This week’s focus was mainly on the capital with the London Marathon taking place on Sunday but there were plenty of other racing opportunities around the country, more marathon action but some shorter stuff and some running in circles and throwing going on as the Youth Development League held its first fixture of the season.
We’ll start off with the London Marathon where, typically, the sun was out, and plenty suffered in the heat. Jake Brown was first back for the club in 2.34.34 in 355th place, Steve Ulfig ran a fantastic 2.56.49 in 2317th, Luke Maskew catalogued a long list of problems but still came home in a hugely respectable 2.44.24 in 961st place, Alex Macvie bagged a sub 3 finish in 2.59.16, Carl James clocked 3.08.48, Dave Joynson 3.25.04, Phil Evans 3.27.34, Emily Simmonds recorded 3.56.34 only just 8 weeks of training after stepping in late to take the club ballot place after a redraw, and Andrew Flavell ran 6.03.20.
A group of club athletes had qualified to represent the West Midlands in the Mini Marathon 24 hours earlier. Rocco Hawley was 29th in 8.44 and Theo Ulfig 32nd in 8.48 in the U13 Boys race, Grace Hendy placed 58th in 9.35 in the U15 Girls and Will Hughes was 49th in 8.12 in the U15 Boys, Jack Stockton clocked 8.13 to take 63rd in the Boys and Megan White recorded 9.27 in 60th in the Girls version of the U17s event.
There was more marathon action in Manchester there was a superb 14th place finish for Jonny Morris in 2.33.17, and Mark Judge clocked 3.50.03, battling on when things weren’t going quite to plan. Darren Owen-Jones lives to fight another day after dropping out around the 20 mile mark.
And we also had a couple of club members avoiding the tarmac in the Clun Valley Trail Half Marathon with Julia Condon finishing in 112th in 3.52.56 and Imogen Harley a place and two valuable seconds behind in 3.52.58.
The club took part in the first YDL fixture of the season at Northwood Stadium in Stoke coming 2nd overall behind the host club Cannock & Stafford AC. In the U20s competition Roshane Gordon finished 2nd in the 100 A race in 11.7, and also came 2nd in the 200 A in 24.00, with James Crust clocking 24.2 to take 1st place in the B race. Roshane also placed 1st in the 400 A race with 52.3, James winning the B race in 53.9. Serge Guy made his YDL debut with 2nd place in the 800 with a time of 2.34.2. Ethan Kendrick claimed victory in the hammer with a throw of 49.47. And there was a 1st place finish for the 4 x 100 relay team of James Crust, Roshane Gordon, Theo Nicholls and Yaw Osei-Asabere in 46.00.
There was a 2nd place finish for Scarlett Willoughby in the 800 A race in 2.26.3 and Millie Williams won the B race in 2.26.6. Megan White won the 1500 in 5.02.3, fresh from her Mini Marathon exploits a day earlier. Amelia Hancock was 4th in the long jump with 2.45, Amelia also claimed 2nd in the shot with 6.17, was 1st in the discus with 24.42, Georgina Neilson won the A hammer with 37.84, with Amelia claiming a B string win with 36.77, Amelia was 3rdin the javelin with 14.71.
In the U17s competition there was a win for Chyloh McKenzie over 100m in 11.4 with Jahzi Tucker winning the B race in 11.8. Chyloh doubled up with another win over 200 with 24.2, with Leo Watson winning the B event with 24.5. Aryan Kumar Pal ran 2.29.7 to take 4th place over 1500. Theo Nicholls leapt to 5.37 in the long jump for 2nd place and then took on the vertical leap clearing 1.60 in the high jump for first place. Jahzi Tucker put his speed on the runway to good use in winning the javelin with a throw of 33.53, over 10 metres clear of 2nd place and a team of Ephraim Moponda, Leo Watson, Jahzi Tucker and Chyloh McKenzie clocked 45.8 to win the 4 x 100 relay.
In the ladies events there was a 3rd place finish for Elissa Rukweza in the 100 with a time of 14.6, Ronni Read ran 2.33.5 to take 2nd place over 800, Grace Hendy won the 1500, again with a Mini Marathon in her legs, in a time of 4.52.3, Eleanor Simpson was 2nd in 5.35.0 in the B race. Elissa Rukweza was 3rd in the long jump with 4.33, Alice Baugh won the B competition with 3.51, Grace Hendy was 2nd in the high jump with a clearance of 1.25 metres. In the throws Aisha Abdulla won the shot with 10.61, Eleanor Simpson winning the B event with 7.59, Eleanor was 3rd in the discus with 16.38, Aisha won the hammer with 47.61, and a team of Eleanor Simpson, Alice Baugh, Grace Hendy and Ronni Read won the 4 x 100 in 59.1.
Dave Norman
