Abigail’s performance helps Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club
close in on national finals
A personal-best javelin throw from Abigail Pearce at the latest round of the Youth Development League saw her move to number seven in the UK rankings for under-13 girls.
Pearce’s massive throw of 28.15m to win the under-13 girls A competition helped Rugby and Northampton Athletic Club close in on a national finals place as they finished third at the match.
It was a double success for Pearce as she also recorded a personal best of 2:31.8 to win the under-13 girls 800m B race while her team-mate Abi Ward, competing in the same age category, won the javelin B with a very promising 19.93m – another personal best.
Katie Print was another winner for R&N’s under-15 girls squad with her time of 13.1 enough to see her first past the post in the 100m A race, while in the B event Laurone Ager finished second in 13.6. Ager went one better in the 200m however by finishing first in the B race in 27.5. Anousha Salehi’s time of 27.7 saw her finish fourth in 200m A.
The under-15 girls 4x100m relay team were also victorious with a time of 52 seconds exactly as Lucy Laight, Mia Rudman, Ager and Print led R&N home superbly.
Over 300m there was a fourth and a third place, with Rudman (33.9, A) and Alice Grocott (44.9, B) picking up the points, while Charis Hayes (2.30.9) was another to finish fourth, this time over 800m in the A race. Over the same distance in the B run, Olivia White posted a personal best of 2:29.4 to finish second.
Third and second were R&N’s rewards in the 1500m thanks to the efforts of Emer Wintsch (5:00.00, A) and Amy Walker (5:12.3) respectively, and in the 75m hurdles a pair of fifth places were recorded by Rhania Akii-Bau (12.2, A) and Salehi (13.1, B).
In the field, Laight threw 19.69m to finish fourth in the hammer A, and her position was matched in the B standings by Lotty Isles (16.40m). Laight also finished second in the javelin B with 18.49m, with Milan Clues posting a distance of 19.41 for sixth in the A throw. Clues came fourth in the shot put A with 8.98m while Freya Cole was fifth in the B throw with 6.01m.
Print and Ager were R&N’s competitors in the long jump, finishing fifth and fourth in the A and B categories respectively with distances of 4.29m and 3.87m. Lotty Isles (sixth in high jump A, 1.25m), Mollie Moore (sixth in high jump B, 1.25m), Zoe Gibbs (fifth in pole vault A, 2.00m) and Laight (second in pole vault B, 1.7m) were R&N’s other under-15 girls points scorers.
Georgina Woodward starred for the under-13 girls team with a second place and a pair of third place finishes across both track and field events, a haul that also included a personal best. Woodward finished second in the 70m hurdles A race with a time of 12.1, posted a distance of 3.98m to claim third in long jump A and reserved her personal best for the 800m A race with 2:32.8.
A further personal best went to Adele Blenkinsop with a very impressive throw of 7.70m to claim third in the shot put A competition while Abbie Draper was a winner in the 70m hurdles B race in a time of 12.5. Blenkinsop also finished fourth in the high jump A with a leap of 1.20m while points for the under-13 girls team also came from Elizabeth Truslove (fifth in 75m A, 10.7; fourth in 150m A, 20.9), Abbie Draper (fourth in 75m B, 10.9), Fenella Downs (fourth in 150m B, 21.4), Molly Williams (third in 1200m A, 4:04.9), Holly Walker (third in 1200m B, 4:14.7), Amelia Tutt (fourth in shot put B, 5.96m), Iola Grant (fourth in long jump B, 3.46m; joint second in high jump B, 1.20m), and the 4x100m relay team of Downs, Blenkinsop, Draper and Truslove who came fourth in 56 seconds exactly.
R&N picked up several wins in the under-15 boys category. Sam Tutt and William Ballinger were the individual victors, claiming the 80m hurdles B race in a time of 12.3 and winning the javelin B throw with 31.02m respectively, while the club’s 4x300m relay team of Jack Carey, Ewan Roberts, Jay O’Leary and Thomas Jasper crossed the line first in 2:42.1.
