Teens in action for Swindon Autumn Open
- dorianmatts
- 8 hours ago
- 2 min read
Last Friday (4th September), some of our Teens competed in one of the last open track meetings (no field events this time) of the season, at Swindon's Foundation Park:
Holly Stewart-Hodges (14)
Isla Wright (12)
Toby Conway (14)
Alice Averies (12, second claim running for Swindon Harriers on this evening)
It was quite windy, and cooler than of late, and this did not make for good conditions for quick times, but our Teens still produced excellent performances.
The first race of the evening, for our Teens, featured both Holly and Isla, in effectively a girls U14 final (I will explain why Holly is still U14 below for those interested).
I have written about Holly's performances more than once and she is one of the best sprinters the Club has had since Natalie Bradley in the early days of the Club, but Isla hasn't done track events other than at school and so had no PB on Power of 10. Unfortunately, for all competitors the quite strong head wind (2.4m/s for the 100m) meant it really wasn't a day for PBs. Despite that Holly won this final in 13.92s, nearly half a second outside her PB. Isla came third in 14.69. These are level 6 and 3 PB Awards standards, so well done girls, in difficult conditions.
Later in the evening Holly and Isla ran the 200m, with Holly again winning her U14 girls final in 28.47s and Isla was fourth in 30.17s. This time the headwind was 1.4m/s. Holly was about a third of a second outside her PB, so consistent sprinting from Holly; again achieving a Level 8 PB Award, so a really great performance. Isla's time gives her a Level 5 PB Award, so really well done to Isla on her first experience of Club track meetings.
Between the girls' sprint events were other events, including the 1500m finals. Toby ran in the second one and finished in 5:09.08, just over 8 seconds outside his PB showing the effects of windy conditions on the longer events. That's still a Level 1 PB Award but Toby's usual times are in Level 2 territory.
Alice's coaches insisted the Swindon teens ran in different events to usual, so Alice had to step up from 800m to do the 1500m in Final C, finishing fourth in 5:34.97 which is a Level 4 PB Award performance; so well done Alice.
RESULTS
100m U14 girls
Holly Stewart-Hodges 13.92
Martha Smith (Team Bath AC) 14.44
Isla Wright 14.69
200m U14 girls
1. Holly Stewart-Hodges 28.47
4. Isla Wright 30.17
1500m Final B
10. Toby Conway 5:09.08
1500m Final C
4. Alice Averies 5:34.95
PS A couple of our ex-Teens members also had good evenings :
Ben Conway (Toby's older brother) won his U16 800m in 2:12.32 (L4).
Ben Clarke was just pipped on the line for third (despite me shouting at him!) in the 1500m Final A in 4:26.44. (U18 L3)
Dorian
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