News from Havering AC

England Athletic Championships, Manchester 7^th & 8^th August 2021

Stephanie Okoro and Jacob Blanc added England Athletics gold to their English Schools’ titles at the Age Group Championships at Manchester this weekend.

Stephanie travelled to the north-west as the UK Number 1 and odds-on favourite to lift the Under 17 Women’s 300m hurdles crown and the Romford 15-year-old did not disappoint. After a comfortable heat win on Saturday, she took the lead early on and despite stutters at the early barriers was faultless after that and came home in a new PB and club record of 42.82s to cross the line 20 metres ahead of the field. With two national competitions to come, at the School Games Finals and the Home Countries International, her club best is likely to fall further.

Jacob Blanc also topped the rankings in the Under 17 100m sprint hurdles going into his competition but he made light of the blustery wind and damp conditions to run a flawless race to record his second fastest time of 13.07s to win his first England Athletics gold, almost four metres clear of the rest – a huge margin in a sprint event.

Bobby Williams was unable to repeat his English Schools medal winning performance in the Under 15 Boys’ javelin and his 45.94m throw placed him fourth. Al-Ameen Salaam opted to tackle the sprint hurdles and he set a new PB of 11.50s in his winning his heat but was edged into fourth in the final by one-hundredth.

Ayo Babatunde equalled his best in his 200m heat and went event faster in his semi-final, clocking 22.51s – the sixth fastest ever by a club U17, and Paris King was just outside her best in her U17 80m hurdles heat.  Ridwan Salaam clocked 11.39 seconds in his Under 17M 100m heat and Dan Peters was timed at 2m 8.64s in a slow tactical 800m heat.

RESULTS

U17M: 100m Ridwan Salaam 11.39w; 200m: Ayo Babatunde 22.51s (Heat 22.58s); 800m: Dan Peters 2:08.64s; 100m Hurdles 1^st Jacob Blanc 13.07s (13.55s heat); Long Jump: 4^th Jacob Blanc 6.47m

U15B: 80m Hurdles 4^th Al-Ameen Salaam 11.78s (Heat 11.50s); Javelin: 4^th Bobby Williams 45.94m

U17W: 80m Hurdles Heat Paris King 11.98s; 300m Hurdles: 1^st Stephanie Okoro 42.82s Club record (Heat: 44.57s); Long Jump 9^th Stephanie Okoro 5.39m

National Athletics League, Championship London Division, Round 3 Kingston Saturday 7^th August 2021

A small Havering squad made it three wins out of three in their London Division Championship fixture at Kingston on Saturday.

With numbers low due to holidays and other commitments the team had to work hard to cover the gaps but their efforts were rewarded by a 50-point victory.

Chloe Williams won the sprint hurdles and high jump and was a member of both relay squads, as was training partner Flic Clarke who won the400m hurdles, and was second in the B sprint hurdles. Their relay partners were Emma Ramsden who won the B 200m in a new PB and was second in the A 100m, and Nina Brennan who won the B discus and was B 400m runner up. The quartet were sprint relay runners up and won the 4x 400m relay.

Under 17 Alice Brown won her discus speciality and was 400m A runner up while Adelaide Thatcher-Gray won the javelin. Olivia Boachie won the B 100m and was second in the 200m A on her debut. Tomi Sanwo was second in the triple jump and added shot and long jump points.

Molly Sweetman returned to club colours for second in the 800m, as Ginte Bailey season’s best placed her second in the B event, and Rebecca O’Rourke was just outside her season’s best in placing second in the A 1500m.

Teamwork was also the order of the day for the men. Duane Jibunoh won both the discus and javelin in season’s best and was shot runner up and third in the B hammer. Adam McCarthy made up for missing his 400m hurdles event on health grounds but scored valuable pints in the 200m, triple jump and high jump and Karl Tucker was second in the hurdles and covered both 100m and 200m before joining McCarthy, Reece Harriott and Luke Williams in the winning sprint relay quartet.  Reece was third in the 400m and vaulter Luke Williams who equalled his pole vault season’s best for third and added triple jump and B hurdles second places.

Hal Hutton won the B javelin and Graham Holder was second in the hammer, discus and javelin. Ben Davis outkicked the opposition to win the 1500m as Louis Berrett was second in the B, as Kieran O’Hara ran well in the same event as a non-scorer and James Stewart was 3000m runner up.

The season concludes at Lee Valley on 28^th where all teams will be hoping for better turn outs to end this COVID affected campaign where the 16-team national division was rearranged into four regional divisions of four clubs.

National Athletics League, Championship London Division, Round 3 Kingston Saturday 7^th August 2021

Points score subject to revision

HCA = Higher Competition Athlete

Non scoring:

200m: Louis Berrett 26.17s; 1500m Kieran O’Hara 4:19.12s