January 2007
Combined Eventers shine at CE Championships
A
group of Eastbourne Rovers Athletic Club’s athletes kicked off the indoor
championship season with a bang at the new £16M indoor facility at Lee
Valley. The completion was the South of England Combined Events
Championship for U15 and U17. Each competitor competes in five events for
this pentathlon of 60M hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt and finishes
with an 800M or 1000M. ERAC had six entrants to represent the club and
Sussex.
First
to compete was Laura Davies where she has just moved into the U15 age group
and has to compete against girls much older than herself. This was also her
first indoor competition. She acquitted herself very well and along the way
jumped a high jump pb of 1.38 and a great 800M finish for 9th
overall, just 44 points behind 8th
place.
The U15B should have seen Jono Ketley but unfortunately, he broke a toe during the week prior to the competition.
The U17 girls is where ERAC had three entrants and they enjoyed a great day of competition especially with limited indoor training facilities beforehand and this being there first competition of the indoor season. Each of them Sarah Moore, Alice Essam and Becky Woods achieved a minimum of two pbs across their five events. The first event was a chance to turn training rivalry into competition however, each of them were drawn in different heats. Alice dominated with a pb time of 9.57 against Sarah’s 9.99 and Becky’s 10.57, first blood to Alice.
Next
was the high Jump where Becky has missed some specific training and
unfortunately was the first of the ERAC group to be eliminated. Alice
ceased the opportunity to clear a new pb of 1.42 but was still disappointed
as she knows she can jump higher and that this was a strong event for
Sarah. Who along with five other girls cleared 1.57. The shot putt was
next and both Sarah and Becky achieved pbs. The overall competition was now
taking shape as Sarah was in 5th
position and looking at ways to get a medal. Alice and Becky were looking
for top10 positions. The girls are all good long jumpers so this was an
event they were looking forward to. They all struggled to find their best
run up due to lack of competition with Sarah starting with a big no jump.
Alice and Becky recorded solid performances of 4.73 and 4.85 before Sarah
pulled out a 5.06. This left an all out effort for the final event the
800M. Again they were all drawn in different heats with Becky in heat 1
winning in an impressive 2.32.94. Alice was next in a time of 2.45.25.
Sarah was in the last heat and ran a good race for a new pb of 2.44.42 for
an overall 5th
position in the competition with 2924 points.
The U17 men entry list on paper looked a very strong line up with some of the best in the country taking part. But Seb Rodger’s training had been going well and was looking to a top six placing. He performed brilliantly throughout the day with a mature performance to not only exceed 3000 points but setting pbs in every event along the way. The day started for like everyone else with 60M hurdles. Drawn in heat one, lane two he did not disappoint with a very fast 8.96 to win the race. Like the girls he has had some trouble with his long jump run up and his first jump was massive but was judged to be a no jump. Some adjustment and his next jump was a new pb of 6.30M. His weakest event was next but has recently shown some improvement as pb no3 was recorded in the shot putt. The high jump was the penultimate one and he cleared a great 1.76M to stay in contention as only two athletes went higher. He always had an ace card with the last event of 1000M, five laps of the oval track. He knew that to win the bronze medal he had to beat ‘no57’ Ben Gregory of the Vale of Aylesbury by 7 seconds. He set off with the pack on his target pace and started to pull away from the ‘57’ but on lap 3 no57 started to reduce Seb’s lead. Going in to the bell and final lap the lead was changing and going down the back straight no57 showed experience by edging out Seb and focusing his to chop his stride. Seb was not to be out done and the competitor that he is came into play as he won in 2.54.74. Alas not enough to win the bronze but well satisfying to beat his rival and make his mark for the future with a points total of 3095.
The Club’s Combined Event Coach Brian Slaughter was very pleased with everyone’s performances and sees these as a start for further improvement.
January 2007
Rodgers keep it in the family at SEAA Indoor Championships
Eastbourne Rovers Athletic Club had a strong contingent at the South of England Championships held at the new £16M indoor facility at Lee Valley, Enfield that were only opened this week and is the only facility of its kind south of Birmingham. The competition was for all age groups from u15 and boosted some top clash competitors normally only seen on TV.
