Strong
u15 girls and youths u17 sprint hurdling and an upturn
in the youths 400H standards were the main features
of the age group territorial championships at the
weekend. Helen Asher 11.11 and Nafalya Francis 11.14
took the respective Southern and Midlands u15 75 H
titles respectively, whilst last years top u15 girl
Kylie Robilliard went to the top of the Inter girls
list with 11.2 manual and 11.21[an Age 14 National
best] clockings at Watford to take the Southern 80H
title, just infront of Harriet Robinson 11.25.
Also
at Watford Ellen Howarth Brown dipped under 45 seconds
for the first time this season with 44.77 to take
the 300H title from Natasha Clementis, whilst in the
youths long hurdles Edward Harrison ran an impressive
54.91 to go to the top of the 2003 age group list.
Harrison's time though was only marginally faster
than Craig Crawford Granville's 55.0 victory at Liverpool
in the Northern's. With Kieran Flannery [55.2] and
Andrew Tippert [55.28 recording strong runners up
performances, the English Schools and AAA u17 titles
look far more competitive than 2002 [Richard Davenport's
excellent victory at Birmingham aside]
The
youth's 100H is also shaping up well, Richard Alexis
Smith's 13.11 victory at Watford being the pick of
the day, but with Dan Davies' 13.34 runner up performance
at Watford as well as Ogadima Duru's 13.41 and Joe
Tenny's 13.47 3rd and 4th place runs, and Craig France's
13.46 and Dan Maynard 13.49 victories Liverpool and
Birmingham respectively, there are suddenly half a
dozen performers below 13.5 before the end of May.
In
the Junior races Sian Scott continued her fine start
to the season with a clear cut 60.31 victory in the
Southern u20 women's 400H, whilst Justine Roach's
61.56 triumph at the corresponding event in Birmingham
was equally as clear cut. Pick of the Northern u20
hurdles performances was Sharon Walls' 14.13 100H
victory which puts her within sight of the 13.90 European
u20 A qualifying standard.
