Athletics event blessed by good weather

Ipswich Harriers

IPSWICH Harriers Under 17 males and females competed in their first EYA League meeting of the 2002 track and field season.

With weather conditions almost perfect for athletics it comes as no surprise that there was some excellent results with numerous first places and PB's for us as the host club.

It was a closely fought contest between the four teams, the competition came from Basildon who won the meeting with 318 points followed by Ipswich Harriers on 308 points Dacorum and Tring were next with 301 and Bedford had 249.

The Under 15, Under 17 girls and Under 15 boys won their individual groups, Under 17 boys were second in theirs and both the Under 13 girls and boys were fourth. As the season progresses we hope the two youngest age groups will improve their position, but at this meeting they were very short on athletes.

The points added up nicely for Ipswich Harriers from the first events, the hurdles gave us maximum points from eight of the races and a third place for the other.

The Under 15 boys gained 14 PB's and seven first places from their events scoring or non-scoring. From the field events James Hicks took wins from both the high jump and javelin, Daniel McCrosson did likewise in the long jump and Mark Dickerson in the discus. There were PB's for Zac Green and Kristian Cockrill-Garden in the long jump with 4 metres 08 and 3 metres 50 respectively, and from the shot, Tom Stewart with a put of six metres 73 gained his.

On the track six boys in the 100 metres lowered their best times, Daniel McCrosson 12.5, James Dore 13.0, Chris Pattle 13.6, Graham Pattle 13.8 and Nathan Sheridan 15.0. Stephen Hart was a winner of his heat. Romane Kersey was first home in the hurdles and in the 400m, Levi Hunt returned a best ever time of 60 secs dead when he finished second and Zac Green won his heat.

James Dore took his second PB of the day when he was second in the 200m in 28.3 secs. Matthew Harrison in the 800m returned a PB time of 2.32.6, Josh Downs ran 2.48.7 to lower his time, also in this race two new members on their first outing for the club M Staak ran 2.45.0 and M Garvin 2.51.9.

In the Under 15 girls there were 12 firsts and 8 PB's, Sarah Tippett and Kerry Fuller gave maximum points in the hurdles with Sarah's time of 12.7 secs a PB and Kerry's 13.6 secs.

Three PB's and firsts in the 100m and 200m went to Nicole Sadler 12.9 PB and 27.4, Sarah Tippett 13.4 PB and 29.4, Emily Beckett 13.4 PB and 28.9, also Rebecca Mayo Jennings took a PB from the 100m in 13.8 secs. Katie Barker and Chantelle Edwards both new members ran the 100m in 13.9 and 14.0 respectively whilst Katie also ran the 200m in 30.0, and Chantelle was first in the high jump with 1.25.

It was double first places for Hayley Todd and Lucy Swan in the Javelin with throws of 20.49 metres a PB and 15.80 metres respectively, Lana Rogers had a PB in the long jump with four metres 43 when she was the overall winner of the event, whilst Kerry Fuller had another PB which came from the shot when she finished second with 7.50 metres, then went on to win the B string of the discus. There was one more newcomer in this age group, Becky Wellbourn, who ran the 800 metres in a time of 2.46.8.

For the Under 17 women we gained nine firsts and nine PB's, the majority of which came from the field eventers. Louise Morgan passed the five-metre mark in the long jump for the first time winning the overall event with a leap of 5.04 metres, she also had a PB in the 100m of 12.4 secs and won the B string hurdles in 12.8 secs. Vicky Scott over at the high jump was a B string winner raising the bar to 1 metre 40 and in the 300m lowered her time to 48.0 to add to best performances to her tally. Bethany Swan was another double PB with first places in the javelin of 25 metres 19 and the discus she added 2.40 metres to her best which now stands at 17 metres 76.

Lizzy May added another first with her javelin and in the shot Sharon Wallis now has a best put of seven metres 65.

In the 100m Tasha Double and Carly Schumann both won their individual races with times of 12.8 and 13.2 secs. Candy Bell crossed the line ahead of the rest in the hurdles with a new PB of 12.4 secs, and Sarah Morris took the B string win and the 200m with 28.8 secs.

Kirsty Thorndyke ran a fine 800m losing another two seconds from her previous best time which now stands at 2 mins 33.7, two more wins came from Laura Odell and Esther Trigidon when they returned times of 5 mins 08.0 and 5.26.2 in the 1500m.

It was on the track that we gained the most PB's and first places when the Under 17 Men took 41 firsts and four PB's. Ben Higgin was the winner in both the 200m and 400m in times of 23.8 and 53.2 and PB Ben Hanley lowered his time to 13.0 secs in the 100m, with Daniel Allcock in the hurdles returning a PB of 21.1 secs.

From the field it was maximum points in the triple jump with Martin Bennett and Ben Hanley jumping 10.88 and 10.41 metres respectively. Scott Stannard as consistent as ever passed the 30 metre mark in the javelin when he sailed it out to 30.12 metres for a second place PB.

Five under 13 girls who were all new members did well in their first competition returning four first places and three PB's between them. Lois Rutter had two of the PB's when she finished first in her 100m in 15.5 secs and third in the long jump with three metres 44. Joanne Harrall was second in the 200m with a PB of 14.8 and won her hurdles in 13.8.

Chesney Webb also won her hurdle race in 15.2 then ran the 800m in 3.09.0. Misha Cockrill-Garden returned a tim eof 3.15.2 in her first time at the 800m and leapt 2 metres 45 in the long jump, B Reeve won the 200m in 32.1 secs and finished fourth in the 800m in 3.08.1.

In the Under 13 boys there was only three boys available for this meeting but all came away with one first place each, Tom McCarthy won the hurdles in 14.6 secs, Andrew Jackson the 800m in 2.33.2 and Nathan Hanley the high jump with 1 metre 25.