The English Schools’ Track and Field Championships represent the pinnacle of the calendar for England’s best junior athletes, providing the first taste of elite competition to many. Achieving the challenging entry standard is a major focus of the early season for youngsters up and down the country, in order to earn a coveted place to represent their county.
This year, seven Macclesfield Harriers were invited to compete at the Championships on 12th/13th July – it’s almost 20 years since we’ve had so many club athletes qualify for the Cheshire team. Unfortunately, Alice Mendham, selected for the Junior Girls’ long jump, wasn’t able to take part due to injury, so 6 athletes took their place on the 40-strong Cheshire team which left Holmes Chapel on Thursday evening, bound for Birmingham.
Our sole junior age group representative this year was 14 year old Tristan Lamprecht, a multi-eventer who chose the 80m hurdles as his individual event at English Schools. Building on multiple successes this year, including the Northern Athletics Indoor 60m hurdles title back in February and several individual Cheshire County Champs titles in May, it was great to see him win a fantastic silver medal in a time of 11.38s on a cool Saturday morning. Expect more from Tristan over the coming weeks with further national competitions to come.
Three intermediate age group athletes were in action on Friday. On the track, Jake Rowley raced the 400m, achieving a great PB of 51.04s and finishing a strong 18th overall. In better conditions over the coming weeks, he will surely run faster again. Jake was followed by Lizzie Pendrill, who has been going from strength to strength in the 300m hurdles this year, and was unlucky not to make the final, finishing 9th overall in 45.77s. And finally, Isaac Inwood was competing at this level for the first time and took to the field in the long jump, achieving 6.05m and 17th place overall – another great result.
In the senior age group were two relative veterans, Rebecca Dilworth and Hayden Blunn, competed in their final English Schools competition, as they have both just finished their A-Level exams. Rebecca raced the 800m on Friday, and in a slow heat ran 2:20.62, earning 16th place overall. Hayden competed in the shot put on Saturday afternoon, and despite some excellent practice throws, was judged to have fouled in his 3 competition throws. Undeterred, Hayden will compete again at the England Athletics Champs next weekend, and will hope for a better result.
The success of these athletes is the result of a lot of hard work, and their coaches play a huge role in helping them make the most of their talents – Charlie Bird, Becky Frith, Simon Frith, Barbara Murray and Ashley Pritchard all deserve kudos for the support they have provided to these juniors. Finally, no competition takes place without huge number of volunteers and officials, and Macc Harriers was represented by Alison Hartopp and Craig Roberts, who both gave their time to the smooth running of the event. Thank you!