Junior Middle Distance Squad Update - May/June 2018 - PB's Galore

There has been lots going on since our last update, with the Herne Hill Open Meeting, the  County Championships, the Southern Championships, the London Boroughs Schools Championships, the Rosenheim League, the Youth Development League and the Southern League. Few.....First up on Bank Holiday Monday was the Herne Hill Open Meeting, where we saw Timin Kanani running a strong U20 Men's 800m in a pb of 2.05 dead (and I gather that's how he felt as he crossed the line). Arriving a little later to the meeting than the other athletes, Timin found himself in race two and he won it comfortably. Lesson learnt, he'll be there early for future open meetings. Elsewhere on the day Juliette Michot ran an excellent U15G 1500m and Oliver Cunningham placed well in a large field of athletes typically two years older than him to record a pb of 2.37 in the U13B 800m.        We had athletes at both the Middlesex and Surrey Championships, with Timin again running well at the Middlesex meeting to secure a 2nd place 4.24.09 in the 1500, whilst Isla Walrock ran a 9th place 5.20 in the U15G 1500m and sister Hana won the U13G High Jump with a height of 1.31m (versatility is our watchword here in the Belgrave Juniors Middle Distance squad.) On the south side of the Thames at Kingston at the Surrey's, Oliver was in action again with a 5.14.88 in the U13B heats.The London Borough Championships managed to spread themselves out over almost two weeks, with many of the organisers conspiring to keep the results to themselves, hence the sparsity of mentions here, but performances of note were Blaine Robinson at Lambeth, another athlete competing against boys in the year above him, with a 4.42 winning performance in the U13B 1500m and a 2.17 800m (yes, we know, rules say that athletes under 15 can only compete in one track event, but his school Sports department didn't seem to have received the memo).Over at Westminster, Maddy Whitman managed to shake loose from the interminable London American Schools League races that her school has her competing in (and winning with monotonous regularity) to win the U15G 1500m in 5.04, a time she then murdered some days later when she went under the feared 5.00 at yet another LASL meeting, running 4.56 (and of course winning her race yet again.) Maddy's improvement over virtually everything from 1500m to 5,000m this year has been truly outstanding and a shining example of the benefits of sheer hard work, aided of course by more than a little talent. Her efforts resulted in her selection for the London School Athletics Association Championships on June 9th at Battersea Park, where she was joined by Blaine.      The Youth Development League meeting at Dartford on Saturday 19th May had a good turnout from our Middle Distance Squad. Jago and Monty Juxon seemed to be everywhere, with Monty running a 2.23 to win the U13B 800m and Jago running a 5.02 in the U13B 1500m. Monty then gave us a 1.40m high jump to place 2nd A competition, and Jago a 1.25m to win the B competition. The twins then ran across to throw the javelin, Jago winning the A competition with a 27.18m throw and Monty winning the B competition with a 25.15m that would have placed him 2nd behind his brother in the A competition. For good measure they then ran in our 4th placing 4x100m team that was only 2 seconds behind the winning team.  I can't find them in anything else but I suspect that they also slipped away to do the track timings, make the teas, iron their running vests and do the sweeping-up afterwards, before leaving to fix Brexit and launch a crusade for world peace with Bob G and Bono. The athletes from the other clubs must have been sick of the sight of them, thinking that one Juxon is bad enough, but two of them! Louis Bride ran a good B string race in the U13B 800m with a 2.46 pb.   Elsewhere at the same meeting we saw another stellar performance from Blaine with a pb 4.40.4 U13B 1500m. Despite starting off like a pocket rocket he hung in all the way to the finish line to place second. Juliette Michot set a pb of 5.35.4 in the U15G 1500m and Luca Barac also set a pb of 2.18.7 in the U15B 800 to finish second.       Timin Kanani continued his appearances for the senior squad, running a 2.04.6 pb in the Southern League 800m on Sunday 20th. Despite probably needing a break from racing for a few weeks, Timin then stepped up to the plate and capped it off with another 800m at the Rosenheim at Croydon on 23rd, finishing 3rd and passing two other athletes in the last 150m after a relatively slow first lap to secure 2.07.26. He then ran 2:04:89 over 800m in the Southern Counties U20 Championships on Saturday 9th June to finish  5th, and not content with that made the long trip back to Bedford the following day to pick up 11th place and a massive new pb of 4:14.62 in the 1500m, 10 whole seconds ahead of his time only a month earlier. Sub 4 minutes awaits. Timin followed that up with yet another pb in the 800m at Wednesday's Rosenheim meeting at Wimbledon, with a time of 2.03.7Maddy Whitman doubled up the same weekend, running 5.03.89 for 1500m in the London Schools Athletics Championships at Battersea, and then 10.54.71 the following day at the Southern Counties U17G 3,000m to finish 3rd overall and first U15G. Time for a rest methinks, and indeed we will now lose Maddy whilst she heads off to Colorado for 2 months. With a bit of altitude training she will be raring to go for the Cross Country season when she returns.On a hot and humid Sunday afternoon, the Westminster Mile on 27th May saw three Belgrave Juniors turn out to compete in three separate British Championship races. First off was Blaine Robinson in the U13 Boys, having been wrestled away from his Play Station earlier that day by his Mum who thought that a bit of sunshine wouldn't hurt him. Blinking into the sunlight, Blaine took off at his usual 90mph pace and was leading at 800m. Although passed by a couple of his competitors in the next 400m he held on gamely to come home 3rd in a time of 4.56, although the organisers are still struggling to differentiate between gun and chip times, so for all we know it may yet be adjusted to sub-4:00! Blaine was presented with his shield (where does his Mum put them all?) by our very own Junior Sprint Coach, former European and Commonwealth 100m Champion and Olympian, Andrea Lynch MBA.Meanwhile Blaine Robinson ran a 4.36.99 1500m U15B at the London Schools Champs to finish 5th and secure a pb by 3 seconds, competing against athletics a year above him, and then ran 4.37 the following Tuesday at the London Schools Year 7/8 Champs at Mile End to win the 1500m.Our last meeting of June was the Youth Development League  at Sutcliffe Park on Father's Day. Although sparsely represented by the Middle Distance Group, those who skipped their Father's Day outing put in a good show. Henry Sheppard, surprisingly relaxed and without his customary pre-race scowl, ran 2:44.11 in the U15B 800m, with Juliette Michot running a perfectly judged race to take 3rd place with a great pb of 2:33:15 in the U15G 800m. Alex Kabysh ran in Belgrave colours for the first time in the U13B 1500, along with teammate Oliver Cunningham . Alex managed a 5:40:18, which is certainly something to build on, whilst Oliver came away with 5:23:95. The Juxon boys did their usual multitude of events, with Monty getting a 2:22:86 in the U13B 800m for second, and 4.27m in the long jump. Elsewhere Jago did 1.25m in the high jump and won the Javelin in 25.97m. Together they ran with Omari Koroma and Lucas Skeete in the 4x100, and no doubt the pair of them jogged home to Chelsea afterwards. Had there been a plate spinning competition or a 'Best U13B Levitating In Mid-Air' event they would have turned out for that also, and probably have placed 1st and 2nd.