HARLOW athletes were out in good numbers at events in Loughborough, Lee Valley, and Coventry over the weekend.

Lee Valley hosted the Essex County Championship Multi-Event competition. Harlow’s sole representative was Under 13, Abigail Jones. This was her first ever outdoor event and she finished fourth, with a score of 1088 points for the U13 Girl’s Pentathlon.

Her first event got her off to a good start as she managed to jump 3.19m, just a centimetre down on her PB. She then followed this up with 15.7s in the 70m hurdles in very tricky conditions. She had thrown shot indoors and beat her previous mark by 5cm, extending her PB to 5.04m. She jumped a huge PB in the high jump of 1.18m. Clearly, the work she has been doing with Assistant Coach, Abigail Dawson, had been used to good effect. The final, gruelling event was the 800m. Her target time was 3.30.00mins and she achieved 3.26.00mins.

With Abigail just beginning her multi-event career, Beth Harryman continued her journey to international competition at Loughborough. She took part in the Loughborough Early Season Opener event. She has been selected for an England team in a GB versus the Home Nations, versus the Rest of the World heptathlon event next month and warmed up with a long jump this outing. She looks in good shape and jumped 5.39m.

The largest contingent of athletes in competition was at Coventry. The Coventry Early Season Open, coincides with classification for Para athletes, so the field was packed with international and home-grown Para stars to pit skill and speed against.

Jack Gower and Thomas Miller (both T34), Lyncoln Street (T33), and Matthew Gardiner (T54) all competed in a range of distances. On day one, all took part in 100m races, leading to seeded finals on day two. Times were not quick on Saturday with strong and gusting winds playing havoc with all athletes. All four athletes recorded season’s bests on Sunday: Gower 21.35, Street 24.15, Miller 22.79, and Gardiner 17.69. Gardiner’s time was good enough for 6th in the fastest race.

All four athletes went on to compete in the 400m. Gardiner and Gower recorded a Harlow one-two in their race in 68.76 and 74.25 respectively. Miller and Street were also drawn in a race together. Miller was fourth in 76.46 and Street was seventh in 94.3

The weekend ended for the wheelchair racers with 800m or 1500m, both for Miller, on the Sunday. There was only one race, and the Harlow trio of Gower, Gardiner and Miller were sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Miller ended his weekend with a third place in the 1500m in a time of 5.03.37 minutes.

Also in action was Bebe Jackson in the ambulant events. She ran well enough on the Saturday to make the A final in a field containing Sophie Hahn, Hetty Bartlett, and Sophie Kamlish. In that final, she was sixth in 14.89s

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