After last weeks very chilly U13 match, Friday saw a marginally warmer season opener for the U15s at the Withdean Stadium down in Brighton. The season started with many of last years U13s moving up to their first U15 competition and all put in excellent performances. Even with a small squad, every member of the team pushed and challenged all evening up against the other teams.
The track got underway with the boys 80m hurdles, George Brewer coming home in 5th with a time of 15.4s in the A string and Caden Mackenzie collecting 3rd in the B string in 16.0s. Shortly after, Maribelle la Cock made her East Grinstead debut in the 75m hurdles, finishing in 8th in a time of 18.1s.
Straight from the hurdles, Maribelle then secured 3rd in the javelin with 18.57m before having to go to the far end of the stadium again to compete in the shot putt where she achieved 4th in the B string with 6.20m. Accompanying her in the shot putt was Grace Bleach, throwing 6.42m to come fourth in the A string in a very closely fought competition. The U15 girls shot putt is heavier than the U13s, but this didn’t stop Grace still managing to throw further than in competition before.
Back on the track, following delays in the hurdles, the boys 100m got underway with George Brewer finishing 8th in the A string in 14.5s and Aidan Gallagher coming 5th in the B string in 13.8s. Next up were the girls which saw Zofia Gryczewska finish 10th in the A string with a time of 15.1s and Zara Caccavone finish 5th in the B string with 14.8s.
The competition is made up of two athletes from each club scoring points in the different disciplines and non-scoring races to give everyone an opportunity to enjoy competing and demonstrate the progress they’re making in training. The night got underway at 1830 with the girls 75m, long jump and javelin competitions and the boys high jump and discus shortly followed by the boys 75m.
In a competition with up to 11 clubs per event and a short timetable, events occur thick and fast and it can be difficult for athletes to transition between events. As the 100m was occurring, Aidan still managed to get to the discus and throw 21.92m to come third in the A string, with Eddie Rew making his discus debut for the club coming in 3rd in the B string with 13.81m.
Just prior to the discus, Eddie had the 300m to finish 4th in the B string in a time of 46.0s following on from Rowan Kirby who completed the A string in 42.9s.
With the evening just over half way through, we then saw Zofia 1.15m in the high jump to come 9th and Cadan Mackenzie finish the 800m in 2m27.3s. Elsewhere in the field, Rowan was long jumping 4.59m in the A string and George leaping to 4.12m in the B string, which was also a lifetime best.
Over on the track once again, we saw Rowan complete the 200m in 27.0s to come 6th for the boys, Zara coming in 8th in the girls A string in 30.8s and Grace finishing in 5th in the B string in 31.0s.
Finally, as the lights were literally being switched off, the boys completed their relay in 6th with a time of 62.2s and the girls came in 11th in a time of 65.1s.
Congratulations to the team, thank you to our officials and we look forward to the next competition on Friday 31st May back in Brighton.