Senior, U20 Combined Events, Para and Walk Championships - Day 1, record start to the indoor season!
The England Athletics Senior and U20 Indoor Combined Event Championships - incorporating the Senior Para and Walk Championships got under way with Swansea’s Matilda Quick crowned the first combined events national champion of the year.
She won the U20 women’s pentathlon, competing as a Welsh guest, which meant the England gold medal went to Cheltenham's Isla Pain who was second overall. Meanwhile, keen to shake off any winter rustiness, the country’s best male combined eventers – in the seniors and U20 age groups – started their two-day campaign in the heptathlon. And if there was any rust to chip off, it certainly wasn’t evident as there were plenty of significant performances to enjoy, PBs order of the day from the very first event.
Plus, as an added incentive, there will be places on an England team to compete in the Swedish Combined Events Championships later this winter with three places potentially available. Here’s how the action unfolded:
U20 Women’s Pentathlon
In what proved to be a dominant, record-breaking competition, Wales’s Matilda Quick (Steve Ingram, Swansea) opened her account with a win in the 60 hurdles. It was a lead she never relinquished, and her 8.69 clocking set an impressive tone for her day. It would be the first of what turned out to be one full of PBs: four in total, not to mention a national record. A few minutes earlier, Isabelle Knight (James Wright, Rugby and Northampton) had got the meeting going with a superb best time of 8.78 in the first heat, but Quick eclipsed that in the final race while in the same heat, Isla Pain (Paul Harrison, Cheltenham) put herself in the frame for a podium spot thanks to her PB of 9.07.
Things got better for Pain as next on the schedule was the high jump, her speciality event. Of course, you can never take anything for granted in a pentathlon, but her first time clearance of 1.74 suggested she was in form and ready to challenge for gold. That clearance was slightly below her best-ever form, but still good enough to take the event win and ease her into second spot. Quick had called it a day at 1.71, her best-ever height, which meant Pain closed to within 45 points as they headed for the shot circle.
Quick, however, responded to Pain’s challenge with a massive lifetime best of 12.09 in the second round and an equally large 198-point lead. At this point it was still Quick from Pain with Knight rounding out the top three. She had followed her swift hurdles with 1.59 in the high jump and 8.93 in the shot.
Next was the long jump which effectively ended the competition as Quick jumped 5.79, then even further with 5.82, her fourth personal best in four events to stretch her lead to an unassailable 381 points. Behind her, Knight made some inroads on second overall and therefore could launch a tilt at the English title thanks to her 5.24, while Pain had to make do with 5.16.
Quick’s consistency and form did mean the final event, the 800m would be a stress-free race for the hugely improved Swansea Harrier. She had to do little more than finish to secure the event victory, although behind her it was still all to play for in terms of the England gold medal. In the battle for that medal, Pain enjoyed a 135-point buffer over Thaila-Jade Mason (Bedford and County), who jumped a very impressive 5.74 in the long jump which had edged her into third overall and second in the England Champs. And Knight was just behind her.
In the end, it was Pain who emerged with the silver – but more importantly, the English title – but for Quick it was a superb end to a superb day. She followed Pain, who ran 2:33.49 closely throughout the four laps and although she just missed her best for 800 metres with 2:34.43, she was rewarded with a Welsh record of 3943. Knight clocked 2:30.18 to ease back into the medals while Mason nabbed the England bronze by just point! A great end to a great day.
Senior Men’s Heptathlon
Lewis Church (David Hull, Tonbridge), the defending champion started the defence of his crown with a second-place finish in his 60 metres. In a tight race, he was out-leaned by Scotland’s Alister Mackay (Jamie Bowie, Team East Lothian) who clocked 7.21 but his rivals would have noted the 7.22 – a PB for the Tonbridge man. Conrad Winter (Denis Costello, City of Norwich) ran 7.28 to equal his lifetime best.
For once, the long jump was a cagey affair with no one athlete really standing out. In Pool A, William Reid (Sam Stanislaw, City of York) led the way with 7.29, followed by Winter who opened with 7.02. But in terms of points, there was almost nothing to split the field as Church jumped 6.95 just 16pts behind Winter. In a sub-plot to the competition as a whole, Steven Simmons (David Hull, Tonbridge) jumped 7.11 to take first place in the Kent club’s unofficial long jump champs as Harry Kendall (David Hull, Tonbridge) had to settle for 6.90. Indeed, there was every possibility Tonbridge could take one, two three in the competition as a whole as Simmons led overall from Kendall in third and Church, fourth. Reid occupied the second place slot.
