Yorkshire Track and Field Championships

 

Holmfirth Harriers’ Track and Field stars returned home with 11 medals from the Yorkshire Track and Field Championships held at Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield. This year’s event, held over both Saturday and Sunday, again incorporated the Humberside Championships which ensured greater numbers participating along with greater depth in performances.

The first in action was Aaron Kettlewell in the U/13 boys 100m, sprinting down the track to win his heat in 13.51secs before going on to take bronze in the final later in the day. Aaron’s best performance however, came in the long jump where, as reigning champion expectations were high. He led the field until the 5 th round where he was passed by Sam Day by the marrow margin of 3cm. His competitive spirit rose to the occasion magnificently to take the gold medal in the final round with 4.72m, a winning margin of 5 cm. It was good to see George Orton competing in his first championship event on the track whilst Jessica Hirst also made a debut appearance in the U/13 girls Shot and recorded 5.03m.

In the U/15 girls, Lucy Farquhar and Sophie Spencer lined up for the 800m heats. Competition was strong and they did well to record times of 2mins 43.52secs and 2mins 38.66secs respectively. Sophie returned to the track on Sunday to run 5mins 30.95 in the 1500m.

In the U/20 age group Jordan Toth cruised to victory in the 100m heats before picking up the bronze medal in the final with a time of 11.16secs. A good performance as he is at the bottom end of the age group. Junior George also picked up the bronze medal in the 400m. The women were represented by Lauren Tyrell finishing 3rd in the High jump with 1.55m.

Jacob Henton also found the going tough against older competitors. His gutsy performance in the U/17men’s 400m, however earned him a place in the final where his time of 54.67 gave him 8 th place.

In the senior women’s events on Saturday, Katie Zientek showed tremendous progress in the Throws this year. She gained her first senior county medals with bronze in the Discus with 25.09m followed by the silver in the Javelin with 28.52m. Katie Walshaw and Kath Farquhar lined up for the 3000m but couldn’t stay with the early pace setting times of 10mins 36.49secs and 10mins 48.06secs respectively. Lauren Storr continues to excel in the 100m Hurdles winning the gold medal in a time of 15.82secs.

Mark Buckingham picked up the pace over the last 300m of the senior men’s 1500m to overhaul Andrew Heyes and take Gold. Dave Turnbull, making his debut at the championships put in a solid performance in the 500m with15mins 56secs. In the field events Thomas Jennings made it into the final round of throws in the Shot Putt with his 10.38m.

Distance athletes, Thomas Traviss-Pollard and Max Kaye were in action on both days in the U/17 men’s ‘3000m, 1500m and 800m and events. Thomas, took the silver medal in the 3000m lowering his best time by 6 secs to 9mins 10.74secs, whilst Max ran well to reach the finals of the 800m. In the 1500m the following day the positions were reversed with Max taking silver with a new best time of 4mins 08.6secs.

These results, 3 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronze, are the best achieved by Holmfirth Harriers in a track and field championship event in recent years and hopefully will inspire others to compete.

 

 

 

 

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