With the new Alexander Stadium not being quite ready for general use, Birchfield held their annual Young Athletes Open Meeting at the Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton on 23rd April. For many of the young Junior BRATs this was their first taste of competing for medals in a stadium, and across all age groups BRAT won an incredible 28 medals – 12 Gold, 8 Silver and 8 Bronze!
The day had promised to be warm, but there was a strong headwind in play which the athletes did well to battle. The U11’s took part in a Quadrathon which consisted of a 75m, 600m, long jump and howler throw, while the older members took part in individual events.
6 of the 13 competitors for the U11 M Quadrathon and 5 of the 11 competitors for the U11 F Quadrathon were BRATs which is an amazing presence and they were able to give each other moral support along the way. Although they all had great performances, congratulations to Elliot Jones who won Bronze and Josephine Colclough who won Gold.
Sprint wise, U17 Nathaniel Walker won Silver in the 100m with a time of 11.98 and Gold in the 200m in a time of 24.24. U17 May Smith won Silver in the 300m in a time of 47.62 and U17 Jacob Gosnall Silver in the 400m with 54.79. U17 Tywana Kuluziza also secured two medals – Silver in the 200m in a time of 27.45 and Gold in the 100m in a time of 13.06.
BRATs were also in form in the longer distances, with U13 Oliver Knight running a PB of 2.40.68 in the 800m for Gold and Joel Davies a PB of 2.43.37 for Bronze. The U17 Males also won Gold and Bronze in the 1500m, with Morgan Hill winning Gold with a PB time of 4.32.88 and William Walker Bronze in a PB time of 4.35.47. Also in the 1500m, U20 Jemima Jackson won Silver in 5.39.57.
U13 Erin McDaid won Silver in the 70m Hurdles and U13 Dominic Moynihan Bronze in his first 75m Hurdles. Another first was U15 Matthew Morris in the Triple Jump where he won Silver with a jump of 8.87m and he added to his tally with Gold in the Long Jump with 4.15m. U17 Lily Smith also won Gold in her Long Jump and U13 Erin McDaid won Bronze with a PB jump of 3.78m. Evie Rendell won Bronze in the U13 High Jump with 1.40m.
The BRAT throwers secured quite a medal haul between them, including 3 Golds in the discus! U15 Ruby Smith was just 17cm off of her PB with a throw of 20.50, U15 Anthony Golding threw a PB of 13.81 and U17 Jamie Callaghan a PB of 24.97 with the new 1.5kg weight. BRATs were also on form in the Shot, with U17 Isabelle Carruthers winning Gold with a putt of 8.21m and Diaz McKenzie Bronze with 6.85m. U13 Daniel McCarrick won Bronze with a PB of 5.20 and Jamie Callaghan Gold with a PB 8.69m with the new 5kg shot weight. U13 Leanna Rendell threw a PB in the Javelin for Bronze with a throw of 14.88m.
All BRAT athletes gave their best, and the above only shows those who won medals – every performance should be congratulated and puts BRAT in a good position for the Heart of England which kicks off next weekend in Redditch. Don’t forget the good etiquette of thanking the officials after the event so BRAT maintain their good reputation 🙂