Elsie breaks championship record on way to treble gold.

The Hampshire track & field champs were bathed in sunshine at the weekend as WADAC athletes clocked up a series of amazing performances to top the medal table.

Performances of the weekend came from 16 year old Elsie Brindle (coach Mark Upton) who broke the championship record in winning the U17W 300m in a blistering time of 39.10 secs on Saturday which also smashes the club record of Arabella Wilson. Elsie made it double gold by also winning the 100m final a few hours later and the 200m final the following day. It was an all WADAC podium in the U17W 300m final on the Saturday as Lucia Bertachini & Chloe Poore (both coached by Andy Fisher) both ran pb’s in coming 2nd and 3rd with Isobel Jordan (coach Andy Fisher) in 6th.

The first day of competition started well for WADAC with gold in the very first track event as Zac Reynolds (coach Andy Fisher) took 1st place in the U17M 400m hurdles going under 60 secs for the first time despite being one of many competitors arriving late because of the motorway closure that saw track races start 10 mins late and some competitors not making their events at all. The first field event brought a WADAC bronze medal with Jas Gordon (coach Martin McBriar) coming 3rd in the U20W hammer event with training partner Erin McBriar (coach Martin McBriar) in 4th. Next in the field was the U20W high jump which was won by Mia Judd (coach Tony Bateman) with a magnificent leap of 1.73cm just 1cm off her pb with Abi Belward (coach Andy Fisher) in 2nd place. Then came the male pole vault finals with Sam Smith (coach Elias Mtshweni) taking U17M gold going over 3m for the first time and Tom Price (coach Elias Mtshweni) taking silver in the U15B age group with a pb of 2.60m. Next in the field was the U15B long jump where Tom Pate (coach Andy Fisher) came 5th.

Back on the track to the heats of the male 200m where Sam Barton (U13 academy) was 5th in his U13B heat. Toby Barton (coach Martin McBriar) & Hayden Rogers (coach Dave Sherry) both made it safely through to the U15B final and Zac Reynolds doing the same in the U17M event. In the U13G 800m which was run as two time trials Frankie Bertacchini (coach Andy Fisher) took a magnificent silver with a new pb and Dana Bulters (coach James Mann) took bronze. Aoife Uniacke & training partner Bella Webley (both coached by James Mann) were 4th and 7th respectively.

Back to the field whre Verity Callaghan (coach Martin McBriar) took U15G hammer gold ahead of training partner Darcey Thorne-Henderson (coach Martin McBriar) in 4th with Evie Scott (coach Martin McBriar) taking the U17W age group gold ahead of Beth Mballa (coach Heather Sheffield) winning silver and Abi McBriar (coach Martin McBriar) who was 5th. Another WADAC gold came in the U13G javelin where Hallie Eldridge (coach Andy Fisher) won the event ahead of Clarice Thorne Henderson (coach Martin McBriar) taking silver and Lottie Osman (U13 Academy) in 6th.

In the U17M 3000m, Joao De Souza (coach James Mann) took gold. The U13B 800m were also run as time trials and Leo Davies-Pratt (Coach Andy Fisher) was 7th with Oliver Furby (coach James Mann) in 11th. The same was true for the U15B age group were Felix Sclater (coach James Mann) was 8th. In the U13G 100m semi finals Grace Cater (coach Dave Sherry) and Bo Hatchett (coach Andy Fisher) made it through to the final with Gen Riches (U13 academy) just missing out after finishing 4th in her semi-final. Jemima Niven & Holly Poore (both coached by Dave Sherry) made it safely through from the U15G 100m heats into the semi-finals. Carys Jeffries (coach Andy Fisher) made it through to the U20W 100m final the last track race of the day where she finished 6th.

Back in the field Rebekah Smith (coach Dave McManus) finished 2nd in the U17W shot ahead of Beth Mballa in 4th Gracie Osman (coach Andy Fisher) in 5th, Abi McBriar in 6th and Aeryn Hurst (coach Elias Mtshweni) in 10th. Jeffrey Chan (coach Andy Fisher) won U20M long jump gold and Christopher Wood (coach Martin McBriar) won U13B javelin gold going over the 30m mark in doing so. Harry Draper-Barr (coach Martin McBriar) took discus gold one of the clubs few winners in the senior age groups. Esme Buchanan (coach Andy Fisher) won U15G HJ gold with a new pb of 1.61m and Abi Belward won the U20W shot putt title with Erin McBriar taking bronze. Ned Scott (coach Martin McBriar) took U17M javelin silver with Laurence Hutchinson (coach Martin McBriar) back in 5th.

