Herne Hill Harriers Great Britain Tokyo Olympian, middle distance athlete Katie Snowden produced a superb season opener in the world ranking USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix meet on Saturday.
In a two day classic that saw a world men’s shot put record and many other leading event performers, Snowden came second in a stellar women’s A 1500m field in a rapid 4:00.04. She was agonisingly close to what would have been her first sub 4 minutes 1500m time as she crushed her PB by 2.7 seconds with a strong finish.
This result elevated Snowden to sixth on the UK women’s 1500m all time list, set a new Surrey county record and lowered her own Herne Hill Harriers club women’s record. It also saw her go to the top of the early season UK rankings, laying down a marker for other British athletes to chase.
Having spent the past seven weeks training at altitude in the mountains in Flagstaff, Arizona the Balham resident will now head to Belgium to prepare for some races in Europe in the lead up to the UK Athletics Championship and World Trials meeting in Manchester in July.
Also in the USA, leading horizontal jumper Ore Adamson competed in the NCAA DI West Region Prelims in Sacramento over the weekend. On Thursday Adamson was second in the long jump with an outdoor season’s best of 6.29m, then on Saturday her 12.53m triple jump placed ninth in a strong contest. Adamson currently heads the UK Under 23 rankings in the long jump and is third in the triple jump and will be home to London in June to continue her season.
At the NCAA DI East Region Prelims in Jacksonville Phoebe Anderson finished sixth in her 5000m semifinal on Saturday in 16:04.54. Although a little outside her earlier season PB after some difficult recent weeks, this performance nevertheless underlined her quality. Anderson’s fastest time ranks her fourth among Under 23 women on the current UK list.
Closer to home at the Mile End Park Leisure Centre the Harriers Under 17 and Under 20 men and women’s team were winners of their UK Young Athletes Development League match on Sunday. This was their second victory of two so far this season and sees them with a clear lead at the top of the Upper Age Group Division 2B.
This was an all round team effort where filling as many events on the team sheet as possible was crucial in amassing the biggest points total on the day.
U20M event winners included Harry Bell and David Aisa Miller in the A and B string U20M 3000m with 9:18.74 and 10:31.00 respectively. The same two athletes combined for third A and first B in the 2000m steeplechase with 7:20.15 and 7:52.05, while Aisa Miller also won the B 400m in 57.48 and was second in the B discus with 14.41m.
Mashood Danmola won the A discus with 26.21m and was second in the A shot with 8.40m. Diego Lister won the A 400m hurdles in 68.42 and the B javelin with 23.02m. Nathan Latigo won the B long jump with 4.90m and Oluwafikayomi Awolope the B shot with 7.02m. The U20M quartet also won the 4 x 100m relay in 45.41.
In the U20W events Kaitlin Hewitt won the A 1500m steeplechase in 5:27.16 and was also second in the 1500m without barriers in 5:14.00. Jaydine Robinson claimed the A long jump with 5.04m and the B javelin with 12.31m. Coumba Sarr won the A discus with 33.18m and was second in the A javelin with 17.44m. The 4 x 100m relay team emulated their male counterparts winning in 49.92.
U17M events saw Fred Hake win the A 800m in 2:11.50 and Warren Wilson the B string in 2:12.40. Hake was also second in the A 400m in 52.51 with Jon Goldston winning the B in 52.80. Mori Alimi was a double A string winner in the 1500m in 4:09.54 and 3000m in 9:22.07. Wilson picked up his second B win in the 1500m in 4:33.96, with brother Alex taking the B 1500m steeplechase in 4:47.20.
Sam Webb had a good win in the A javelin with 42.95m and new team member Ollie Jermy was second in the A steeplechase in 4:38.00. Hake and the Wilsons showed their versatility with Hake winning the A triple jump with 11.09m and Warren Wilson the B shot with 6.85m. Alex Wilson won the B hammer with 7.41m and the B javelin with 25.15m. Another track specialist Goldston was third in the A hammer with 12.60m. Goldston, Warren Wilson, Alimi and Hake combined to win the 4 x 400m relay in 3:39.18.
Kelsey Martin in the U17W 100m was the only individual A string event winner from Herne Hill in this age group clocking 13.11. The 4 x 300m relay team of India Blakey, Rosalie Laban, Orla Carroll and Eva O’Hanlon were winners in 3:13.87. B string winners were O’Hanlon 800m 2:28.36, Vivi Marshall 1500m 5:58.92, Martha Brennan 3000m 12:14.00, Laban 1500m steeplechase 6:00.51 and Kazia Asiedu Boafo javelin 14.66m on another day on which all points contributions were valuable.
Earlier in the week on Wednesday at the Eltham British Milers Club meeting in Sutcliffe Park, Hake had kicked off his busy week of competition winning the 800m C race in a big PB of 2:02.8.
In road racing two Herne Hill athletes were race winners at the Kempton Park Running Festival on Sunday. The event held races over four distances: 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon and Harriers runners won the longest and the shortest of these.
Only a few weeks after her big PB of 2:41.21 at the Manchester Marathon which was the second fastest time from a club member, W40 Gaby Reynolds produced another very strong performance at Kempton. Clocking 2:49.59, Reynolds was first female finisher by a huge margin and second overall in the marathon.
In the 5km race Oli Walker took the win in 16:34, his time seeing him over the line five seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer on a hot morning.
Geoff Jerwood