Sprinting boys dominate at Hampshire Champs
JSAC had a fabulous weekend with great results at the 2023 Hampshire Track & Field Championships. The weather was good to the athletes with a little wind and lots of sunshine. The number of athletes seemed to be back to pre-covid levels, and it was great to see a busy stadium and fewer straight finals.
JSAC sprinters were on fine form. Steven Mackay kicked the sprint medals off with a win in the Senior Men 200m in a PB of 22.15s – this was despite the race being held up for almost an hour due to a failure of the electronic start system. Perhaps sub-22 for Steven later this season. He followed that up on Sunday with another 100m PB (10.84s) to take the silver.
In the U20 age group, Jamie Oldham got silver in the 200m in a 22.02s PB, chopping over half a second off his 2022 best. The U20 100m final had some drama with a set of blocks slipping and the recall gun not going off until the remaining athletes had crossed the finish line. The race was re-run to ensure a fair start for all, and Oldham got the bronze in a PB of 10.97s, dipping under 11 seconds for the first time.
Charlie Le Mains achieved the sprint double in the U15 age group with two fine performances and also two new PBs of 11.70s and 23.99s.
For the U13B, Myles Christopher won the bronze in the 200m (28.04s)s, and then went on to bag another bronze in the 800m (2:21.20)
In the women’s short sprints it was Geneva Frankson who brought home the silverware, with a fabulous 2nd place in the 100m in a stunning time of 13.25s. She also made the final of the 200m, both in her first year of U13s and her first off-island competition.
Olivia Allbut took a silver home in the Senior Women’s 200m with a just illegal 25.28s to build on her excellent start to the season in Bromley. Olivia had started the weekend with a new PB and silver medal in the 400m (57.78s) and then got a third PB of 62.5s and the gold in her main event, the 400mH. Aidan Loane took the silver in a small field of senior men long hurdlers. He got a new PB of 63.09s in his third competitive outing at the event.
utside the sprints there were plenty of medals on the field. Poppy Mapplebeck and Bibiana Riva leapt to a hard-earned joint bronze in the U13G High Jump with 1.20m, Izzy Gibson also got bronze in the U15G event with 1.30 and Eva-Raine Clark got equal gold in the U20w event with 1.50m, her heels just clipping the bar at 1.55m. Eva-Raine also got silver in the triple jump with 10.07m only 10cm down on her PB.
In the throws, coach Cat Hallden’s athletes achieved a number of PBs and medals. Daniel Dubras threw a PB of 43.66m in the U17M javelin to take silver, with training partner Tom Bennet just outside the medals in 4th, also with a PB. Tom made up for that with bronze in the discus with 30.35m. Dan Ross won two medals with a silver in the hammer (29.34m) and a bronze in the discus (38.50m) both PBs.
The middle distance athletes also bagged some podium positions. Yasmin Lookess got the silver in the senior 800m with 2:20.32, a little slower than the time she was hoping for. Bradley Andrews-Callec got the U17M 3000m gold in 9:00.02 with Herbie Buchholz getting the bronze with a PB of 10:03.23. Bradley followed that gold with a bronze in the 1500m in a PB of 4:10.57. Isla Hall achieved a strong silver in the U15G 1500m with a PB of 4:54.72, and in the U13G 1500m Thea Thompson took a brilliant gold, pulling away from the field to finish in 5:02.93. Florence Williams followed her home to take bronze in 5:14.26.
It was great to see real camaraderie amongst the athletes with throwers, endurance runners and sprinters all supporting each other, celebrating each other’s success but also being supportive if results weren’t quite as expected. It was a learning experience for everyone as many the adults took the opportunity to increase their knowledge by officiating on the track or field. Going to Hampshire is invaluable to everyone in so many ways.
The Club are supported by the Jersey Sport Workforce Grant and Travel Grant for all off-island competition.
Photos are in a total random order!!
