THURROCK'S mens section of 8 athletes made heroic efforts to cover all the events in the Southern Athletics League match at Braintree on Saturday. They missed out only on one events and this was because of a traffic jam on the A13 which delayed the arrival of Ben Gibbs for the high jump.
THE YOUNG Thurrock Harrier athletes shone at the last EYAL league match of the season. There were some great performances from every age group with personal best performances being smashed again. Under 13 girls age group lead the charge on the personal bests with some fantastic results kicking off with Kendra Nwaelene in the 100m with a time of 14.0s and again in the high jump with an improvement of 5cm to 1.25m. Lola Omowanile improved her 200m time to 32.7s and Jessica Whitebread set a new pb for the 70m hurdles at 13.4s and a massive new pb in the long jump to 4.16m.
EIGHT men linked up with the senior women to tackle the 4th round of the Southern Athletics League. All of them performed heroically covering all but one of the 38 events and in most cases producing a great performance.
STANFORD athlete, Hayley MacLean ran the race of her life to win the gold medal in the European under-20's athletics champs in Rieti, Italy. Hayley ran a storming 400 metre hurdles to clock a personal best time of 57.26 seconds.
IN a busy weekend for the Harriers senior men there were many pleasing results. The senior mens track and field team took 3rd place in the Southern Mens Division 1 Match at Blackshots. There were six teams competing.
Arguably the best performance came from Ben Gibbs who won the 100m in 11.1s. It is only a matter of time before he breaks the 11 second barrier. He also earned good points in several other events, the best of them being 2nd place in 110m hurdles B String and a respectable 28.15m throw in the hammer.
KHAI Laborde-Riley and Hayley MacLean were just two of the Thurrock stars that shone at the English Schools Track and Field champs in Birmingham at the weekend. In front of the Sky TV cameras, Enfield hurdler Khai produced a stunning piece of hurdling to win the Senior Boys 110 metre hurdles in a time of 13.90.
LAST YEAR, Stanford athlete, Hayley McLean was heartbroken after being disqualified from the UK under-20's champs and thereby missing a place on the UK team for European champs. That now seems a long time ago. She won this years Euros and, as if to celebrate, has just set a fantastic PB in Germany.
JON Metcalf won 2 outdoor track championship titles on Saturday at the Eastern Counties Veterans Championships. He won 2 very competitive races to take the 50+ 400m and 800m titles. His times were 60.02s and 2m19.3s. It means he will represent the Eastern Counties at the National Inter Area Championships this month.
ALEX was closely followed by Tom Heslop (33m 34sec) and then Anthony Jackson and the first ladies to cross the finish was Elizabeth Davies, Emma Deary and Samantha Monk. After this grueling event-Trophies were presented to all winners by rotary club president Janice Hills @ The Bell in Horndon. The club would like to thank all the runners for taking part and all club members and their families for their support in the organisation and management of this most successful event...
FORMER Thurrock Harrier (and former Grays Convent student0 Jessica Judd continued her stellar rise in athletics, as she beat a star-studded field to win the womens 800 metres at the Diamond League in Birmingham.Jessica also went under the magical two-minute barrier for the first time, clocking 1.59.85.
THE third combined Southern Athletic League Match at St Ives, Cambridge – with the men choosing to go to the Southern Men's League Match – left the women to do battle alone again. Despite the heavy down pours and the hailstone storm Thurrock’s Women produced many outstanding performances and dominated the women’s section of the match.
ESSEX Schools Junior Boys multi-events team shone at the competition on Saturday.
Conditions were far from ideal but the team pushed on and finished in first place, booking themselves into the National Finals which will be held Birmingham this September. Thurrock Harrier and William Edwards pupil James Pearson led throughout the competition and finished overall 1st, gaining a personal best time of 11.5 seconds in the 80m hurdles.
THURROCK Harriers tough afternoon of competition in the 3rd round of the Southern Mens’ League Division 1 at Bexley on Saturday was made all the more gruelling by torrential rain and strong winds. However, they battled their way to 2nd place beaten only by the Kent club, Medway and Maidstone.
HURDLERS Hayley MacLean and Khai Riley-Borde showed their class as they both won medals at the UK National Under-20 champs. Chelmsford AC's Hayley booked her place for the European Junior Champs with an outstanding first place in the 400 metre hurdles in a time of 58.69 seconds.
JON Metcalf was the star performer in the Vets League match held at Southend last week. In winning the 800m he beat the world's leading V60 runner at 1500m.
Dave Butler of Billericay. While it cannot be said that 800m is Butler's ideal distance he does not get beaten very often in Essex races by veterans of any age. So Jon's comprehensive victory was a real feather in his cap.
