Fantastic elite athlete success summer 2023!
The club has enjoyed a strong season in team competitions. We finished 4th in the National Athletic League, 3rd in the Southern League, 3rd in the Youth Development League Upper, 4th in the Youth Development League Lower and 2nd in the Alder Valley League.
For more details, please see here.
In addition to the team success and following in the footsteps of famous past members, such as Sir Mo Farah, Bev Kinch, Keith Connor, Lawrence Clarke, Mark Hylton, Mark Richardson, Nicola Sanders, Paula Fudge, Shirley Thomas and Wendy Sly MBE, we are also enjoying one of our best ever season’s with regard to our elite athletes.
Following the UK Athletics Championships in early July, we have five National Champions!
- Tade Ojora – 110m hurdles
- Alex Haydock-Wilson – 400m
- Jessie Knight – 400m hurdles
- Morgan Lake – High Jump
- Jake Norris – Hammer
In addition to these, we had:
- Michael Allison – Silver in Javelin (read about Michael here).
- Amy Phillips – Bronze in Hammer
At the English Schools National Championships on 30th June/1st July, we had 47 athletes qualify and compete!
We also had a fantastic medal haul, three bronze, six silver and three golds!
Senior Girls
- Lucy Fellows – long jump – Silver (and a new PB) (after Bronze last year)
- Amy Warre – triple jump – Silver (and a new PB)
- Charlotte Dewar – 400m hurdles – Bronze
- Rachel Clutterbuck – 1500 steeplechase – Bronze
Intermediate Girls
- Ella Davey – 1500 steeplechase – Gold (after Silver last year)
- Lilianne Jervis-Allan – pole vault – Silver (and a new PB) (after Bronze last year in Junior Girls)
Senior Boys
- Otis Irwin – 200m – Gold (after Gold last year in 400m in Intermediate Boys)
- Teddy Gannon – discus – Silver
- Demari Gumbs – 400m hurdles – Bronze (after Bronze last year in Intermediate Boys)
Intermediate Boys
- Alden Collier – 1500m – Silver
- Sebastian Simpson – hammer – Silver (and a new PB)
Junior Boys
- Tobenna Okoro – 300m – Gold (and a new PB when winning his heat)
Four of our athletes were subsequently selected for England in the Schools International match a week later in Glasgow – and all of them won medals!:
Under 17 women
- Ella Davey –1500 steeplechase – Gold (and a new PB)
- Lilianne Jervis-Allan – pole vault – Gold
Under 17 men
- Alden Collier – 1500m – Gold (and a new PB)
- Sebastian Simpson – hammer – Bronze (and a new PB)
Staying with Juniors:
We had two athletes selected for the European Athletics U23 Championships in Finland in July:
We had three athletes selected for the European Athletics U20 Championships in Jerusalem in August:
- Michael Allison – Javelin – won Bronze* (read about Michael here).
- Lucy Fellows – Long Jump
- Otis Irwin – 4x400m relay
- See here.
*This is the first medal in javelin for a GB team member in an ‘able-bodied’ major tournament since 2008 (noting Dan Pembroke’s gold in the 2021 Paralympics) and the first in that tournament since Steve Backley in 1987!
In Seniors, we had four athletes selected for the World Championships in Budapest in August:
- Jessie Knight – 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay and mixed 4x400m relay squads
- Morgan Lake – High Jump
- Tade Ojora – 110m hurdles
- Alex Haydock-Wilson –4x400m relay (won Bronze) and mixed 4x400m relay squad
- See here.
The club are immensely proud of all these athletes and congratulate them on these achievements. We look forward to more athletes going on to achieve such heights in the future.