Welsh Junior Indoor Championships – NIAC Cardiff – and other results
Despite our low number of entries B&W came away with three gold medals and one silver medal in these Open Welsh Championships. Our array of medals came from very different events in track and field which must be speak well of our diverse coaching structure and furthermore it was also without call on our endurance athletes who were engaged this weekend in the Southwest Schools Cross Country Champs.
Pride of place I think goes to our all-conquering Pole Vaulter Nyree Perry who despite being ranked as the UK #1 (U17) last year has taken time out this winter whilst she studies. Nyree now an U20 came into her competition as normal when all the other competitors had fouled out. She came in tentatively at 3.22m and cleared that and 3.32m with her first attempt before having narrow misses in two attempts at 3.42m. Her coach tempted her to change to a stiffer Pole at this stage and go for a PB at the higher target of 3.52m with her last attempt. Despite a near try Nyree recorded a foul and had to settle for just a glorious gold medal. All looks well to me for Nyree to take that English #1 place at PV next week at Sheffield.
Paul Filer coached Owen Garrett has been going from strength to strength in the last year being UK third ranked at U15 for Shot. He recently moved up to the U17 age group and hasn’t disappointed us. Owen produced a sound series of throws before putting a really notable PB of 13.35m with his fifth-round effort to establish himself as UK #3 for this early part of the year. That earned Owen a well-deserved gold medal.
Myalee Osola has already made her case as an U20 hurdler even if she is now also dabbling with Pole Vault and High Jump. If you remember she first competed at the Senior specification 60m hurdles in December where she recorded an outstanding 8.83 secs for the event. In the heats, Myalee demonstrated the difficulty in moving up in the event with a shaky second place in 9.51 secs having experienced difficulty reaching the third hurdle after a slight falter at the second. In the Final Myalee rectified things with a magnificent gold medal win with 8.88 secs. It maybe gold and close to her PB but she was not satisfied with that time and seeks to improve greatly over the rest of the indoor season.
Patrick Kyle posted some great times at Lee Valley in January but was slightly off colour at these Welsh Championships after dropping a hurdle trolley on his foot recently. Patrick proceeded to hit the first hurdle and graze the second but despite this he still posted a notable time and take the silver medal in a good field of opposition. Again, with all the foregoing competitors next week comes the day of reckoning competing in the English Champs.
Eleanor McIntyre is certainly very adept at 300m but on this occasion stepped down to compete at 200m. Her heat was a revelation with a fine 27.01s clocking and a top five performance. In her semi-final she slipped slightly to clock 27.12 secs and sadly slipped that one precious place to not qualify by a few hundredths of a second for the final. Close but not close enough Eleanor, but your speed is certainly there for the future.
Ella Bowell had the dilemma of wanting to compete at 200m as well as to Long Jump. However, timetable clashes forced her to just concentrate on her main event for which she registered 5.34m with her second jump. It was equal to her indoor best set last year, but I am sure that she would have been happier much closer to her outdoor PB of 5.65m.
Elsewhere I note an outstanding hurdles performance by Kezia Tarzey who travelled all the way to Loughborough to gain experience in preparation for next week’s championships. Kezia clocked a remarkable 9.62 secs for a new B&W Club Record for U15 Girls 60m hurdles. That time beats some formidable performances by our past hurdling stars and should be a lift off point for some further great times by Kezia. Kezia also tackled the 60m flat and clocked another excellent run with a time of 8.33 secs.
Back a few weeks we missed an excellent 800m run at the London Games by Devon athlete Joely Bytheway with a 2:23.58 clocking. Joely is a 400m hurdles specialist so that will provide backing for her summer exploits this year.
Mike Strange