Champions all 21 county titles for Harriers athletes
CHELTENHAM Harriers had 21 athletes crowned as county champions across 31 different events on day one of the Gloucestershire County Championships.
The club earned 46 podium finishes and 34 personal bests were set.
Linsey Hutchins was crowned a triple champion, winning the W45 hammer, shot and long jump in 20.62m, 6.73m and 1.90m respectively, while Ruth Bird won gold in the W55 hammer and shot, with throws of 38.18m and 9.95m.
Also in the shot, Lily Carpenter won the Under-20 event (9.84m), Jessica Duncton the Under-17 (10.31m), Florence Hampton Under-15 (8.31m) and Robin Nishimura the Under-13 boys (5.39m), all with personal bests.
Alice English threw a PB of 8.06m to finish fourth Under-17, and Cicely Courtney-moore made the podium with a third place throw of 6.61m in the senior women’s event.
The javelin saw all six Harriers finish on the podium with three first places, with PBS from Sam Northen (47.55m), Luca Colombini (41.6m) and Nishimura (13.40m) in the senior men, Under-17 and Under-13 events.
Reuben Lombard and Sulaiman Ouiles made it a Harriers 1-2-3 in the Under-17s with PBS of 41.92m and 36,32 respectively, and Ryan Ellis made it two Harriers on the senior men’s podium, finishing second with a season’s best of 40.96m.
In the jumps, Alfie Wood continued his impressive form with a big PB of 6.75 to win the Under-20 long jump and move into the top 10 in the UK rankings.
The Under-17 event was won by Wil17:58.4k liam Andrews-flint with a PB of 5.20m, and in the women’s equivalent Rosie Wood claimed silver with a PB of 4.20m.
Andrews-flint also competed in the triple jump, heading up a Harriers 1-2 with a jump of 10.79m, while Billy Buxton achieved a PB of 10.50m for second place and Oliver Belbeck won the Under-15 triple jump with a PB of 9.45m.
Belbeck made it double success and double PBS, winning the Under-15 300m in 43.9.
Sam Howell won the Under-20 men’s 400m with a PB of 49.6 and Ruby Brook won the Under-17 300m with her second quickest time ever, 42.2, with Lulu Skurek running a PB of 45.3 for second place.
Duncton stormed to an impressive debut 80m hurdles, setting a PB of 11.5, putting her second in the UK rankings, bringing home a gold and equalling the club record set by GB international Sophie Yorke.
Florence Hampton took home gold in the Under-15 75m hurdles with an impressive run of 12.6 in her debut over this distance.
Making it a hat-trick of Harriers titles, Megan Amey won the Under-13 70m hurdles with a time of 13.5 and Zara Collins ran 18.3.
In the U17 men’s 100m hurdles, Ouiles took his second third place of the day with a run of 16.4.
The 3000m was one of the mostly hotly anticipated events of the day, with many athletes already having set PBS this year. Under-17 Isaac Henderson led the race home with his second quickest time ever, 9:21.1, and fresh from her 1500m PB earlier in the week,
Kaitlyn Sheppard was the favourite in the Under-20 women’s event.
Sheppard ran well to finish first female overall in 9:56.7, which was also her second quickest time, and Kiya Dee finished first Under-17 woman in 10:10.3. Ciara Thornley was second Under-17 in 10:20.7, 0.59 outside her PB. Completing the Under-17 podium was Chloe Sheppard, dipping under 11 minutes for the first time with 10:57.6.
Fellow Under-17s Taya Dee (11:13.4) and Molly Dibden (11:49.8 PB) finished fourth and fifth, while Harriet Smith made her 3000m debut, running a strong 12:07.3 for first Under-15.
The 5000m saw all Harriers runners bring home medals as Chris Wagstaff led them home with a personal best of 16:10.1 for third place.
Andy Gore took home the M50 crown with an impressive time of 17:38.4, front running his way to a win in the B race.
Dan Minors was second M50 with
and, in the M60 category, Nick Holliday led home another Harriers 1-2, finishing in 19:06.4, with Michael Ede completing the 12.5 laps in 21:16.0.
Stephen Bradley dipped under 20 minutes with a strong run of 19:57.3 for second.
Duncton returned to the track to take on the Under-17 800m, coming seventh, two seconds shy of her best in 2:32.9 as she just edged out Freya Howell, who ran a PB of 2:33.2 for eighth place.
Hetty Mccartney was just outside her PB with 2:40.2 for ninth and in the Under-15s Georgia Howell led the Harriers contingent home, finishing third in a PB of 2:27.4, narrowly ahead of Evie Henderson’s PB run of 2:29.2.
Having run 2:36 six times, Ellis Woolley broke through the barrier, running a PB of 2:35.4 for seventh. Isobel Watt made her track debut in ninth place in 2:40.2.
In addition to her hurdles and shot golds, Hampton produced a strong run in the 800m of 2:49.1, finishing 11th in the Under-15 event. In the Under-13 800m, Maddie Thomson took home gold with an impressive 2:32.5.
Olivia Avery (fourth), Megan Amey (guest) and Evie Avery (eighth) finished in 2:37.1, 2:50.9 and 2:57.5 respectively.
In the men’s 800m, it was PBS all round as Freddie Coombes was second in the Under-15 event in 2:18.9, followed by Dominic Martin in 2:22.7, while Sam Wilson was fifth in 2:27.1.
Under-13 Leo Soakell finished second in 2:34.2, 12 seconds quicker than his previous PB.
At the Birmingham Uni Open, long jumper Alfie Wood had a leap of 6.41 for fifth overall and second under-20.
Kaitlyn Sheppard continued her impressive recent form with a personal best in the 1500m of 4:34.22 for ninth, which ranks her sixth in the UK under 20 rankings.
Jamie Harper has also been in PB form this year and ran a strong race to take two seconds off his previous best, running 1:55.70 to finish sixth.
At the Loughborough Open, George Watson made it two PBS in less than a week with 3:51 over 1500m.