TRACK & FIELD REPORTS 2004
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Athletes young and old were making the most of the warm weather on Sunday 16/05/04 in producing their best times and distances at the East Wales Track & Field Championships at Spytty Stadium, Newport.
The senior men were in short supply on the day, but Justin Bryan was the outstanding athlete of the day taking 3 gold medals in Discus (38.66m), Hammer (36.42m) and Shot (13.29), while Ian Hunt did well in finishing 4th in a strong 200m field.
The U20 men certainly produced the medals; Simon Thompson retained both the 100m and 200m titles, while Mark Hicks took the bronze in the 200m. Simon Barnard, showing good early season form, ran well in taking the 800m title. Thomas Waters led the way in the field events taking both the Long Jump and Triple Jump titles.
The U17 men produced 5 athletes that reached the 100m final, where Tommy James took the title (11.7s), which was also followed up by taking the 200m title (24.2s), Luke Williams took the Bronze in the 100m & Silver in the 200m, while excellent runs came from Ashley Green, Daniel James and Emilio Marino in the 100m and Ashley Green and David James in the 200m final.
Ashley Green followed up his good runs in the 100m and 200m by taking the 400m title (56.8s), whilst in the 800m Ieuan Thomas took the title (2:01) and then followed this up by taking the 1,500m title (4:20). Gavin Hanrahan was one of the busiest athletes of the day taking silver in the 1,500m, while taking the gold in both the 1,500m steeplechase (5:24)and 3,000m (9:23), Anthony Jones took bronze in the 800m, and silver in the 3,000, while Nick Cornock took bronze in both 1,500m and 3,000m.
Emilio Marino did well in taking the silver in the long jump and Michael Jones went one better in taking gold in the U17 men’s Shot title (12.64m), and followed that up by taking the Discuss title (34.95m). Special mention to Ben Gwyer who came so close to a medal in both Discuss and Shot events. Alex Tapper although equaling the second placed athlete in the javelin had to settle for Bronze on count back.
In the U15 boys Cwmbran had 4 athletes in the final, Tom Bradbury took the 100m title (11.9s) and then the 200m title (24.06s) both championship best times. These performances suggest a good season in store for this up and coming athlete. Michael Adams took the bronze in the 100m, while Nathan Felvus, and Matthew Dawkins both made 100m and 200m finals without being able to grab a medal. Matthew did make up for this by getting Bronze in the 400m.
Grant Evans ran well in the 800m final, while Matthew Dawkins, Michael Adams and Grant Evans again, had creditable performances in field events throughout the day.
In the U13 boys 100m David Sandalls (14.0s) took the Gold and later the 200m title (28.6s) and Luke Gardner the Silver, while Lewis Hinwood made the Final without gaining a medal. Steven Dawkins ran well but was not able to reach the Final of either the 100m or 200m or win a medal in the Long Jump. Thomas Williams took the Silver in the 200m, while Luke Gardner and Lewis Hinwood made the 200m final.
In the U20 Women’s events, Kelly Birkin (25.6s) and Victoria Staples took Gold and Silver in the 200m, while Danielle Price (59.8s) took Gold in the 400m and Ceri Hanrahan took bronze in the same event. Ceri then followed that up by taking Silver in the 800m.
At Under 17 level Bryony Turnbull took bronze in the 100m, while Sarah Harber and Bryony Turnbull just missed out on the medals in the 200m. Sarah did make up for this later by taking the Bronze in the 300m while Tanith Booth just missed out on the medals in the same race. Jessica Dickson following up on a strong winter programme again ran well in taking the silver in the 800m.
Bethan tempest had a fine day, taking Gold in the Triple Jump (10.70m) and then took silver in the Long Jump, while Tanith Booth finally got her just rewards by getting bronze in the Long Jump.
