going all out - indoors

8 Nov

Welsh Athletics / WSAA Indoor Combined Events Championships

As the doors opened early on Sunday morning at NIAC in anticipation of a long awaited indoor event, a sea of yellow vests shone bright against the Azure blue track. No less than 23 Bridgend junior athletes participated in the U14 and U16 events ranging from ages 10 to 14.

Our U14s participated in the Quadathlon which is made up of 60m Hurdles, Long Jump, Shot Put and 800m and our U16s took part in a Pentathlon which for the girls is made up of 60m Hurdles, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump and 800m and for the boys 60m Hurdles, Long Jump, 200m, Shot Put and 800m.

For many Bridgend Junior Athletes, this was not only their first indoor event but was their first experience of competing at a track and field event in a formal arena. Every single athlete arrived with a huge smile and the determination to try their absolute best at a combination of events that tested their skill, speed, power and courage and every single athlete left the competition having achieved something that they didn’t know was possible.

Our army of U14 girls shone and none brighter than Bethan Deeks who not only took Gold in her age category but demonstrated sheer grit and determination – for those that were lucky enough to be there will never forget Bethan’s final lap of the 800m when she crept up on the leading Swansea athlete who was confidently just checking her watch before Bethan showed her what a sprint finish really looks like! Bethan was not alone in her 800m victory – Mia Amerein emerged from the final bend with aggression in what can only be described as a spectacular finish picking off her opponents taking second place in her heat. Our quiet and laid back Flo Durrant, savagely took the lead early on in her heat and left her opposition for dust, leading by a whopping 12 seconds! There were 4 Bridgend girls in the top 10 for the 800m with excellent runs from Isobel Davies, Scarlet Hodges and Grace James. All of the girls went away with a PB, a massive smile and very tired legs!

The U14 boys also rose to the 800m challenge with an excellent performance from Cian Smith taking third position overall with Harri Davies close behind coming 8th. Regan Mahoney put those springy legs to excellent use to take third position in the Long Jump with an impressive 4.10m jump!

The hurdles was the hugely anticipated (and feared) event of the day but again, Bridgend were victorious with our U14 boy Cian Smith impressively gliding over each hurdle to win his heat and take fourth position overall. Our U16 boy Lewis Barnes overcame his biggest fear and tackled the hurdles head on to take fourth place and beat his biggest opponent to date, the Aberdare athlete (who went on to win the competition!). Again, our girls made us incredibly proud with Bethany Jenkins (U16) putting all that technical training to use for her favourite event and achieving a brilliant third in her heat with Ffion Calford (U14) making light work of the hurdles to take an impressive second place in her heat. But no one deserves a bigger mention than Ed Jeynes who had been set a challenge that if he cleared the 5 hurdles (which, as one of our youngest athletes are nearly as tall as him!) he’d be granted his dream of a pole vault lesson. Ed tackled each hurdle with determination and cleared each and every one of them. Ed is currently googling ‘where can I buy my first pole’ much to Chris’ dismay!

A very special mention to some of your younger athletes; Imogen Vecchi, Lucy Arnold and Eloise Neenan who entered the competition despite being the youngest and smallest in the U14 category (they are only 10!) but were not phased by their opponents and rose to the challenge – we are excited to follow their journey as there is so much more to come from these little athletes!

There can be no doubt that Bridgend was a dominant force throughout the event – never to be under-estimated. Our Junior Athletes did us extremely proud in their behaviour, attitude, team spirit alongside their fantastic performances.

So as the sun set over Cardiff after a long, eventful and exciting day; the athletes unlaced their spikes, put on their dryrobes, reflected on their achievements and congratulated each other with a fist pump and a knowing smile. They had shared an extraordinary experience.

Bridgend Junior Athletes results

U14 Girls

1st Bethan Deeks - 1873 points

13th Grace Patterson – 1321 points

14th Isobel Davies – 1300 points

15th Grace James – 1300 points

17th Scarlett Hodges – 1270 points

22nd Daisy Lewis – 1161 points

23rd Ffion Calford – 1157 points

24th Annabel Durrant – 1152 points

25th Myla Svikeris – 1103 points

27th Imogen Vecchi – 1051 points