On the track, Grace Weeks (coach Gary Bettridge) took the U20W sprint hurdles title with Abi Belward in 5th and Alice Eyssens (coach Gary Bettridge) in 6th. Rebekah Smith (coach Dave McManus) added the U17W sprint hurdles title with a sub 12 sec run and Gracie Osman won silver. Lexie Divers (coach Andy Fisher) won bronze in the U15G sprint hurdles. The U13G sprint hurdles required semi-finals but the 4 WADAC girls (Mia Gligorivski coached by Andy Fisher) Bo Hatchett, Hallie Eldridge and Gen Riches all made it safely through to the final. Zac Reynolds was 6th in the U17M 200m final and Toby Barton was 8th in the U15B final. Jumima Niven & Holly Poore were 6th & 8th respectively in their U15G 100m semi-final. The Senior mens 5000m race came next and Freddie Slemeck (self coached) displayed a front running masterclass gradually dropping his fellow competitors one by one in burning heat to take a very hard fought gold. The U13G returned for their sprint hurdles final where Bo Hatchett took bronze ahead of training partner Hallie Eldridge in 4th, Gen Riches in 6th and Mia Gligorovski in 8th. Eddie Chambers (coach James Mann) took the U20M 800m silver. Grace Cater and Bo Hatchett were 7th & 8th respectively in the U13G 100m final.

The final events in the field were the U13B discus which saw Christopher Wood collect silver and Sam Barton come 4th. In the U15B age group Sam’s brother Toby Barton took bronze with Reuben Noott (coach Martin McBriar) finishing 4th. An all WADAC podium was the order of the day in the U13G shot putt as Clarice Thorne Henderson (coach Martin McBriar) took gold with Hallie Eldridge taking silver and Mia Gligorovski taking bronze with all 3 girls putting over 8m that was a nice way to finish a magnificent day for the balack & gold of WADAC.

Sunday started just as Saturday had ended with an all WADAC podium as Reuben Noott took U15B hammer gold with a new pb followed by Toby Barton in silver and Pan Karletsos (coach Martin McBriar) in bronze. Charlie Elford Pond (coach Eric Davison) took U20M hammer gold with Harry Jones (coach Martin McBriar) taking bronze. Leslie Parkes (coach Eric Davison) took the hammer silver in the senior mens discus. Gus Bowden took the U20M high jump silver adding 1cm to his pb. Lexie Trott (coach Tom Farres) won the U17W pole vault gold with a new pb and club record of 3.10cm with Aeryn Hurst taking bronze. Amy Wall (coach Andy Fisher) took the U20W long jump gold with a new pb of 5.61m, training partner Carys Jeffries took silver also with a new pb of 5.42m. Abi Belward was 4th. Elodie Trott (coach Elias Mtshweni) was 6th in the U15G LJ.

The track also started on Sunday as it did on Saturday with WADAC long hurldes gold. First Lucy Smith (coach Gary Bettridge) won U20W 400mH gold and then Lucia Bertacchini just missed out on the championship record as she ran a new pb in taking gold in the U17W 300mH in a time of 44.42 secs. Hallie Eldridge made it through to the U13G 200m final but Bella Webley just missed out coming 7th in her semi-final. Elodie Trott made it through to the U15G 200m final but Holly Poore just missed out finishing 6th in her semi-final. The U17W 200m semi-finals were rather dominated by black & gold with 5 of the first 6 qualifiers from WADAC these being Elsie Brindle, Chloe Poore, Rebekah Smith, Izzy Jordan & Gracie Osman respectively. the U15B 300m was a straight final with Rhys Wye (coach Mark Upton) taking silver and Mikel Harfield (coach Dave Sherry) taking bronze. Zac Reynolds & Oliver Wye (coach Mark Upton) made it safely through to the U17M 400m final but Monty Brindle (coach Mark Upton) just missed out finishing 7th in his semi-final.

Back to the field where Erin McBriar won gold in the U20W discus. Charlie Elford Pond took U20M shot putt gold with Harry Jones in 5th. Darcey Thorne-Henderson won bronze in the U15G javelin. Gracie Osman won the U17W long jump gold with training partner Izzy Jordan winning bronze. Hattie Nott (coach David Saunders) was 7th. Tom Pate (coach Andy Fisher) was joint 6th in the U15B high jump. Tom Pate was 5th in the U15B javelin. Isabella Parr (coach Martin McBriar) was 2nd in the U13G discus with training partner Clarice Thorne-Henderson taking bronze. In the U15G discus sister Darcey Thorne-Henderson took gold with Verity Callaghan in 4th. Christopher Wood won bronze in the U13B shot putt ahead of Harry Moreton in 4th and Samuel Barton in 7th.