In the Under 15 girls Cwmbran had a 1,2,and 3 in the 100m, gold being taken by Teri Evans (13.5s), silver to Alyshea Ternby and bronze to Rhiannon Yeates. Teri Evans then took the Gold in the 200m (27.8s), Alyshea Ternby again taking silver in the same event.
Laura James ran well in taking the 75m Hurdles title (13.4s), and the field performances of the day fell to Cerian Williams. She won the Shot and Discus titles both of which were Championship best performances 9m 37cm in the Shot and 22.20m in the Discus. There was also an excellent performance by Laura K. James in the Long Jump where she took the silver medal.
At U13 level Cwmbran have an obvious strength in depth at both 100m and 200m where athletes took the first 4 places at each final. Jessica Hinwood took both the 100m (14.0s) and 200m titles (28.8s), Lidia Marino took silver in the 100m, and Victoria James took bronze at both 100m and 200m. Natasha Cockram took silver at 200m. Special mention to Charlotte Smith who just missed out in both events finishing 4th in the 100m and 200m.
In the 800m Natasha Cockram added to her medal haul by taking silver, whilst fellow team mate Laura B. James took bronze.
While in the field events, Lidia Marino led the way taking the High Jump title (1.1m) and Long Jump titles (3.67m).
Overall Cwmbran won 33 Golds, 18 Silver, and 16 Bronze medals. Let’s hope this can be repeated in the Welsh Championships in North Wales in June!!!!
The South East Wales Junior Athletic League produced some very creditable performances last week at Hereford. It was especially pleasing to see the younger athletes in the team performing for the first time and some of these produced outstanding results.
At Under 11, Eaun Box and Lee Emery led the way in 75m and 150m races. Euan took 1st in the 75m and 2nd in the “A” race, while Lee took 2nd in the 150m “A” race and 2nd in 75m “B” race. Eaun followed this up with a 2nd in the long jump. James Hanrahan also performed well in taking 2nd place in the 800m.
At U13 level there are some outstanding youngsters of the future, David Sandalls took both the 100m and 200m, while team mate Luke Gardner had to be the B runner for the day, and also took 1st in both the 100m and 200m. Matthew Turner and Stephen Dawkins showed their versatility by both winning their respective 800m races and then finished 5th (Matthew) and 4th (Stephen) in the long jump. Luke Gardner led the way in the A team shot with an impressive 6.53m taking first place while Thomas Williams took first in the B event with 5.98m and 3rd in the Javelin. Highlights of the girls U13’s was a fine win for Natasha Cockram in the 800m (2:51), followed by a 3rd in the 200m, and 1st for Vicky James in the B long Jump 3.58m, followed by a 4th place in the 100m. The Marino family were busy with Lidia finishing 2nd in the 100m (15:05), 2nd in the shot (6:05m) and 4th in the Javelin. Bianca Marino was 2nd in the 200m and 3rd in the shot, quite a busy day for the girls! Congratulations also go to Rachel Bevan for her 3rd place in the long jump.
In the U15 category there were fewer competing athletes this week, but there were some fine performances. Once again Tom Bradbury blew the competition away winning the 100m easily. While David Norton had a fine 1st in the 200m. Versatile athlete Grant Evans did well in finishing 2nd in the 400m, 3rd in the 1,500m and 5th in the Javelin. Matthew Dawkinshad 2nd in the 100m and a 3rd (3:07m) in the long jump. Daniel Norton also had a fine 2nd place in the B 200m. The girls have some fine sprinters led by Elisha Tenby and Teri Evans. Elisha look 1st in the A 100m (13:04) and 1st in the B 200m (27:09), while Teri took 1st in the B 100m (13:09) and 1st in the 200 A (27:07). Laura Jameswas the busiest girl, with a 1st place in the shot (6.09m), 2nd in the 75m hurdles and 3rd in the long jump. Danielle Jones came up just short in her events having to settle for 2nd place in both the 800m (2:45) and long jump (3.67m). Holly Edwards had a day to remember in winning the discus in impressive style in 14m 10cm.
