Essex Championships -Young Athletes- Updated

Over the weekend of Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May, Thurrock Harriers were the hosts of this year's Essex Track & Field Championships as the usual Chelmsford venue was not ready following track refurbishment.

Saturday 13th May:

Day 1 certainly started with a bang as WGEL Juniors powered their way over the sprint hurdles. First Isabella Moulton in the under 13 girls won with a time of 12.01sec.

This was then followed by a truly breathtaking performance in the under 13 boys race. Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland ran a magnificent time of 11.64sec to win with Toby Taylor finishing 3rd in 12.54sec, each recording a PB and Daniel breaking the Championship Record. The only downside was that the wind speed was over the legal 2.0m per sec at 3.2w, but nonetheless a great result. In the under 17 women, again with a favourable wind speed, Rebecca Wright was 2nd in 11.65s and Maia Fisher was 3rd with a time of 11.94s, each recorded a PB.

The short sprints event of 100m provided yet more PBs and medals. In the Under 20's men and women both Moyinoluwa Odeniran (men) and Gwendoline Datey (women) won their respective races with 10.85sec and 12.00sec. Marcel Winter, who continues to improve, was 1st in heat 2 with 11.02s, but bettered that time to record a sub 11 second time of 10.92s PB and finish 2nd. In the under 15 boys, Callum Clydesdale and Sammy Geist both ran. Callum was 3rd in heat 2 with 11.94s, a wind-assisted PB, and was 3rd in the final with a time of 12.00s. Sammy was 3rd in heat 1 with a time of: 12.49s. The under 15 girls were loaded with WGEL athletes and Caitlin Hancock led the way in heat 1 with 1st place in 12.75s, Nevaeh Johnson was 1st in heat 3 with 12.75s, Evanna Eze with 2nd in heat 3 in a new PB of: 13.01s and Ishana Malcolm was 6th in the same heat with a PB of: 13.82s. Zoe Hedges was 1st in heat 4: 13.13s, Remi Salako: 13.33s and 3rd whilst Abigail Osagie was 5th in the heat with a PB of 14.66s. In the semi final Caitlin was again 1st in 12.86s, Evanna was 2nd in 13.15s and Remi was 4th with 13.44s and Nevaeh was 2nd in other semi final but was Woodford's fastest with 12.67s. In the final Caitlin continued her winning ways with 1st place with 12.55s, Evanna was 4th in 13.19s and Remi was 6th with 12.27s. Unfortunately due to technical issues when her blocks slipped in the final Nevaeh (DNF).

The under 13 boys proved to be a battle of which boy at WGEL would come out on top. Lawrence Foster and Alex Osagie traded places with each other, trying to see who would come out on top. In the semi-final Lawrence was 1st in heat 1 in 12.63s, while Alex was 1st in heat 3 with 12.53s. Making a strong trio was Toby Taylor with 1st in heat 2 with a PB time of 13.09s. Making the field for the club with debutant Josiah Franklin who finished 7th in heat 1: 15.46s. In a eagerly anticipated final it certainly didn't disappoint with Lawrence coming home in 1st place: 12.36s, Alex 2nd in a PB of 12.45s and Toby in 5th with 13.12s.

The girls under 13's also had a few of the squad take part. In heat 1 Tyleah Edwards was 3rd in a PB time: 14.13s, Emily Stockill: 14.56s and also a PB. In heat 2: Joy Larinde 2nd: 13.97s and Phoebe Whelan: 14.45s and 7th in a PB. Faith Franklin like her brother a debutant coming home 8th in heat 3 with: 14.92s PB and Isabella Moulton was 5th in a PB time of: 13.76s, unfortunately that heat was wind assisted. In the final Joy the only one to qualify for this was 6th in a wind assisted PB time of: 13.77s.

In the long sprints of 300m & 400m, there was further success. Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland ran a PB time of: 37.22s which earned him the win. Natasha Wynn in the under 15 girls ran a semi-final time of: 41.89s for 1st in heat 2 and Evie Mae Mosanya was 2nd in heat 1: 45.15s. In the final Natasha produced an outstanding performance to beat last year's English schools winner at this event and lowered her own club record with a time of: 40.24s and Evie was 6th with a PB time of: 45.09s. Isabelle Kyson and Megan Wright ran the under 17 women's race with Isabelle winning in a time of: 42.28s and Megan finishing in 6th place with: 48.78s. The last race before athletes entered middle distance range saw Lucas Emeagi in the under 17's 400m. Lucas impressed as he ran 52.31s in the heat for 1st place in his first ever race over the distance and he then eclipsed that in the final with a 1st place and a new PB time of: 50.97s.

The middle distance athletes continued the theme of winnings ways and PB's. To start we had the under 20 men's race and Danny Raymond finished 2nd with: 1m 59.79s, Alfie Ward ran a PB time of: 2m 00.10s to claim 2nd and Reuben Fabian was 5th: 2m 05.09s. The under 13 boys had Tayo Adetona and Eric Frith run a timed race both in heat 1 and recodring PB's, Tayo: 2m 44.2s and Eric: 2m 46.71s. Marissa Higgs Smith and Sophia Parker in the girls equivalent, Marissa: 2m 56.64s and Sophia: 2m 47.52s. Keeping with the middle distance theme the 1500m saw a very good under 15 boys race with Luca Norden finishing 1st with: 4m 20.84s, Harry Stockill a PB time of: 4m21.28s and 2nd with Daniel Arnold: 4m 57.64s and a PB as well. The under 17 men had three athletes for the club competing: Joshua Ssempiira: 4n 50.2s and 10th PB, Aidan O'Driscoll was 11th in: 4m 55.2s and Joseph Arnold: 4m 58.3s and a PB. Bethan Rose Davies was the only girl in the club for the under 15's to race and was in fine form coming home in a new PB time of: 4m 44.61s and just outside the medals in 4th place.

