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Essex Schools Championships: Success a Plenty at Essex Schools

On a warm and very sunny day, Thurrock Athletic Club hosted the Essex Schools Athletic Championships on Saturday, 10th June, as Chelmsford Athletic track was still unavailable.

The WGEL Juniors produced some very impressive results, which resulted in 11 of them being selected for the English Schools event at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham over the 30th of June to 01st July.

In the Junior Boys section  Kofi Amoateng ran the 100m, he was 3rd in heat 3 with: 12.10sec and he qualified for the final where he finished 5th in a time of: 12.25sec. Callum Clydesdale ran the 200m and was 4th in heat 1: 24.15sec and he also qualified for the final where he finished 4th in: 23.81sec. In the 300m Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland coming back from injury was 3rd in heat 1: 38.27sec but not wanting to risk any further injury he decided not to take part in the final. The longer middle distances see Harry Stockill come 3rd in heat 1: 2m 12.51sec and came home in 3rd place in the final in a time of: 2m 12.06sec, this was despite him not feeling 100%. His team mate in running Luka Norden ran the 1500m and in a straight final was 2nd in a time of: 4m 18.84sec. On to the field events for JB's and Sammy Geist was 9th in the Triple Jump with: 10m 65cm, Jaheim Roman was 8th in Shot Putt: 10m 03cm and William Stander came 14th in Javelin: 30m 95cm.

The Intermediate Boys see Marcel Winter finish 2nd in heat 1: 11.24sec and then 3rd in the final with: 11.11sec. Lucas Emeagi was impressive in heat 1 of the 400m's and finished 1st in: 51.18sec and then repeated that in the final with a first place time of: 50.37sec. Nate Harding and Aidan O'Driscoll did the 1500m in the searing heat and suffered for this. Nate Harding finished 9th in: 4m 42.76, but unfortunately Aidan didn't finish due to not feeling well. In the field Joseph Arnold was 7th in the Hammer with: 24m 30cm and Alex Hancock was 7th as well in the Javelin: 36m 32cm.

Nevaeh Johnson kicked of the Junior Girls with the 100m and was 1st in heat 2 with: 12.70sec and again matched that in the final with a 1st place time of: 12.64sec, while Savannah Gayle ran in heat 3 and was 4th in a time of: 13.94sec. Zoe Hedges ran the 200m and although having not trained properly over the last week or so leading up to the event still participated and was 4th in heat 3 with: 27.99sec. Evie Mae-Mosanya was 1st in heat 2 of the 300m: 42.78sec and again finished 2nd in the final with: 43.14sec. In the middle distance races Natasha Wynn was impressive again with 1st in heat 1 of the 800m: 2m 20.91sec and 1st again in the final with an easing victory time of: 2m 16.25sec. Faye Owers also did the 800m and was 6th in heat 2 with: 2m 37.37sec. Unfortunately in an incident packed 1500m Bethan Davies was somewhat hampered by another athlete which resulted in what was a very strong position finishing in 4th place in the straight final with: 4m 59.34sec and Tess Noblet literally just behind her in 5th place time of: 4m 59.44sec. A very competitive Junior Girls Long Jump had two of the top 10 girls in the country which after the event has now resulted in two of the top 5 girls in the country go head to head. Caitlin Hancock and Remi Salako positions were not decided until their final jumps, this resulted in Remi finishing 1st with: 5m 38cm and Caitlin 2nd with: 5m 29cm. Amber Higgs-Smith continues to grow in the event of Pole Vault even though still in very early stages of her pole vaulting life. Amber was 3rd with a clearance of: 1m 90cm.

In the Intermediate Girls Benie Massambo was 1st in heat 2 of the 100m with: 12.68sec and repeated this again in the final with: 12.44sec. Summer Maw ran the 800m with 4th in heat 1: 2m 37.92 and qualified for the final where she came 6th: 2m 39.59sec. In the 1500m  its was a straight final and Abigail Reid finished 2nd with a time of: 4m 47.64sec, Molly Sherrin was 11th: 5m 26.45sec and Matilda Frith was 14th: 5m 49.18sec. In the 80m Hurdles, Rebecca Wright was 1st in another straight final with: 11.59sec and Maia Fisher 2nd: 12.11sec. The only other track event for the athletes of Woodford was the 300m Hurdles where Isabelle Kyson was in dominant form coming home in 1st place with: 44.86sec.

After the event, it was down to the Essex team managers to select their team for English Schools, and it was pleasing to find that of the 70 athletes selected by Essex 11 of them were from WGEL AC as follows:

  • JG - Caitlin Hancock - Long Jump
  • JG - Remi Salako - Long Jump
  • JG - Natasha Wynn - 800 Metres
  • IG - Isabelle Kyson - 300m Hurdles
  • IG - Rebecca Wright - 80m Hurdles
  • IG - Abigail Reid - 1500 Metres
  • SG - Kharina Partridge - Triple Jump
  • JB - Alex Foster - 200 Metres
  • JB - Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland - 200 Metres
  • IB - Lucas Emeagi - 400 Metres
  • IB - Marcel Winter - 100 Metres

A Massive GOOD LUCK to them all, and I hope they make the club and, most importantly themselves PROUD.