SEAA U15/U20 Championships 28th August 2010

SEAA U15/U20 Championships at Barnet Copthall Stadium 28th August 2010

A select team of athletes excel at the Annual SEAA Championships

Cornwall County Athletics may have fielded one of the smallest teams in the annual South of England Junior Inter Counties of recent years but three of the eight athletes returned from the long trip to the Copthall Stadium at Barnet in jubilant mood after winning their events, including a Championship Best Performance from Jordanna Morrish in the High Jump.

Jordanna capped a superb day with a third place in the Final of the Under 15 Girls 75m Hurdles in 11.67s, only beaten by two of the UK's top hurdlers. This followed a personal best performance in the Long Jump where she jumped over 5m for the first time, leaping to 5.03m for a fourth placing whilst dashing between this event & her favoured High Jump.

With just two left in at 1.60m, she won the competition at 1.65m before raising the bar 1cm above the CBP, which stood at 1.70m. After failing her first two attempts, she broke the Record with her final jump at 1.71m but was unable to improve on her own p/b of 1.74m when she attempted 1.75m.

This all augers well for next month when she competes in the National Schools multi-event Championships at Stoke, these being three of the five events in the Pentathlon.

The day after he celebrated his 19th birthday by travelling the 300 miles to the event, Jay Hill launched his opening round throw in the Under 20 Hammer competition to 60.67m. Two other throws came close to this but no other athlete could overtake the Duchy athlete who won by over 3.5m in his final year of the age group.

Despite twisting an ankle during the pole vault competition at Carn Brea, the week before, Under 20, Jordan Henwood battled through the pain to push the height up to 4.20m, just 10cms below his best. With one other athlete also on this height, it came down to Jordan's first time clearances in the earlier heights to give him the victory.

With 17 Counties taking part from Norfolk to Cornwall, a placing in the top 8 scoring positions is quite an achievement against the likes of Essex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, etc & at one stage, Jordanna's points in the High & Long Jumps plus Charlotte Lowe who finished third in the Pole Vault with a clearance of 2.60m, put the Under 15 Girls in the top three counties! However, lack of numbers soon took it's toll. James Housman was the only Under 15 Boy to get on the scoring sheet with an equal fifth place in the High Jump at 1.65m.

The team was decimated by a clash with the promotion play-off match in the Midlands area of the National Junior League where both Cornwall AC & Newquay & Par athletes are part of a composite team with Plymouth & Erme Valley, affecting the best Under 17 & Under 20 athletes at the two Cornish clubs, together with end of summer holidays.

The other three County athletes taking part were: U15 Girls - Charlotte Cayton-Smith 1500m (8th); U15 Boys - Kieran Rowe 800m & Connor Swan Javelin.