Solid season openers for juniors at Eaton
A small group of athletes took the opportunity to get some early season races in at the Dennis Daly Memorial Open Graded Meeting hosted by Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC at the Thames Valley Athletic Centre. Coaches Becs Orpin and Philippa Arnett-Willie travelled with the athletes for an Easter Day trip to the UK.
Charles Cheney (U18M), Izzy Gibson (U18W), Ella Duarte (U16W), Estelle Lamy (U16W) and Xanthe Gibson (U14W) competed in sprints and jumps in windy conditions at Eaton.
The graded races had the desired effect and all athletes ran very close to their PBs, showing really good form for early in the year. In the 100m races:
- Charles came 5th in his race with 12.85s
- Izzy came 4th in 13.50s (+2.4)
- Ella came 6th in 13.31s
- Estelle came 3rd in 13.39s (+2.4), a super performance compared to her 2025 best of 14.05.
In the 200m races the situation was the similar with good times close to PBs, with the athletes contending with a very windy first bend:
- Charles came 5th in 25.95s
- Izzy came 6th in 28.41s
- Estelle came 2nd in 27.33s (+2.1), over 2 seconds faster than her last 200m best back in 2024
Ella and Xanthe competed in the High Jump rather than the longer sprint. Ella continued her good form from the indoor season and jumped 1.60m, with Xanthe achieving 1.30m. Ella then took on the long jump and finished with a best of 4.54m, a little down on where she might have liked to be.
While the athletes competed on the track, Becs took the opportunity to gain some valuable Starter experience working with level 3 and level 4 qualified officials. And Philippa managed to talk her way her happy space into the commentary box and to announce on a few races.
A great way to spend an Easter Saturday!
Thanks to WSEH AC for their hospitality and to Jersey Sport for their support.
