Junior Training Camp report July 28th & 29th 2008

 

There were some fantastic performances by the 62 juniors that attended the Wells Harriers 2 day training camp at Millfield track last week. All were seemingly inspired by the forthcoming Olympics. Well done to all the juniors that took part and had a go. The coaches were very impressed by the endeavour and effort shown.

 

Day one saw the athletes have a go at hurdles, long jump and Javelin whilst also having a go at the fitness test and some hill running. Day two covered sprints, relays, high jump, Shot put, and middle distance running. A total of 8 UK Athletics trained coaches from amongst the Harrier team provided the coaching with 3 of the more senior Harrier juniors acting as the group leaders.

 

Despite the heat wave on the first day, all of the youngsters, aged 8-14, came through the fitness test with flying colours. For the youngest group aged 8 & 9, James Whitlock was king of the beep test whilst the girls’ crown was shared by Maddie Laidlaw, Fiona McCudden-Hugh and Victoria Tate. The Year 5 fitness champions were Dan Reason and Katy Chinnock, whilst the Year 6 crown was worn by Charlie Martin and Ros Arathoon, with Jenny Naylor close. Reuben Whitcombe and Jess Hazlewood were the fittest of the oldest age group.

 

In the hurdles senior Club coach Clive Thomas provided the structured training and saw many of the athletes excel as they got the hang of pacing their strides between the hurdles. For a number of juniors this was the first time they’d had a go at hurdles under expert instruction.

 

In the Long jump there were some good jumps by the older athletes with Tony Evans going the furthest for the boys with his 4.25m and Josephine Douglas achieving 3.94m. For the Year 5’s Dan Reason and Sam Chaddock tied with 3.40m just ahead of Robbie Slater’s 3.30m, and Katy Chinnock’s 3.10m just edged ahead of Hannah Petrovic’s 3.04m.

 

In the javelin only the older athlete’s marks were recorded and amongst them were the 22.74m throw of Jordan Boobyer who has been competing regularly this summer for the Yeovil and Wells combined team as well as the County u’13 team. Johnny Forsey’s 17.70m was the next best mark. Vera Assis had the best throw for the girls with 16.50m. Amongst the Year 6’s the best was by Josh Luckins with 18.82m with Ross McFarlane with 17.04m not far behind.

 

On Day two the sprinters took centre stage. Jamie Dunlop for the Year 6 group was the swiftest with 11.96 over 80m with Abigail Gibbons taking the plaudits for the girls with her 13 second dead timing. Tony Evans blasted home in 12.68 for the 100m event for the eldest group, with Josephine Douglas with14.75 in first place for the girls.

 

In the High jump, Year 7 Harry Tabor went clear with 1.25m ahead of Tony and Josephine with 1.20m.Christopher Hawkes also achieved a good 1.20m height for his Year 6 group. Dan Reason with 1.00m and Hannah Petrovic with 0.95m were again the best for the Year 5s.

 

For the Shot Put, Robbie Slater’s 5.69m and Katy Chinnock’s 4.90m were excellent for the Year 5s. Ros Arathoon won for the girls in Year 6 with the 5.01m Put, just shaded by the 5.02m of James Russell and Rowan Harding for the boys. For the eldest group, Tony Evans again went out in front with a 6.71m put with Jordan Boobyer’s 5.53m not too far behind. Vera Assis was best for the girls with 5.50m.

 

In the middle distance event, James Whitlock demonstrated his running ability with a great run for fastest time over 300m with 62.9. Thomas Sullivan was next closest with 68 seconds. For the girls Micaele Assis with 71 seconds edged it ahead of Lucy Russell with 73.The Year 5 race also saw some good running over 600m with Dan Reason overhauling Solomon Chadwick with 200m to go for 2.05 to 2.11.Katy Chinnock’s 2.34 was best for the girls, ahead of Hannah Petrovic’s 2.35 achieved in spite of the fact that Hannah doesn’t particularly like middle distance running.

 

For the Year 6 Middle distance group, racing over 800m, new Club member Charlie Martin ran an excellent judged race for 2.51 with George Whitlock next home with 3.02. For the girls Abigail Gibbons ran a good 3.12. The older age group saw the inevitable when Tony Evans bided his time over the 2nd lap before launching his attack with 100m to go to come home in 2.58, with Ted Ade-Martins a second back and Vera Assis on 3 minutes dead. That was some good running after such a tiring two days.

 

Many thanks to all of the coaches and junior Harriers that helped make the 2 day course run like clockwork:

 

Qualified coaches:                                                  Junior Helpers:

Clive Thomas                                                           Justine Bowers

Kaye Watts                                                                Alex Wiltshire

Laura Whitehead                                                     Kimberley Bartlett

Paul Chadwick

John Richardson                                                    

Oliver Whitehead

Jon James

Clive Gibbons

 

 

Juniors age 11 and over and senior track and field athletes are reminded that the Dennett Trophy Match takes place on Sunday August 17th at the Yeovil Arena. See the Harrier website fixtures for entry details.

 

The next junior competition evening for 8-15 year olds is Monday September 8th 5.50pm-7.30pm at Millfield. All welcome. Monday training continues as usual with slightly fewer event options over the next few weeks whilst coaches are away on holiday and numbers attending are reduced for the same reason.