The Midland Counties AA U15 and U17 Championships
Report – Paul Bearman
Held at the Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton, these Championships offer top class competition just below national level and in blistering energy sapping heat the Stratford ACs youngsters who took part came home with a varied selection of medals that underlined the quality in the junior’s ranks.
Under 13s Scarlett Dawson and Elfirc McKenzie competed in the U13 Quadrathlon (100m, 600m for Elfric and 800m for Scarlett, Howler and Long Jump) and despite some confusion with some of the events and the scoring for the boys, they both competed consistently throughout their respective competitions with both of them finishing the 4 events in the gold medal position.
Joel Masters has burst into the top ranks of UK U15 sprinters this season and he continued his superb form with a good win in his 100m heat and in a high quality line up for the final that would rival a national championship, he soon took the lead and held it to the line to win gold and equalled his PB of 11.41s.
The same scenario was emulated in the 200m and despite having to manage a niggling knee problem Joel continued his hot streak by winning double gold in the 200m final in a new PB of 23.1m.
U15 Seb Hillard had his first taste of competition at this level and ended up as a double bronze medallist. In the Long Jump he finished with a best jump of 5.16m, a new PB, and in the 80m Hurdles he ran a PB of 12.79s.
After a mix up with the timetable, Nikola Wodzisz had the disappointment of missing the Javelin where she was favourite for the title but made up for it by throwing new PBs in the shot, 10.50m to win gold and followed it up in the Discus to win silver with a best throw of 19.15m.
U15 Tom Stanton enjoyed his weekend by jumping a new PB of 4.70m in the Long Jump, and then ran a PB of 13.73s in the 100m and 28.41s in the 200m.
After running in the Midland League the day before, Maddie Linfoot competed in the 1500m finishing 5th in a PB equalling time of 5.03.47.
Sandy, Carolyne and I couldn’t recall a competition that was run in such oppressive heat and despite the quantity of our athletes competing being low, the quality was exceptional with medals and especially PBs aplenty.
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