The club’s U15 & U17 young athletes on fire in Bedford

No fewer than 17 of the club’s U15 & U17 young athletes took part in the National age group champs in Bedford this weekend. With amazing breadth across run, jump, hurdle and throw the club recoded an astonishing 15 top 10 finishes, 9 top 5 finishes and 4 medals with 3 silvers and a bronze.
nQualifying standards were tough, especially in the field and the club was right up there in terms of total competitors with the very best clubs in the country. Irish competitors were competing as guests and not included in finishing positions but with Welsh and Scottish athletes open to take part the champs are effectively the British championships and the standard therefore even higher than English schools. The event was well organised by England Athletics and streamed live on Youtube and results quickly updated on the Roster App. The report below shows all WADAC performances in the order they happened and all athletes, coaches and their support teams should be very proud of the clubs best ever results on the National stage.
nThe weekend started at 10am on the Saturday with Abi Belward (coach Andy Fisher) in heat 2 of the U17W 300m hurdles. Abi came 5th in her heat to finish just outside the qualifiers for the final with the 9th fastest time which in heats is the worst place to finish and this was to happen to two of her training partners later in the meeting. Next up was Erin McBriar (coach Martin McBriar) who had a fine competition to come 5th in the U17W discus with a throw of 32.69m not far off her pb. Also in the field were Amy Wall and Arabella Wilson (both coached by Andy Fisher) in the U17W long jump. Amy didn't have her best competition to finish 9th but Bella jumped a pb and a new club record of 5.60m to take 3rd place and put the club on the medals table.
nTabitha Williamson (coach Andy Fisher) competed next finishing 7th in her U17W 100m heat in a new pb of 12.67 secs to go 3rd on the clubs all time age group lists and Tabitha finished 21st overall. Lucia Bertacchini (coach Andy Fisher) then ran in the U15G 300m heats finishing 5th in her heat in a time of 42.06 secs just outside her pb and good enough for 13th overall. Arabella Wilson won her U17W 300m heat to finish a busy day and qualify for Sunday's final. Alex Beck (coach Mark Upton) and Ollie Withers (coach Andy Fisher) then ran in the U17M heats of the 400m with Alex making it safely to Sunday's final after coming 2nd in his heat but Ollie just missing out finishing 3rd in his heat and 9th overall.
nMia Judd (coach Tony Bateman) competed next in the U17W high jump and has made fine progress this season. Mia finished 4th with a jump of 1.65m just 3cm short of her pb. Poppy Taylor (coach Nick Anderson) was up next making it safely through to the U15G 1500m final finishing 2nd in her heat. The final event of the day featuring the club’s athletes was the U17M 1500m which was a straight final. Harry Wilson (coach Nick Anderson) ran a mature race to finish 2nd and take the clubs 2nd medal of the day with Will Atkins (coach Nick Anderson) coming home 6th for a fine debut in the national champs.
nAfter the excitement of 12 WADAC athletes taking part on the Saturday, just 8 were in action on the Sunday with Alex, Poppy & Bella returning for their finals. First to compete was Gracie Osman (coach Andy Fisher) who took a fine 5th place in the U15G LJ with a leap of 5.29m just outside her pb and remarkably Gracie will be back in this age group again next year. Next to compete was Charlie Elford Pond (coach Eric Davison) who threw a new pb and age group club record of 62.46m to take 2nd place and the silver medal behind GB youth international Kai Barham.
nThe sprint hurdlers were next with U17W Grace Weeks (coach Gary Bettridge) coming 5th in her heat and finishing 20th overall. U15G Rebekah Smith (coach Andy Fisher) also missed out on qualification for the final with that agonising 9th fastest time but did have the consolation of a new pb of 11.73 secs and going 3rd on the clubs all time age group lists. Alex Beck then took his place on the start line of the U17M 400m and after a fast start finished an unlucky 4th in the final after just being run out of a medal place. Poppy Taylor then took part in the U15G 1500m final where she was 7th and will be back again in this age group next year. Next up was the U17W 300m final where Arabella Wilson was 2nd after a fast start to take the clubs 3rd silver medal of the champs running a pb and her 2nd individual medal. Last but not least to compete was Abi McBriar (coach Martin McBriar) who had a fine competition finishing 5th in the U15G discus final with a new pb of 29.84m just 7cm behind her sister on the club’s all time age group lists.
nThis rounded off a magnificent championships for the club with many of the U17 athletes heading up to Loughborough for next weekend's multi-sport school games and another fantastic weekend of track & field.