THE NINE man team battled hard to secure 3rd place in the 2nd round of the Southern Mens’ League Division 1 on Saturday at Gillingham, Kent.
The foundation of the team was an heroic nine event performance from 47 year old Mark Jenkins. The former County decathlon champion took on the heavy workload after some last minute withdrawals.
DAVID Johnson turned in a great performance in the May Crown to Crown run. He was 3rd in a time of 18m21s, both time and position were his best. There were 2 more much improved performances in the top 10 of the 180 strong field. Antony Tobin was 6th in 19m14s, also a personal best. John Russell 19m 52s in 8th place indicates a welcome return to his best
form.
A HOST of Thurrock athletes performed very well at the recent Essex Club Club champs held at Blackshots, the home of Thurrock Harriers. Tom Richardson running for Basildon AC won the U-20 3000 metres in 8.58.34.
STANFORD’S Hayley MacLean smashed her personal best for the 400m hurdles in one of her first outings of the season in Belgium. Hayley had been quite low-key in her assessment of the coming season but she let her work on the track do the talking.
ONLY a few weeks ago, Thurrock’s Khai Riley-Laborde told YT that he was struggling to get to grips with moving up from 100 metre hurdles to 110 metres.
However, the Purfleet teenager recorded an amazing 14.3 in his first race of the season in Basildon.
Khai competes for Enfield & Haringey. Many other Thurrock athletes who compete for a number of clubs are the county were in action.
THURROCK made its debut in the Southern Athletics League, which caters for mixed teams of senior men and senior women, at Dartford on Saturday and were pleased with their 2nd place in the 5 team match.
They were neck and neck with Dartford for most of the match but the home club pulled away over the last hour of the 6 hour competition to win by 282 to 232.
RUNNERS from across the borough gave their all to complete the 26 miles and 385 yards of the London Marathon. Before the race started, they respectfully observed a minutes silence for those who suffered at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
THE CALIBRE of athletes sponsored by Cedar Hall Clinic is quite astonishing. Poppy is a 17 year old high jumper who is a member of Chelmsford Athletic Club & coached by Phillip Sergeant. She has represented both Essex and GB at a number of events including, the Schools International competition of 2012, where she won the title with a new PB of 1.75.
THURROCK Harriers kicked off the Eastern Young Athletics League in cracking style. Middle distance runner Tyler Chu was to have his debut outing for Pole vault but this was cancelled due to windy conditions. Keeping the team spirit he then slotted into the only event left for U15 boys – High jump, something he has never done in competition or practiced much, came away with a PB of 1.50.
Alice is a middle distance runner and member of Basildon Athletics Club coached by Jacqui Childs. Following a broken ankle during training, Alice worked hard, through rehabilitation, and was rewarded at the end of the 2012 season by achieving a PB in her 1500m of 4min 56secs, knocking almost 30 seconds from the start of her season.
TILBURY legend, Charlie Lawrence is gearing up for his first ever marathon, just a few day short of this seventieth birthday. The final long runs are in the locker and now Charlie is set to take on all 26 miles and 285 yards of the London Marathon course.
IF YOU ever want to know how seriously these young athletes take their sport then you just need to go back to last year, when Hayley MacLean was disqualified from the National Under-20′s 400m hurdles.
But such disappointment just make junior international athletes such as Hayley even more determined. And Hayley has a whole set of ambitions for 2013.
THERE ARE a host of joggers and runners from around the borough who are now making their final preparations for the London Marathon on Sunday April 21st. YT will be catching up with a number of the runners over the next two weeks as they face the mighty challenge of 26 miles and 385 yards.
TILBURY-based hurdler, Robbie Clarricoats has been steadily blazing a trail in the athletics world for some years now. Robbie has been competing in athletics since 2008 and specialises in the sprint hurdles and competes this year in the U20 age group.
CLUB historians are anxious to track down former long jump record holder Brian Emsell. Brian was born in Grays and attended Palmers School.
AT the Braintree 5 on Sunday the outstanding performance from the Harriers came from Mick Bumstead. The former County 20 mile and marathon champion won the 60+ section of the race comfortably with a time of 30m15s. The injury plagued Corringham athlete produced his best performance for many months in good conditions and on the attractive Braintree course.
OVER 300 athletes turned out for the Good Friday Crown to Crown 5K including 14 runners from Thurrock Harriers.Harriers were led by Nick Houghton who finished fourth in 17m 21s.
THURROCK Harriers youngsters are proving to be strong competitors this season already. A hardy bunch were competing on Easter Sunday at Lee Valley and produced some fantastic results. Daniel Knight kicked things off with a solid 8.88s 60m which is just outside his personal best swiftly followed by Jessica Smith running a 9.24s. Daniel then ran an impressive personal best in the 200m with a time of 29.61s.
IN WINTRY conditions, Thurrock athletes enjoyed success at the Brentwood Half Marathon on Sunday.
There were concerns that the race might be called off as there was a dusting of snow on the roads and pavements.Veteran Scott Rice finished seventh in a great time of 1:16:31. David Johnson came 43rd in 1:24.02. Jason Syrett came 77th in 1:29:17.
A Fourth place from David Johnson was the highlight of the Thurrock Harriers’ performances at the St Clare’s Hospice 10K. The course in Hastingwood near to Harlow is a demanding one with lots of twists and turns and sneaky inclines that can test the best of runners.
THE Essex Road Relay Championships held on Saturday at Chelmsford attracted strong fields in both the men and women’s teams.
Thurrock’s senior ladies fielded 2 good teams which finished 7th and 9th in the 27 strong field of the teams who finished the race. Outstanding in the A team was Toni Noble who recorded 23m54s for the 6k course. This is her best race for many months and an indication that she is in sub 40m form for the 10k. On Saturday she was supported by Victoria Peacock 27m 08s and Sam Cox 27m43s.
STANFORD’S Hayley McLean’s winter season just got better as she took gold at the women’s under-20 400 metre champs in Birmingham.nThe Chelmsford AC athlete clocked a personal best of 55.19s.
The England Athletics indoor championships were held at National Indoor Arena Birmingham over two days and local Thurrock Harrier James Pearson attended. Multi-eventer James came away with two medals from the national championships.
ON Saturday a handful of young Harriers competed at Lee Valley in the South East Pentathlon. They all worked really hard throughout the course of the day and enjoyed an exhausting and challenging day. Seniz Jessiner really pushed herself during her 1st competition with solid performances in high jump (1.26m) and long jump (3.61m). Liam Barnard ran a great 60m hurdles with a personal best time of 11.34s. Liam also ran an extremely gutsy 800m and another pb of 2:50.86s.
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