Nine DAC athletes compete in English Schools
A group of nine Derby AC athletes competed in the prestigious English Schools championships in Birmingham on Friday and Saturday, 12 and 13 July.
Perhaps the top performance for the club came from debutant at the event Ben Stevenson in the junior boys 800m. He qualified to the final with a PB of 2min 4sec on the Friday. In the final Ben ran the race of his life, making a late challenge for medals but just missing out with a sixth place but was rewarded with a massive PB of 2min 2secs.
Sarah Bourne, also making her debut at these championships in the junior girls 1500m, finished 12th in her heat in a time of 4min 57sec. Corey Rose also making his debut in the junior boys 1500m, finished ninth in his heat in a time of 4min 27sec; unfortunately neither made it to the final.
Valentina Costa, intermediate girl, was competing in her third 800m at these championships, but also didn’t get through the heats, finishing sixth (2min 23sec).
Another debutant, Alice Crane competed in the senior girls 3000m. She found herself in a tough straight final and finished 12th (10min 31sec)
Molly Hudson in the senior girls 1500m, competing in a quality field, finished in a very respectable sixth and was rewarded with a PB 4min 36sec.
Patricija Nemanyte competed in the junior girls shot and was disappointed to come 17th out of 24, throwing just over 10m, having thrown over 11m earlier this season. The occasion may have got to her as she was in the first event on the first day.
The experienced Hannah Barnden got to the final of the senior girls javelin but was disappointed to be just out of the medals, finishing in fifth place out of 16.
Also on the field, discus specialist Shay Tarbit, in another quality field, threw just under 41m, but couldn’t match the PB throw that took him to the competition and finished 13th out of 18.
All the DAC athletes represented club and county with great distinction and it’s a real achievement to get to English Schools, so they can all be justly proud of that.