CAMBRIDGE University Track was the venue for this year’s Eastern Counties Championships. Harlow had nine competitors in attendance, and they all performed well.

In the short sprints, Alfie Jackson and Kitty Tyson ran at Under 13 level, David Ezeama-Riok at Under 15, and Nissi Onofowokan at U17 level.

The day began with U13 100m and Tyson didn’t make the cut for semifinals, finishing fifth in her heat. Alfie Jackson fared better as he earned automatic qualification by finishing second in his heat. In his final, he finished third with a time of 13.44s.

Onofowokan arrived expecting heats at Under 17 Women level, but several no-shows ensured that the 100m became a straight final. She was fifth in a new personal best of 13.09s.

Pride of the morning for Harlow, on track, came in the U15 Boy’s 100m. David Ezeama-Riok ran an electric race and won by some distance. His time, 11.11s is the second quickest in the country and knocked half a second from the existing age group record at the club. He now has the national standard for both 100m and 200m and will be encouraged to enter the national age group championships in August.

Later in the day, Onofowokan and Ezeama-Riok returned to the track for the 200m Both negotiated their respective semifinal successfully. Onofowokan hit a new PB of 27.0s as she did so.

In the finals, Ezeama-Riok continued to dominate the U15 field and won in 23.58s, taking down a twenty-three-year-old club record in the process. He may also have made the Hertfordshire Schools’ selector’s job a little easier as he beat the tied time from the Herts Schools’ Championship two weeks ago.

In the longest sprint of the day, Thomas Grey ran for third place in the Under 17 Men’s 300m. This was no mean achievement as in the morning, he had already run the 800m. He was seventh in a large straight to final field. His time of 2.21.0 minutes was a massive PB by five seconds.

Kitty Tyson reappeared on the track in the 70m Hurdles for U13 Girls. Her season has gone well; top thirty nationally, county silver, and a call up to Essex later in the season. And it continued to go well as she picked up second in the event. Her time of 12.23s was a PB and edges her ever closer to the club record of 12.03s.

Another athlete who has enjoyed an excellent season is George Watkins. For this event, he opted to focus solely on the 1500m and won in commanding style. He led from gun to tape and beat the field by a clear five or six second margin. His winning time was 4.27.0 minutes and was yet another PB in his fine season.

There was success on the field in the guise of Rhiana Drew and Samson Brichieri-Colombi. Brichieri-Colombi only managed a single throw before a twinging back saw him withdraw from the competition. However, that one throw, 41.64 was good enough to secure third.

Making a return from injury, Rhiana Drew threw in both the hammer and discus competitions. Hammer was first and, after a consistent series of throws in the low thirty metre range, she pulled out one extra effort in the final round. Her final throw was for silver and measured at 36.82cm, a full three metres further than she had ever thrown before. Not only was this a new personal best, but also a new club record for the age group and event.

Her day got even better as she doubled up with another silver in the discus. In what was proving to be a day of best performances, Drew hit another target as she went over twenty-five metres. Her new PB stands at 26.36m.

At the time of writing, the final result of a long day, the 3K, was unavailable. Conor McEwan ran at U17 level in a surprisingly large field and finished a little down the field.

At the end of the event, nine Harlow athletes had amassed three gold, three silver and four bronze medals, and had set four new club records in the process.

Many congratulations to this group who continue to build on what has already been a strong season for the club’s athletes.