Katharine with her bronze in the U13 discus and Mia with her gold in the U13 javelin
ESM fielded 22 athletes at this year’s Middlesex Track & Field Championships, and they brought home a tally of 15 medals, writes Fiona Kennedy.
Saturday is always the busiest of the two days, with all the senior events taking place, including the U20 and U17 age groups. The U17 women got things off to a fine start in the morning, with a win for Feia Starkey in the 300m hurdles, followed by a second place in the high jump for Estelle Belgrave and later a bronze for Emily Nicholson-Stanwix in the long jump. Also in the field, Helen Leadbetter came second in the senior women’s pole vault. For the U20 women, Angel Grimes-McTavish took a bronze in the 3000m, while Nicola Ravenhill finished the women’s campaign with a dominant performance in the 1500m – her first outing of the season over that distance.
U17 Kai English achieved a personal best in the discus, which gained him a silver. He also ran a personal best in the 200m. Luke Miller threw a season’s best to win the U17 javelin. In the combined U20 and senior 1500m, the win for Oliver Way was never in doubt. Veteran Phil York took part in the same race and was rewarded with a season’s best.
The following day saw the U13s and U15s take to the stage, and the day opened with an exciting 800m race for Mia de Vivenot. In her first year as an U13, she had to react to the brutal first lap pace set by Asmaa Abdirahman of Hillingdon. Mia went through the bell in 74 seconds – much faster than she had done before either in races or training – and she had to dig deep in the second lap to hang in there with two of the older girls from Hillingdon and TVH. Although she was outside the medals in fourth, she was rewarded with a 14 second PB.
Mia hangs on for a great PB in the 800m
She went on to win the javelin, which was “a bit of a bonus”, reports dad James: “I had noted that only four girls had entered and Mia had done a few javelin training sessions with Bob [Densley], so I thought why not give it a go”. She struggled with her throwing action in the first couple of rounds but suddenly everything clicked and she pulled out three successive PBs. Elsewhere in the field, there was a well-deserved bronze medal for U13 Katharine Boissiere with a PB in the discus, and she also achieved PBs in the 70m hurdles and long jump.
U15 Josie tackles the 300m
For the U15 girls, Daisy Burns took bronze in the long jump, her debut competition in that discipline. She and Josie Booker also raced over 300m for the first time. Lucy Henson – still only 12 – raced in a very competitive U15 1500m. She ran a PB for 800m in the opening two laps and improved her PB by a whopping nine seconds.
U13 Theo follows up his 100m silver with a season’s best in the 200m
The boys also had plenty to feel proud about. U13 Ellis Kahan-Noel won two medals: in the morning, he made his competitive debut in the discus and won convincingly. He then went on to win the javelin with a PB throw. On the track, Theo Jarrett won silver in the 100m and went on to run a season’s best the 200m. However, he was a little late reporting for his second race, and coach Bridie Lebdiri fears the slight panic may have cost him the bronze.
Not so for Tristan Collins-Marsh, who took bronze in the U15 200m with personal bests both in the heat and the final. Earlier, he had also ducked under 12 seconds for the first time this season, on placing fourth in the 100m.
Thanks to coaches Bridie Lebdiri, Denise English and James de Vivenot for their help in putting this report together, and for taking the photos.
ESM results summary:
Male:
SM: 1500m: 4 Philip York (V55) 5:15.42
U20: JT: 1 Luke Miller 52.74; 1500m: 1 Oliver Way 4:23.23
U17: 100m (Ht 1): 6 Miles Bernadine 12.33; 200m (Ht 1): 5 Kai English 24.4; 1500m: 5 Chauncey Edwards 4:40.46; DT: 2 Kai English 32.26
U15: 100m: 4 Tristan Collins-Marsh 11.97; 200m: 3 Tristan Collins-Marsh 23.93; 800m (Ht 2): 7 Thomas Edgar 2:42.1
U13: 100m: 2 Theo Jarrett 13.61; 200m: 4 Theo Jarrett 28.05; DT: 1 Ellis Kahan-Noel 20.80; JT: 1 Ellis Kahan-Noel 25.15
Female:
SW: PV: 2 Helen Leadbetter (V35) 2.40
U20: 1500m: 1 Nicola Ravenhill 4:47.76; 3000m: 3 Angel Grimes-McTavish 11:24.23
U17: 300mH: 1 Feia Starkey 48.42; HJ: 2 Estelle Belgrave 1.20; LJ: 3 Emily Nicholson-Stanwix 4.65
U15: 300m (Ht 1): 6 Daisy Burns 45.69; 300m (Ht 2): 4 Josie Booker 51.11; 75mH: 4 Josie Booker 15.23; 1500m: 8 Lucy Henson 5:19.6; HJ: 5 Shenali Kuranage 1.30; LJ: 3 Daisy Burns 4.67; 10 Josie Booker 3.72
U13: 800m: 4 Mia de Vivenot 2:36.51; 70mH: 5 Katharine Boissiere 13.03; LJ: 8 Katharine Boissiere 3.31; DT: 8 Katharine Boissiere 15.24; JT: 1 Mia de Vivenot 14.32
Full results on powerof10