From the U17 to U20 age category there were some outstanding highlights. Kelly Birkin continues to show well in every race winning both the U20 100m (13:00) and 200m (26:03). Team mate Vicky Staples also won the B 100m (14:00). Simon Thompson easily won the men’s U20 100m (11:07) and 200m (23:06). Sarah Harber continues to impress with each run winning the U17 200m (27:01), while Tanith Booth won the U17 300m (50:40) and was 3rd in the shot. Chris Wannell impressed in the field winning the U17 shot (11.16m), 2nd in the High jump (1.60) and 3rd in the Long Jump (5:22m). Luke Williams won the U17 200m (24:07), Ieuan Thomas won the U17 400m (54:80) and Emilio Marino was 4th in the U17 100m.
Next comes a Welsh league meeting in Newport against the best club teams in South Wales.
There were only a handful of athletes who made the 300+ mile round trip to North Wales over the weekend of 19th and 20th June 2004, but those who did came home with the spoils from the Welsh Athletics Track & Field Championships in Colwyn Bay. There were 24 athletes who made the trip and they produced the goods in bringing back 5 gold, 7 Silver and 6 bronze medals.
The under 13 girls got off to a great start where Jessica Hinwood managed to win her heat of the 100m in 13:89, and then compose herself well to improve on this in the final to win her first Welsh title in an impressive 13:51. The following day Jessica was again in good form. She won her heat of the 200m in a time of 28:59, and then after a few hours rest came back to just be pipped on the line to take 2nd in the final with a time of 28:75. Running in her first Welsh Championships Laura James began well in the 800m only to find that the bigger, older girls, coped better with the difficult running conditions to finish 8th in 2:52:68.
The Under 15 girls only had 2 competitors and they seemed to be having their own personal battles with each other. Alyshea Tenby and Teri Evans were drawn in the same heat of the 100m, Alyshea finishing 2nd in 13:25 and Teri 3rd in 13:47. They both made the final with Alyshea finishing 4th in 13:52 and Teri 5th in 13:63. The girls managed to stay apart for the heats of the 200m where Alyshea finished 2nd in the first heat and Teri 4th in the third heat. In the final both girls gave their all but came up just short, Alyshea tantalizingly close finishing 4th in 27:13 and Teri 7th in 27:78.
The Under 17 girls were led by Bethan Tempest. Bethan led the way for our field event athletes. She won the Triple Jump title with a distance of 10m 47cm and then followed that up by taking silver in the Long Jump with a distance of 4m 93cm. Jessica Dickson will be pleased with her silver medal in the 800m. Jessica had run a comfortable 2nd place in the heat but in the final came up just short of the gold when with 200m to go her finishing burst took her past 4 athletes but she could not quite grab the gold. Sarah Harbor looked very impressive in winning her heat of the 300m in 42:70, but in the final couldn’t find anything extra and had to settle for 5th place in 42:63. The sprints were contested by Amy Mcniven who ran very impressively in qualifying for the final of the 100m in a time of 13:64, but in a very strong field could not reproduce her heat time. Not to be held back Amy then did very well in finishing 6th in a very impressive field in the finial of the 200m in a time of 13:92.
The Under 13 boys managed to get 3 runners through in both the 100m and 200m finals. David Sandalls led the way with a second place in his 100m heat and then repeated this in the final to grab the silver medal in 13:54. Competing the following day in the 200m things looked good when David managed a 2nd place in the 200m heats only to finish just outside the medals in 4th place in a time of 28:73. David was followed into the final of the 100m by Lewis Hinwood who finished 3rd in his heat, and ran well in the final finishing 7th in 14:72. Also in the 100m final was Luke Gardner who was 5th in his heat and managed a creditable time of 14:90. The 200m had David Sandalls again, with Luke Gardner making his second final finally finishing 7th in 30:90, and Thomas Williams who finished 3rd in his heat and eventually 5th in the final. The heats took its toll on Lewis Hinwood who gave his all in the 200m but failed to qualify for the final.
