The second round of the Oxfordshire Young Athletes League was held last Sunday on a scorching day at Banbury. The holiday season invariably hit Bicester numbers but there were still a good collection of personal bests achieved in the younger age groups although A strong wins were hard to come by with 5 Bicester wins achieved on the day.
Bicester showed up well in both the quad boy and girl under 11 competitions. Charlie Simpson has been a model of consistency over 600m and he set a new best breaking 2mins 4secs for the first time in clocking 2mins 3.9secs. Simpson also soared to the head of the club rankings for the howler with a new best of 23.19m These events along with his 75m run (11.7secs) and long jump (3.32m) placed him in overall 6th out of the 44 competing athletes. There was a strong performance from Theodore Simms, who was 20th, which included a new best in the long jump (3.04m). Samuel Wilson was in cracking from in his first outing of the season setting four new bests with his highest points score achieved in the 600m (2mins 25.1secs). Brendan Kelly set three new bests in finishing 29th which included a new nest in the 75m (12.7secs). And although only completing three events Alfieri Akin-Olugbade’s efforts included a swift 12secs in the 75m. Oliver Kelly was also in personal best form in the long jump where he jumped to a new best of 1.43m.
Compared to her performance in the first round of the Oxfordshire League, Hannah Parsons improved her performance in every one of the quad event’s four disciplines. She set a new best in the howler of 19.50m as well as jumping to a big new personal best in the long jump with her first ever three metre plus jump (3.19m). This helped Parsons to finish 14th overall out of the 48 competing athletes. Olivia Maxwell also improved her best in the long jump (2.92m) on her way to finishing in overall 22nd. Lorelei Whelan set three new bests on her way to overall 34th which included a big improvement in the howler throw (15.41m). Isabelle Bryan also set three new bests with her best points score achieved in the 600m (2mins 32.9secs).
Three of the Bicester wins came from one athlete, Kyle Rayson, who was unbeatable in the under 17 men’s events. Rayson won the long jump (5.37m), high jump (1.58m) and shot putt. He was supported by George Hart whose efforts included a 3rd place in the 1500 metres which would have been hard work in the sweltering heat. Rayson and Hart combined to achieve Bicester’s team placing of 3rd in the under 17 men’s event. Georgia Bower was Bicester’s only competitor in the under 17 women’s competition and she produced one of Bicester’s five A team wins on the day with success in the long jump (4.80m) which was also an EA PB level 5 performance. Bower was also runner up in a closely fought 100m (13.4secs) and 2nd in the shot (6.56m).
The highest EA PB level performance of the day from a Bicester athlete was from Erlgean Appiahkorang-Mensah. Running his second 800m in less than a week, Appiahkoprang-Mensah was a commanding winner in the under 15 boy’s 800m in an EA PB level 7 time of 2mins 7.5secs. This time was less than a second off the league record. Finley Holliday ran well for 3rd in the 100m clocking 12.9secs which was a new best. Theo Cogan continues to show improvement and he set new bests in the 100m (14.4secs) and 200m (30.9secs)
The three Bicester competitors in the under 13 competition all achieved some success during the afternoon. There was a big new best for Oliver Jarvey where he leapt to a superb 3.99m for 2nd place in the A long jump. Finley Harrell finished runner up in both of the B string sprints setting new bests in the 100m (14.6secs) and 200m (30.8secs). And Harry Spencer, in his first outing of the track season, was a very impressive 2nd in the A 800m knocking an impressive 8 seconds off his previous best (2mins 40.7secs).
Olivia Neptune showed an improvement in both of the sprints she contested compared to her previous Oxfordshire league meeting. She finished 5th in the under 13 girl’s A 100m with an EA PB level 5 clocking of 15.2secs. Neptune was 7th in the 200m also with a new best of 32.6secs and was not far away from her best in the long jump (3.43m) where she finished 5th. Neive Lehane was making her debut for the club and her three efforts for the club included a promising 5th in the B 100 metres (15.9secs).
Grace Jarvey was one of three Bicester competitors in the under 15 girl’s competition. Her efforts included a good 4th in a competitive 200m (29.8secs). Lily Spencer, making her track and field debut for the season was 5th in the B 200m in a new best of 32.8secs and also set a new best in the 100m (15.2secs). And Jessica Shepherd was 3rd in the A 800m (3mins 5.3secs) and set new bests in the 300m (54.2secs) and the non scoring long jump (3.40m).
There were two athletes making their debuts in the quad under 9 competition and both showed promise. Eva Thompson was 5th in the under 9 girl’s competition which included a 13.9secs clocking in the 75m and 2mins 39.5secs in the 600m. Alex Kelly was 16th in the under 9 boy’s competition and his efforts included a 2mins 27.1secs clocking in the 600m.