Report by Tom Gayle
It
was a successful weekend for the Gardner family as both neither James nor
Katie walked away empty handed from their long trip down to Swansea for the
Welsh Junior Championships.
Just edging the siblings bragging rights was James. First up he worked on
his speed and was the quickest qualifier for the 100m final with a new
personal best of 11.42. The final itself was tight affair and the John
Crotty coached athlete collected the bronze medal in a blanket finish where
just 0.08 separated the medallists.
When returning to his main event though the triple jump James was a class
above the rest. His leap of 13.10 ensured victory by over a metre.
Younger sister Katie endured mixed fortunes. After comfortably qualifying
for the final, the 13 year old entered the final knowing that she was the
quickest on paper. The conditions that greeted the finalists though were far
from favourable. Running into a 3.9 metre head wind Katie struggled and
wound up placing 6th.
Fortunately though like her older brother her talents are not limited
to the one event. Afterwards she switched her attention to the long jump and
found the sand pit to be more rewarding. A leap of 4.90 helped secure the
family’s third medal of the weekend and she collected the bronze medal.
Stoke AC Results
U17 Men
100m
Heat 1
- 1. James Gardner 11.42 (+1.4)
Final - 3. Gardner 11.66 (-0.3)
Triple Jump
Final - 1. Gardner 13.10 (+1.3)
U15 Girls
200m
Heat 1 - 2. Katie Gardner 27.35 (0.0)
Final - 6. Gardner 27.76 (-3.9)
Long
Jump
Final - 3. Gardner 4.90 (+1.4)
Full results can be found at www.athletics-results.co.uk/site/wjchamps.asp
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