Up against some fierce competition she refused to let the field of nearly 200 runners intimidate her, finishing the fast paced 4k race in an impressive 3rd place. Her next challenge will be back at Basildon this Saturday, in the Southern Schools Inter County Championship.
The Essex Schools Cross Country Championships, held at Gloucester Park, Basildon on Saturday , saw 14 year old Gemma Holloway, a year 10 pupil from William Edwards School, take on some tough competition in her 4.6k race, up against girls three years older than her. Despite being scored separately, the Inter Girls (year 10 & 11) and Senior Girls (year 12 & 13) ran together to make up the 87 runners on the cold and windy start line.
WILLIAM EDWARDS student, Gemma Holloway was in magnificent form at the weekend as the 14-year-old Thurrock Harrier captured the Essex Cross Country Championships.
The strength and depth of running throughout the school is improving each year at William Edwards which is evidenced in the results. Coupled together with the recent success that we have had in the national competition with both our junior boys and inter girls reaching the regional finals, the standard of running from our athletes is amazing.
One of the leading contenders is Gemma Holloway, who will be continuing her campaign to take the under 15 girls title. Among the veterans Eamonn Shelley and Jon Metcalf will strive to defend their 1 and 2 positions in the 50+ age group.
THURROCK’S golden oldies were out in force in the 2nd round of the Essex Cross Country League. The tough course, over the Gloucester Park Hill, didn’t deter them from putting in some great performances. Scott Rice finished 16th in the 180 strong field. He was the second 40+ runner being beaten by the reigning county veteran cross country champion Alan Smalls from Colchester.
TWO OF Thurrock’s emerging stars have bee nominated for BBC Essex young sports person of the year. Joshua Olaware from Ormiston Park Academy and Michael Moloney from Gateway Academy are up for the Sports Essex prize which will be announced live on BBC Essex on Thursday November 17th. They were both nominated by club members. [...]
Thurrock’s distance veteran runners are in the middle of preparing for the county cross championships in early December. They will be looking for medals in all age groups. Odds on favourite for the 70+ race is the indefatigable Pat Dobbs who has won all the road championships except the marathon. At this distance he is the current London marathon champion for his age group.
Star of the younger age groups was Gemma Holloway. She has emerged slowly over the Summer to become a leading light in her age group in the County. On Saturday she won the under 15 girls race with considerable ease and has her sights set on regional and national championships. Gemma lives in Grays and attends William Edwards Sports College.
THESE ARE very interesting times for Palmer’s College athlete Hayley MacLean. Her sixth in the World Under-17 games in France was achieved on one leg! and Hayley’s other achievements in the season show that she is going from strength to strength.
IT’S not often that Thurrock’s athletes make a challenge in championship races but at the weekend Thurrock’s 50+ veteran’s team did just that in the Southern Road Relays. These were held at the picturesque Rushmore Arena Course in Aldershot. The Club’s challenge was led by Jon Metcalf. He ran superbly to finish 2nd with a time of 22m 22s. Jon’s best distances are the 800 and 1500m but this outing showed that he can excel at the longer distances.
Thrower Sue Lawrence picked up a trio of second places in the A string hammer, discus and javelin before winning the shot. And U17 athlete Amelia Sumun has contested the pole vault all season gaining many valuable points as well as in the 100m hurdles where she has shown great potential despite having another year over the 80m hurdles.
THE funeral of former ten mile record holder Mel Batty takes place at 2pm this Friday at Basildon Crematorium. It is expected that stars from the world of athletics since the sixties will be present to a man who was seen as an athletics trailblazer both on and off the track.
1965 saw him win the National Cross Country Championship in Parliament Hills, London. He won this race by over 300m, an amazing feat considering the field contained the whole of the New Zealand Cross Country team and such running ‘greats’ as Ron Hill and Bruce Tulloch. Competing in the IAAF Cross Country Championships a fortnight later he left 4 Olympic gold medallists in his wake but found the then unknown Frenchman, Jean Fayolle, hanging on to him as if his life depended on it.
On Saturday the senior men’s track and field team rounded off their league season at Woking when they finished in 3rd place behind Highgate Harriers, Poole Runners but in front of Thames Valley Harriers and Metropolitan Police. This result confirms a satisfactory mid-table position. This division remains the strongest league in Britain outside the 5 British league divisions.
AS former Thurrock Harrier Jessica Judd went toe to toe with olympian Jenny Meadows at the Track and Field trials for next months World Athletic Champs it looked at times like she was running with her mum! Sixteen-year-old Judd finished in a respectable sixth in the 800 metres, which may not see her qualify this year but has definitely laid down a marker that this is a major talent arriving.
FORMER Thurrock Harrier Jessica Judd showed her world class potential after winning a bronze medal at the World Youth Championships.
The 16-year-old former Grays Convent athlete came third in the 800 metres clocking a time of 2m 3.43. America’s Ajee Wilson won in a time of 2m 2.64s.
Elle Smith was on top form, achieving a creditable second place in the Under 13 girls 800m but wiping 12 seconds off her personal best. Her team mate for the under 13 girls, Brittany Abbott-Trangmar bagged new PBs in the 200m and long jump. James Pearson went to the UK number one slot with a shot putt 11.20. 1500m runner Gemma Holloway finished first by 300m.
Derek Redmond’s achievements are all the more remarkable because his Olympic career was dogged by serious injury. In fact, no less than 13 operations on his Achilles tendons
Khai from William Edwards School, had already had a good series of events in the Intermediate Boys Octathlon, but the 1.88m high jump was several centimetres better than other competitors, scoring him massive points. Khai, better known for his UK Ranked performances in the 100m Hurdles and Shot Putt, has added an extra event to his repertoire. Khai’s dreaded event, the 1500m, will need some work before the final in Exeter in September.
The fastest woman in Great Britain popped into The Grays Media and Arts College today. Jeanette Kwakye represented team GB at the Bejing Olympics and is raring to go for the world championships in South Korea and of course London 2012. So this morning she was at the Olympic stadium in Stratford with Lord Coe [...]
Personal bests and some great team efforts at meets as well as Bluewater 10k as Thurrock Harriers dig deep all weekend.
Star of the show was Emmanuel Stephens. He ran a fine 10.7 100 metres to take silver and also took a bronze in the 200 m. Another Grays based sprinter 17 year old Lennox Thompson took bronze in the under 20 400 m. Chris Travis just missed out on a medal in the senior men’s 200 m finishing in 4th place. As always Michael Shortall took medals in both 110 m hurdles and the 400 m hurdles.
Man of the match for Thurrock was Aveley’s Patrick Halcrow. He won the discus with an outstanding throw of 44.97 metres, the 3rd best in the club’s history only Commonweath shot putt champions Billy Cole and Matt Simson have thrown further. He also won the shot with 13.35 metres and the B high jump (1.75) and was 4th in the hammer.
