UK Young Athletes League Eton 2 May 2010
Steve Snook reports from a
cold and windy meet.
It was not the spring day
we had hoped for at the first match in this years UK Young Athletes
League last Sunday. It was wet, cold and windy not conducive for
personal best performances, but the consolation was that it was the same
for everyone else.
We compete in this league
as Team Dorset a composite team consisting of athletes from Wimborne,
Poole, Dorchester and Weymouth. Selection for the team is performance
based and it needs to be as we compete against some of the best young
athletes in the country.
On this occasion we were
up against Windsor Slough & Eton and Team Southampton, two of the
stronger teams in the Premier Division and despite the poor weather
conditions there were 128 performances in the match that were UKA Grade
4 or above. Team Dorset ended the day in third place, only 70 points
behind Team Southampton.
Wimborne provided a number
of athletes in different age groups: Kyle Wilson (U17M), Jack Snook
(U17M), Callum Kennedy (U17M), Matt Curtis (U15B), Piers Copeland
(U13B), Annabel Brown (U15G), and Chloe Morris (U15G)
Kyle got back to winning
ways in the 200m after a long absence from competition he was also
given third place in the 100m although the same time as the first two
athletes. Jack had a bit of a mare, no-heighting in the Pole Vault, but
managed to bring home some points in the High Jump and Shot Putt. Callum
had a great debut in the Young Athletes League achieving a pb in the
3000m and the 1500m Steeplechase his first ever attempt at the latter.
Matt won his 80m Hurdles,
but his High Jump was compromised by having to dash from the end of the
hurdles straight in to the High Jump competition. Nevertheless he
managed second place there, which was followed up with a comprehensive
win in the Pole Vault.
Piers had a good day,
providing us with another thrilling 1500m race. He was just beaten into
second place by a couple of seconds only. He also picked up points for
the team in the 200m and Long Jump.
Annabel had the misfortune
to clip one of the early hurdles in the 75m Hurdles race which sent her
crashing to the ground quite heavily. Sadly, she was unable to complete
the race. However, she picked herself up for the High Jump where she
earned some valuable points. Like Annabel, Chloe was another debutant in
this league and managed to improve her best time in the 1500m no mean
feat given the weather conditions.
Well done to all our young
athletes. It was a really tough match and you all did tremendously.
Thanks also to the coaches and parents who also braved the
un-spring-like weather to support our athletes and assist with running
the field events a great team effort by everyone.
The next fixture in this
league will be on Sunday 16th May at Guildford.
Your Team Manager will
advise if you have been selected.
