Golden Trio in Nottingham

Report by Tom Gayle

The conditions that greeted the athletes for this, the 72^nd staging of these championships replicated some of the performances produced, nothing short of scorching. Amongst those grabbing the headlines were Stoke AC as the club brought home four medals, three of which were gold as Alex Nelson, Alex Williams and Stephen Lewis all achieved the ultimate prize in the ‘Kids Olympics’.

Nelson took the glamour event of Track & Field the 100m. Following his sixth placing last year, Alex won the Junior Boys event with a mature display throughout the competition. After naively easing down just metres before the line in his heat, when placing second, he ensured he was never headed again as he powered away in the 2^nd 50m in both his semi final and final.

Alex Nelson (Green Vest in the centre) takes the Junior Boys 100m

After his phenomenal 10.9 clocking right at the beginning of the season in the Young Athletes league many would have already prematurely hung the medal around his neck, but recent injury problems probably boosted the confidence of the opposition.

In the end though Nelson took home the medal that his ability warranted by beating of the Middlesex duo of Chris Julien (11.57) and Paul Crawford (11.61) with 11.54 in what was far from favourable sprinting conditions.

Pole Vaulters Alex Williams and Stephen Lewis who both topped the rankings in their respective age groups going into the event conformed to their pre competition favourite tags as both took gold in the Junior and Intermediate Boys events.

Steven Lewis in action during the Intermediate Boys Pole Vault

For Lewis it proved a comfortable victory, with his main rival Keith Higham (Cumbria) 20cm adrift as he cleared an impressive 4.45. Stephen continued his admirable consistency in these championships, as this was Stephen’s second English Schools title, adding to the Junior Boys he won in 2000, while also placing 7^th in 1999 and fourth last year.

Following his victory Stephen has now been selected to compete for England Schools in S.I.A.B international match in Glasgow on the 20^th July.

Youngster Alex Williams seems to get better and better with each competition as he again extended his personal best to win the competition with a vault of 3.60. After a tough battle with James Head (Hertfordshire) where both cleared the same height, Williams took the title due to having a better record during the competition as both beat last years Silver medallist Luke Cutts who had to settle for third.

Notably Williams became the third Stoke athlete to win the Junior Boys title in four years, following on from Alan Jervis’s win in 1998 and Lewis in 2000.

With a throw of 53.47 in the Junior Boys Hammer many would of thought that Sean Lewis would easily win the competition. On the day though he had to settle for Silver behind the highly impressive local lad Matt Lamley (surprisingly only 9^th last year) who hurled his hammer out to a massive 63.45. This, the second furthest distance ever thrown in the history of the competition and currently lies 4^th on the UK all time lists for this age group.

If disappointed by his Silver Lewis should take heart from the fact that his throw would have earned him victory in 7 out of the 10 previous Junior Boys competitions, and would have won last years event by 8 metres.

Perhaps one of the unluckiest athletes of the championships was Robin Smith in the Senior Boys 110m hurdles. In what was the closest race of the weekend, just 0.1 separating the first four, Robin unfortunately had to be the one to miss out when placing fourth behind last years Intermediate Boys winner Edward Dunford (Warwickshire).

What is probably more frustrating for Robin was the fact that the Senior Boys hurdles was the only event in the whole championships that didn’t receive electronic timing. Therefore despite recording the same time as Andrew Hopkinson (Cheshire) of 14.8 the judges decided from the later breasted the line first.

As for the rest Emily Clowes placed 7^th in a very competitive Intermediate Girls discus where just 5 metres separated the top eight, and will go again in this age group next year.

Nick Gayle and James Dohnal were both eliminated in the heats of the Senior and Intermediate Boys hurdles respectively. While the clubs sole middle distance representative in the competition, Emma Jackson, knocked just under four seconds off her personal best in the Junior Girls 800m with 2:16.63, only to miss out of the fastest loser spot for the final by just 0.16.

A complete set of results and photographs from the championships can be found at www.esaa.net, while a full report including the main highlights can be found in this weeks Athletics Weekly (17/07/02)

Stoke A.C Results

Junior Boys

100m
Heat 2
2. Alex Nelson (Staffordshire) 11.56 (-1.0)

Heat 3
4. Andrew Norton (Cheshire) 11.88 (-1.0)

Semi Final A
7. Norton 11.95 (-0.7)

Semi Final B
1. Nelson 11.44 (-0.5)

Final
1. Nelson 11.54 (-1.3)

Pole Vault
1. Alex Williams (Staffordshire) 3.60

Hammer
2. Sean Lewis (Staffordshire) 53.47

Junior Girls

800m
Heat 2
3. Emma Jackson (Staffordshire) 2.16.63


Intermediate Boys

100m hurdles
Heat 3
3. James Dohnal (Staffordshire) 14.22 (-1.5)

Pole Vault
1. Stephen Lewis (Staffordshire) 4.45

Intermediate Girls

Discus
7. Emily Clowes (Staffordshire) 34.54

Senior Boys

100m hurdles
Heat 1
3. Robin Smith (Staffordshire) 14.9

Heat 3
3. Nick Gayle (Staffordshire) 15.2 (-1.1)

Final
4. Smith 14.8 (+1.7)