The Under 15 boys has a new star in the making. Tom Bradbury who has been showing a clean pair of heels to all his opponents all season did not disappoint in both the 100m and 200m. Despite winning his 100m heat comfortably in 12:18, Tom was headed in the final and he had to settle for silver in a superb time of 12:06, but Tom had his revenge in the 200m where he was never headed in the race and held off a spirited battle from all other runners to take the 200m title in 23:90.
In the Under 17 boys not for the first time the headlines were grabbed by Andrew Watkins who managed to walk away with both the 100m and 200m titles. Andrew who has represented Wales at these distances for the last 2 years has just returned from injury, and there was talk that the new Welsh 200 star Bruce Tasker would beat Andrew. From the start of the race this never looked a possibility and Andrew streaked away to win in a time of 22:31, and did it again in the 100m winning in a time of 11:24. Andrew was joined in the final by fellow Harriers, Luke Williams and Tommy James, Luke finishing 7th in the final in a time of 12:12, and Tommy finished 6th in a time of 12:09. Tommy also made the final of the 200m even though the officials only gave him 10 minutes preparation having forgotten to tell him he had qualified. Tommy did well just to make it around with no warm up and having just eaten in a time of 24:60.
Not for the first time the middle distance athletes performed well at Under 17, led by Afan Humphries. He managed to get the bronze medals at both 1500m in a time of 4:15:56 and bronze in the 3000m in a time of 9:07:55. The unluckiest athlete must have been Gavin Hanrahan who followed Afan around for both the 1500m and 3000m and Afan held him off both times to finish 4th in both races. Ieuan Thomas continues his successful season. Ieuan who is still only 14 took the pace out in the 800m against runners 18 months older than him and led with 200m to go, but couldn’t hold on and did well to hang on to take the bronze medal. Less than 15 minutes later Ieuan then ran the 3000m and not surprisingly couldn’t stay with the pace to finish 5th.
The only success the under 17s had in the field events fell to Chris Wannell. Chris competing in the Javelin produced some outstanding throws throughout the competition, and his best of 45m 52cm was good enough for the bronze medal.
The Under 20 men and senior men also had their successes. Simon Thompson easily won his heat of the 100m, but could not repeat that in the final and Simon had to finish 6th in 11:37. Simon had his revenge in the 200m where he was only second in his heat, but ran a strong performance in the final. With a strong bend run was able to secure the bronze medal in a time of 23:33. Simon Barnard had the hardest job of the day chasing at least 3 current or former Welsh Internationals in the U20 800m and did well to finish 5th in a time of 2:06. Justin Bryan led the senior men success in the field. Justin who has had a great season so far continued this in the Shot where a putt of 13m 03cm was good enough for the silver medal. He then followed this up with a bronze medal in the Discus with a throw of 40m 64cm, which would have been good enough to win in most other competitions. On the track Iain Hunt continued to show well in both the 200m and 400m. In the 400m Iain showed good speed, but eventually had to settle for 7th place. Iain must have been saving himself for the 200m where a great run against a very strong field helped him charge through near the end to win the silver medal in a time of 23:17.
For all those making the journey to Colwyn Bay well done. The trip alone was worth a medal, but now its down to league action again, and the team is desperate for points in the young athletes meeting in Bath this weekend, so please all attend and help the team out.
Following fine performances this season, Cwmbran Harrier athletes, Tom Bradbury, Jessica Dickson, Gavin Hanrahan, Sarah Harbor, Afan Humphries, Michael Jones, Ieuan Thomas & Andrew Watkins, have all been selected for Welsh honours.
