Congratulations to Melissa Coxon, who has been invited to compete in the British T&F championships (400m Hurdles) following her performance in one of the pilot competitions held at Nuneaton.

The event is at Manchester on September 4th and 5th. Melissa is the youngest athlete in thre event.

from Fiona Topliss:

It was a very late start to the track season last week when Doncaster Athletics stadium hosted the first local athletic event of the year.

Covid19 has seen all sports off to a slow start this year and athletics has been no different.

The Rotherham athletes have not had access to track at Herringthorpe Stadium since March and have been training in accordance with England Athletics guidelines during the Covid period. For some months this was done in isolation and then in smaller groups once restrictions allowed.

They have been reliant on training in public spaces, which has, at times, proved difficult but with much commitment and determination they have maintained fitness and were ready to race as soon as the opportunity came along.

The event, hosted by Sheffield & Dearne AC at Doncaster was held on Thursday 20 August was held under strict conditions with limited spectators and reduced lane numbers.

Rotherham Harriers had a number of athletes competing across the categories and despite the unorthodox lead up to the event a number of them showed their training had paid off with many personal bests (PBs achieved).

The heats were seeded and were mixed gender and in mixed age groups for the older athletes.

Owen Haffner (U15B) who had been on great form during the winter cross country season showed he is just as comfortable on the track knocking 11 seconds off his 800m PB to win his heat and take 7th overall.

Layla Roden moved up into the U13G category this season and showed her potential with a 6 second PB to take second place in the 800m.

Luke Parker (U15B), Evie Thomson (U15G), Joshua Wragg and Samuel Gilson (both U17M) all scored PBs in their respective 800m events, whilst Matthew France (U15B 100m) and Angelique Abberley (U15G 200m) also achieved PBs in their events.

With just a few track events left in the calendar this year the athletes are hoping Rotherham Council will be able to re-open the stadium to enable them to return to normal training sessions and hopefully a few more PBs in the coming weeks.

Results:

U13B 100m

1 Alfie Ferguson 14.82 (PB)

U13G 100m

1 Molly Gray (Sheffield & Dearne) 13.29; 2 Jo Dixon 14.40 (PB)

U13B 800m

1 William Platts (Sheffield & Dearne) 2:20.71; 2 Jake Parker 2:45.04

U13G 800m

1 Megan Taylor (Notts) 2:24.52; 2 Layla Roden 2:24.86 (PB)

U15B 100m

1 Matthew France 11.82 (PB)

U15B 200m

1 Fabian Powell (Corby AC) 23.6; 2 Matthew France 24.70

U15G 200m

1 Angelique Abberley 25.78 (PB)

U15B 800m

1 Zachary Rayner (Wakefield) 2:09.54; 6 Luke Parker 2:15.45 (PB); 7 Owen Haffner 2:17.0 (PB); 10 George Ellis 2:36.78

U15G 800m

1 Lottie Langan (City of York AC) 2:20.03; 3 Evie Thomson 2:26.11 (PB); 6 Lilia Harris 2:28.41; 9= Emily Bott 2:34.0; 13 Amelia Topliss 2:39.35; 14 Anna Maddocks 2:40.77

U17M 400m

1 Bayleigh Lawton (Spenborough AC) 50.74; 2 Alexander Newell 52.83

U17M 800m

1 Kian Wiles (Barton & District AC) 1:56.31; 5 Joshua Wragg 2:07.7 (PB); 10 Samuel Gilson 2:15.27 (PB)

U17W 800m

1 Leah Gregory (Hallamshire Harriers) 2:19.25; 2 Hayley Butcher 2:23.05; 7 Olivia Hare 2:27.93

U20W 100m

1 Ellie Booker 11.99 (PB)

U20 W 400m

1 Melissa Coxon 56.75 (PB)