30 YEAR OLD CLUB RECORD BROKEN
On a sunny but, at times, very blustery day, 6 Under 13 Boys & Girls from WGEL AC travelled to Walthan-On-Thames to represent Essex in the annual Derek Crookes Under 13's Inter Counties Track & Field Championships, aided by Boys Team Manager (Paul Cheal) and Girls Team Manager (Joe Everitt). The selected 6, made up of 2 girls and 4 boys, certainly turned on the style and produced some outstanding performances, resulting in a 30 year old club record being broken and a couple of others the athletes broke again themselves, lowering their times from previous races.
In the Under 13 Girls, Isabella Moulton started the proceedings off in style, and she ran an exceptional 70m hurdles race in heat 2 with what would have been a club record time of: 11.34sec that had stood since May 1998 were it not for an agonizing 2.7w tail wind - so near and yet so far for a very talented young girl. Tyleah Edwards took part in the Shot Putt and in her pool was 3rd with a distance of 8m 12cm, which enabled her to finish 5th overall in the standings.
In the Under 13 Boys Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland, like Isabella, ran the boys' equivalent of the hurdles, this time the 75m version, and was again very impressive with a 1st in his heat in 11.45secs, which lowered his own club record which he set earlier this year. Daniel's technique and speed over these obstacles is most definitely something to watch. In the sprints the duo of Lawrence Foster and Alex Osagie continue to blossom, with Lawrence coming home in 2nd place in his heat with 11.79sec which, again, lowered his own club record that he set earlier in the month at a YDL league fixture. He went on to power his way around the 200m finishing 1st in his heat with 24.42secs, a PB were it not, again, for the hefty 4.8w tailwind. Like Lawrence, Alex did the sprint double for Essex and was 1st in his 100m heat with 12.17sec and again 1st in the 200m heat, which he ran in a time of 26.66secs. It was then left to the performance of the day, not only for the athlete and the club he represents, but for Team Essex Boys and Girls. It was a simply astonishing display that Toby Taylor was able to perform, which astounded the crowd, his team manager (myself) and a very happy but tearful mum. His previous best in the High Jump was 1m 50cm, which was exceptional in its own right, but Toby, who is growing in confidence massively, week on week and month on month, for which thanks must go to his coach Joe Everitt, produced a serious of fine jumps to not only break his PB, but he broke a nearly 30 year old CLUB RECORD that was set back in August 1993 by one Gareth Dyball of 1m 55cm and he went on to eventually clear 1m 57cm which also gained him No.1 status in the country. A fabulous performance and this is also without any real formal high jump coaching, so hopefully much more to come.
You can therefore see with even just a handful of WGEL AC Juniors representing Team Essex, the hard work and effort really does pay dividends and long may it continue.