On 17th July, Sarah, Jessica, Ieuan, Michael, Gavin, Afan and Andrew represented Wales in the British Schools Athletics Championships in Chelmsford, Essex, against the best talent at Schools level in Britain. The conditions that day were just about perfect for the runners, between the severe thunderstorms that occurred early in the meeting. Andrew Watkins who has represented both Wales and Great Britain showed that despite a season of injury he is now well on the way to recovery by finishing 3rd in the U17 boys 100m and then going much better in the 200m winning in a time of 21.92. Andrew’s efforts were also well rewarded in the 4x100m relay where a fine Welsh performance helped Wales take the Silver medal behind England to complete a Gold, Silver and Bronze on the day for Andrew. Andrew already leads the Welsh rankings at both 100m and 200m this season and on this performance it will be a long time until he is overtaken.
In the U17 1500m Ieuan Thomas running on his 15th birthday finished in 7th place, but managed to knock 9 seconds off his personal best finishing in a time of 4.11.29 ranking him 4th in Wales this season. Afan Humphries and Gavin Hanrahan both ran the 3,000m in which England and Scotland had the 10 fastest runners in Britain, Gavin did well to knock 10 seconds off his personal best in a time of 9.11.60 in finishing 7th, and Afan batting to the end finished in 8th in a time of 9.16.20. This time was good enough to move Gavin to 4th in the Welsh rankings just behind Afan in 3rd.
In the under 17 Girls 300m Sarah Harbor won her first Welsh International vest and after overcoming the expected initial nerves ran superbly to finish in 5th place beating far more experienced Welsh and Irish athletes in a time of 41.16 which keeps Sarah at 2nd in the Welsh rankings. Jessica Dickson, also winning her first track International vest ran a fine race in a tough field (the winner Nikki Hamblin of England broke the UK U17 record), coming home in 8th place in a time of 2.18.71, which was a personal best.
Michael was the Harriers only field event competitor and against an extremely strong and experienced field produced a fine performance in the Discus, finishing in 7th place with a throw of 35.89m.
Following these and other superb performances, Jessica Dickson, Andrew Watkins and Tom Bradbury were chosen for Wales in the Celtic Games, held this years on August 7th in Grangemouth, Scotland against International teams from Scotland, Ulster and Ireland.
In the U15 boys 100m, Tom running his first International race got a blistering start and was looking good for the Gold, but was eventually pipped on the line and had to settle for Silver in a time of 11.91.Tom did taste Gold later in the day in helping the Welsh 4x100m relay team easily win, over Ulster and Scotland. Again Tom is a runner with massive potential leading both the 100m and 200m Welsh rankings (the 200m by over 1.5 seconds). Watch out for Tom next season!
Andrew running the 100m and the 200m easily won both races and so established himself as one of the elite sprinting talents in Britain at this moment in time.
Jessica finally had her reward for both a strong track season and off the back of good winter preparation was boosted by a good 3rd place and thereby gaining a Bronze medal.
Congratulations too all our athletes who have represented their country. Hoping this will be the first of many to come in the near future.
Despite the problems of not having a track to train on, Cwmbran Harriers have continued to put in fine performances over the last few weeks.
Last week the Harriers travelled to Birmingham to take on Dudley & Stourbridge, Hereford and Bromsgrove & Redditch in the Young Athletes league. In a match Cwmbran had to win to have any hope of promotion, the experienced and inexperienced alike produced a string of fine performances to ensure Cwmbran won the match.
At Under 17’s there were fine performances by Andrew Watkins, who won the 100m and 200m, while David Starmore who the B 100m and followed this up with a 3rd place in the shot, and Daniel James won the B 200m and won the B shot event. Ieuan Thomas won the 400m and 800m, while Gavin Hanrahan won the B 800m and the B 1500m Steeplechase, he then turned his hand to Javelin where he finished 2nd in the B event. Afan Humphries won the 1500m and the A race 1500m steeplechase. Further wins continued with Anthony Jones winning the B 1500m and Nick Cornock winning the 3000m and 2nd in the Javelin. Alex Watkins produced a fine double in winning both the long jump and the triple jump, while both relay squads at 4x100m and the 4x400m ran strongly to win.
