International debut for Jem O’Flaherty, the Middlesex champs and club records for all ages
The highlights this week include a phenomenal run and international debut by Heathside’s rising star, Jem O’Flaherty, great performances at the Middlesex championships and Heathside’s open track meeting, as well as fantastic comebacks and club records in half marathons and 10K.
We begin with two top stories of the week.
The most exciting news story of the week, and perhaps of the year so far, is Jem O’Flaherty’s fantastic run in Italy. Jacob reports: “Headlining is Jem O'Flaherty who was making his international debut running for England as an U20 in the Oderzo 10k in Italy. Having been picked for his early season 5000m track form, he was unphased by making his 10k road debut in an international match, paced himself well to finish 9th in the race, and first England finisher in 32:46, leading the bronze medal team. And topping the Heathside 10k rankings for the year so far, and setting the U20 club record!” Click here for further details of the U20 performance.
The week also brought the hotly-anticipated confirmation that Heathside trio, Rebecca Bunting, Josie Hinton and Catrin Tyler won team gold in the London marathon. Well done!
Track and Field
Many Heathsiders flocked to Finsbury Park for a special evening last Tuesday to take part in Heathside’s Open track meeting, as athletes, volunteers or spectators. There were numerous PBs across all ages. Ruth Miller’s performance was particularly historic for the club, as she set the women’s V55 club record. Full results can be found here.
There were also some great performances at the Middlesex athletics championships last Saturday. Congratulations are due to Mia Mantann and Ruairi McGonagle who secured 1500m titles for U15 women and U15 men respectively, whilst Luke Gray and William Griffiths won the 400M and 3000M for U20 Men. In the seniors, first place finishers include Rosa Serafini in the 800M, and Iziah Turner in the discus.
Jacob kindly sent in some additional track and field news: “At the Watford open meeting, Nell Swinhoe (5:07.93) was the only Heathsider there, but she demolished her 1500m PB, whilst on Saturday at the BMC meet in Street Rose Garrett (4:48.14) won her 1500 race to take the club U15 record, and Liam Garrett ran a very impressive 3000m and set a PB (8:40.77). We also had a few guests runs in the 5000m at Barnet's club champs in Finsbury Park and and Jeff and Mike went sprinting at Newham”.
Finally, Tony Killilea went to Winterlingen, Germany last week-end to take part in the “Runners decathlon”, an event designed to test your ability to run all distances from 60m to 10,000m. It is unclear which was his favourite, but he did well, finishing 25th out of 55 men and 2nd in his age category (M50).
Road
Pete Crockford and Tony Kililiea had a great day representing their respective employers at the Civil Service 10K this week. Pete reports: “Challenging 4 lap course with tight corners and ramps up and down from canal level, and horribly windy...”. In spite of this, Pete’s performance (a swift 40:47) was one to be proud of, as he came first in his age category, and secured the club record for V60 men and a bronze team medal for DEFRA. Tony ran well to finish in 42:10, all the more impressive given that, with his runners’ decathlon in Germany, he would have raced just over 32km (19.9 miles) in less than a week.
Jacob sent in some further news from the roads: “Cathy Jeremiah continued her improving form in the North Lincs HM finishing in 1:39.43, Pete Northall ran a good PB in the Richmond Ranelagh HM, whilst Rob Hynds ran well in the Belfast marathon, completing in 3:10.24.”
Finally, Kate Davenport ran in the London 10 mile on Sunday (13 May) around Richmond Park. Billed as “London’s most beautiful running event”, it also appears to have more wildlife and entertainment than most 10 mile races. Kate reports: “This is only the second year for this race and there were some 2080 participants. The undulating route takes you around the circumference of Richmond Park with three or four good hills. Inevitably there are more deer than human supporters along the route, but there was entertainment for the participants in the form of ‘High-fiving squirrels’ (four of them in full squirrel suits); a clutch of Robin Hoods, and a band of Henry VIIIs, as well as tree surgeons shouting encouragement from the trees overhanging the hardest hill.” Combined with perfect weather conditions, these distractions served their purpose, with Kate finishing in 1:14.13 and 17th out of the 1034 female runners.
