Oxfordshire Athletics

Congratulations to James Charles and Adrian Francis who have both had technical qualifications confirmed this summer. James is now Level 1 for both Track and Photofinish and is level 3 for Field, while Adrian Francis is now Level 1 Field.

As of September, Oxfordshire now has 109 active officials (compared with 106 for the same month last year). 9 of these are Endurance only (10 last year), with 26 total in Endurance (1 down from last year). There are therefore 100 qualified (or trainee) registered Track & Field officials (96 last year).

Simon Prytherch (Cherwell Runners & Joggers) finished 6^th in the 130 mile Liverpool to Leeds Canal Race on Sunday 28^th August. The Vet 45 completed the course in 31 hours 31 mins, a fine achievement given the bursts of heavy rain during the race.

Ex-Banbury Harrier Phil Vincent (V45) pulled out of the same event at 110 miles, having held 2^nd place for more than half the race. Phil was running for JRDF, the type 1 diabetes charity.

Jade O’Dowda (Oxford City) took gold in the U17 Women’s Heptathlon in the England Athletics Championships at Bedford on the weekend of 20/21 August.

Coached by Marcia Marriott, Jade led for most of the weekend and her final score of 5,010 points put her 7^th on the all-time UK list.  She turned in a first-rate set of performances, with PBs in the Long Jump (5.76m and Shot Put (12.10m) to offset slightly below par performances in the High Jump and Javelin.

Oxford City did an excellent job in hosting their second SEAA fixture of the season at Horspath Road on Sunday 21 August. Richard Hart and his team of helpers worked a long and tiring day to deliver a very successful U20 & U15 Inter-Counties event.

These are being held in conjunction with the SEAA event at Stoke Mandeville track on 21 September (evening). Some athletes have already registered via the Entry Forms for the Championships last May. Any further entries should reach john.sear@gtc.ox.ac.uk by 10th September. The entry fee is as for the county championships - £5. The races will be for all eligible age groups.

Further information will follow.

John Sear
Chairman, OAA

Iffley Road hosted a BMC Grand Prix meeting on 23 July. A top quality event was assured with a comeback sub-4 minute mile by Andy Baddeley and an Olympic qualifying mark in the Women’s 800 A race.

Baddeley, who was UK’s top-ranked 1500m runner for the period 2006-08, has had his recent career blighted by injury and ill health. At Iffley Road the Harrow AC athlete posted serious intentions of a revival in recording a time of 3:59.46.

Congratulations to Tom Anstice for his pb of 64.16m at the YDL UASG meeting at Wormwood Scrubs on 24 July. This new mark took him to 7th in the National U20 Men’s Javelin rankings.

Due to the increased and concerning number of throws near misses in both training and competition, UKA have put together a Throws Safety Communique to make sure the athletics track is a safe place for athletes, coaches, officials and facility operators.

Top Five Throwing Safety Essentials:

Horspath Road hosted the SEAA Combined Events Championships on the weekend of 16th & 17th July.

The stand-out performer for Oxfordshire was Tim Stephens (OCAC), a comfortable winner of the U20 Decathlon with a pb score of 6355 points. This total took the 18 year-old up to 5th in the national rankings. Coached by Marcia Marriott, Tim’s track marks were particularly strong and included a time of 50.58 for a clear win in the 400, 15.45 for the 110 Hurdles, and 4:26.33 for the final event, the 1500.

For the second consecutive week, Warriner schoolgirl, Emily Thompson excelled in the highest level of schools competition. Selected on the basis of her silver medal in the English Schools at Gateshead, Emily again finished 2nd to ESAA victor Khahisa Mhlanga in the Schools International at Ashford, on 16th July. Her determined run of 2:13.07 saw the Banbury Harrier lead home the other home nations representatives, behind only her English compatriot.