That one-two-three looked even more likely early on in the shot as Simmons edged slightly further into the lead as he threw a lifetime best of 13.44 (and a third round 13.55). That advantage was short-lived, however, as Church then entered the competition and promptly threw 15.10 followed by 15.46. They were not only the biggest throws of the event, but they also eased him into the lead for the first time. Kendall also upped his game to record a personal best of 14.80 with his final effort, a tremendous improvement at just the right moment. It meant he trailed his teammate by just 36 points heading into the last event of the day, the high jump.
Church, however, is a very solid two-metre plus high jumper. So, it was no surprise to see him enter the competition late and depart even later. He came in at 1.87, a height he cleared at the first time of asking, while most of the field had long since finished. Simmons, for instance, departed at that height, while Reid and Winter needed three attempts. Church then tightened his grip on the gold medal with first-time clearances at 1.90, 1.93 and 1.96 as one by one his competitors fell away. Church finally bowed out at 2.02 which meant he headed back to the hotel leading with 3248 points from Kendall, 3051 and Simmons 3032.
U20 Men’s Heptathlon
Obviously, it’s early days after just one event, but it was difficult to discount the swift 7.17 Arthur Reilly (Brendan Reilly, City of Sheffield and Dearne) clocked in the 60 metres. Always a likely podium finisher, his PB showed he’s enjoying a great winter and would be the man to beat given his strength over all seven events. Behind him, Ryan McCaffery (Alexander Wort, Sale) and Samuel Lickerish (Iain Drage, Northampton) were also in the form of their lives, running 7.24 and 7.33 respectively.
Next up was the long jump, which saw the pack shuffle thanks to a series of impressive jumps. Sam Newton (Tonbridge) led the way thanks to his 6.84 (following his 7.43 in the 60), while McCaffery, 11th in this competition last season, jumped 6.60 in the second round. Reilly was slightly down the field on this occasion in fifth, but nonetheless continued his PB form with 6.44. All of which meant, McCaffrey took over in pole position, just seven points ahead of Newton with Reilly a further two points back.
McCaffrey’s superb opening throw of 12.58 followed by 12.67 in the shot showed everybody he meant business. It was more than a metre further than his closest pursuer, Newton, and provided a nice cushion for the Sale Harrier, albeit temporarily. That’s because Finlay Stuart (Taunton) threw a monster 14.51 to put his right back in the picture after his 7.50 in the 60 and 6.63 in the long jump. Indeed, that took him to the top of the pile, 11 points clear, a slender lead given the unpredictability of the next event – the pole vault.
There was some impressive vaulting from Newton who cleared 4.10, but it was Reilly who proved to be the stand-out competitor in this discipline. The national champion in this event outdoors came in at 4.30 before edging the bar ever upwards to be 4.70.
It meant the athletes headed to their respective hotels with Reilly leading on 2854 from Newton who scored 2754 and McCaffrey third with 2698 (after a 3.60 vault).
Para Champs
Using the Raza points scoring system, Sam Dyson, F40 (Wigan and District) emerged triumphant in the men’s shot thanks to his 6.91 fifth round throw. But equally impressive was Logan Murray, F20 (John Mitchell and Andrew Caddy, Cornwall) who had produced a huge fourth round effort of 8.96, the longest throw of the day. He needed that kind of form as Nehemiah Dick (Blackheath and Bromley), on paper the event favourite had led until that point with 8.81. It was a similar story in the women’s competition as Anna Nicholson, F35 (Richard Kaufman, Gateshead H) produced a great final throw of 9.24 but found herself second on the scoring table behind Amy Thompson, F41 (Mark Edwards, LJM) who nipped it with 8.23 – 772pts to 679pts.
Rebecca Scott, F47 (Paul Keeble, Loughborough) took just two jumps to secure victory in the women’s long jump. Her first valid effort of 4.85 was enough to win the gold medal and she improved that to 4.96 in the next round, the longest in the competition and the most on the Raza scoring table. She also comfortably took the 60 in 8.55.
Guillaume Atangana (Janet-Alison Arkwright, BKS Disability Athletics), T11 ran 7.44 in the heats and followed that with 7.43 in the 60 for not only the quickest time but also the most points (864).
- Day two starts at 9.45am on Sunday January 18 at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Tickets can be bought online via EventBrite for our Track and Field events. You should register for tickets even if they are free.
- For the results and a full list of participants click here.
- All pictures will be available to view from Pat Isaacs here.