News

Emily makes a Bee line for pentathlon gold

The first of our 2018 Under 17 combined events champions was crowned today with the one day U17 women's pentathlon champion Emily Bee taking gold, 45 points ahead of Steph Driscoll in silver and Iris Oliarnyk took the bronze trailing just 10 points. The Tom Pink Relays for teams of young athletes also took part during the competition - click here to read the report.

Under 17 Women's pentathlon

Emily Bee (Club: City Of Plymouth AC, Coach: David Bee) made a good start with the 3rd fastest hurdles time of the day and with only 6cm below the highest high jump by Danielle Hopkins, she took the lead after that event. Behind her at this point in the competition was a real mix of athletes, without much indication on who would emerge on the podium.

Hannah Barnden's (Club: Derby Athletic Club) 11m90 shot put took her into the lead after a 7th in the hurdles and a 1m65 high jump. Steph Driscoll (Club: Liverpool Harriers & AC, Coach: Joe Frost and Steve Carroll) picked a good time to add 65cm to her shot put PB with 11m40 which moved her up two more places. Samantha Harris (Club: City Of Plymouth AC) had a very strong start with the fastest hurdles race followed by a good high jump, and a shot put that put Emily into third prior to the long jump. At this point the lead had changed after every event and the positions dramatically reshuffled between at least the top 8 athletes.

Samantha was looking like she was heading for the podium with an overall 1-2-2 after 3 events, but with Steph and Iris Oliarnyk (Club: Halesowen ACC, Coach: Dominic McNeillis) both gradually moving up the rankings for their equal 13th in the hurdles, how would the long jump results affect points scores and placings? Emily leaped 5m33 to pull herself back into top spot with just the 800m to go. With similar long jump bests, Mia Chantree (Club: Chelmsford AC, Coach: Steve Mitchell) and Hannah were behind by just 14 and 18 points respectively before the final run.

With only 100 points separating the top six athletes (approx. 8 seconds in the 800m), the four laps of the track would be the final decider. Pre-race positioned 7th Steph pulled a season's best of 2.19.13 out of the bag in Race 6 to come home in the fastest time and was rewarded with the silver medal. The final Race 7 contained the top 6 after the long jump but none could beat that time and it was where hopes and medals were won and lost; Emily held onto gold, and a 2.74 second advantage gave Iris the bronze over Mia. The top 3 all went onto the All Time top 10 scores.

Medallists

1 Emily Bee (3,669 points)
2 Steph Driscoll (3,624 points)
3 Iris Oliarnyk (3,614 points)

Under 17 Men's heptathlon day 1

In the men's heptathlon, with a huge 0.15 seconds gap to his nearest rivals Scott Brindley (Club: North Ayrshire Athletic Club, Coach: Mark Stringer) and Dylan Baines (Club: Stevenage & North Herts AC, Coach: Norma Harris) in the 60m sprint, Theo Adesina (Club: Thurrock Harriers, Coach: Karl Sumun) showed he meant business with his first PB of the day.

With over a third of athletes long jumping over 6m, the standard was high. 6m45 meant Rory Howorth (Club: Team Bath Athletic Club, Coach: Julie Alexander) moved up to 7th from his 17th position after the 60m - with a single final valid jump! Sam Gorman (Club: Blaydon, Coach: Liane Brown) leaped 6m50 and three places into bronze contention, and Theo and Scott finished with identical distances of 6m69 after a great battle over the three rounds, keeping the top two places close on points.

Rory continued his climb up the positions, moving into 4th after a 13m29 shot put and the 2016 U15 England shot put champion Aran Thomas (Club: Wakefield District H & AC, Coach: Mike Swain & Terry Prideaux) scored 700 points for his 13m53. Theo maintained his overall top spot with 12m52 and Scott one metre and one overall position below that. 12m66 ensured Philip Kastner an overall 3rd at his point.

Next up, the spotlight was on another amazing high jump competition - echoing the excitement of the Age Group champs a fortnight ago. With over half of Pool A still in the event at 1m83, something special was happening. By 1m89 there were four left and it was a first time clearance for Pedro Gleadall (Club: Blackheath and Bromley Harriers AC, Coach: Neil Gleadall) and Murray Fotheringham (Club: Giffnock North AAC, Coach: Dudley Walker / Simon Dear / Brian Donaldson), but a nail-biting 3rd attempt clearance for Theo as Stuart Bladon (Club: Team Kennet Triathlon & AC, Coach: Nicholas Bull) bowed out. Up another 3cm and Theo had to settle for finishing with a PB while Pedro and Murray continued the battle with Pedro adding 10cm to his PB but Murray finishing top dog on his 3rd attempt at 1m98 and 785 points to move him up 6 positions to lie in 7th overnight.

The top 3 overall positions remained the same although Theo had extended his lead by anther 52 points.

Current top 10

1 Theo Adesina (2,893 points)
2 Scott Brindley (2,736 points)
3 Philip Kastner (2,693 points)
4 Rory Howorth (2,613 points)
5 Pedro Gleadall (2,592 points)
6 Sam Gorman (2,564 points)
7 Murray Fotheringham (2,546 points)
8 Stuart Bladon (2,483 points)
9 Freddie Reilly (2,475 points)
10 Callum Newby (2,459 points)

Sunday sees the completion of the Under 17 men's heptathlon and the two Under 15 one day pentathlons.

Photo by David Griffiths
All photos from event available for viewing and purchase from www.fotoccompli.com

Athletics News Competition Track and Field