The 60M hurdles was the first event to kick the day off and Sophie Rodger who is new to this age group had the chance to put training into practice. She did not let the atmosphere phase her as she qualified from her heat and into the semi-finals with a third place in 10.13. In the semi-finals she improved again with 9.99 and although she was fifth fastest overall missed a place in the final. Brother Seb was next in the U17. Having broken the 9 second barrier three weeks ago he was looking to go even quicker. True to form he blitzed over the hurdles to record a fantastic 8.66 to record the second fastest time of the day. This qualified him for the final, however he could not quite repeat the same time but his 8.79 was still lightning quick.
The middle of the arena was cleared for the 60M sprinting to start, however nobody within the heats was allowed to use starting blocks. The U15 girls were first away with Natalie Herbert drawn into heat two after a poor start she ran a great race to finish in third with 8.58 and qualification for the next round. Sophie Rodger was in heat three and showed a clear pair of heels to her rivals with a 8.31 clocking. Vicky Platt was in heat four but unfortunately did not repeat the form that her training has indicated. In the U15 boys Lawrence Ackary was making his debut and was just one hundred of second outside his pb. Moving up to the U17 girls ERAC had Hannah Ingram who is still a new comer to the sport and prefers the longer sprints however she recorded a 8.39 but just missed out by the smallest of margins for the next round. In heat five of the U17 men was Ryan Norcross as he was the first to break the eight second barrier with 7.95. meanwhile over in the long jump Sam Caplen was experiencing what it is like to be in the U20 age group but still placed tenth. Back at the 60M Sophie Rodger improved her time in the semi-final with 8.27 to record the same time as the winner. Natalie improved her time down to 8.39 for the seventh fastest but this did not quite get her into the final. Sophie then lined up in the final against some very talented opposition but not to be phased she equalled this time again and showed her talent when holding off everyone in a blanket finish for a superbly earned Bronze medal. This was her five race of the day. Seb Rodger who had been experiencing some long jump run up problems recently was relishing the chase to compete in the U17 and the possibility of six attempts. Things did not start well as he recorded a massive no jump. In round two he moved into second place with a 6.28 leap and he maintained this with another 6.26 in round three and then a big no jump again. However despite another 6.28 in round six he got pipped for the second spot, big impressively he had secured the second Bronze medal of the day for the Rodger family.
Day two and this time it was Stuart Pellings turn in the 400M having just moved into the senior men’s age group qualification from round one was going to be very difficult with Stuart never having run the oval 200M indoor surface before. Drawn in heat four he did himself proud with a third place and a 53.78 clocking. The U20 women were next where ERAC had two representatives with Emily Jones in heat one who despite missing some training through appendix operation ran a very controlled race to qualify for the next round in 63.21. In heat two Laura again did very well to record 63.66. They both then were drawn in the same semi-final but were unable to progress to the final. Joanne Morgan who is yet another of the ERAC who had just moved into the new age group was very pleased with her tenth in the U15 long jump with 4.42. Ellie Doel who has missed a lot of training through injury was in the U20 200M and was well pleased to finish the race and be back competing again. Julian Bahami was in a similar situation in the Men’s U20 heats. Hannah Ingram made an impression when she was third in her 200m heat with 27.14 again having never run indoor before. Ryan Norcross in the U17 recorded a solid 25.35. Despite being day two it was back to the Rodger’s as Sophie came home first in heat one with 27.87. In her semi-final she again was consistent and qualified for the final. The final for her was one race too far over a very busy racing weekend but despite this fifth in the South of England in your first year in the age group is very impressive. In the 400M for U17 ERAC were very much looking forward to Sacha Henty who was a real medal prospect. He was in heat two and was commanding the race and in the lead at the bell however he swiftly had to pull up injured as his quad tightened, obviously the right decision to prevent worst injury occurring but a huge disappointment. In heat five Seb Rodger, who is inexperienced at this distance ran the perfect race to achieve a great new pb of 53.92 to win the race. He then had to get ready for the high jump and did very well to clear just below his pb with 1.75 after a 400m race in his legs. The 400M semi final for Seb was a totally different race and despite being in contention could not do quite enough to sneak into the final. Meanwhile Laura Grover was over on the far side of the arena achieving tenth in the long jump.
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