Tom takes gold
The clubs young athletes were in their usual record breaking form as they brought home 9 medals from the South of England indoor age group (U13/U15/U17) champs held at Lee Valley at the weekend.The champs started on Saturday with the 60m & 60m hurdles races. The hurdles came first and Lucia Bertacchini (coach Andy Fisher) came 5th in the U15W age group final. In the U17W age group, Jessica Howells (coach Andy Fisher) ran a pb to come 4th in her heat. Rebekah Smith (coach Andy Fisher) came through heat and semi-final to make it to the final where she finished 7th.In the flat 60m races, Lily Flute (coach Andy Fisher) went 2nd on the clubs all time U15W indoor lists with a time of 8.21 secs in her heat which saw her qualify for the semi-final where she finished 6th. Gracie Osman (coach Andy Fisher) broke the clubs U15W indoor club record with a time of 8.13 secs which was good enough to make the final (by a mere .001 of a second) where she finished 8th. In the U17W age group Jess Howells ran 8.43 to be 4th in her heat but Carys Jeffries (coach Andy Fisher) ran a new pb of 8.05 secs to qualify for the semis where she finished 5th. Tabitha Williamson (coach Andy Fisher) went under the 8 sec barrier for the first time to record a time of 7.95 secs, good enough for a place on the U18 world indoor lists, 3rd on the clubs all time lists and 6th in the final. Arabella Wilson (coach Andy Fisher) ran a new pb of 7.88 secs which saw her come 5th in the final.Sunday was much the busier day with all the field events and track races 200m+. The club didn't have to wait too long for it's first medal of the champs as Tom Pate (coach Andy Fisher) won bronze in the U13B long jump going 2nd on the clubs all time indoor age group lists and followed this up with a magnificent gold medal in the high jump later in the day. In the 200m, Rhys Wye (coach Dave Sherry) came 4th in his U15B heat in a new pb and Elsie Brindle (coach Dave Sherry) qualified for the U17W semi-finals with a new indoor pb. Elsie came 5th in her semi. The next medal came in the U17W long jump where Arabella took bronze and Rebekah, Carys & Jessica were 7th, 8th & 9th respectively. Medal number 4 came in the U15W long jump where Gracie took bronze. Lucia was just behind in 5th and Izzy Jordan (coach Andy Fisher) was 12th not helped by a clash with the 300m heats. Anais Andrews (coach Andy Fisher) and Lily just missed out on the U15W long jump final.Medal number 5 came in the U15W high jump where Gracie took her 2nd bronze medal of the champs and in the U17W high jump, Mia Judd (coach Tony Bateman) jumped a new indoor pb of 1.60m to go 2nd on the clubs all time age group indoor lists to finish 7th in a top class competition. In the U17 400m races, Oliver Wye (coach Mark Upton) came 3rd in his heat in a new pb to go 3rd on the clubs all time age group indoor lists. In the womens heats, Arabella picked up an injury in qualifying for the final and therefore didn't take her place in that final. Abi Belward (coach Andy Fisher) went 2nd on the clubs all time indoor lists but her time in finishing 2nd in her heat, just missed out on the final. In the womens shot putt, Bethany Mballa (coach Heather Sheffield) broke the clubs age group indoor record with a putt of 10.16m in finishing 6th in the final. Abi McBriar (coach Martin McBriar) went 3rd on the all time age group indoor lists with a new pb putt of 8.93m to finish 9th. Anais was 11th and Darcey Thorne-Henderson (coach Martin McBriar) 13th in her first competition in her new age group. Francesca Bertacchini (U13 academy) & Holly Poore (U13 academy) were 4th and 6th respectively in the U13G shot putt. Francesca then ran a storming 800m to finish 4th in the U13G final smashing her own indoor age group club record in the process. In the U17W shot putt final Arabella went out to a new indoor age group club record to finish 5th and Abi Belward also bettered her indoor pb to inprove her distance as 3rd on the clubs all time indoor age group list to 10.95m. Erin McBriar (coach Martin McBriar) smashed her pb (both indoor and out) to come 8th and Rebekah also recorded a new pb for 9th.Medal number 6 came in the U13G high jump where Lexie Divers finished 2nd with a jump of 1.35m which also placed her 2nd on the clubs indoor age group all time lists. Earlier in the day Lexie had come 4th in the long jump with a new pb and Francesca was 11th. The club then saw a fantastic end to the day as medals 7,8 & 9 all came in the U15 300m races. For the girls, Izzy had just missed out on the final coming 4th in her heat. Lucia, Lily & Chloe Poore (coach Andy Fisher) all however qualified for the final meaning that incredibly WADAC had 50% of the field in the 6 girl final. The girls didn't disappoint as Lucia claimed silver & Lily bronze. Chloe was 5th but can be consoled with a new pb which saw her go 3rd on the clubs all time indoor age group lists. Then came the boys race where Zac Reynolds (coach Andy Fisher) who had earlier finished 10th in the long jump going 3rd on the clubs all time age group lists finished in a magnificaent 3rd place with a storming home straight finish and in doing so became the first WADAC U15B to go under 40 secs for the distance indoors thus setting a new club age group indoor record.In summary, the club finished the champs with a gold, a silver and 7 bronze medals and a huge bunch of pb's which sets everyone up nicely for the national age group indoor champs in Sheffield in February.