Athletic club five qualify for the Mini London Marathon
Five Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club members will be hitting the streets of the capital for this year’s Mini London Marathon after securing their place at Sunday’s trials day at Loughborough.
Taking place on the same day as the main event, the Mini London Marathon will see entrants aged between 11 and 17 start at London’s Old Billingsgate where they will run the final three miles of the iconic course and cross the finish line at The Mall – hopefully well ahead of the sea of full-distance runners.
Amy Walker will be competing in the under 13 girls race having completed Sunday’s trial in 18.11 on her way to fourth place, while in the same age group for the boys, Aden Caulfield and Adam Searle will be representing R&N after finishing fourth and fifth respectively – Aden crossing the line in 16.56 with Adam five seconds further back, and only ten seconds behind the overall winner in a tight race.
Poppy Carmichael (10th, 18.42) and Charis Hayes (15th, 19.05) were also in under 13 girls action, but unfortunately missed out on qualification.
Emer Winsch finished second in the under 15 girls trial, clocking a time of 17.19, 33 seconds away from her only superior finisher. Oskar Potomski’s time of 17.03 saw him finish 17th in the boys event but outside of qualification.
Completing the group heading to London is Kirsty Goddard, who takes her place in the Mini Marathon on the back of a sixth-placed finish in the under 17 girls, completing the course in a time of 17.59. Emma Bond (10th, 19.33) and Hizam Sheekh (boys, 14th, 16.46) finished in the pack.
Elsewhere, R&N were represented by a small team of athletes at the England Athletics U15/17/20 Indoor Championship at Sheffield Indoor Arena.
Rico Ewer equalled his personal best time of 7.09 to finish seventh in the under 17 men’s 60m final, having won his heat and finished second in the semi-final. Ewer was also a finalist in the 200m race, finishing fifth after an unfavourable draw in lane two, having been second in his heat and semi-final.
Luke Townsend finished sixth in the under 20 men’s 60m hurdles race, which was hit by two false starts, resulting in two runners being disqualified. Townsend also reached the semi-final of the 60m, where he set a new personal best of 7.11.
Tia Clues put a difficult and injury-hit 2013 behind her to finish eighth in the under 17 women’s long jump, posting a very promising personal best distance of 5m 7cm, while in the same age group Kiona McLennon and Brittany Wood also produced excellent displays.
McLennon finished ninth in a strong shot put field, registering a distance of 10m 42cm, while Wood – competing in her first year as an under 17 racer – equalled her personal best of 9.51 in the heats for the 60m hurdles.
Samuel Tutt, in his first year in the under 15 men’s, completed the team as he put in promising performances in the 60m and 60m hurdles races.
