Stockport Harriers hosted the annual Indoor Quadrathlon Young Athletes Multi-Events Competition and Open Meeting this Sunday at SportCity Regional Indoor Arena in Manchester. Quality Athletes from as far afield as Gateshead, Birmingham and Rugby were on the entry lists as well as over eighty Stockport Harriers.
The event was delivered after months of planning by Club Events Officer Mike Frost and a team of Volunteers. Our thanks go to each and every one of them who played a part in ensuring that this event remains the biggest and best of its kind in the UK. It was particularly pleasing to have so many new faces from our Parents and Friends of the Club helping out this weekend.
Whilst the event was an organisational success again, there was also a great deal for Stockport Harriers to celebrate on the track and in the field too, with ten medallists in the Quadrathlon competitions and more in the open Under 17 and Under 20 fields. The Quadrathlon aims to promote appropriate, multi-disciplined competition for Young Athletes in line with the British Athletics Athlete Development model. All Athletes complete a sprint race, a middle distance race, a jump and a throw, earning points towards their total score for each of them in exactly the same way as heptathlon stars Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
The Under 9 Girls competition was won by Stockport’s Saffron Meade (Coach: Joe Frost / Laura Pegler) who won the 400m with a winning margin of over six seconds on her way to a total score of 243 points. Newcomer to the Club, Lauren Atkinson (Joe Frost / Laura Pegler) performed brilliantly in her very first competition to take the trophy for second place with 237 points while another Stockport Harrier, Ashleigh Battle (Coach Unknown) made it an impressive clean sweep for the Club taking the bronze medal and third-place trophy with 235 points.
The Under 9 Boys contest saw further podium success for Stockport Harriers with Rhys Watson (Andrew Mihranian) taking top spot with a score of 274 points and setting a championship record of 3.33m in the Long Jump along the way. Lucas Ryan of Oldham & Royton Harriers took the silver medal while Bronze went to another Stockport Harrier, Archie Hoyle (Joe Frost / Laura Pegler) who scored a total of 259 points.
The Under 11 Girls Competition was the tightest of the day with just five points separating a top five that included two Stockport Athletes. Emma Wood Doyle (Joe Frost) set personal bests in every event on her way to winning the silver medal and second place trophy with 293 points, just a single point behind the winner, Lucy Herbert of Sale Harriers. Holly Stewart (Joe Frost) finished with 289 points, just outside of the medals but beat the previous championship record in the Long Jump with a lifetime best jump of 3.61m.
Manchester Harriers’ William Holmes set a Championship record of 6.00m in the Under 11 Boys competition on his way to topping the podium with a final tally of 303 points ahead of Luke Turner from Rugby & Northampton AC who scored 289 points. Stockport Harriers again got onto the podium thanks to a brilliant effort from Arthur Kennedy (Joe Frost) who ran the fastest 60m time of the day with 9.4 seconds to contribute to a bronze medal winning score of 275 points.
A massive entry of forty girls competed in an incredibly strong Under 13’s competition yet Stockport managed to continue the record of securing a podium finish in every age group with Amy Battle (Pete Torrance) taking the silver medal with 243 points and thanks in part to a massive shot put personal best of 7.45m. The competition winner was Bolton United Harrier Julia Windogroska who scored 261 points, while Esther Wilding of Crewe & Nantwich AC took the Bronze Medal with 238 points.
The Under 13 Boys Competition was the only one of the day where a Stockport Athlete didn’t finish on the podium, a reflection of the quality of athletes in the age group. Macclesfield Harrier Sam Danson finished first, ahead of Trafford AC’s Louis Morrison and Seaton AC’s Joseph Crawford. The highest placed Stockport Harriers were Jonah Wall (Andrew Mihranian) who finished fifth, Adam Pennington (David Jackson) in seventh and Louis Briscall-Slack (David Jackson) in eighth despite an Achilles injury hampering his 600m race performance.
Laura Hickey (Joe Frost), a member of both Stockport Harriers and Leigh Harriers, produced a brilliant all-round performance to win the Under 15 Girls title with a championship record of 8.1 seconds in the 60m and a total points score of 291 points. There was a Quadrathlon first behind Laura with no fewer than four Athletes tying on 270 points for the second-placed trophy, including Stockport Harrier Catherine Giller (Mike Frost), West Cheshire’s Emily Misantoni and Abigail Pawlett and Crewe & Nantwich AC’s Amelia Atkinson. A Quadrathlon record of 2:24.8 was set in the 800m by Emily Misantoni, last year’s Under 13 North of England Champion.
