Youngsters achieve club’s best series of results
THE young athletes of Cheltenham Harriers achieved their best ever finish in the UK Youth Development League competition’s regional final in Yate.
The Under 13 and 15s, having secured their place in the final by finishing third in the fixtures through April, May and June, put in some fantastic performances to finish fourth.
This meant that they miss out on the national finals, but to get to this stage, only losing out to the far greater strength in depth of Marshall Milton Keynes, Birchfield and Swansea, was a tremendous effort.
At one point Cheltenham were lying in third, and kept in contention through the afternoon.
The Under 15 boys are a small squad, but pull together to cover events that are not normally their speciality.
Oliver Spencer took third in a very strong 200m race in 23.99s, and followed this with fourth in the 100m in 12.12s while Archie Mclean was second in the B 100m in 12.53s.
The hurdles have been a real strength across a number of age groups, and in the 80mh Joe Coley took second in the A string, clocking 12.23s, and Sam Broderick won the B string with 12.91s.
In the B high jump, Sulaiman Ouiles jumped 1.50m to take second and Tim Smith took third in the Pole Vault A with 2.50m.
The boys showed good form in the throws. In discus, Billy Buxton won the A competition with 31.82m, supported by Mclean taking second in the B with 23.29m. In the shot, Coley took second with 11.07.
The Under 15 Girls saw Jess Duncton run superbly to take a double first – winning the 100m in 12.90s and the 200m in 25.89s.
Lily Marchant took fourth in the B 100m in 13.47s, and then ran a PB in the 200m B string to take second in 26.9s.
Ruby Brook took on the challenge of the 300m and 800m, taking two excellent second place finishes, recording 43.35s in the 300m and 2:27.78 in the 800m.
Seren Jones had another strong run out in what is a shorter distance for her, taking second in the B string 800m in a time of 2:30.33.
In the 1500m, strong running from the gun made a double first for the Dee twins, Kiya finishing well ahead of the field in the A race in 4:49.78, sister Taya winning the B race in 05:07.01.
In one of the most memorable races of the day, the 75Hurdles, in a blanket finish Duncton came in fourth in 11.85s.
Lorna Willmott was second in the long jump with 4.90m and in the high jump, Celia Darwent took third with 1.45m.
Moving to the throws, in the hammer Georgie Newell threw 20.70m to take second in the A, and Freya Millington looked comfortable in winning the B string with 17.96m.
Further success came in the javelin, Mimi Davis winning with 29.80m while the relay team of Amy Jackson Fawkes, Hetty Mccartney, Jones and Brook put on a composed display in the 4x 300m to finish third in 3:08.47
In the Under 13s, there were some other very strong results as Fred Fowler took third in the 200m in 26.94, and went on to win the 100m B in 12.99. In a high quality 75 hurdles, Fowler ran well to take fourth in 13.09.
In the 800m Oli Barley was second in the A race with 2:28.67; and Jack Tanski was second in the B string in 2:38.46. In the High Jump, Ed Glanville won the B string with a PB of 1.30m.
In the Under 13 Girls, the outstanding performance of the day came when Flo Hampton won the high jump with a new PB and club age group record of 1.46m. To cap off a fine afternoon, Hampton went on to take second in the javelin with a throw of 21.53m.
In the 800m Milly Foster took second in the A race with 2:38.86. Tilda Barter, running this distance for the first time at YDL, took third in the B string in 2:56.40.
In the 70m hurdles Emily Brown took second in a time of 12.15, and then in the 100m she placed sixth in very fast race in 10.61 and Kitty Ellis took fifth in the B in a new PB of 10.8.
In the 150m, in a blanket finish Cara Walsh took fifth in a new PB of 20.61 (w). In the B string, Annabelle Wigan took fifth in a new PB of 21.43 (w).
In the 1200m Alice Stalberg continued her excellent run of results, coming second in the A race with 4:15.87.
Evie Henderson, making her full debut in the YDL, put in a controlled run to take third in the B with 4:27.19. In the shot, Mya Bury took third in the B string with 6.33m.
Harriers enjoyed their best result at this level and can look forward to competing in the Premier Division again next season.