M&M pull out all the stops

With several key athletes missing, Medway & Maidstone under-13 and under-15s had a hard task to grab a decent finish in the Kent Young Athletes League meeting at Dartford. Nine girls competed in events they had not done before in an effort to maximise the team’s return and it was this determination and enthusiasm that saw them grab third spot by a solitary point. Megan Currier kicked off the day for the under-13 girls in style by setting a new personal best time of 13.3sec in the 70m hurdles and grabbing third spot. This was the first of three personalbest performances as she went on to compete in the 75m (11.67) and long jump (3.93m). Sarah Watmough set a new PB in the hurdles, winning the B string race in a time of 13.4, before finishing third in the 1k walk, an event she had never done before. In the 800m, Abigail Royden was just pipped by team-mate Mia Colyer. The two girls finished within a second of each other, with Colyer (2min36.89sec) fourth in the A string and Royden (2.37.64) winning the B string. The success in the 800m was matched by the under-15 girls. Erin Hughes ran her best-ever race to win the A string in 2.24.18 while Anna Palmer finished third in the B string in 2.32.22. Keira Rose set a new personal-best performance of 12.81 to take third in the 100m. Katie Rothery and Mia Franklin both ran the 200m for the first time – as did Amy Jukes and Ciara Harrop in the 2k walk. Jukes was fifth in the A string in 15.17.84, with Harrop third in 15.29.57 in the B string. The boys also pitched in with several performances in unfamiliar events which were rewarded with valuable points towards the overall third-place finish. There were a large number of personal bests from the under-13 boys – William Maloney (13.62) and Daniel Shoyoye (14.99) in the 100m; Alistair Shelley in the 800m (2.32.19) and the high jump; Hayden Gear (2.34.62) in the 800m; Max Thorne in the shot (4.79) and javelin (16.84); Elliot Chamberlain in the javelin; Daniel Hardy in the shot (8.03) and hammer (22.17); Mitchell Kerr (9.58) in the hammer; Jake Foster (7.27.82)and Casey-Preston Lougheed (7.34.10) in the 1k walk; Charlie Rouse in the long jump (3.87) and Luke Hughes in the 200m (31.19) and long jump (3.84). Not to be outdone, the under-15 boys also produced a series of best times. Michael Uzozie ran 23.6 in the 200m, Finn Rodgers posted 14.16 in the 80m hurdles and Joe Hollands had new bests in the 800m (2.21.02) and shot. Ethan Gear ran a best of 2.25.57 in the 800m, Harry Blake posted 1.45 in the high jump and Ollie Rodwell set a best of 7.90 in the hammer. Luke Nash (25.5) also earned a season’s best time in the 200m.