Break helps Blundell out
Athlete able to collect 2019 award with lull
FOR British junior international multi-eventer Jenna Blundell, 2020 certainly hasn’t been an entirely wasted year.
For one thing the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to break off her from her training and studies as a first year student at Sheffield Hallam University and return to her home near Bradford-on-avon, freeing up some spare time to finally collect her prize as the Running Bath/chronicle athlete of the year for 2019.
“It was great to finally get into the shop, meet the owners and collect my prize and I’d like to thank everyone who decided to award me this honour, I am delighted,” said Blundell.
It wasn’t a particularly tough decision for the judges after a tremendous summer last year which had raised high hopes of an even better 2020 with the World Junior Championships, in Kenya, the big goal for the season.
Sadly, the pandemic put paid to that and everything else this summer but Blundell isn’t down-hearted and said the quiet summer – though she has continued to train consistently – might not have been such a bad thing.
“Going back to last year even before I went to Sheffield and changed coaches to Tony [Minichiello, who guided Jess Ennis-hill to gold at the London Olympics in 2012] I accepted that this might be a rocky year,” said Blundell.
“With all those changes I saw 2020 as a learning year which in the longterm would make me a better athlete.
“Lockdown has given me a chance to take in my training regime which I wasn’t used to. I have had to get used to back-to-back hard sessions and that has been tough. I have certainly noticed the difference in intensity and Tony doesn’t take excuses.
“You have to be committed in training and give it everything.”
Blundell has no problem with that as she has set herself some ambitious goals for the future.
“Firstly, I’m looking towards the European Under 23 Championships in Bergen [Norway] next year and then the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham,” added Blundell.
“And after that the next Olympics in Paris [2024] has to be an ambition to work towards.”
Now working with such a highachieving group under Minichiello, nothing less than an Olympic ambition would be regarded as acceptable so in the post-pandemic world Blundell has plenty to focus upon.
■ TEAM Bath AC rookie Alannah Heneghan continues to go from strength to strength after another impressive performance at the Yate & District AC Field Event Open on Sunday.
Heneghan, who is coached by Di Viles, won the B event with a personal best leap of 1.63m to not only beat all the boys and older girls but also add eight centimetres to her previous best of 1.55m.
“She also came very close to 1.68m only clipping it with her heels on the way down,” said Viles.
The new mark puts Heneghan top of the South West Rankings for under15 girls and moves her up to third in the UK - and she is still in the bottom of the age group aged only 13.
“Hopefully she can go even better next Sunday at Swindon,” added Viles.
Under-15 newcomer Tom Blackburn made an impressive debut for the club, finishing second to Heneghan with 1.58m.
Emily Jones also produced another PB in the C competition finishing third with 1.43m, a height also achieved by Ciara Galpin in the B competition.
“I am really proud of them all as they have had very little actual jumps training this year,” said Viles.
THE domestic season might be drawing to a close but the Maxwell twins took the opportunity to race for the first time this summer – and produced two stunning personal bests at the Yeovil AC Open meeting on Sunday.
Racing in heat three Harry roared to victory in a time of 4mins 32.1secs, which slashed 16 seconds off his previous best set last year. It is the seventh fastest time by an under-15 runner in the South West this summer and second best in Wiltshire.
Twin Joshua wasn’t as quick but smashed his PB by an even bigger margin as he broke five minutes for the first time, improving from 5:01.61 to 4:42.06 to place second in heat six.
Also at Yeovil, Team Bath’s Megan Wright ran a PB of 11mins 44.40secs in the 3,000m and Gemma Baker clocked a PB of 2:28.88, shaving just under half a second from her 2019 best, to finish third in heat six of the 8,000m.
■ JOE Carter’s hopes of some fast times at the Nuneaton Open meeting were wrecked by a fierce headwind that frustrated the sprinters all day.
So, the Team Bath teenager had to settle for 11.65secs in the 100m and 23.18secs in the 200m, well outside the PBS of 11.11secs and 22.55secs respectively which he notched up at the Yate meeting the previous weekend.
■ FORMER Running Bath athlete of the month John Howorth recently ended his short season on a high with a personal best of 3mins 51.38secs in the BMC Gold Standard meeting at Stretford. His previous best was 3:52.57 set last year.
It is the fastest 1,500m by a Wiltshire runner this summer and good enough to put Howorth sixth in the South West Rankings.
■ The athletics coverage in the Chron is sponsored by Running Bath