Athletics Teenager Sophie to make England debut at Throws Festival
SOPHIE Hamilton will complete an amazing couple of weeks when she makes her debut for England in the England Athletics Throws Festival this weekend.
For the 17-year-old Bristol & West AC javelin thrower, the honour comes just two weeks after she made her debut for the Great Britain Under-20s team at the Manchester International, celebrating that occasion with a terrific victory.
“Sophie is a very talented and committed athlete and is coming on quite well this season,” said her coach Ken Holmes.
“I’m really pleased with the way things are going.”
Hamilton, who lives in Wedmore and is a day student at Millfield School, only moved up into the under-20s age group this summer but has improved her personal best to 47.23m – which earned her a bronze medal at the English Schools’ Championships – to put her third in the UK Rankings with two more seasons ahead of her.
Team manager Chris Elson has paid tribute to the young athletes who stepped up to help secure Bristol & West AC another emphatic victory in the fourth and final match of the National Athletics League at Yate last weekend.
“The commitment and enthusiasm of our young male sprint squad has been a feature of the NAL meets this summer,” said Elson. “True to form they excelled again.”
Ed Wilson and Joe Carter finished second and first, respectively, in the 100m A and B races and then added maximum points in the 200m before finally linking up with James Osala and Yusuf Hussein to win the sprint relay in 42.37 secs.
Junior international Jenna Blundell won the 100m hurdles (13.81secs), was second in the 100m (12.33secs) before finally anchoring the sprint relay team of Tamara Jackson, Ella Bowell, Amy Gandhi to victory.
Cat Beatty and Anna Lochlin taking maximum points in the hammer, while Sarah Kearsey and Hen Anstey impressed in the 400m hurdles.
In the 800m Tom Foxon and
Steve Kerfoot clocked PBs of 1:59.21 and 1:59.56, respectively, while there were maximum points Chloe Crossman and Hannah Pollak in the 800m and Immy Hales and Sarah Kearsey in the 400m.
Ella Bowell posted another PB of 5.49m in the long jump, while both Katy Roy (3000m) and Aled Anderson (5000m) also notched up PBs.
South West champion Harry Petyt was second in the pole vault, Andrew Thomas was likewise in the discus and Ruben Brady scored well in the shot and discus.
Emma Bakare won both the shot (11.64m) and triple jump (11.76m) and there were also valuable points gained by Sam Barratt, Moni Brady and recent British Masters javelin
champion Maria Townsend. “Finally, thank you to all our officials and coaches who have supported the team by their presence throughout the season, and without whom these matches would not be possible,” added Elson. Match score: 1 Bristol & West AC 343 points; 2 Yate & District AC 283; 3 Swansea Harriers & AC 209; 4 Cardiff AAC 197; 5 Yeovil Olympiads AC 78.
The commitment and enthusiasm of our young male sprint squad has been a feature of the NAL meets this summer
Bristol & West AC’s Annabel Granger raced to victory in the Severn Bridge half marathon (83:28), while Phil Parry was fourth in the 10k race (36:49).
Representing the Midland juniors in the Cardiff Victory 5k, teenager Meg Hornung ran an impressive time of 16mins 52secs on her debut at the distance. Felicity Russell (22:34) and Anne Dockery (24:03) were both age-group winners.
Congratulations to former Bristol & West AC international middle distance runner Richard Peters and international steeplechaser Pippa Woolven, who were married last weekend. The pair met while in action at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.