The south of England Senior & U20 Championships took place over last weekend at the newly relaid and refurbished Woodside Arena, Watford making travelling much easier for the Herts Phoenix contingent who normally have to brave the traffic in a dash to Crystal Palace at this time of year.

A number of the club’s athletes were competing in what is always a high quality competition – made even more so this year by the fact that many were trying to achieve the UK:Athletics entry standards for the European Junior Championships later this summer which are set with the intention of only selecting athletes who stand a genuine chance of making the finals – a tough standard indeed.

On Saturday Emily Stevens and Becca Hore were up in the 400mHurdles.  Both ran well and after the qualification for the final was resolved Emily made it through but Becca missed out by one place having been 9th fastest.  Emily went on to finish 7th the next morning despite suffering from a cold which was worsening by Sunday morning.

Also up early was Alec Wing who finished 3rd in his heat with a new personal best of 57.09s and went into Sunday’s final as fourth fastest qualifier.  Alec upped his game and ran another superb PB and challenged hard for a medal being right in the mix off the last hurdle.  His time of 56.28s was a massive improvement but not quite enough to snatch a medal – finishing 5th – but happy with his weekends work.

 

In the Senior Men's 400m, Matt Hamilton qualified through his heat well and then went on later on Saturday to run a PB in his semi-final but just missed out on a place in Sunday's final.

In the 800m Joe Gaynor and Louis Walshe both progressed through their heats – Joe setting yet another PB of 1.58.80s – but they ran into some top quality opposition in the semi finals and both narrowly failed to qualify for Sunday’s final.

In the high jump brothers Brad and Ross Armorgie found themselves in the same competition.  Brad ended up 4th with a seasons best of 1.95, and younger brother Ross also cleared the same height for a personal best and =5th position, so honours just about even!

Ross then competed in the 110mH lowering his personal best to 16.35s in the process but just failing to qualify for the final.

Leo Lundgren was just below his best in finishing 8th in the triple jump with 13.40m and Ben Montgomery made a fine debut in these Championships in the javelin with a 7th placed finish and 47.62m to his name.

Sunday afternoon saw a late Gold rush for Herts Phoenix athletes with 5 medals coming in the space of an hour – 4 Gold and a Bronze.

First was a golden family double from siblings Nathan and Laura Wake.  Both had comfortably qualified from their heats the previous day, never looking in any trouble.  Nathan, who has already achieved the UK:Athletics selection standard for the World Youth (U18) championships this summer, ran a superbly controlled final to win the 400m well in 47.6s – once again under the World Youth Championships entry standard.

Almost immediately older sister Laura stepped onto the track and also ran a well timed, strong finishing 400m race to take the gold medal in a time of 55.15s This time is just outside the UK:Athletics European Junior selection standard of 54.25s and she is hoping that she will achieve that at next weeks national championships and trials at Bedford – a feat she is surely capable of after her recent improvements.

Whilst all this excitement was taking place on the track Peta Lundgren was setting about the business of winning the Javelin title.  She bettered her personal best more than once to go out well over 45m, to 45.64m and take the title.

Finally, and unusually late for the hurdlers who are normally one of the first events to go, Stephanie Gaynor and Claire Humphries stepped onto the track at 5.15pm.  They were drawn in the first heat together with clubmate Lauren Thompson who was making a return from a long injury lay off.  Steph took the heat by the scruff of the neck and raced away to win in 14.05s.  Claire, running only her second U20 race of the season recorded a new PB of 14.57s to take second and Lauren also recorded a new PB of 15.44s but unfortunately just missed out on qualification for the final.

In the final Steph and Claire were joined by a number of good athletes from the second heat, particularly a training partner of Steph’s, Serita Solomon.  The final was another fast race – this time into a headwind - but Steph triumphed with 14.07s, Serita taking the Silver in 14.08s and Claire the Bronze in 14.70s.  These times for Steph and Claire are both within the national standard for English schools selection and Steph is knocking on the door of the UK:Athletics selection standard of 13.8s for the European junior championships having already recorded a personal best of 13.97s this year.

 

Jon Humphries