The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A group of talented Nene Valley Harriers athletes were in action at an open indoor track meeting at Sheffield on Saturday.
Perhaps the star of the day was under-15 ace Megan Williams, who is experiencing her first indoor season and is being rewarded for a step up in her training efforts.
Starting early with the long jump, she equalled her personal best (PB) with two out of four jumps recording 4.20m.
Williams then broke new ground in the shot put, throwing the 3kg to a 6.35m for an all-time best, with the new weight proving no problem for her.
Later in the day she targeted 23 seconds for the 150m in her first race – and she did just that on the sloped indoor track, smashing the target with an all time best run of 22.49secs.
Under-20 athlete Lucas Fidler also recorded two PB performances with times of 1.35.3mins in his 600m and 41.66secs in the 300m.
The tight indoor bends are not easy for Fidler due to his leg length, but he adapted well and competed hard.
Jake Berney was Nene Valley’s fastest athlete of the day, as he finished a creditable third place in the third heat of 32 for the 60m. His time of 7.37secs was respectable and not far away from his PB.
Sean Garmory also went close to his best in the sixth heat, recording 7.59secs to finish a mere four hundredths of a second off his PB that was recorded a few weeks ago.
Predominately a 400m runner, he was using the event as a sharpener in his preparation for the BUCS in February.
This preparation led to a personal best 300m time of 38.76secs later in the day, despite struggling a bit with his form. He was baulked in the final bend and struggled to maintain the speed.
Also in the 300m, Georgie Ivens continued her come back from serious injury to record a time – not far from her best – of 41.00secs.
In a later heat, Helen Chapman also recorded a PB run with 45.76secs.
Under-20 athlete Megan Pusey started the 60m well, but struggled in the closing stages and marginally missed her PB with 8.77secs.
The long day of travelling, supporting fellow athletes and 28 heats had an impact on her 300m performance as she showed signs of tiredness, coming in with a race to forget of 46.03secs.
- Nene Valley Harriers celebrated a near-perfect season in the Southern Athletics League when they collected the track and field trophy at the recent league AGM.
Team captains Devon Spencer and Dave “Blade” Brown collected the trophy on behalf of the men’s and ladies’ team.
They bossed the track and field league during the summer of 2015 following an almost perfect season, winning all but one match.
They also finished in second place in the other fixture by just one point.
The fixtures are out for next season, with Nene Valley’s own fixture to be held on Saturday, April 16.
Other 2016 meeting dates: Sunday, May 21 – Basingstoke; Saturday, June 18 – West London (Thames Valley); Saturday, July 9 – Crawley; Saturday, August 20 – Norwich.
