Indoor Round Up 1: 01/01/23 – 15/01/23
M&M athletes have been in action over the first few indoor competitions of the year with good effect.
Lee Valley Open 02/01/23: First out of the blocks were those who took part in the now traditional Lee Valley New Year Open, which is an excellent meeting particularly for young athletes, to have a race indoors to see how their winter training has been going.
In action for M&M was Cheyne West, who had a super day recording 2 big new pb’s in the 60m of 7.27 and the 400m of 53.48. It is clear that training is going well and that Cheyne is already building on the success he had last year on the track.
Also in action for M&M over 200m were Jake and John Foster. Jake set a new indoor pb of 25.91, while John, running his first ever indoor 200m, recorded a time of 28.80.
Sutcliffe 60’s 08/01/23
The new indoor surface laid just before Covid at Sutcliffe Park and this series of 4 open meetings from stretching from December to March, provide a great opportunity for M&M athletes to race 60m indoors at a venue which is almost “on your doorstep”.
I’m pleased to say that there were a number who opted to take advantage of this at the January edition, all who came away with very encouraging performances.
There were pb’s for Jasper Emmanuel (fastest M&M athlete on the day with 7.15), Ben Purton (7.75), Daniel Culver (7.77) and Harry Blake (7.80) as well as season’s bests for Dylan Purton (7.22) and Alex Anagnostou (7.61).
Also in pb form was Rebeccah Akinsanya. After recording a time of 7.87 in her first round run, she went even faster in the second round, finishing with a new pb of 7.79, which was also a new under 17 M&M club record.
SEAA U17/15/13 Championships @ Lee Valley
The first of the indoor championships of the year were held at Lee Valley for the younger age groups and it was good to see a small number of M&M athletes taking part.
Once again prominent was Cheyne West, bagging a couple of medals with pb performances. On the first day he finished second in the U17 men’s 60m hurdles final in a new personal best time of 8.43 and then returned on the Sunday, this time over 400m and produced a pb run of 52.09 for a bronze medal. All looking good for further progress on the track in the summer over 400m hurdles.
The only other male competitor from the club to compete at these championships was Franklin Shepherd, who also had a good weekend, producing a seasons best of 2:03.38 in the U17 men’s 800m heats and then finishing 5th in the final with a time of 2:04.46.
In the U15 girls sprint events, Grace Durrant made the semi-finals of both the 60m and the 200m, finishing with a new personal best of 8.31 over 60m and a new seasons best of 27.42 in the 200m. Also in the U15 girls event, Sienna Gratwick had a busy weekend with runs over 60m (8.83) and 200m (29.52) as well as a 4.18m in the long jump qualifying round.
At U17 level, Azaria Makinde made the semi-final of the 60m setting a new pb of 8.14 in the process on the Saturday and then set a seasons best of 27.78 in Sunday’s 200m heats. Also over 200m, Rebeccah Akinsanya recorded the fastest heat time of the day with a 25.42 clocking for a new pb and club record, before also being fastest over the 3 semi-finals with a time of 25.70. Sadly, she was then finished for the day, as a sore hamstring led to her withdrawing from the final.
Congratulations to all those who have competed to date, particularly to those who have set new personal bests.
Special mention to Cheyne West, who at time of writing, is ranked 4th in the UK over 60m hurdles and 6th over 400m and to Rebeccah Akinsanya, who again at time of writing, is ranked 8th in the UK at 60m and 3rd over 200m.
(Report by Steve Munday)