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England Athletics U17, U15 and Junior Para Champs - powered by Citroën: The adventure starts now

With many of the athletes who competed in this meeting last year currently at the European U20 Championships in Finland, there was a definite feel that this is an event all about taking the first step in what will be an exciting journey of discovery. Progression is always name of the game at the Age Groups. An endless list of athletes discovered the form of their lives to win national titles for the first time, while plenty more added another notch to their impressive collection of victories.

As ever, the U17 men’s 100m lived up to its top billing. Divine Iheme (Nkiruka Iheme, Radley) can rightly claim to be one of the best in the world for his age given he ran a world age-14 best of 10.30 last year. And this season he has looked every bit as sharp. After a suitably relaxed heat of 10.61 followed by an equally leisurely 10.54 semi, he was always going to be the athlete to beat. Lightning-fast out of the blocks, Iheme never looked in danger in the final as he powered to a Championships record of 10.39 into a brisk headwind.

“I feel great,” he said afterwards. “I’ve actually added a bit of endurance to my sessions so that’s working really well,” he explained. “That was my third national title and now I’m looking forward to the 200 tomorrow (Sunday).”

The U15 girls 100 also saw the CBP record fall as Annabelle Fasuba (Neal Edwards, City of Plymouth) smoothly powered her way to 11.73. Rivals be warned: she looks sharper over 200m.

And the record breaking didn’t end there as Hugo Bucher (Carolyn Franks, Cheltenham), who went into the U15 boys javelin as the second best of all-time saw his third-round effort touch down at 69.70 to improve that CBP by more than two metres.

“That felt amazing,” Bucher said afterwards. “Training has been consistent this season, which is something I’ve focused on.”

It marked a great day for throwing which deservedly grabbed many of the headlines, including in the national press. The Times carried a two-page story about the U17 men’s shot put under the heading: ‘I want to be even better than grandad’. Clearly the subject of the piece, Lawson Capes (Lewis Capes, Peterborough and Nene Valley) is well on the way to doing just that, although by his own admission he felt a little flat after an intense season of travel not to mention his GCSE exams. Nonetheless, his 17.66 third-round throw secured him his sixth title in four years and confirmed he is doing everything he can to match grandad Geoff’s stellar record that included the British record of 21.68 back in 1980. “And actually, he’s struggling with the size of the shot now; it’s too small and he’s ready to go up a size,” his coach and father, Lewis Capes explained.

Mila Desborough (Bronwin Carter, Wimbourne) won the gold medal with her very first throw in the U15 girls’ javelin. She threw 44.61 for a six-metre lead. Her closest competitor, Lumen Myers (Poole) did edge over 40 metres with a PB of 40.83 late on, but Desborough’s series of 44.61, 43.31, 41.45, 41.35, 42.93 and 40.46 perfectly illustrated her dominance.

The tightly contested track finals included the U17 men’s 400m, won 49.14 by Matthew Agbolegbe (Coln Corless, Southend) while Magnus Riddell (Peter Venus, Tynedale) took the 800m in 1:58.22. The U15 boys 300 was all about the opening 200m, as Tommaso Crosara (Bjorn Janssen, Hercules Wimbledon) scorched to 36.66.

And of course, the 100s produced a sensational string of great times as it seemingly always does at this meeting. South Africa’s Grindan Abrahams (Pat Logan, Momentum Track Club) got things going when he powered to 10.77 to win the U15 boys title. And that was just the start as Celine Obinna-Alo (Richard Kilty, Gateshead) leaned to victory in the U17 women’s race with 11.76 dipping for the win in the tightest of finishes.

