Essex T&F Champs: Young Athletes

Day 2 of the Essex Track & Field Championships was held at Chelmsford this Saturday on a pleasant sunny day, which was a far cry from the wind, rain and coldness of Friday, writes Paul Cheal.

I had 2 athletes competing at this event: Ryan Beatty u/15 boys Hammer & James Bongart u/20 men's Javelin. Ryan in his first major competition did well, especially as he was competing as 1st year u/15's and against boys that were vastly more experienced then him. He wasn't daunted and threw he first throw: 26m 56cm - just about 1m short of his PB. He experimented in a few other throws, which you normally don't do in a competition, and unfortunately he didn't improve his distance. With some more technical work and more training he will improve for next year.

James Bongart, coming back from 2 weeks out due to A-Level exams and revision, took to the Javelin competition well, his 1st throw was 48m 76, which was a PB with a 800g, which held him in 1st place. This stayed the same until the 5th throw when he produced a marvellous throw of 51m 18cm - a new PB and which clinched the gold medal. This now ranks him in the top 15 in the country for U/20's.