Derby athletes’ success at County Championships
Keen competitors from Derby Athletic Club scooped a host of medals, alongside PBs and English Schools standards – plus a podium finish in the Quad Kids competition – in the Derbyshire County Championships at the weekend (May 11-12).
Derbyshire Athletics hosted the two-day event at Moorways, alongside the Nottinghamshire championships at the same venue.
DAC’s athletes set their stall out early on the Saturday when the under 13 boys gained a 1-2-3 in the 1500m, with gold for William Wright in a time of 5:09.03, followed by Luke Bradbury in silver medal position and Thomas Rouse in bronze. All three boys gained PBs in the race. Will also showed his sprinting credentials with a silver medal in the 200m.
The club’s strong middle and long-distance cohort had a good showing throughout the weekend.
Leading the field in her 1500m race was U20 runner Molly Hudson, looking strong as she finished in an SB of 4:42.38 to take gold. She also won gold in the 800m and silver in the 400m. Her sister Bethan won the senior women’s 1500 with an SB of 5:01.75, while Alex Kiltie bagged the silver in that race and gold in the 800m with new PBs in both. Bethan also looked strong in the 1500 steeplechase, winning in a PB time of 5:33.22. Alice Crane won the same event in the U20 age group for Derby, also with a PB.
The senior women’s 3000m race saw Veleska Wills first home to win senior gold, with Bethan gaining silver and Rebecca Miller in third, and Alice winning the U20 race.
Paddy Welsh bagged a silver in the U15 1500, and Charlie Haste was delighted with his bronze in the same race, as he also gained a new PB of 4:54.79. Cameron Nightingale gained a silver medal in the U17 steeplechase with his first attempt at the event, and also got a PB in the 800m.
Valentina Costa was the u17 800m champion and Senay Guzai won the silver in a strongly contested senior men’s 3000m. Jude Bush was fourth in the under 20 men’s 800m, and in the U17 3000m, there was a PB for Jack Davies.
Elsewhere on the track, promising U15 sprinter Jake Horvath-Szovati broke the 12-second barrier when he set a new PB of 11.97 in the 100m, pushing the winner all the way to gain silver. He also gained a silver medal in the 200m. Max Bishop worked hard to gain bronze in the U15 200m and won the 300m with a PB of 39.96. In the U17 competition, Eddie Fenton ran well to win silver in the 400m with a new PB of 52.41 and also grabbed a silver medal in the 200m.
Female sprinters were represented too, with a PB for Annabelle Ita in the U15 200m, SBs from Lauren Blakey in the U20 200m and 400m, and strong sprinting from U17 athlete Angelica Oparinde to win gold in the 300m, following that later with bronze in a close-fought 200m race. She also took bronze in the U20 400m with a new PB of 59.4.
Under-15 multi eventer Patricija Nemanyte gained four medals, two gold and two silver. In shot she threw a PB of 11.10m – a championship record – to gain gold and English Schools standard, and also won gold in high jump with a new outdoor PB of 1.55m. She won silver in long jump and 75m hurdles.
Shay Tarbit was delighted to throw a new PB of 41.28 in the discus, achieving English Schools standard and winning the gold medal. Hannah Barnden gained a silver medal in the U20 women’s javelin with a throw of 37.04, while Jacob Watson gained a bronze in the u13 boys long jump with a PB leap of 3.77. He also picked up a gold in the javelin as the only Derbyshire entrant. Senior men’s athlete Manuel Diaz Brito won two silver medals, for his 61.92 in the 400 hurdles and 5.66m in the long jump.
For the youngest competitors, the Quad Kids event saw more than 40 U11s enjoy what for some is a first taste of athletics competition with a quadrathlon featuring 75m, long jump, howler javelin and 600m.
DAC athlete Oliver Hume was delighted to gain the Quad Kids bronze, coming joint third after finished his day with an impressive 2:00.11 run in the 600m, taking 8 seconds off his PB and scoring a Quad Kids total of 245. Oliver, in the DAC induction group since only February this year, was taking part in his first competition.
The County Championships is an event that offers competition for all ages, including seniors and masters, and DAC members took full advantage. In the V35 3000m race there was a 1-2-3 podium finish for DAC from John Rouse, Martin Kerr and Richard Wilson. A similar effort in the senior men’s 5000m saw Joe Booth, Martin Kerr and Jack Dakin claim the top spots. For the women, Steph Spencer and Sarah Holford both medalled in the Masters 3000k. Sarah also competed in shot, 400m and 100m over the weekend.
