Golden day for club at multi-event & quadkids county champs
The club had a golden day in the county multi-event and quadkids champs on Sunday in Portsmouth.
nMoved from their normal May Day bank holiday date, the champs had strong representation from the club and also featured the walks, the mile and the pole vault events from the individual county champs.
nStarting with the walks, Natasha Mitchell (coach Clare Mitchell) won the U17 women's title held at the 3000m distance and broke her own age group club record at the same time. Sister Rebecca Mitchell (coach Clare Mitchell) won the U20 women's title at the same distance. Derek Smith (coach Clare Mitchell) won silver in the senior men's event, again at the same distance, and in doing so added the V65 club record to the masters' track & field record list.
nIn the pole vault Sello Mtshweni (coach Elias Mtshweni) took the U17 men's title jumping just 10cm shy of his pb.
nIn the quad kids events, Lexie Divers took gold in the U11 girls' age group winning by just a point in a thrilling competition. Ava Cassia was 5th, Alisia Spurrier 6th, Camilla Hart 8th, Amber Price 9th and Amalie Calliste 10th. In the U11 boys' age group the club took 5 of the first 6 places with Rory Reid Thomas taking gold followed by Tom Pate in silver. Felix Sclater was 4th, AJ Anakwenze was 5th and Greg Blackburn 6th. For the U10 girls' the club picked up another two medals with Francesca Bertacchini winning gold and Bo Hatchett taking bronze. Finally, in the U10 boys' age group Leo Davies-Pratt was 4th, just missing a medal on countback, Christopher Wood was 6th and Hamish Macleod equal 9th. All of these young athletes have been coached in the U11 academy.
nIn the multi-event champs, Lucia Bertacchini (coach Andy Fisher) took gold in the U13 girls' age group, going to the top of the UK rankings in the process. Lily Flute (U13 academy) finished in 4th place but will be back in this age group next year. A fantastic battle took place between training partners Ethan Skipwith & Zac Reynolds (both coached by Andy Fisher) in the U13 boys' age group with Ethan just pipping Zac for the gold medal with Zak winning silver. The boys with their performances go to 1st & 2nd in the UK rankings. Sam Evans (U13 academy) was 4th but again will be back in this age group next year.