Rivals blown away by teen
CHARLIE Staddon blew away his rivals to not only win the under17 men’s 400m hurdles in the opening match of the National Young Athletes League Upper Midlands/south West Premier Division, but also record a personal best.
The 16-year-old Team Bath athlete, who was competing in the colours of Team Avon, returned to the same Yate track where he ran his PB of 58.77secs at the start of the month.
Staddon clearly likes the track, but the weather was no help as he hit a strong headwind entering the home straight, however that couldn’t prevent him from shaving 0.13secs off that best with 58.64secs as he not only beat his under-17 rivals but also the under-20 runners in the race.
“I told Charlie go hard down the back straight with the wind behind him so by the finish he virtually collapsed across the line as it was so tough,” said his coach Julie Alexander.
“It was a really good run by Charlie and he did so well to get a PB as there weren’t many on Saturday.”
Staddon also ran a PB of 14.35secs into a -1.3 headwind to eclipse the 14.41secs he clocked earlier this season so all in all it was an excellent day for him.
Team Bath athletes were heavily represented in the composite Team Avon side which offers competitions for under-20 and under-17 athletes.
In the high jump Di Viles’ coaching group impressed with Dominic Murray winning the U20 B event with 1.85 and newcomer Tom Blackburn finishing runner-up in the U17 competition with 1.75m.
“It was the first time Tom has competed against a good number of fellow high jumpers so it was a good experience for him to see what his rivals look like,” said Viles.
In the U17 women’s event Ciara Galvin jumped 1.50m.
Sprint hurdlers Alice Wilson (12.67secs, 80m) and Willa Gibb (15.58secs, 100H) both ran solidly in the blustery conditions while Eleni Francis contributed useful points in the 100, 200m and long jump.
IN America, Bradford-on Avon athlete and former Running Bath/chron athlete of the month winner Jenna Blundell ran a lifetime best – though heavily wind-assisted – of 13.09secs for the 100m hurdles at the PURE Athletics Spring Invitational in Florida.
TEAM Bath AC’S Niall Caley achieved a breakthrough in the opening race of the 2022 South West PB 5k road race series organised by the Bristol Track Club.
Despite windy conditions, Caley smashed his previous 5k road race by over a minute as he clocked a time of 14mins 45secs to finish sixth in a very strong field over the traffic-free cycle course at Odd Down.
Cardiff AC’S GB international Jake Smith won with a PB of 14mins 23secs and such was the quality of the field that the top 13 runners broke 15 minutes, 32 finished inside 15mins 30secs and a total of 57 broke 16 minutes.
Also from Team Bath, Harry Bowles - just three weeks after the Paris Marathon - clocked 15:44, closely followed by Aaron Pritchard (15:49) and Elliott Alvis (15:55). Phil King was third MV50 in 17:15.
On the ladies side, Jenny Carter clocked 19:10 to finish third V45. In the junior 3k race, Team Bath AC’S U13 Toby Loughlin was fourth (10:14).
A SUPERB run by Freya Spruit saw her race to victory in the Corsham St George’s Day 10k on Sunday in a time of 39mins 17secs.
“We have been advising and guiding her for the last 12 months and the first victory is always the sweetest,” said Jo and Mike Thompson.
“Freya has worked very hard for this. She is a joy to train and is a tough competitor so she has a great future at this distance.”
Cath Dale was top veteran over 50 (44:07) and Team Bath were second team.
Aidan Daniel was fourth overall closely followed by Elliott Alvis while there was a very impressive run from Dylan Stoneman to win the under 20 men’s prize and score in Team Bath’s winning team.
IN the Putney & Fulham half marathon, Team Bath’s Izzy Davis ran a splendid 1:24:11 to finish top woman with clubmate Alessandro Zanconata finishing just behind (1:26.03).
THE club’s super vet Tom Hutchison headed to Austria for the Vienna City marathon and ran a splendid 3hrs 30mins 34secs to finish second veteran over-65. Clubmates Mark Macintosh (1:27:36) and Nigel Osborne (1:55:39) opted for the half marathon.
EMILY Griffiths clocked 3:42.25 on her marathon debut in Southampton. Also in the same race, Tanya Marshall
and Bev Devereux were running in support of the Natashia Lewis Foundation.
CREINA O’shea opted for the Dorney Lake marathon to make her debut at the distance and managed to break four hours with 3:58:44.
A MARATHON clearly wasn’t hard enough for Guy Landon so he stepped up to the Butcombe Trail Ultra 50miles race and claimed an excellent win, only missing the course record by 45 seconds.
MARIANNE Carpenter won her age group category at the Clumber Park standard duathlon and qualifies for next year’s world championships in Ibiza.
THE popular Bitton 5k road series returns next on Wednesday, with further events scheduled for Wednesdays June 1, July 6 and August 3.
Registration is on the night at the Bitton Railway Station carpark (BS30 6HD) and entries cost a bargain £6 per race for club runners and £8 for unaffiliated.
THE athletics coverage in the Chron is sponsored by Running Bath