Report by Tom Gayle
Stoke AC athletes were evidence in abundance across the various
disciplines of the 71st staging of the ESAA Track and
Field Championships. On a wet and windy weekend Stoke's best
youngsters impressively represented some of the wealth of talent
we have in abundance here at the club.
The first event of the weekend
featured one of four Stoke AC pole vaulters at the Championship
Nathan Lawton. Similar to other Stoke athletes this was Nathan’s
first English Schools and occasion seem to get to him. His nerves
were evident, and after three successive clearances on his final
attempt he finally bowed out at 3.10. Nathan was clearly
disappointed by his 6th place but is bound to take
heart from the fact that his personal best (3:20) would have been
enough for 2nd behind the impressive winner Tom Davis
of Shropshire who vaulted 3.41 to take the title. No doubt Nathan
will put this right at the AAAs later on in August.
Also competing for Staffordshire
were Stephen Lewis and Alan Jervis in the Intermediate and Senior
Boys Pole Vault. Both previous winners at these championships have
another year in their respective age groups and will take heart
from the fact that both finished 4th without clearing
their personal best heights of 4.10 and 4.50.
The final member of Dave Young’s
impressive entourage was Katie Dennison competing for Cheshire.
After seeing the rest of the competition bow out at 3.25 Katie
entered the competition at the Championship best height of 3.35
which she cleared with ease. She then went on to win the
competition with a new CBP and personal best of 3.75. Katie will
now prepare for the European Youth Olympics where she is bound to
challenge the UK age record of 3.90.
Moving onto the sprints, Stoke AC
are lucky to have come across the impressive talents of Alex
Nelson, Andrew Norton Andrew Waller in the Junior Boys 100 and
200m. Alex was the pick of the punch as after finishing 3rd
in both his heat and Semi-Final he went onto to take 6th
in the final with a phenomenal but windy 11.16 seconds at the age
of just 13. In one of closes finishes ever where just 0.12
separated the whole field Alex is definitely one to watch as he
still has another year in this age group.
Both Andrew Norton and Waller did
themselves proud by reaching the Semi-Final stage of the 100m and
200m. Neither should be disappointed with their performances as
Norton, like Nelson will back in the same age group next year,
while Waller equalled his pb of 24.85 in the Semi-Final when
running in lane eight.
Due to the windy conditions
anything over 200m was always going to be difficult. In the Senior
Girls 400m Rebecca Heath had to tackle winds of up to –5.0 on
the back straight. Her efforts in the early part of the race took
their toll as during the home straight while in position to
qualify for the final she faded only slightly but it was
sufficient enough to see her miss out on a place in the final by
0.13 of a second.
In the middle distance the
conditions meant that all the races were going to be tactical.
Eddie Brown in the Junior Boys 800m though displayed the only
tactics that would ensure he progressed to the next round by front
running his heat. After passing the bell in just over 60 seconds
he forced the pace until 600m when he was passed. Unfazed by this
he some how found the inside to come through and win his heat in
an impressive personal best of 2:05.26. His earlier efforts took
their effect later on in the day though as unfortunately he went
out in the Semi-Final, but his impressive heat performance in such
poor conditions suggests that he could possibly attack Eddie
Baileys club record of 2:04.39
Stoke had two representatives in
the 1500m, Carl Shubotham in the Junior Boys and Tom Gayle in the
Senior Boys. Carl who has set an new club record of 4:17.8 this
season, like Eddie made his intentions clear form the start in his
heat by leading the field through a fast first lap of 64 seconds.
Carl eventually faded to 7th but due to his earlier
pacing his heat was far faster than the previous one and therefore
progressed to the final via a fastest loser spot. In the final
Carl set off more conservatively and after being last after the
first lap he impressively worked his way through the field to take
6th , just 3 seconds shy of a medal behind the runner
way winner Alec Felce of Gloucestershire.
In the Senior Boys Tom Gayle knew
he was 7th fastest on paper behind Great Britain
Internationals such as Ricky Soos, Mohammed Farah and Robert
Smith. After Soos and Smith made a break away Gayle was found
wanting in the sprint finish as the race went to the form guide as
he ended up 7th. Even though disappointed he was
inspired by the fact that he knows he can go a lot faster after
finishing just a few seconds behind athletes who previously had
run up to 10 seconds faster than him.
