Fab Freddie

Teenager Freddie Arkell gave himself an early birthday present when he stormed to victory in the U15B 200m at the England Athletics U15/U17 Championships at Bedford on Sunday, September 1, adding the outdoor title to the indoor one he achieved over the same distance in Sheffield in February. Racing just a day before he celebrated his 15th birthday, Arkell stormed to an impressive victory in a lifetime best of 22.36, which ranks him second in the UK this summer, just three-hundredths of a second behind the age-group leader. 

It has been a stunning few months for Arkell, who began the season with a 200m pb of 24.1. By the time he lined up for the final in Bedford he was already favourite for the gold medal, having won his heat in 22.59, the fastest of the eight qualifiers by almost half-a-second.

The previous day in the semi final of the 100m he equalled his lifetime best or 11.18 (achieved when he took the silver medal at the English Schools Championships in Birmingham in July), before going on to take the bronze medal in the final in 11.26.

Mabel-Rose Scales was the youngest of the 13 competitors in the U15G high jump. Aged just 12, she was given special permission to take part in the competition as she is the top ranked U13 girls high jumper in the UK this summer thanks to a clearance of 1.60m at a Lily B League meeting at Walton in June. In windy conditions her best clearance of 1.51 metres saw her finish in eighth place, however, it has been good summer of high jumping for young Mabel-Rose in which she has improved her best by 10 centimetres and won both the Surrey County and South of England U13G titles.

Lily B Finals

Willow Scales, younger sister of Mabel-Rose, was in action in the Lily B League Plate final at Kingston on Saturday finishing third in the U13 70m hurdles. London Schools 200m Champion Celeste Minkwe took the U13 100m and 200m A races and finished second in the long jump, while Laeticia Etse won the U15 200 metres A race. Holly Staveley-Wadham took the U13 100m and 200m B races, and  Missy Cooper the U15 100m B race and long jump.  

Darcey O’Shea was first in the U15 high jump and second in the shot. Millie Doyle and Millie Thorpe took the U15 1500 metres A and B races while Sophie Thorpe won the U13 1500m and Lottie Harvey the U13 800m B race. HW quartets won both the U13 and U15 sprint relays.

Congratulations to Dwayne

Dwayne Cowan has been selected for the 4 x 400m squad in the British team heading to Doha for the IAAF World Championships beginning on September 27. Cowan is ranked third over 400m in the UK this summer having clocked 45.77 seconds in an international meeting in Switzerland at the end of June. However the time was shy of his lifetime best of 45.34 set in 2017 and without the UKA qualifying time of 45.30 for the individual event he had to wait for the selectors' decision on the relay, in which he has an excellent record. Last year he helped the British team to clinch the silver medal at the European Championships in Berlin and memorably was part of the bronze-winning team at the last World Championships in London in 2017.

Results

Saturday 31/Sunday: 1 September: England Athletics U15/U17 Championships Full results

Saturday, 31 August: Lily B Girls' League Cup & Plate Finals Full results

parkrun

31 August

HW had a pair of parkrun winners as vet Andy Parker headed home more than 200 runners at Sittingbourne in 18:23. Ellen Weir was top female finisher on the Isle of Wight in 19:59.

Elsewhere, Fred Slemeck was second out of 589 runners at Basingstoke in 16:50, Elena Dauster was second women finisher at Fulham Palace in 19:17 and John Biddall and Lisa Thomas were third male and female finishers on Wimbledon Common in 17:57 and 20:38, respectively. There were 22 Hercules Wimbledon runners in the Wimbledon Common event.