. 2nd July)
In warm conditions with a gusting wind Delilah Lester (U15G) reduced her 3000 metre personal best by a massive twenty seconds with a time of 11:31.32s. Jorge Pontes (SENM) ran a 100m PB of 11.80s. Luc Legon (SENM) won the 3000m race walk in 12:52.22s and Hannah Hopper (U23W) finished third overall and first woman in 14:54.20s.