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British age group records could fall at nationals in BedfordPublished by
British age group records could fall at nationals in BedfordIt’s the England Athletics Under-15 and Under-17 Championships in Bedford this weekend and you can watch them live from 5am until 1pm Eastern Time USA on Saturday and from the same time until 12.30pm on Sunday.
There will be dedicated track and field streams, while entries for the event can be found here and a timetable here. Twelve months ago, Amy Hunt won under-17 gold by 0.57s and she has since gone on to become the third fastest British woman ever behind Dina Asher-Smith and Kathy Cook. Max Burgin also triumphed in a great season that followed his age 15 world best and European under-18 title, prior to his astonishing 1:45.36 performance this summer, also in Bedford. Some of the up-and-coming stars to watch out for in 2019 include middle-distance runners Isla Calvert and Ethan Hussey. 16-year-old Calvert, from Livingston in Scotland has run 2:05.09 this year which puts her four seconds clear of anyone in the UK rankings. Hussey has won English Schools along with the Youth Nations Cup and SIAB Schools International races this year and is second on the British under-17 all-time list with a 1500m best of 3:45.85, having broken four minutes for the first time last year.
Abigail Pawlett is the national under-17 combined events champion indoors and outdoors and has entered for five events including the long jump. Having come just short of six metres last season, she is over it four times in 2019, with a recent best of 6.06m. Ellie O’Hara is entered alongside her and in the triple jump too, having won gold in both events at the Scottish Under-17, Scottish Under-20 and Scottish Schools Championships this year. At the indoor equivalent of this event, she took triple jump gold and long jump bronze behind Pawlett, who will also battle the likes of 11.93s runner Joy Eze in the 100m. There are two women over 15 metres in the form of Nana Gyedu and Ciara Sheehy in the under-17 women’s shot put. Gyedu of Cambridge Harriers has a personal best of 15.69m and has won all eleven competitions she has taken part in this season including English Schools, the South of England Championships and the SIAB Schools International. Going further back, she has won a sensational 26 out of 27 events in the shot put in the last three years. In the long throws, Kirsty Costello could be set for a hammer and javelin double. The Scot is 86cm off the British record in the first of those disciplines. Interesting sprint battles are promised with another English schools winner, Joe Pascall entered for the 100m alongside Henry Nwoke who he beat in Birmingham. Nwoke also grabbed a sensational sprint double on his indoor nationals debut in February. There is a good backstory to his beginning in athletics too. Originally from Italy and a teenager who enjoys playing football and basketball, he won a 100m race in Liverpool and challenged former decathlete Michael Sweeney to a race. Now his coach, characterful Sweeney joked in an interview with Liverpool-based Radio City Talk: “He ran 11 seconds flat and came back thinking he was ‘the big I am’, but I assured him it wasn’t 11 flat as it was a P.E. teacher with a stopwatch!” |











