It was a year of solid progress for most of the community’s established young athletes, writes Brian Sacks.
James Bongart (javelin), Jessica Hurley (300m) and Ellie Edwards (200m) all won county titles in their age groups.
Judah Yawitch took silver in the Middlesex Under-13 1500m while still in primary school, while Anna Barnett placed third in the Kent U17 discus and fourth in the hammer.
Ellie Edwards took 200m gold, Hurley 200m silver and Rachel Ayrton 800m bronze in their respective Schools County championships.
Visually impaired athlete Zac Shaw, 18, enjoyed a successful debut in national level competition by placing second in both the 100m and 200m at the Sainsbury’s UK School Games in Manchester.
Richard Goodman’s track season was blighted by a niggling ankle injury. Earlier in the year, however, the Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier enjoyed a spectacular season over cross country.
In his first four races of the year, Goodman, 21, won the South of England and the British Universities championships, placed a close second in the English National championships and won the Inter-Counties championship.
In his return to competition in November, Goodman was again representing England in an international cross country competition in Spain.
Another athlete whose season was blighted by injury was last year’s award winner David Stone, 12. After narrowly losing out to the country’s fastest young distance runner in the Middlesex cross country championships in January, Stone lost the entire season to a serious knee injury. He has now resumed a gradual training
programme under orthopaedic supervision.
Demonstrating that athletics is a sport for all ages, Maayan Radus, 10, and Roger Bruck, 75, were both prolific and successful competitors.
Radus took victory in the Hertfordshire U11 cross country championships and was positioned third in the UK U11 1500m rankings.
Bruck, within weeks of entering the M75 age group, was already Southern Counties M75 record holder in the high jump and long jump. He went on to take a gold and two silver medals in the M75 British Masters championships.