As with the U13’s the day before the U15G 800m was run as a time trial and Elodie Gill (coach James Mann) was best placed WADAC young athlete in 6th. Amber Price (coach James Mann) was 11th and Gwyneth Hunter (coach James Mann) was 15th. Francesca Joslin (coach James Mann) made it through to the U17W 800m final. The U15B 1500m was run as two time trials and Luke Furby (coach James Mann) was best placed in 11th, Iosu Harfield (coach James Mann) was 16th and George Oldroyd (coach James Mann) 17th. Declan Dew qualified as fastest in the U13B 100m semi-finals with Harry Moreton (coch Dave Sherry) just missing the final finishing 4th in his semi-final and Samuel Barton was 6th in his semi-final. Hayden Rogers made it safely through to he U15B 100m final. In the womens 3000m final Eve Bailey (coach James Mann) won the U20W race and Jess Gill (coach David Vosser) won the senior womens race. The U13B 75m hurdles final made it yet another all WADAC podium as Declan Dew won with Leo Davies-Pratt in 2nd and Jack Sansome taking bronze. Jack then literally sprinted to the 1500m start and finished the U13B 1500m in 5th with Thomas McLeish (coach James Mann) in 10th. Millie Honan (coach James Mann) was 4th in the U13G 1500m with Bella Webley in 6th, Naomi Hurford-Potter (coach James Mann) in 8th.

After a breather and a top up in sun cream, next in the field was the U13G long jump where Hallie Eldridge took silver. Emilia Santos (coach David Saunders) was 8th, Frankie Bertacchini was 10th, Gen Riches was 13th and Lottie Osman was 15th. Leo Davies Pratt collected gold on countback in the U13B high jump with Harry Moreton in 4th and Jack Sansome in 6th. Sam Jarrett (coach Ernie Chambers) took U20M triple jump silver. Another all WADAC podium took place in the U17W javelin with Abi McBriar taking gold ahead of Rebekah Smith with silver and Gracie Osman with bronze. Abi Belward took silver in the U20W javelin. In the U17W discus, Beth Mballa smashed her pb to go over the 40m mark to take gold ahead of Abi McBriar winning silver. In the U15B shot putt Toby Barton was 4th ahead of Sam Evans (coach Andy Fisher) in 6th.

The final events now were on the track were the U13G 200m where Hallie Eldridge was 4th. the u15G 200m where Elodie Trott was also 4th. The U17W 200m was an amazing race with Elsie Brindle winning her 3rd gold of the championships ahead of Chloe Poore and Gracie Osman in silver and bronze all 3 girls ruinning pb’s. Rebekah Smith completed a WADAC 1-2-3-4 with Izzy Jordan in 7th. Adam Perry (coach James Mann) bravely ran the U17M 1500m steeplechase on his own for gold. Zac Reynolds had a battle o his hands in the home straight but came out on top in a new pb for U17M 400m gold with Oliver Wye also running a pb in 4th. In the U15B 80m hurdles final Sam Evans won silver. In the U20M 1500m, Thomas Evans produced a fine sprint finish to take gold. Declan Dew also took gold in the U13B 100m final. Hayden Rogers was 3rd in the U15B equivilent in a blanket finish. Rohan Gray (coach Mark Upton) took bronze in the U20m 100m with Jeffrey Chan finishing 5th. Francesca Joslin was 5th in the U17W 800m final and in the very last race of the day Sian Lewis (coach David Vosser) was 5th in the Senior womens 800m final.

Hampshire was not the only County Champs wehere WADAC athletes were in action and boy did the girls put on a show in Surrey where on Saturday Jess Howells (coach Andy Fisher) smashed her long jump pb to take the U17W gold with 5.53m and then threw the 500g javelin a mighty 47.26m to break her own club record and go 14th on the UK all time age group list and win her second gold of the day. Yesterday Arabella Wilson went to top of the UK U20W 400mH rankings by running 60.67 secs to come 2nd in the senior womens 400mH race and then in her 3rd 400m race of the day won gold in the U20W flat 400m with a time of 55.62 to smash her pb.

I would like to take the time to thank the officials who volunteered their time under a burning hot sun for two days and the organisers who updated the results on Roster immediately after the events took place. the championships couldn’t take plac without you nd we are very grateful.