Ore Adamson, Herne Hill Harriers under 17 long jumper leapt to her best performance of 2018 at the Bedford Games BIG Jumps and Throws Fest on bank holiday Monday. Adamson’s 5.95m was only a few centimetres shy of her PB from last summer which saw her ranked number one in the UK in her age group and this latest effort is the furthest so far this year in outdoor competition by an under 17 woman.
Having recently jumped over 6 metres in a local league match only to have it ruled a marginal foul over the take-off board, Adamson’s Bedford jump reinforced that she is now heading into top form and will now be seeking to attain the qualifying distance of 6m for the Great Britain team for the European Youth Championships in early July.
In overseas action, Herne Hill 400m aces Nicholas Atwell and Peter Phillips raced in Oordegem, Belgium on Saturday and both posted their fastest times of 2018. In placing second in his race, Atwell clocked a rapid 47.26, only 0.05 seconds outside his PB time, while Phillips also ran very well to record 48.60 to finish third in a different race. Both atketes raced twice at the meeting, with Atwell also being timed at 48.16 and Phillips at 48.79 for some strong performances. With another Harriers senior 400m man Samuel Adeyemi opening his season with a swift 48.31 a few days earlier at an open meeting at Eltham the club men’s 4 x 400m relay record looks to be in serious danger this summer.
Herne Hill middle and longer distance racers were also in action over the weekend. On Saturday at the British Milers Club Grand Prix meeting at Watford Fiona de Mauny ran a season’s best 800m time of 2.13.17 in placing fifth in her race, while Mike Cummings went under 4 minutes for 1500m for the first time this year with his 3.57.19. Also at 1500m, under 17 Charlotte Alexander ran her fastest time of 2018 to date with 4.37.47.
In the longer races, Ryan Burling was the only Harriers race winner of the evening with strong front running in the closing stages of the B 5000m race with a big PB of 14.45.48. Another leading 1500m run of note from a Herne Hill athlete was at the BMC midweek meeting at Eltham where Georgie Grgec won the women’s race in a good PB of 4.29.46.
On Sunday and Monday there was racing action outside Buckingham Palace as first the Vitality Westminster Mile road races and then the Vitality London 10k road race took centre stage. Monday’s 10k race saw Simon Coombes’ 33.07 clocking place him first among the M45s in amongst all the British Championship and open race seniors. In the women’s championship race Stacey Ward’s 34.52 was good for fourteenth in Britain and this was her fastest 10k time for eight years for a very pleasing return towards international racing contention again.
Second claim Herne Hill man Richard Henderson ran 33.39 in the colours of Bedford and County and behind him both Alex Hobley with 34.02 and Matt Robertson with 34.49 ran PB times. They were followed in by veterans Jonathan Ratcliffe in 36.29, Deron Fagan in 37.40 and Mike Boyle in 38.29, while Fraser Hagell was only just behind Boyle with his 38.38.
On Sunday there were good one mile runs across the age groups, with 10 year old Lily Rose Brown winning a British Championship bronze medal in the under 11 girls event and the Herne Hill Masters well represented in their championship race by Victor Maughn clocking 5.25, Andrew Simms 5.36, Glen Keegan 6.03, Marcelo Fortes 6.35 and Gary Budinger 7.20.
Other Herne Hill athletes raced in the British Junior Championships. Olivia Stillman placed an excellent fourth in the under 17 women’s race with 5.13 with Katie Balme also running 5.36 in this race. Lewis Laylee was sixth under 20 man with 4.32, Joe Roberts ran 5.05 in the under 15 boys race, Christo Chilton finished ninth under 13 boy with his 5.09 and Eva Holland and Susannah Hirst were just one second apart in the under 15 girls race with 5.35 and 5.36 respectively. In the under 13 girls race Zoe Cruywagen produced a time of 6.01 a few seconds behind Brown as the under 11s and under 13s raced together.
Earlier in the day there were open one mile races for senior athlete. Andrew Clarke won one of the fastest senior men’s open races in 4.36, while in the very first race of the day Natasha Lodge recorded a good 5.15 and Eriç Dol was timed at 5.33 to kick things off.