The first out of the four fixtures @ The Middlesex Young Athletes League took off on Sunday 7th May 2023 in the backdrop of the King’s coronation at the Perivale Park Athletics Track. Thankfully the sun was shining on this beautiful Sunday and thanks to all our young athletes Highgate Harriers secured a match position of 5th across the 10 competing clubs. There were lots of gutsy track and field performances with significant learns taken ahead of the upcoming three fixtures (Next one is on 4th June at Harrow).
U11 Boys & Girls
The boys were roaring to go! Jack Cobbold had a great outing in both 75m & 600m distance with a heroic run by Robin Cross and Art Hannah Wolf in the 75m. Thor Frost was fantastic in the Long Jump with 3.13m and a 25.12m thus securing precious points for the club. Joseph Wallis paired up with Thor and added on. Mohamed Omar had a stellar outing on the Long jump with a 3.31m and while a non-scorer, this was a great achievement (given the top scoring jump was 3.34m). Mohamed also had a strong scoring finish in the 600m with Joseph Wallis with a great hand at Vortex with 23.28m. Amongst the girls - Maia Rodriguez Kraji, Kit Hannah Wolf, Carys Tomlinson were brave heart runners on our 600m and a good effort on the Long Jump. Carys performed brilliantly on the 600m despite being a non-scorer.
U13 Boys & Girls
Idriss Mariche despite having a foot injury was a standout securing a 1st position with 1.2m on the high jump, 2nd position on the Javelin with 24.06m and a 4th position on the shot putt. Filip Prastalo bagged some precious points on the 100, 800m and with Tal Querfurth Waterman ran a brilliant 800m coming in 4th with a photo finish clocking 2:28:74 (winner was 2:25). Luke Tomlinson also ran a good 800m (non-scoring). Amongst the girls - Ira Agrawal & Miriam Randall had a gutsy outing on the 100m & 800m this being their first induction in the U13 since they moved up from U11 scoring their first HH points. Chloe Trunkfield finished strong in the 800m 2:43 with Ira Agrawal clocking a 2:52 (the winner clocked a 2:29) Hettie Fletcher scored some precious points on the Long Jump and Shot Putt while also clocking in sub 16 on her 100m. Maya Querfurth Waterman also ran a challenging 800m in the non-scoring.
U15 Boys & Girls
Girls had a stellar outing. Elsa Shabani made us proud coming in 1st on the shot putt (10.23m), 2nd on the discuss (23.05m) and 3rd on the Javelin (22.79m). Izzy Ions had an amazing 800m coming in 3rd with a sub 2:24. Eloise Fenton & Bethany Ions also
finished well having their sub 15 – 100m with Bethany also scoring on the 800m. Monisade Ayodeji was a star coming 3rd on the High Jump with a 1.45m and also picking strong points on the Long jump & 300m supported by Mia Cobbold. While we were under represented, Bradley Baka had a strong 100m with 12:19 and a strong finish on the 80m Hurdles and shot putt. He was supported by Oscar Fletcher on the 100m.
U17 Men & Women
We had a great representation in the U17 Men with Louis Nuthall scoring points for us in the 400m, 800m & High Jump. Elijah Marshall finished strong on the 100m with a 12:75. Elijah came in a whopping 1st on the Javelin with a 33.78 followed by up Said Mariche coming in 3rd on the Javelin. Strong performance from Hanyu Peng and Said Mariche on their point scoring jumps. We had our strong women Faduma Omar & Gabrielle Johnson scoring points though widely we were not as represented in U17W -Gabrielle came in a strong 3rd on the Javelin. Faduma also was a great person with team spirit helping put up the Highgate Harrier flag and also supporting the junior runners on their warm up. Great attitude Faduma!
Conclusion
It was a good team performance with promising group of youngsters pushing on & more recent recruits plus more training we hope to have stronger representation at the future fixtures.
Special thanks to all our coaches, support staff & parents (Chris, Claire, Charlotte, Felix, Julie, Kathrin, Sonia, Juliet, Omar, Kirsty and all others) cheering the athletes on. Every bit helps.
The performance all around was encouraging and with more training & representation we hope to improve our position in the coming fixtures.
Kudos and congratulations to all our athletes. As we all know there is no progress without competition so let’s continue to compete with drive & vigor and while winning isn’t getting ahead of others, it is getting ahead of yourself.
Speak to your coaches and we look forward to an energised participation on the 4th June fixture at Harrow.