Aaron Pimblett from Wigan Harriers set a new Championship record of 7.9 seconds in the 60m on his way to taking the Under 15 Boys title ahead of last year’s Under 13 Champion Morgan Frith of Macclesfield Harriers who himself recorded a Championship best performance in the Long Jump with an impressive leap of 5.29m. Stockport’s Harry Miller-Reedman (Andrew Mihranian) took Bronze with a points total of 234 with George Zelhof (Mike Frost) in fourth place with 179 points.
Each Year the Indoor Quadrathlon hosts a number of Open events for Under 17 and Under 20 Athletes and there were yet more strong performances from Stockport Athletes in these events. In the Under 17 Womens 60m there was a clean sweep for the Club with Katie Waterworth taking Gold in 8.2, Bethan Murray (Joe Frost) taking Silver in 8.4 and Sanna Maclean (Joe Frost) taking the bronze in 8.5 ahead of Cannock and Stafford AC’s Charlie Peters with 8.6 seconds. Nick Barratt (Joe Frost) won the Under 20 Mens event with 7.5 ahead of team mate Jay Hornby (Joe Frost) with 7.7. Alicia Vermeulen (Joe Frost) ran 8.7 to win the Under 20 Ladies 60m race.
Sanna Maclean (Joe Frost) won the Under 17 Womens Long Jump with a best jump of 5.01m ahead of team-mate Emily Jarad (Joe Frost) who took silver with 4.89m. Charlie Peters of Cannock & Stafford took the bronze medal. Nick Barratt (Joe Frost) won the Under 20 Mens event with 5.65 with Alicia Vermeulen (Joe Frost) winning the Under 20 Womens competition with 4.56m.
The Triple Jump continues to be one of Stockport’s strongest events and our invitational triple jump competition provided some promising early-season performances for our Jumpers. Alicia Vermeulen (Joe Frost) produced a personal best of 10.54m to take Gold ahead of team-mate Sophie Decker (Joe Frost) who leapt out to 10.53m, just a single centimetre between the girls! Four Under 17’s led the way with Emily Jarad (Joe Frost) leaping a UK-leading 10.72m, just ahead of Katie Waterworth (Joe Frost) with 10.70m. Amy Jackson (Joe Frost) took the bronze with 10.23m, ahead of Sanna Maclean (Joe Frost) with 10.13m in fourth. 12.71m was Nick Barratt’s (Joe Frost) best jump to win the Under 20 Mens event ahead of an 11.26m jump from team-mate Jay Hornby in second place in his first competition in the event.
One of the standout races of the day was a three-way showdown between Stockport’s best Under 17 Girls sprinters over 200m. First place went to Natasha Harrison (Pete Torrance) with a personal best of 26.5 seconds, exactly the same time as the fast-finishing Bethan Murray (Joe Frost) while Katie Waterworth (Joe Frost) was third just a tenth back in a personal best of 26.6. The Under 17 Mens 200m was won by Ben Healey of DMSF in 25.7 ahead of team mate Tommy Oladiti in second with 26.4 and Stockport’s Sam Johnson (Andrew Mihranian) third in 27.5 seconds. Nick Barratt (Joe Frost) ran 23.5 to win the Under 20 Mens Event and silver went to Jay Hornby (Joe Frost) in 24.6.
There was a clean sweep for DMSF in the Under 17 Mens shot. Omar Salkini won with 8.68 ahead of team mates Tommy Oladiti and Yahya Agerso. DMSF’s Olivia Johnson won Gold in the Under 17 Girls shot with 7.91 ahead of Stockport Harrier Alice Giller (Mike Frost) who took the silver with a personal best of 7.55m.
Once again, congratulations to everyone who took part in this huge event for the Club and thanks to everyone who contributed to it running so smoothly despite some significant facility challenges. We look forward to another successful event in the Summer as the Club continues to build a reputation for quality combined event competition provision for young athletes.
Full Results are online at shacquadrathlon.co.uk and we can look forward to a film from the event by the guys at BigRuffMedia becoming available soon.