O’Leary had a good day as along with his relay success, he won the 300m B race (39.4), finished second in the 80m hurdles A (11.7) and fourth in the 100m A (12.2). Also on the track, Jasper won the 300m A with 37.6, Samuel Tutt won the 80m hurdles B in 12.3 and Adam Searle ran a personal best of 4:24.6 to finish third in the 1500m A.
In the field, James Ball was an impressive R&N debutant as he finished second in the hammer A throw with a personal best of 27.37m, while he was also the runner-up in the discus B competition having posted 23.95m. In the discus A event, Ryan Hodges was second with 28.79m, and he added to that with third in the javelin A (37.88m).
Further points for the under-15 boys came from Tutt (third in 100m B, 12.5; sixth in shot put B, 7.92m), Jasper (third in 200m A, 23.9), Glenn Middleton (second in 200m B, 24.4), Roberts (fifth in 800m A, 2:14.9), Joshua Lay (third in 800m B, 2:14.0), Joe Musgrove (third in 1500m B, 4:33.0), Ballinger (third in hammer B, 16.46m; fifth in shot put B, 7.73m), Matthew Broome (fifth in long jump A, 4.83m), Jack Carey (joint fifth in high jump A, 1.40m; third in pole vault A, 2.10m), Sam Gidley (sixth in high jump B, 1.25m), and the 4x100m relay team of Broome, Joshua Faulds, James and Tutt who came sixth in 53 seconds.
R&N also bagged a winning double in the under-13 boys 1500m with Adam Caulfield and Ben Hope winning the A and B races respectively. Caulfield comfortably took the honours in the A run with a time of 4:44.9 while Hope posted 4:53.1. Making it a hat-trick of victories for the team was Ben Gidley, who won the javelin A throw with a distance of 33.30m. Gidley added to that with fourth in shot put A thanks to a throw of 7.26m.
Another impressive performance came from Bradley Whitehead who finished third in the long jump A with a personal-best 4.45m, and he also finished fifth in 100m A with 13.6, showing versatility from field to track, along with fourth place in high jump B (1.25m).
Their results were added to by Will Dean (third in 100m B, 14.1; fourth in 200m B, 28.6), Sam Whittaker (fourth in 200m A, 28.44), Scott Kruck (sixth in 800m A, 2:35.6), Cian Hutton (second in 800m B, 2:40.4; third in long jump B, 3.67m; sixth in high jump A, 1.25m), Ed Faulds (fourth in 75m hurdles A, 16.2; second in javelin B, 17.08m; third in shot put B, 5.55m), Daniel Carey (third in 75m hurdles B, 15.7), and the 4x100m relay team of Faulds, Whittaker, Dean and Whitehead who came fifth in a time of 56.6.
Despite fielding a weakened team due to injury and absentees, R&N battled to take third spot overall on the day.
A top-two finish in the final round, which is at home on 19th July, should see them progress from the Midland Premier One group into the national finals.
Elsewhere, R&N’s veteran men were team winners at last Tuesday’s East Midlands Grand Prix series road race at Harborough.
The group of Paul Birch (fifth in M40 category, 29.44), Mike Andrews (11th in M40, 30.41), Brendan Moeen (fourth in M45, 29.00), Peter Thomas (third in M50, 32.06), Alan Mould (sixth in M50, 32.55) and Richard Franklin (fifth in M55, 34.33) put in a string of good runs over the 5-mile course to help secure top spot.
R&N’s senior men finished seventh in the standings thanks to the performances of Daniel Mould (19th, 29.57), Dean Shears (54th, 35.43) and Paul Baxter (81st, 42.49).
The club’s female runners also did well, finishing third in the senior women’s while the veterans finished fifth.
Rosanna Andrews finished second in the main race with a time of 31.30, backed up by Kirstan Boynton (13th in F35, 43.27), Penny Andrews (third in F50, 35.40), Valerie Cross (fourth in F60, 51.42) and Angela Copson (first in F65, 34.55).
With six of the eight EMGP series races now complete, R&N’s veteran men sit second in the team standings with the senior men in fourth. The club’s senior women are ninth while the veteran women are 10th.
