DAC athletes impress in English Schools champs

Derby Athletic Club’s Caitlin Hadfield and Katie Gardner showed strong performances at the English Schools champs in Birmingham – with Katie winning a silver medal while Caitlin received the Mike Peake trophy for her performance at Derbyshire Schools Championships.

DAC athlete Katie (pictured), running for Nottinghamshire, won a stunning silver medal in the Senior Girls 1500m steeplechase at the ESAA championships in Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium at the weekend, with a time of 5:00.74.

The annual English Schools champs are seen as the pinnacle of school athletics achievement in England, and often a springboard for future Olympians.

Katie’s great summer season for the club has also included breaking the DAC record for U20 women’s 2000m steeplechase in June with a PB of 6:57.22.

Caitlin, who runs 300m and 400m sprints, was presented with the Mike Peake trophy for the best performance at the Derbyshire Schools Championships. She crowned her achievement there by making the final of the English Schools Inter Girls 300m, finishing sixth, after posting a 39.93 PB in the heats.

Caitlin Hadfield is presented with the Mike Peake Trophy by Andrea Flinders, Derbyshire Schools secretary.

Caitlin is also a DAC record breaker this year, having posted an U17 club record in the 400m in May.

Long-jumper Kevin Masukume, who won silver at last year’s Inter Boys event with a jump just under 7m, competed in a nail-biting and impressive Senior Boys final, where the winner jumped 7.45.

Kevin jumped a PB of 7.26 which, amazingly, did not bring him a medal – a real measure of the talent on show. He finished a creditable fourth in a contest which offers great promise for the future of men’s long jump in the UK, with the top four athletes, including Kevin, immediately jumping to the top four slots in the UK U20 age-group rankings for long jump.

Young DAC athlete Olivia Lee, running in the Junior Girls 1500, impressed with a third place in her heat, achieving a big PB of 4:37.73. The run took her through to the final, where she came 10th in 4:46.52.

DAC sprinters Kaylah McKenzie (Inter Girls) and Oliver Hume (Inter Boys) both competed in individual events and in the mixed relay. In the hotly contested relay, they were part of the Derbyshire team that qualified for the final, finishing in seventh place. In their individual events, Kaylah came sixth in her 100m heat in 12.45, and Oliver ran a PB of 52.01 to come seventh in his heat of the 400m.

The Derbyshire Inters mixed relay team (from left) DAC athlete Oliver Hume, Joel Cantrill, DAC athlete Kaylah McKenzie, Ellie Oscroft.

Another young athlete, Maizie Kennedy, competed in the Junior Girls discus, throwing 27.01 which won her seventh place, while Miles Heath in the Junior Boys 300m came fifth in his heat with a time of 38.66.

Some of the Derbyshire athletes all set for the parade on day two of English Schools.

Other DAC athletes taking part included multi-eventer Sammy Coulson in the Senior Boys long jump (10^th place with 6.29); Ewan Busfield in the Senior Boys 3000m (10th place with 8:38.38); Ruby Davies in the Senior Girls 800m (10th in her heat with 2:29.44); Iris Clarke in the Inter Girls 1500m (ninth in her heat in 4:48.98); Logan Fairey in the Junior Boys 800m (sixth in his heat with 2:06.47); and Oscar Blake in the Junior Boys 1500m (ninth in his heat with 4:22.38). Sprint hurdler Imogen Hamilton was injured and unable to compete, but still came to Birmingham to offer her support.