The final round of the Oxfordshire Track and Field League took place last Sunday at Tilsley Park. Bicester AC had their biggest turnout this year for a summer fixture but weather conditions were challenging for the athletes with both humidity and a strong head wind impacting on performances. Despite this there were several bests in the quad competition and 23 bests in the under 13 and above competitions with over half of these achieved in the throwing events. There was also a superb win for Bicester AC girls in the under 9 girl team quad competition.
Bicester found A string wins hard to come by on Sunday but two of these were in the under 13 boy’s competition. Cyrus Ariana completed a track double starting off with a very good win in a very competitive 200m with an EA PB level 5 time of 28.3secs with teammate Oliver Jarvey 4th in the B event (33.2secs). Ariana then led from start to finish in the 800m holding off a strong late challenge from a Banbury athlete to win in 2mins 30.7secs. Harry Spencer completed a good Bicester performance in this event by finishing 2nd in the B event with 2mins 48.2secs. William Cleaver produced a good throw in the javelin with an EA level 5 throw of 25.72m which was good enough for 2nd place. Cleaver was also runner up in the high jump clearing an EA PB level 5 mark of 1.30m. Cleaver paired up with teammate Ivan Stocker for their maiden bow in the discus and both threw well. Cleaver was 3rd in the A event (15.32m) with Stocker throwing less than 50cms short of the B string winning mark in finishing 3rd (11.76m). There was a win for Finley Harrell in a competitive B string 100m (15.1secs) with Oliver Jarvey 6th in the A event (15.6secs). Felix Cassidy ran a new best in the 1500 metres (6mins 1.6secs) where he finished 5th. And the team of Cleaver, Spencer, Harrell and Jarvey were good runner ups in the 4 by 100m relay clocking 58.9secs. The Bicester under 13 boy’s team finished a competitive 4th in the team standings.
There were three Bicester AC athletes in the under 15 boy’s competition. The 800m race was combined with the under 17 race. Bicester AC’s Erlgean Appiahkorang-Mensah tucked in behind two under 17 male athletes for the first 600m. Then he clicked in to another gear as he powered into the lead to set a new under 15 boy’s league record and EA PB level 8 time of 2mins 6.7secs, less than a second off his best time. Appiahkorang-Mensah was over 25 seconds ahead of the next under 15 boy finisher. Max Finnegan made it a double first for Bicester in the 800m as he took the B event (2mins 48.7secs). Appiahkorang-Mensah also competed in the shot putt where he added another centimetre to his best finishing 3rd with 9.06m. Darragh Cassidy had to contend with both heat and humidity in the 1500 metres as he finished 3rd in 5mins 6.4secs. George Hart was Bicester’s sole competitor in the under 17 men’s competition and he finished 3rd in the 1500 metres with 4mins 49.9secs. And Django La Porte ran in the non scoring 100m where he clocked 12.1secs.
Naoimi Ejiogu and Georgia Bower were in good form in the under 17 women’s competition. After a break for exams during the first part of the summer Ejiogu is starting to return to some of her best form. She produced a season’s best in the long jump with a win in the A string and an EA PB level 5 leap of 4.89m. Georgia Bower made it a double first for Bicester in this event with a win in the B string and an EA level 5 mark of 4.81m. Ejiogu also set a new best in the shot where she was 2nd with a new personal best of 8.77m. Ejiogu was also 2nd in the 100m (13.2secs) with Bower taking the B event (13.7secs).
The Bicester under 9 girl’s team had a superb quad competition which resulted in a win in the team event. Ottilie Maclean was leading Bicester finisher in 5th place with a total of 113 points which included a personal best in the howler (15.88m). Evie Thompson finished 7th, in only her second competition, which included a new best of 2.62m in the long jump. Bicester’s other placings were Cherry Bartholomew (9th), Ruby Maxwell who was making her debut in 10th and April Perry in 12th.
There were some good individual performances from Bicester athletes in the quad under 11 boy’s competition. Charlie Simpson continues his fine vein of form this season finishing 6th out of the 53 competitors with 223 points. His efforts included new bests in the 600m (2mins 3.5secs) and howler (24.47m). Levi Fulcher finished in 13th with 198 points and produced the best throw of any Bicester athletes this season in the howler with 26.96m. Bicester’s other finishers were Sam Wilson (27th), Jake Hill (28th), Theodore Simms (33rd), Brendan Kelly (40th) and Oliver Kelly (52nd). Alex Kelly finished 15th in the under 9 boy’s competition.
There were five Bicester athletes in the under 11 girl’s quad competition and Hannah Parson enjoyed a strong competition finishing in 22nd place with 158 points. Olivia Maxwell again competed well for 28th with a points total of 144 points. Bicester’s other finishers were Lorelei Whelan in 41st, Isabelle Bryan 49th and Emma Surman 54th.
In the under 15 girl’s competition Erin Griffiths finished a strong 3rd in a competitive long jump with 3.97m as well as winning the B string 1500 metres (6mins 22.6secs). Grace Fulcher was in good form in the throws setting new bests in the discus where she finished 5th (13.08m) and the shot putt (5.95m) where she also placed 5th. Lily Spencer also set a new best in the shot finishing 2nd in the B event (5.75m). Grace Jarvey’s efforts included a 4th place in a very competitive A string 200m (30.1secs) as well as 3rd in the B long jump (3.63m). Kate O Malley braved the humidity for 2nd place in the A 1500 metres (5mins 59.7secs). And there was a new best for Jessica Shepherd in the 800m where she finished in 5th (3mins 2.7secs).
The Bicester AC under 13 girls competed well in what was a strong competition with all of them achieving at least one personal best on the day. Ruby Majonga seemed to gain in confidence as the high jump competition progressed and having gone clear at 1.15m, which equalled her best, she only narrowly clipped the bar at a new height but still did well to place 4th. Majonga also set a new best in the 200m where she finished 7th in a good quality A event clocking 31.5secs. Megan Surman made her debut in the shot and produced a promising putt of 5.66m to finish 4th. She was just short of her best in the 800m where she finished 5th in 2mins 54.3secs. Neive Lehane produced a best ever long jump of 3.01m in finishing 5th in the B event. Maya Korn braved the conditions to finish 5th in the 1500 metres (6mins 42.8secs) as well setting new bests in the non scoring B long jump and 200m of 3.11m and 37.1secs respectively.