In the field events we saw the following performances. Phoebe Whelan in the under 13 girls was 8th in the High Jump with: 1m 23cm. In the Long Jump, Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland was just outside the medals in 4th with the under 13 boys: 4m 29cm and Rebecca Wright was 1st in the under 17 women event with a leap of 4m 78cm. The triple jump had three club competitors. Sammy Geist right at the end of the day when everybody had almost gone finished 2nd in the under 15 boys with 9m 64cm, Lilly Spong was 4th in the under 17 women with 9m 11cm and Kharina Partridge was 1st in under 20 women with 10m 71cm. The throws see Noah Wooding under 20 men claim 3rd in the Shot: 10m 30cm, 2nd in Discus: 29m 66cm and Hammer: 46m 39cm. Joseph Arnold was 5th in under 17 men Hammer in a new PB distance of: 21m 84cm., finally the Shot for under 13 girls see Tyleah Edwards claim 2nd with: 8m 05cm and a PB, while Marissa Higgs Smith was 6th: 4m 94cm and also a PB. In the under 15 event Evanna Eze was 5th in a new PB distance of: 9m 46cm and Amber Higgs Smith was 12th with: 5m 24cm.

Sunday 14th May:

Day 2 continued where Day 1 finished and in the 200m sprints good times were had. Marcel Winter in the under 17 men was 2nd in a time of: 22.59s. Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland and Callum Clydesdale both ran in the under 15 boys race. Thomas was 1st in heat 2 with: 23.52s and Callum was 3rd in heat 2: 24.57s. In the final Thomas powered his way home to finish 2nd with a new PB of: 23.16s. In the under 13 boys Lawrence and Alex renewed their club rivalry and in heat 1 Lawrence was 1st in: 25.71s and a PB, Alex Osagie: 25.70s 1st in heat 2 and a PB with Tayo Adetona: 4th in heat 2 with a PB time of: 31.92s. In the final both boys produced even better performances and came home 1st and 2nd. Lawrence was 1st in: 24.89s and a new PB with Alex 2nd in: 25.67s and also a new PB. The under 15 girls see Zoe Hedges finish 2nd in heat 4: 27.02s and a PB, Eliora Arthur-Kennedy 1st in heat 3: 28.39s and Evanna Eze: 27.29s and 1st in heat 1. The semi final saw Eliora finish in: 27.92s and 4th in semi-final 1 with Evanna: 28.40s 7th in semi-final 2 and Zoe very impressive 1st again in semi-final 2 with: 27.29s. In the final Zoe who is most definitely moving in the right direction ran very well to finish Joint 2nd in a new PB time of: 26.39s. Isabella Moulton ran the 200m under 13's and was 1st in heat 3 with a PB time of: 27.30s and then was very pleased to finish 2nd in the final in: 27.97s. In the Under 20 women's race Gwendoline completed her sprint double by winning in a time of: 24.46s. The only hurdles race that involved a WGEL member was Isabelle Kyson who took part in the 300m Hurdles. Isabelle stormed her around the track and finished 1st in a PB time of: 45.53s.

The 800m was again on show and this most certainly didn't disappoint. In the under 15 boys Harry Stockill was 2nd in heat 2 with: 2m 12.65 and Rahul Solanki was 7th in same heat with a PB of: 2m 24.44s. In the final Harry ran a PB time of: 2m 06.56s and 3rd place. More was yet to come as the under 15 girls took to the track. Natasha Wynn was 1st in heat 1: 2m 23.39s and Bethan Rose Davies: 1st in heat 2: 2m 21.68s. In heat 3: Evia Mae Mosanya was 4th in a PB time of: 2m 27.33s, Eliza Bridges: 2m 38.40s for 5th and Faye Owers: 2m 46.92s and 6th. To the final and this was simply outstanding. Bethan finished in a PB time of: 2m 19.11s and 3rd but upstaging everyone was the performance of Natasha. Her time of: 2m 09.70s was not only a CR but also a CBP which surpassed the brilliance of previous holder Jessica Judd who has gone on to represent TEAM GB internationally. In the 1500m Samuel Swallow finished 8th in the under 13 boys with: 5m 37.45s and a PB. Marissa Higgs-Smith was 8th in the girls equivalent race with: 5m 55.93s and a PB, while Daniel Arnold ran in the under 15 boys race of 3000m's in a time of: 10m 29.76s and 5th. The last events were field and Joseph Dowling East in the under 17 men was 3rd with a new PB leap of: 6m 30cm in the Long Jump. Caitlin Hancock and Remi Salako competed in the under 15 girls Long Jump with Caitlin finishing 1st with: 5m 42cm and Remi: 4m 98cm.Tyleah in the under 13 girls was 4th with: 3m 50cm and a PB. Callum Clydesdale was 5th in the under 15 boys High Jump with: 1m 40cm, William Stander was 4th in the under 15 boys Shot: 9m 19cm and Rebecca Wright produced a marvellous distance of: 13m 55cm in the girls under 15 shot putt which extended her PB club record. Finally Amber Higgs-Smith competed in the Pole Vault for the under 15 girls and was proud to come away with 2nd place with a height of: 1m 70cm.