Moving back into the field events
Stoke A.C had two very solid performances which bode well for next
year. In the Intermediate Boys Long Jump Louis Moore took just 3
jumps to qualify for the final after jumping a personal best of
6.63 to take 5th in his pool. In the final he was
unable to better his previous days efforts but was able to take 6th
behind London’s Enun Eyong who broke the CBP with a leap of 7.33
in his pool and 7.26 in the final. Moore, due to his unique talent
has the ability to come back and win this event next year, but due
to his impressive sprint form recently, 11.2 and 22.8 for the 100
and 200m, means he will face the ‘unfortunate’ dilemma of
choosing which event to target. In the mean time though he can now
look forward to the English Schools combined events Championships
in September where he and numerous others from Stoke’s combined
events squad will be competing.
Sean Lewis on the other hand is the
next off the production line of Stoke A.C’s impressive tradition
of hammer throwers. Following in the footsteps of previous Schools
representatives such as Craig Ellams, Chris Adams and last years
Senior Boys Champ Pete Field, Sean took 4th in the
Junior Boys event. Even though beaten by team mate Jack Pallister
by a mere 32cm to take bronze, due to the admirable guidance of
his coach Yaz, Sean has the technique and power that means he will
be a serious contender for this crown next year when the
Championships are in Nottingham.
The final individual events of the
championship were the hurdles. Here Stoke again had two
representatives in Robin Smith and Nick Gayle. Smith who was 5th
in last years intermediate boys 100m hurdles moved up to the
Senior Boys ranks. After qualifying for the final by taking 3rd
in his heat he had to settle for 7th in the final
behind winner Tristan Anthony of Hertfordshire who collected his
fourth English Schools title. Robin though will be safe in the
knowledge that out of six who finished in front of him none of
those will be back to challenge him next year as they will all be
ineligible. Robin like Louis will also be heading off to the
combined events Champs later on this year.
Gayle in the intermediate boys,
came 5th in a close final. In Nick’s heat he was the
4th fastest on paper, but despite that he beat his
rivals in an impressive time of 13.99, he then went on to record a
personal best in an excellent time of 13.72, with 2 metres
separating him and the silver medallist. Nick has been taken under
the watchful eye of former Great Britain International Decathlete
Dave Downing since October last year, which has, enabled him to
make impressive in roads this season.
The futures bright, the future will
definitely include athletes from Stoke AC!
For further information you can
read of full report of the championships in this weeks Athletics
Weekly (11/07/01) or visit the ESAA web site of www.esaa.net
for a full set of result listings and photographs too.
English Schools Track and Field
Championship, Exeter, 6th/7th July 2001
Results for Stoke AC athletes
Junior Boys
100m
Heat 1
4. Andrew Norton, Cheshire 11.93 (+0.0)
Heat 2
3. Alex Nelson, Staffordshire 11.52
(+1.2)
Semi-Final A
8. Andrew Norton, Cheshire 12.09 (+0.0)
Semi-Final B
3. Alex Nelson, Staffordshire 11.56 (+0.0)
Final
6. Alex Nelson, Staffordshire 11.16 (+4.4)
200m
Heat 1
4. Andrew Waller, Staffordshire 24.03
(+0.2)
Semi-Final A
7. Andrew Waller, Staffordshire 23.85
(+2.1)
800m
Heat 2
1. Eddie Brown, Staffordshire 2:05.26
Semi-Final B
8. Eddie Brown, Staffordshire
2:13.04
1500m
Heat 2
7. Carl Shubotham, Staffordshire
4:19.19
Final
6. Carl Shubotham, Staffordshire
4:19.82
Pole Vault
6. Nathan Lawton, Staffordshire
3.10
Hammer
4. Sean Lewis, Staffordshire 41.66
Intermediate Boys
100m Hurdles
Heat 3
1. Nicholas Gayle, Staffordshire 13.99
(+0.4)
Final
5. Nicholas Gayle, Staffordshire
13.72 (+3.0)
Long Jump
Pool A
5. Louis Moore, Staffordshire 6.63
(+0.0)
Final
6. Louis Moore 6.57, Staffordshire
(+0.0)
Pole Vault
4. Stephen Lewis, Staffordshire
4.05
Senior Boys
1500m
Final
7. Tom Gayle, Staffordshire 3:59.32
110m Hurdles
Heat 1
1. Robin Smith, Staffordshire 14.99
(+0.7)
Final
7. Robin Smith, Staffordshire 14.89
(+5.0)
Pole Vault
4. Alan Jervis, Staffordshire 4.20
Senior Girls
400m
Heat 1
4. Rebecca Heath, Staffordshire
58.10
Pole Vault
1. Katie Dennison, Cheshire 3.75
CBP
