EASTERN YOUNG ATHLETE’S LEAGUE, WATFORD

HARLOW began the EYAL junior season in decent fashion at Watford as the small squad of twenty-nine athletes, across the three age groups, scored over 300 points. In this particular match they were up against three of the bigger teams on the circuit, making their task all the more difficult.

Notable performances on the track for the Under 13s came from Rhys Cole and Katie Lee in the Girl’s 800m. Katie was second in the A race, whilst Rhys was first in the B race. This was all the more remarkable as she had been knocked to the floor by another athlete with 250m to go, but showed determination to get up and drive on.

Mia Rowan won the A 70m hurdles and set a new PB in the process of exactly 13 seconds. Rhys then went again in the 100m and picked up second place in the A race, also in a new PB time, 13.8s.

Mia’s good day continued in the field as she smashed her shot putt PB with a throw of 5.64m for third in the A competition. This was backed up by newcomer, Olivia Williams who was also third in the B event: this time she threw 4.62m but there is clearly more to come.

Williams was the club’s only competitor in the discus and she threw 11.96m for another third place. For the boys twins, Samuel and Logan Putt, threw discus and both posted new PBs. In the A event Samuel threw exactly 14m and Logan threw 10.82m in the B event; both throws were good enough for a brace of third places. Also in the competition as a non-scorer was debutant Aaron Wilkinson. His throw of 13.78m means that he will take a scoring berth at the next match.

The Putt twins repeated their double act in the Javelin and again both boys threw PBs. Sam’s throw of exactly 20m was good enough for third. Logan’s throw of 17.07m secured second in the B competition.

Another new boy was Sampson Brichieri and he also had a good day in the field. A throw of 5.93m was good enough for third in the boy’s shot and 3.19m took fifth in the long jump.

The Under 15 team was even smaller than the U13s but between them all there were a number of strong performances. In the 75m Hurdles Grace Iyinbor was second with a new PB of 12.7s and team mate Millie Upton won the B event also in a new PB time of 13.6s.

Annalyse Hassanally ran the 100m in 14.2s for third in the B race, a feat repeated for the boys by Elliott Butcher. Training partner, Freddie Henderson, was fifth in a keenly contested A race and 12.5s was a new PB.

The longer 300m sprint was also a fruitful event for the team. Millie Upton ran a new PB of 48s exactly for fourth in the girl’s A race; James Petty was second in 41s on his return from injury and Butcher claimed third spot in the B race in yet another PB time, 41.3s.

The club could only muster two middle distance runners. Debutant Maddie Piron ran the 1500m in 5.46.4 for fourth and Mackenzie Cranfield was fifth in the 800m.

The Under 17 competition was poorly supported by all clubs and Harlow was no different with only seven athletes. Louis Child, making his club debut was fourth in both his field events, clearing 1.45m in the high jump and jumping 4.76m in the long jump.

Jamie Putt was fourth in two events. First he ran the 800m in 2.05.7 and then ran the 400m in 55.5s

For the girls, Breanna Philip claimed third in the shot with 8.92m and was fourth in the long jump. Lucy Kemp picked up third in the B long jump with 3.70m and was fifth in the 100m in 14.6s.

Amelia Loveridge was fourth in the A 300m and Mairi Malcolm third in the B race. Sister, Grace Malcolm, ran 2.47.9 for third in the 800m.

The final result saw Shaftesbury and Barnet score a massive 802 points. Dacorum and Tring were second with 792. Home club Watford were third with 692. Colchester Harriers ended on 453 and Harlow fifth, with 313 points. Enfield and Herts combined were bottom with 174 points.

Afterwards club Chair Steve Lott said; “despite the low turnout there were a lot of encouraging performances. And to pick up as many points as we did with so few athletes is very encouraging indeed. We will only be stronger at the next fixture in Ware in a month’s time. Congratulations to those who got out to compete. And, a huge vote of thanks to all of the adult helpers who looked after athletes or helped to judge events.”

The team’s next match takes place at Ware on 6th May.