Parkruns
Several people ran in parkruns last weekend. Congratulations for first place finishes are due to Rebecca Bunting (Moors Valley, 19:13), Amy Cook (Burgess Park, 18:34), Tom Aldred (Stretford, 15:57). Click here for full results: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2018-05-12
Results
Watford Open, 2/5/18
1500m, race 3
4. Nell Swinhoe 5:07.93 (PB)
BMC meet, Street, 5/5/18
1500m, race E
1. Rose Garrett, 4:48.14 (PB, and U15 club record)
3000m, race A
6. Liam Garrett, 8:40.77 (PB)
Barnet & District club champs, Finsbury Park, 5/5/18
5000m
1. Ed Samuel 17:28.1
5. Jonathan Litchfield 19:22.4
7. Jessica Vinluan 21:51.9
Newham 100m open
100m
X1.8 2nd. Jeff Rice 12.25 (-2.2)
X1.9 5th Mike Bense 13.10 (0.3)
X2.7 7. Jeff Rice 12.37 (-2.0)
X2.9 3. Mike Bense 13.06 (-0.8)
Middlesex Championships, Lee Valley
U15 Girls
100m
Heat 2 w/s 0.0 2nd Olivia Salagubaite 13.29
Semi 2 w/s1.3 5th Olivia Salagubaite 13.27
1500m
1st Mia Manttan 4:49.7
Javelin
9th Fabienne Weston 14.83
High Jump
7th Mia Manttan 1.20
U17 women
800M
Final:- 3rd Ella Conlon 2:31.25
1500M Final
Final: 2nd Mimi Blake 5:11.56
U20 Women
400M
Final 2nd Naomi Conlon 62.79
1500M
Final 2nd Lily McKay 5:33.53
High Jump
2nd Anna Mcallister 1.50
Senior Women
800M
Final 1st Rosa Serafini 2:18.44
U13 Boys
800m
Final: 2nd Spike Blake 2:26.49
1500m
Final: Stan Hasson 5:20.03
U15 Boys
100m
Heat 2 w/s none 5th Rufus Tansey 12.3
800m
Heat 2 4th Lucas Maher 2:21.1
Final 5th Lucas Maher 2:23.53
1500m
1st Ruairi McGonagle 4:30.9
11th Bedo Draskoczy 5:00.3
13th Oliver O'Connor 5:12.5
High Jump
3rd= Rufus Tansey 1.60
5th Etienne Munday 1.50
Long Jump
3rd Etienne Munday 4.82 w/s -0.6
U17 Men
100M
Heats (1) w/s 0.1 4th Clive Mbatika 11.74
Final w/s n/a 6th Clive Mbatika 11.78
400M
Final 4th Deji Agbede 56.40
U20 Men
800M
Final:- 3rd Antanas Weston 2:08.28
400M
Final 1st Luke Gray 50.56
3000M nal
1st William Griffiths 9:41.70
Senior Men
Discus
1st Izaiah Turner 31.78
Shot
2nd Izaiah Turner 11.15
35th International Runners’ Decathlon, 10-13th May, Winterlingen, Germany
Tony Killilea: Overall 25th out of 55 men.
M50: 2nd out of 8.
Distance Time Points
60m 8.77 577
100m 13.99 586
200m 28.16 587
400m 1:05.06 488
800m 2:34.01 416
1,000m 3:21.91 425
1,500m 5:04.13 485
3,000m 10:57.08 512
5,000m 19:33.95 467
10,000m 41:21.14 472
Total:- 5015
Oderzo 10k, Italy, 1/5/18
9. Jem O'Flahery 32:46 (PB, U20 club record)
Civil Service 10k, Olympic Park, 16th May 2018
32nd Pete Crockford 40:47 (1st V60)
43rd Tony Killilea 42:10
London 10 miles, Richmond Park, 13th May 2018
187 Kate Davenport 1:14:13 (17th F)
North Lincs HM, 6/5/18
259 (26) Cathy Jeremiah 1:39:43
Ranelagh Richmond HM, 6/5/18
10. Pete Northall, 76:12 (PB)
Belfast marathon, 7/5/18
105. Rob Hynds, 3:10:24