Combined Events

U17 women’s heptathlon

Overnight there was some discussion as to whether Molly Mills (Jessica Taylor-Jemmett, Sale Harriers Manchester) could overhaul the leader Jasmine Nkoso (Anthony Mayhew, Herne Hill) and perhaps challenge the British record given she went into the weekend as the No.2 on the all-time list. However, that speculation appeared to ignore the third placer Tiana Odugbesan (Cardiff Archers) who took just one jump to make herself noticed. She produced a magnificent 5.91 in the long jump to finish far ahead of Mills (5.29) and Nkoso (5.27). That hauled back close to 200 points and put the Welsh athlete in pole position heading to the javelin, albeit by a mere nine points. This event was far from over and precisely one round of the javelin later, in which Mills threw 35.47, Nkoso 30.55 and Odugbesan 28.73, it was a case of ‘as you were’ with Mills increasingly now looking like the likely overall winner. That looked ever more the case when she improved to 42.22, although Nkoso did improve to 35.65 while threw a PB of Odugbesan 32.45. Mills started the 800m with a 100-point plus buffer, which given she was the fastest in the field on paper took the pressure off. Running free, she hit the front from the start, pulling the field through 400 in a touch over 68 seconds. Mills crossed the line in 2:23.10 to take the gold medal to score an impressive 5223 points. That would be seventh all-time had she not already occupied second. A great competition!

U15 girls hexathlon

Scotland’s Dionne Maguinness (Airdrie H) continued where she left off on Friday night with another individual event win. The overnight leader was easily the best athlete in the field and again showed her competitors the kind of form she is currently enjoying by taking the high jump with 1.68. With just the shot and 800 to go, there was little doubt as to where the gold medal would be heading. Yes there was a slight glitch in the shot where she had to settle for second, but just 2cm down with 11.59. But essentially the final 800m would be a formality, which it was. As in the competition as a whole, she led the whole way and crossed the line in 2:23.86. Her 4097 was a CBP.

U17 men’s decathlon

Oliver Downs (Alex Pope, Invicta East Kent) set a UK octathlon age best last season and judging from his opening 100m, he looks to be in equally good form this year. He punched the air after crossing the line first in his heat in 11.33, a personal best when it counts most – in the national championships. He followed that with another lifetime best, albeit windy) of 6.92 in the long jump equal longest with Douglas Knox (Springburn), his jump a wind legal PB. The shot confirmed what was beginning to become apparent. Downs had prepared perfectly for his campaign. He was rewarded with a massive third round effort of 15.05 to stretch ever further away from his competitors. But things did change a little after the high jump as Downs could go no higher than 1.75. Knox took the event with 1.90 to ease within 65 points. A solid 400m in 52.49 from Downs steadied the ship and kept him in the lead overall, but Knox is still very much in the picture thanks to his 52.79. Sunday promises to be fascinating.

U15 boys octathlon

The 100m is, of course, only the first event, but Charlie Reilly (Brendan Reilly, Sheffield and Dearne) certainly caught the eye thanks to his explosive start. Out of his blocks and gone in the space of two or three strides, he powered to 11.68, more than half a second clear of his nearest rival. It was early days though and the lead would change hands constantly, but it sent out the right message: only the best would suffice in this competition. It didn’t take too long to discover plenty were ready to take on that challenge. In the very next event – the javelin – Arthur Rogers (Bob Willows, Brighton and Hove) added almost three metres to his lifetime best with a hugely impressive 56.21. That along with 12.71 in the 100 hauled him from fifth to the overall lead. Freddie Strong (Border) occupied the silver medal slot with 12.55 and 46.37 while Reilly sat in third after his 33.49 throw. The pole vault always has a tendency to shake things and that looked likely when Rogers departed at 2.70 and Strong called it a day at 2.80. Enter Reilly. He started at 2.90 and worked his way to 3.50 which gave him a 61-point lead heading to the 400m. Reilly hung on in that for a 55.51 personal best and more importantly a 157-point lead to defend Sunday.

*A select group of athletes competed in the para ambulant events. Marcy Hand, F64 (Camilla Stewart, Wenlock Olympians) looked good in the U17 women’s long jump with 4.18 while Elizabeth Dodds, T38 also impressed in the U20 event with 3.77 in the second round. The sprints produced some cracking times. Paris Hammond, T34 (Coventry Godiva) flew to a PB of 24.28 in the U15 girls wheelchair 100, while Jayden Ackerman, T54 (Richard Chiassaro, Harlow) was also in fabulous form, winning his U15 boys race in a PB of 15.81

Photos by Pat Isaacs

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