Freddie fights back from fall in Herts Schools Championships

Dacorum & Tring AC's Middle Distance squad had a good day at the office this weekend in the Hertfordshire Schools Championships.
Sarah Grover. Picture: Gary Mitchell.Sarah Grover. Picture: Gary Mitchell.
Sarah Grover. Picture: Gary Mitchell.

A total of 18 squad members were competing for their schools at Jarman Park.

One of the more commendab le performances came in the Year 8/9 1,500m.

Kristian Imroth (St Columba’s) led for most of the race until overtaken by Connor Keogh (St Michael’s RC/Watford H) who went on to win the race in 4:18. Kristian finished a close second in 4:24.1.

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However because of the large number of runners there was a scuffle just after the start and one of the runners fell over taking Freddie Truman-Williams (Ashlyns) with him.

Despite losing a lot of ground Freddie got up and sprinted hard to get back in contact with the field, and he finished 10th overall in a time of 4.58.5 - not far off his PB of 4:52.9, a fantastic time given that it has since emerged that Freddie suffered two scraped knees and a fractured wrist in his fall.

In the Year 6 Girls 600m Stella Whitlum (Holtsmere) ran a fabulous time of 2:00.0 (a PB by 11 seconds) to achieve fourth place.

In the Year 7 Girls 800m Olivia Moore (Cavendish) improved her PB by another three seconds to finish fourth in 2:44.1.

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Jess Benveniste (Bushey Meads) improved her PB by seven seconds in the Year 7 Girls 1,500m to finish third in 5:28.4.

In the Year 7 Boys 1,500m D&T had five squad members, all running extremely well in a very large field.

Jamie Bailey (Ashlyns) was fourth in 5:05.2, a new PB by 0.2 seconds. Ethan Brimmer (Ashlyns) was 10th in a new PB of 5:16.5.

Thomas Ashton (Hemel) was 13th in 5:18.4, his second fastest time ever.

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Sam Burnell (Tring) was 14th in 5:22.4, officially a new PB, just outside his time of 5:21.3 set in a recent school match. Thomas Durrant (Ashlyns) was 15th in 5:29.7.

In the Year 8/9 (Junior Boys) 800 Michael Armstrong (JFK) improved his PB by six seconds to finish fourth in 2:14.8.

Year 8/9 (Junior Girls) 1,500m: Lily Boden (Tring) was fifth in 5:17.7, a new PB by five seconds.

Manika Sweeney (Hemel), D&T’s latest recruit, was seventh, in 5:20.0, a new PB by four seconds. Amy Cassidy (JFK) was ninth was in 5:24.2, a new PB by 0.3 seconds.

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In the Year 10/11 (intermediate Girls) 800m Olive Coles (St Clement Danes) finished a close second to Scarlett Wager-Leigh (Tring/Chiltern Harriers) in a season’s best of 2:19.7. Earlier in the day Olive finished 2nd in the 300m Hurdles in a new PB of 46.6.

In the Year 10/11 Girls 3,000m Grace Birdseye (Hemel) won the event for the second year in a row, lapping the only other runner, finishing in a time of 11.44.3.

Joshua Van Heiningen (Townsend) led the first two laps in the Year 10/11 (Intermediate Boys) 1,500m with the group running at a slow pace, ultimately finishing fifth in a time of 4.25.8, while clubmate Paul Ertl (St Clement Danes) crossed the line in 4:35.8 to take five seconds off his PB.

In other results from the past week, Sarah Grover finished a brilliant fifth overall, in a time of 2.16.31, in the final of the 800m at the South of England athletics championships at London’s Lee Valley, after qualifying in her heat in a lifetime best of 2:16.05, two seconds better than her previous PB.

Olivia Ewards finished a fantastic second overall in the 800m in the Herts U13 Challenge at Welwyn in a big new PB of 2.39.7, while Jess Benveniste was fifth in 2.43.5, just outside her PB and Stella Whitlum was seventh in a new PB of 2.51.1.