Bradley Spurdens and Callum Crosby, with team manager Gary Huskisson on the ground.
By Ruth Jones
Nene Valley Harriers’ track and field athletes excelled once again to cap off one of the club’s most successful summer seasons with a strong team performance in the East Anglian League final at Bury St Edmunds.
The stand-out achievement came in the men’s U17 competition, with the Harriers’ athletes winning their age group overall, while the U15 girls were second and the senior women and U15 boys an excellent third on the day.
Team manager Gary Huskisson said: “It was a great team performance, and everyone pulled together. It wasn’t just the normal stand out athletes who dominated the points tables as there were a lot of absences due to injury and other commitments. However, Ollie Bowling in the shot put and Reid Harrison in the 400m excelled to claim valuable points to help the U17 men to win their competition for the 2014 season.
“I am also very proud of the U13 boys, with just eight hard working athletes filling every single event, and to cap it all Callum Robertson threw a personal best of 9.62m to win the shot put with ease. The U15 girls showed their strength in depth, and senior athletes such as Sean Reidy, Dave Bush and Isaac Huskisson were a great example to the youngsters, competing in multiple events.
Finally, the senior women did well to place third overall, which was a great achievement.”
Helping the club to finish the season on a high was U15 Casey Hilliam, who excelled in the 300m and 800m, placing third and first with times of 44.6 and 2:27.6, while Kelsi Ellis won both her B string equivalent races, Lydia Church won the hammer by more than seven metres with 33.68m after placing second in the 100m with a time identical to the winning girl’s, an excellent 13.2, Megan Ellison easily won her 1500m race in 5:00.6, and Priscilla Dadziea was a comfortable winner in the U15 shot putt with a strong 9.91m throw.
Megan Pusey was a stand out winner of the senior 100m when she shot to a 12.8 victory, while Lily Hughes tied for second place in the 200m with 25.9 before going onto take third in the 400m with 59.7, with Natasha Segal also running well in the B races. Emma Hornsby and Emily Maltby were typically consistently strong in the jumps, with the former’s 5.45m leap for second place in the long jump just 9cm shy of her personal best. Alison Church and Alice Gibbons worked hard in every throw and jump event they took part in, including the javelin, triple jump, discus and shot put.
In the U13 boys, Ethan Ellison won the 800m in an impressive 2:29.6, Ben Roberts took top onours in the 1500m with 4:56.0, and team mate Ben McCann claimed maximum points in the B race with 5:17.6.
Josh Munton continued to work hard for the Harriers when he jumped 1.2m in the high jump and 4m in the long jump, while Callum Robertson threw an excellent 20.41m to place second in the discus, a PB by more than two metres.
Will Hughes was in his usual high achieving form in the U15 competition, performing well in the 100m, 200m and high jump (12.6, 24.4 and 1.45m), while Keilin Spurdens also had good races in the 300m and 800m (42.5 and 2:26.0). Josh Akinwumi dominated the 80m hurdles with a fast 12.7 win, Scott Waumsley won the A high jump with an excellent 1.73m, while Will’s brother Charles easily won the shot putt with a throw of 11.04m. Kai Harrison won the B string with 9.23m before placing second in the discus with 26.72m.
In the final two age groups, the U17 and senior men, Bradley Spurdens shone when winning the 400m in 53.3, a time less than three hundredths of a second off his PB. He then went onto also take the 800m in 2:02.8, rounding off the perfect end to his track season. Callum Lewis and Alistair Pitts won the A and B string 100m hurdles, Lucas Fidler and Dan Lornie worked hard in the field events, and GB athlete Robbie Shaw was a predictable but impressive winner in the shot put with a fantastic 15.65m. Last but not least, Sean Reidy was strong in the 110m hurdles and the 400m flat, recording times of 16.7 and 52.2 to take first and fourth place respectively, and between them, Isaac Huskisson and Dave Bush worked extremely hard for points in the field in the discus, hammer, javelin, shot put and high jump, helping the club gain as many points as possible.
