In
one respect, 2003 was not such a good year as 2002
for Under 17 400m Hurdles. This years fastest at 53.25
Craig Crawford Glanville (good for 6th on the all
time list) could not quite compare with Richard Davenport's
53.08. Yet in every other respect this year brought
a quite remarkable transformation in fortune.
Last year only a dozen went below 58 seconds as the
discipline continued its rapid fall but in 2003 that
time was attained by twenty five athletes! Five guys
went below 55 seconds and ten below 56, both BEST
EVER TOTALS.
Clearly much of the credit must go to Kirk Barclay
and the team at Gateshead who, remarkably, are responsible
for four of the top eleven in the Country.
Looking back into the past, 1999 will be remembered
for the brilliance of Tristan Anthony who set the
UK best of 52.20 just a week after Jeffrey Christie
had ran 52.74. 1994 (who's list leader was Mark Rowlands
at 53.30) is the only year that can compare with 2003
for strength in depth and then of course there was
1980 with it's unsurpassed top four of Martin Briggs,
Phil Beattie, Max Robertson and Martin Gillingham
all four of whom became Olympians.
Another interesting fact uncovered in the process
of this review is that none of Britain's top three
of all time Akabusi, Hemery and Rawlinson (plus 5th
and 6th placed Pascoe and Ridgeon) ever contested
the event as an under 17 ranks.
| Youth's
Top 6 400H Performers 2003 |
| 53.25 |
Craig Crawford Granville |
| 53.57 |
Kieran Flannery |
| 53.76 |
Edward Harrison |
| 54.34 |
Lewis Robson |
| 54.63 |
Kris Robinson |
| 54.67 |
David Greene |