In the girls U17’s Emma Williams ran well to finish 2nd in the A 200m, whilst Tanith Booth battled to finish 2nd in the B 200m. Once again, Sarah Harber comfortably won the 300m, while Bethan Dainton won the B 300m and then followed this up by winning the 300m. Twin sister Nia Dainton wasn’t to allow sister all the glory by winning the A 800m, the 1500m and then the B shot event. Tanith Booth showed real guts in winning the B 3000m; she suffered a severe nosebleed towards the end of the race and refused to stop despite her obvious discomfort. Emma Williams did well to finish 3rd in the A shot. The girls managed a creditable 2nd place in the 4x100m relay.
At U15 Tom Bradbury continues to show why he leads the Welsh rankings at 100m and 200m, easily winning the 100m, While Daniel Norton ran well to finish 3rd in the B 100m, he then turned this around in the 200m to win the B race, while Daniel Jenkins ran in 3rd in the A 200m. In the 400m Daniel Bussell ran well to finish 2nd in the A race and Matthew Dawkins also managed a 2nd in the B race. Matthew just had time to recover before finishing 3rd in the 800m while Daniel Bussell finished strongly to win the 1500m. Grant Evans easily won the B 1500m, while Daniel Jenkins showed a clean pair of heels to everyone in the 80m Hurdles easily winning.
In the field events William Jenkins did well in finishing 2nd in the Javelin, while busy Daniel Norton managed a 4th in the A shot, and Grant Evans a 2nd in the B shot. Grant who must have been rushing from one event to another followed his shot success with a 2nd in the A High Jump, while Michael Adams managed a 2nd in the A Long Jump. As with the Under 17’s the Under 15 relay squads at 4x100m and 4x400m easily won their races.
Aleysha Tenby continues her good summer in finishing 2nd in both the A 100m and 200m, while Laura James managed a 3rd place in the B 100m, a 2nd place in the 75m Hurdles and won the Long Jump. Melissa Skaratts did well in the A Discus finishing 2nd, and then pushed on to win both the A Shot and A Javelin events.
In the Under 13’s Thomas Williams was 2nd in the 200m A race, and Lewis Hinwood managed to win the B 200m. Matthew Turner was the winner of the A 400m, while Stephen Dawkins managed a creditable 3rd in the B 400m. James Hanrahan running his first race was 2nd in the A 1500m. The field evens once again had people doubling up on events and Matthew Turner finished 3rd in the A Long Jump and Lewis Hinwood 3rd in the B Long Jump. Thomas Williams won the A shot event and Stephen Dawkins was 3rd in the B shot. Although there was no 4x400m in the U13 category it did not stop the 4x100m team winning their relay with ease.
The U13 girls had a string of fine performances, Jessica Hinwood won both the 100m and 200m A events, while Rachel Bevan managed a 2nd in the B 100m and then a 3rd place in the A Long Jump, while Claire Williams won the B 200m and the B shot event. Natasha Cockram easily won the A 800m and Lora James did likewise in the B 800m. Benytta Doman ran strongly to win the 1200m. Sophie Hamer managed a good 2nd place in the 70m Hurdles and followed this with a 3rd place in the A Shot event. Natasha Cockram finished 2nd in the A High Jump, while Benytta Doman won the B High Jump event, while the Girls 4x100m relay squad easily won their race.
Congratulations once again to everyone that took part. In this Young Athletes League this is without doubt the best performance of the season. In an ironic twist of fate it appears the reason Cwmbran wont get promoted this year, is down to our “home fixture”, which, because of the track being closed, was moved to Bath at short notice. On that day we had a low turnout of Athletes, due to International call-ups and this has ultimately cost us. But with the club qualifying for the Welsh League Cup final once the track is finished the future of the club once again looks good.