South of England Indoor Championships, part two; Other Indoor news
The second part of the South of England Indoor Championships held at Lee Valley over the weekend was highlighted, from a WGwEL perspective, by a superb return to competition and form over 60m from Jeanette Kwakye, further titles over 200m for last weekend’s 400m champions, Nick Leavey and Paul Scanlan, with a long jump silver for Ezekiel Ewulo, triple jump silver for Hannah Frankson, and a junior shot bronze for Youcef Zatat leading several other useful Woodford performances. There was also news of a gold over 800m from Emily Moss at the North of England Championships.
On Saturday, Nick Leavey and Paul Scanlan who the previous weekend had both won titles over 400m, added further titles over 200m. Nick took the senior event with a time of 21.67 secs, whilst Paul won the junior title with 22.13 secs. Ezekiel Ewulo , gained a silver in the long jump with 7.19m, whilst just missing out on a medal was Dan Davis over 60mH, placing 4th in 7.98 secs, leaving him a little disappointed after his heat clocking of 7.86secs.
It was also very pleasing to see another Beijing Olympic finalist, over 100mH, Sarah Claxton back in action. Sarah raced over 60m flat, winning her heat in 7.72 secs, and qualifying for the final by placing 2nd in her semi-final with 7.68 secs. Returning from injury she decided not to contest the final. Just missing out on a spot in that final was Azaria Francis with a third placed semi-final time of 7.67 secs. Kitty Eleyae also made the semi-final, recording 7.90 secs for 4th, have recorded 7.87 secs in her heat, and earlier jumping 5.34m in the long jump, placing her 5th. In the men’s 60m Eugene Ayanful progressed to the semi-finals after recording 7.01secs in the heats and 6.98 secs in the 2nd round, but was disqualified for a false start. Dan Davis just missed out on a semi-final place with 6.99 secs in his 2nd round. In the heats, Jason Greenidge recorded 7.20 secs. In the junior men’s 60m, Sam Watts narrowly missed a medal, 4th with 7.02 secs having equaled his personal best of 7.01 secs to qualify from his semi-final. David Olupitan and Savion Williams, both made the semi-finals, where they recorded 7.13 secs for 4th and 7.26 secs for 6th respectively. Both had been slightly quicker in their heats with 7.11 secs and 7.23 secs.
In the men’s shot, Chris Linque was another to just miss a medal, 4th with 13.05 secs, but in the junior event Youcef Zatat, primarily a discus specialist, picked up a further Woodford medal, a bronze, with 12.44m. In the women's triple jump, another athlete returning to competition having missed the 2010 season was Hannah Frankson, who was in good form, picking up a silver medal with 12.57m. In the men’s triple jump, Sayo Ojo was 5th with 13.76m, whilst in the women’s 1500m Diana Kennedy, 24 hours after a gruelling cross-country effort at Alexandra Palace, placed 5th over 1500m with 5m16.95 secs, and in the men’s 1500m heats Andrew Mariani recorded 4m06.93 secs.
Competeing at Sheffield in the North of England Championships, Emily Moss was a comfortable winner over 800m, taking victory by over six seconds in a good time of 2m10.22 secs, whilst at Manchester, Christian North cleared 4.82m foir 3rd in the "Vault Manchester", with Maria Seager, coached by Christian, 5th in a high class women's competition with 3.92m