ESM St Marys finished runners-up in the second Youth Development League match of the season, which took place in beautiful late spring conditions, writes Tim Hannah.
We had a large team of Under 17 and Under 20 athletes from Ealing and St Mary’s due to compete. Unfortunately five of our brightest prospects were stuck in Berlin due to no British Airways planes coming to take them home. However, with a great many back up athletes coming over from our partner club St Mary’s we still managed to secure second place in a very tightly contested match.
The first competitive event of the day saw Feia Starkey win the U17 women’s 300m hurdles with a personal best time of 46.90.
Isha Habib won the U20 women’s long jump, jumping over 5m for the first time (5.19m), and also won the triple jump (10.40m). Roisin Lynch won the same B string jumps (4.14m and 8.57m).
Luke Miller won the javelin event again for the U20 men again with a best throw of 53.74m.
For the U17 men Sudeys Hersi won the 800m in a season’s best time of 2:11. Kai English equalled his personal best in winning the high jump with 1.65m (pictured), while Kirk Lebdiri won the B string with the bar at 1.35m, also equalling his PB.
Team captain Kamau Muhammed led by example winning the U20 men’s 200m B string with a powerful run in 23.9 . Kai English did likewise in the U17 200m B, with a PB of 25.07.
The closest race of the match turned out to be the U20 women’s 1500m steeplechase. Ealing’s Nicola Ravenhill (see photo) led almost all the way, just ahead of Alice Harray from Thames Valley Harriers, both girls running hard and hurdling the barriers with a some competence. However, in the final 30 metres Alice managed to overtake our Nicola to win by just one second. However, Nicola was consoled by her sub 5:18 time, which qualifies her for English Schools.
By the time the relays were run, Olamide Belewu had managed to get back from Berlin to take part in the Ealing St Mary’s winning U17 4×100 relay team. The U17 men won their 4x100m relay with Kai English and their 4×400 relay with Ealing athlete Louis Rodericks.
The match started with Guildford and Godalming pulling ahead. Both Ealing St Marys and Vale of Aylesbury pulled ahead during the day. However the relays and final field events showed the strength of the club from Surrey who came back to win the match.
Final match scores: 1 Guildford & Godalming 517; 2 Ealing St Marys © 465; 3 Vale of Aylesbury 455; 4 Team Oxfordshire © 371; 5 Thames Valley Harriers 230; 6 Team Hounslow 30
ESM results summary
U20 men: 100m: A: 4 Tom Sanders 11.82; NS: Kamau Muhammad 11.8; Ash Conteh 11.8; 200m: A: 3 Tom Sanders 23.20; B: 1 Kamau Muhammad 23.87; 800m: A: 4 Luke Adar 2:20.38; 1500m: A: 2 Oliver Way 4:19.59; LJ: A: 2 Luke Adar 4.31; B: 1 Louis Rodericks 2:20.02; HT: A: 3 Kamau Muhammad 16.91; JT: A: 1 Luke Miller 53.74; 4x100m: 2 ESM 45.12; 4x400m: 3 ESM 3:44.01
U17 men: 100m: B: 3 Joshua Jones 12.28; 200m: B: 1 Kai English 25.07; 800m: A: 1 Sudeys Hersi 2:11.29; B: 2 Kirk Lebdiri 2:35.51; HJ: A: 1 Kai English 1.65; B: 1 Kirk Lebdiri 1.35; SP: B: 2 Jonathan Martin 6.54; HT: B: 1 Jonathan Martin 11.22; DT: B: 1 Kai English 30.06; JT: B: 1 Jonathan Martin 29.68; 4x100m: 1 ESM 48.05; 4x400m: 1 ESM 3:55.69
U20 women: 400m: A: 4 Roisin Lynch 70.41; 200m: B: 2 Laura Stewart 28.73; 100mH: A: 1 Laura Stewart 18.69; 300mH: A: 1 Feia Starkey 46.90; 1500mSC: A: 2 Nicola Ravenhill 5:17.65; LJ: A: 1 Isha Habib 5.19; B: 1 Roisin Lynch 4.14; TJ: A: 1 Isha Habib 10.40; B: 1 Roisin Lynch 8.57; JT: A: 3 Roisin Lynch 12.64; 4x400m: 2 ESM 4:34.40
U17 women: 100m: A: 3 Olamide Belewu 13.37; 200m: A: 4 Olamide Belewu 27.68; 800m: A: 4 Lucy O’Brien 2:29.51; 1500m: A: 4 Lucy O’Brien 5:21.16; SP: A: 2 Sjanneke Rumley 7.21; HT: A: 4 Sjanneke Rumley 27.22; 4x100m: 1 ESM 53.32
Full results on power of 10