HARLOW Athletic Club enjoyed a good weekend in the Essex and Eastern Region Indoor Championships, held at Lee Valley.

A smaller than expected contingent of women turned out but performed very well indeed: Katie Champion was seventh in the U17 800m final in a new indoor best time of 2.36.84. Polly Woods jumped 10.25m to take fifth in the Senior Women’s triple jump. Beth Harryman was sixth in the U17 Long Jump, with a jump of 4.83m. She claimed a sensational first place in the High Jump, smashing her PB and raising it to 1.63m in the process.

There was further good news on the field for the men as Jordan Sheridan claimed second in the U17 Triple Jump, also setting a new PB in the process. 12.04m was by some distance his best jump and bodes well for the outdoor season.

Owen and Lewis Harknett capped a very busy weekend as they literally raced from the final Essex cross-country event to line up in the 800m and 1500m respectively. Owen was fifth in the 800m in a time of 2.16.94 and Lewis was second in the 1500m in 4.42.23.

Will Snook ran his first ever 800m at senior level and won with a time of 1.56.27, some three seconds quicker than his nearest rival.

There was a good turnout for the sprints groups: at U13 level Marley Sarling made his first ever competitive appearance and was fifth in the final (32.22). Club mate Regan Lawrence had a great day as he took second in the same final (28.94) and followed this up with third in the 60m final (8.61).

The U20 men enjoyed success too: the quartet of Harry Woodall, Shemar Boldiszar, Mohamed Tambedou and newcomer Charle Tankeh all made the semi-final. Woodall’s best time of the day was 7.47 and left him in good shape ahead of Sheffield and the national indoor event. Tambedou and Tankeh qualified from the same heat to reach the final. In that final both men claimed medals, Tankeh (7.04) edged out Tambedou (7.06) for silver and bronze respectively.

Boldiszar was controversially disqualified as footage suggested the Enfield athlete next to him twitched first in their semi-final. However, he made up for this disappointment with a blistering display in the 200m, cruising into the final and then being edged into second in a thrilling final. Shane Dewar’s winning time was 22.39 a mere seven hundredths quicker than Boldiszar (22.47) and both men head to Shefield well placed to perform well there too.

After the event club coach Steve Lott said, “It’s fantastic to see our athletes perform well. The indoor season is always a good indicator of how training schedules are progressing and it seems as if ours are well placed for strong outdoor seasons. In the short term, there are several athletes preparing for Sheffield and they look in particularly good shape. Well done to all the athletes and their coaches.”