Essex & Eastern Track & Field Indoor Championships
Saturday 28th Feb & Sunday 1st March
Many congratulations to all who competed this weekend. I apologise that it has taken me a couple of days to get around to writing – school life got in the way! It has been a good weekend for the club, with success on the roads and indoors. Judging by the times, distances and heights, training over the winter has gone well.
I think many of the adults I spoke to were in awe of the times run by Manny and Ben at half marathon and 10k respectively, and I haven’t heard how they have got on but know that others were in 5k action. Please let your coaches know and we’ll celebrate your successes as well!
Indoors, at Lee Valley, we had a great weekend. The final tally of two gold, four silver and five bronze was an excellent reward for the individuals, and an added extra for the club. I know there has already been mention made of these so I won’t repeat, but will just say “well done” to you all. Just as pleasing as medal success was the quality of performance. We had a lot of athletes make it through to semi-finals and finals, and their times remained consistent. And we had several get through to “top six” in field events, equivalent to a track final.
Whilst there were no-shows, twenty-nine of you still got out and competed. The success came in all aspects of athletics – throws, vertical and horizontal jumps, and on the track. Pleasingly, there were a number of athletes making debuts or reappearing having had long lay-offs or time away from the sport. If we could just get more of you out all at the same time, we could be a dangerous EYAL team. Certainly, our U13s showed enough promise that they could be a real force in the newly formed U10 & U12 matches.
Well done to all athletes, especially medal winners, for competing. And then to coaches and parents for all of your support. Let’s hope there are many more weekends like this in the season ahead.
Day 1
A fabulous first day at the Essex and Eastern Champs – well done to all our athletes who took part.
Medals were coming thick and fast for Harlow AC:
Ogorchukwu, gold in Essex (silver in Eastern) in senior women’s shot put with a throw of 11.30m – just shy of her recent PB which broke the club indoor senior record
Lucas, gold in Essex and Eastern U13B 60m hurdles (with Cian also reaching the final in his first hurdles event)
Saoirse, bronze in Essex U15G 60m hurdles
Sophia, bronze in Essex U13G shot put
Bella, bronze in Essex U15G shot put (with newcomer Martha a creditable fourth). Bella also smashed both her PB and the club indoor U15G shot put record with a throw of 9.21m
In addition, Ivor reached the U13B 60m final, coming 4th in a photo finish – he broke the indoor club record in his heat with a run of 8.40s!
Some excellent performances from all athletes, with many reaching semi-finals and finals, including athletes new to competition.
More to come tomorrow!
Day 2
Day two of the Essex and Eastern Champs at Lee Valley, and more medals for Harlow AC athletes, along with some strong performances from athletes new to age group competition.
Cian, Essex & Eastern bronze in U13B high jump, his first time in the event and jumping 1.30m scissor. Lucas jumped the same height but was 4th on countback
Ben Tr, Essex bronze in U13B 200m after improving his PB by over 1.5 seconds from last year
Sophia, silver in U13G high jump with a jump of 1.25
Amelia, Essex & Eastern silver in U15G triple jump with a jump of 9.49
Saoirse, Essex & Eastern silver in U15G high jump with a jump of 1.50m
In addition, Isla came a creditable 4th in a tough U17W 800m final.
Lots of fantastic performances today from athletes Harrison, Laila, Chloe, Mabel, Ethan, Bilqis, Jaida and Tia.
Well done to all! 
