Not all things in life go to plan! In general, Combined Events is a roller coaster with some huge highs and a smattering of lows. The very nature of the discipline teaches us to be able to recover and move on whether we have had success or not – a great model for life!
Such was the scenario which played out at this years nationals in Bedford. 5 athletes had made it through the regional round in Banbury back in June and the 5 were joined by 2 athletes (our first walkers in 11 years) for the walk.
The prospect of adding to an already magnificent tally of medals and titles from the cross country and track season seemed inevitable as the quality of the athletes was very high and expectations were, that we should haul in at least 3 more medals making this the best ESAA year since the inception of the organisation in 1925!
Sadly we got off to a bad start when our potential Senior Girls champion, Eloise Hind was forced to withdraw from the competition due to ill health. Eloise had caught covid at the world CE champs competition in Cali Columbia back in August.
After starting well in her first event, the 100 mt hurdles Iona Irvine (Sen Girl) did not clear a height in the High Jump which effectively put her out of contention although she bravely continued and finished the competition in 16th place – having won the 200 mts in a new pb of 25.22 sec Iona performed well in all other events and if she had scored near her HJ pb she would have won the bronze medal.
In the Inter Girls Charlotte Bigmore had a very bad cold and despite struggling through the first day she could not continue into day 2.
Kyle Rayson (Junior Boy) was having a good day he was close to his PB in all of the first 4 disciplines however a nasty spiking of his own leg in the closing stages of the high jump put an end to his days competition.
This now left Archie Street (Inter Boy) to rescue the weekend and perhaps get the medal we needed to make this a record breaking year. Archie started well in the long jump nothing spectacular, but a good enough jump. The next event was the discus and warm up went well – however fate stepped in and of the 3 permitted throws Archie could only register a mere 22mts – some 10 mts down on what was required. It would take a miracle to get near the top 3 from this point. However, Archie gave it his best shot and finished day 1 with a fantastic run in the 400 mts in a time of 51.70 a new PB and some hope for a better day to follow.
Such was the case as Archie battled all day with 4 more PB’s and a overall win in both the High Jump and the 1500 mts. This brought him within touching distance of 4th place (and an international vest) as he finished 7th overall.
And so to the walk. Our 2 Inter Girls, Lucy Engwell and Josie Reddell (St Helens and St Kaths) had little experience of competing at this level but battled hard to finish 4th and 5th respectively in the 3000 mt walk. They must have enjoyed it as they promised to compete next year as seniors in the 5k walk!
And so huge experience gained, many lessons learnt, many friends made and despite the disappointments, overall the commitment shown by our athletes was something to admire. Onwards and upwards to 2023!!
The Midlands Regional round will be at Derby Moorways stadium next year on 24/25 June and the finals back at Bedford again on the 16/17 Sept – get the dates in your diary!!
Pete O’Keefe
CE Schools TM