17 year old HHH athlete Katie Snowden won the Commonwealth Youth Games women’s 800m gold medal on the Isle of Man, clocking 2.11.20 in very windy conditions. She was pipped on the line by a Ugandan athlete by 1/100th of a second, but the latter was adjudged to have impeded Katie and her opponent was disqualified after an appeal by the England team management. Katie was therefore awarded a thoroughly deserved gold medal after she had bravely overcome illness throughout the week of her heat and final following what had already been a difficult build up to these championships for her.
This was yet another great achievement by a true champion who has again done HHH, her country and by far most importantly herself proud. Having been a World Youth finallist earlier in the season this major gold medal is a fitting reward for Katie’s dedicated training and focussed racing and also for her coach James McDonald and her support team who have made her great results possible this season.
We are pleased to see that Katie is well covered and quoted in the England Athletics website day CYG day 3 report:.
This is a link to England Athletics website
Closer to home, gold medals and club records were won and set at the Surrey County Combined Events championship at Sutton Arena. Thomas Ashby won the senior men’s decathlon with 7,107 pts, exceeding the 7,000 pts “barrier” for the first time and setting a new championship best performance. Consistency was the key for Tom in his 10 events over 2 days as he recorded no PBs (one equalled in the pole vault) but kept a good level throughout the competition. His strongest events were the 110m hurdles and discus at the start of day 2.
Young Breagha Campbell broke a good club record in scoring a superb 2,426 pts in the U13 girls pentathlon. Better known until now as an 800m and 1500m runner, Breagha showed her all round talent and ability in scoring well in all 5 of her events to win gold by a very clear margin. Breagha’s excellent performance ranks her 2nd in the UK in the 2011 season and she looks to be a very exciting prospect for the future at the club.
Results are found at this link:.
This is a link to Surrey Athletics website
At the Surrey Road relay championship in Wimbledon Park HHH teams won medals with silvers in the W35 race and bronze in the M40, with Vic Maughn recording the fastest individual time in the latter category. Our senior men had solid team placings with our A team 4th and B team 5th.
Results are found at this link:.