North of England Indoor Championships Report
Stockport Harriers Athletes were in action this weekend in the North of England Indoor Championships, the first major Indoor Championships of the Winter, returning from Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport with a handful of medals including three Gold Medal winning performances from Rory Evans, Charlotte Ogden and newcomer Amy Williams.
Rory Evans (Cliff Oldham) dropped down from the 400m to take 200m Gold in impressive style and almost half a second clear of the field. Rory’s time of 21.27 currently leads the UK Rankings for 200m. In the same event there was an indoor personal best of 23.54 for Danny Savin (Cliff Oldham) whilst finishing fourth in heat five and a time of 26.89 seconds for James Pratt whilst finishing fifth in his heat. In the 60m James and Danny ran season’s best times of 8.19 and 7.48 seconds respectively whilst both finishing in sixth place in their heats.
Louise Rudd (Dave Turnbull) was close to a medal on Sunday, finishing fourth in the 3000m Final in 10:05.45 after finishing sixth in the 1500m Final in a time of 4:39.40 the previous day.
The U20 Women’s Long Jump Gold was won by Stockport newcomer Amy Williams (Joe Frost / Mike Mitchell) who produced an outstanding jump of 5.76m – her best for two and a half years – to take Gold ahead of West Cheshire’s Olivia Montez-Brown
Charlotte Ogden (Joe Frost) produced a strong performance and indoor personal best performance to win the Under 20 Womens Triple Jump by more than half a metre with a jump of 11.90m that currently sits top of the UK Rankings for 2015. Sophie Quinn (Joe Frost) took Bronze with 10.85m in her first Triple Jump competition for almost a year before finishing ninth in the Long Jump. Sophie also ran a personal best of 9.36 seconds in the 60m Hurdles for fifth place. Charlotte also competed in the 60m where an electronic personal best of 7.83 for third place in an extremely fast heat was good enough to qualify for the final where she finished in fifth place. Charlotte’s time was also good enough to secure an invitation to run up an age group in the 60m in next month’s televised Sainsbury’s Series British Indoor Championships at Sheffield. Ellie Staley (Joe Frost) ran 8.14 in the 60m, finishing ninth ranked and therefore just missing a place in the top eight for the final. It was a case of near misses for Ellie as she also finished fourth in a Triple Jump competition dominated by Stockport Athletes after a twelfth place in the Long Jump.
After missing a large part of last summer due to injury, Alicia Vermeulen (Joe Frost) won her first major medal with Bronze in the U17 Women’s Triple Jump in 10.51m, just a single centimetre ahead of fellow Stockport Harrier and Training Partner Sophie Decker (Joe Frost). Both Girls produced personal best performances in what was an exciting contest for those watching. In the Long Jump Sophie just missed the cut with 4.84 for ninth place with Alicia in twelfth of the 28 competitors with 4.80m. Team-mate Amy Jackson (Joe Frost), competing in her first Championships as an Under 17 set personal bests in the Long Jump (4.54) and in the Triple Jump where a best jump of 9.86 was good enough for sixth place and currently sees the three Stockport Athletes in the UK Top 15 for 2015.
Jay Hornby (Joe Frost) continued to make progress as he steps down from middle-distance to the 400m running a time of 51.53 for third place in his heat of the U20 Men’s 400m, qualifying for the semi-finals and also bettering the 52.0 qualifying time for the Nationals which will be held in Sheffield in late February. Nick Barratt (Joe Frost) ran an indoor personal best of 52.45 for third in his heat, just missing the semi-finals and continuing his progress after an injury disrupted start to winter training. Nick also produced a best jump of 12.27m to finish fourth in the Triple Jump, just missing the medal positions.
Congratulations to all the Athletes who competed and represented the Club, particularly to our Champions Rory, Charlotte and Amy and Bronze Medallists Sophie and Alicia.
All eyes now turn to the North of England U15 & U13 Championships that take place at Sheffield in just under two weeks on Sunday 1st February with many Stockport Athletes competing across the age groups and events.