Impressive Results earn WGEL Junior Medals

As the track and field season is coming towards the end, the WGEL Juniors don't seem to want it to end. This was very evident when 8 Juniors took part in the prestigious U/17's & U/15's England Championships at Bedford. This is a competition for these athletes that have been able to achieve the entry standard between January 2021 to August 2022, so the quality of the participants was very good if not exceptional.

On Saturday 27th August (Day 1): Caitlin Hancock took to the track in the under 15 girls 100m heats. Caitlin was in heat 2 of 4 and ran a controlled race finishing 4th in her heat with a time of 12.91sec, which unfortunately just failed to qualify her for the semi finals, not bad for a bottom year under 15 girl. Alex Foster was also in the 100m for under 15 boys and was able to qualify for the final with a time of 11.49sec in coming 3rd in heat 1 of 3. In the final Alex, also a bottom year under 15, was up against very tough opposition but was still able to finish 6th with a time of 11.47sec, and he was one of only two in that lower age to race in this event of which he came 1st of them. Isabelle Kyson in the under 15 girls ran in the 300m and it has been a difficult year for her with injury and illness, so she found the going tough and finished in a time of 42.92sec for 6th in heat 3 of 3. Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland, again another bottom year under 15, was impressive in heat 1 of 2 of the 300m and comfortably qualified in 2nd place with 37.79sec for tomorrow's final. Natasha Wynn in the under 15 girls 800m bottom year, ran a very controlled race in heat 3 of 3 knowing what she had to do to qualify with 1st place time of 2m 13.19sec. Now Natasha would get ready for a very tasty final with a top quality field tomorrow. In the under 15 girls Javelin Rebecca Wright took to the field and although she has many things to work on through this coming winter she was still able to finish 5th with a distance of 33m 78cm, not far from her seasonal best.

Sunday 28th August (Day 2) saw some athletes return for either their final or another event. Starting the procedures off was Alex Foster. Fresh from his 6th place in the 100m he turned his attention to the 200m. In heat 1 of 2 Alex finished 2nd in 23.46sec and qualified for the final. In this event that Alex seems to excel in better was able to power his way to a BRONZE medal with a time of 23.14sec.

Marcel Winter, an under 17 men athlete, is improving all the time which is testimony to his coach Gladys Bird, this has seen his time come down from just over 24sec to the time recorded in heat 1 of 3, where he came 3rd with 22.79sec, unfortunately he didn't qualify for the final. Caitlin Hancock, like Alex, did the sprint double. In heat 2 of 3 Caitlin finished 5th with 27.08sec. In the field at the same time Rebecca Wright was able to put the slight disappointment of yesterday's Javelin behind her to concentrate on her more specialised event, the under 15 girls Shot Putt. Rebecca threw well and was able to be satisfied with a SILVER medal distance of 12m 25cm, this being her 2nd best throw outdoors.

Natasha Wynn returned for her under 15 girls 800m final, which was loaded with two girls that had won Gold at English schools earlier this year in the 800m and 1500m respectively. This, however, didn't put her off at all and she ran a good race powering home to claim BRONZE medal in a time of 2m 13.26sec.

Last to compete was Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland in the under 15 boys 300m final. Thomas was up for it after yesterday's qualification from the heats. Thomas ran really well and down the home straight was able to hold off any challengers to finish in a new improved PB time of 37.51sec, winning a BRONZE medal to boot.

This event and the athletes from the WGEL Junior squad that have taken part over the weekend in some top quality fields, have proven to themselves and their coaches that all the hard work which they have done throughout the year has paid off. Also, some of them were competing in the bottom year of their age groups, so definitely much more to come for next season and beyond.