September 11th, 2010 by News Desk
Vicky Silk celebrates gold
ASHFORD AC can boast their first junior world record holder after an outstanding spell of results from Folkestone’s Vicky Silk.
The talented young athlete has had a busy summer with four meetings at Hemel Hempstead, Crystal Palace, Czech Republic and Berlin.
The highlight came in the Czech Republic in the IWAS World Junior Games when she produced a stunning final throw in the javelin to claim the title.
Despite really hot conditions she powered to 20.63m on her last throw claiming a new European record and an Under 20 world junior record.
Competing in a mixed class against competitors from around the world she had already thrown 19 metres consistently but produced a an extra effort to secure the gold.
The day after was the shot and she was quite nervous not having done much training recently in the event. The weather was even hotter and in a nother mixed class they were against their own world records.
Remarkably she threw over her personal best of 6.20m by 3cm then it kept going up into the 6.30’s and on her fifth throw secured another best of 6.45cm to claim the bronze medal.
The rain came in for the following day’s discus competition but she still managed to still get an 18.40m throw in for the silver medal.
Vicky and the rest of the Welsh team drove on to Berlin to finish off the season and again it was wet in the discus.
However, she threw better than she had in Czech, with a throw of 18.83 and a silver medal…very close to her personal best of 18.88m. The weather cleared up a little bit in the afternoon for the shot and her fifth throw gave her another personal best of 6.51m and another silver medal.
Said Vicky: “I was very pleased with this new persoanl best and proved to myself that my throws in Czech were not a fluke.”
Earlier in the UK she competed in the McCain Jumps and Throws Fest at Hemel Hempstead.
It was an able bodied competition but allowed para athletes to take part. She recorded 18.29m in the discus and 5.84m in the shot.
The weekend after was the UKA Disability Athletics Challenge and there was only discus for her class in the event. It was a combined class of dwarf athletes, cerbal palsy and visually impaired.
Overall she claimed the silver medal with a distance of 18.71, close to her best of 18.88m.
It was a period of extra joy for Vicky as while she on the continent she also heard she had passed her A Levels to confirm her place at university.
Tags: All-time best, Discus, javelin, McCains, personal best, Shot, Vicky Silk, world record
Posted in Track & Field, championships, disability | No Comments »
August 1st, 2010 by News Desk
SISTERS Rachel and Laura Hanagan had an outstanding day for Ashford in the final National Junior League meeting at the Julie Rose Stadium.
Despite winning the meeting Ashford had to settle for third overall in the Medway division behind Cambridge and Medway & Maidstone.
The sisters shared five victories between them including three personal bests and a season’s best.
Rachel claimed victory in the U20 100m event in a season best 12.7 with Ellie Campbell second in the B race with 13.6; was second in the 100m hurdles in a personal best 15.6 while Laura also had a best of 16.5 in winning the B race.
Laura had another best of 1.45m in winning the B high jump in a double with Deborah Martin who took the A honours with 1.60m and Laura also won the A triple jump with 9.72 in another double with Joanna Norman winning the B event in a personal best 9.01m.
Rachel also won the B javelin with 17.20m with Caroline Hatley fifth in the A event with 17.47m. Caroline was also second in the B shot.
The javelin proved quite productive for Ashford with Chris Blandford second in the A event with a personal best 50.46m while Jake Berry won the B competition in another best with 37.69m.
Chris had another best in the A hammer second with 19.58m while Quazim Omotusho had a string of personal bests winning the B hammer with 15.54m; fifth in the A shot with 9.74m and sixth in the discus with 28.28m.
It was a busy day for most of the squad Ellie Campbell also third in the B 200m and second in the B long jump with 4.08m with Debbie Martin third in the A event with 4.77m. Sam Beckett was fourth in the A 200m (26.8); third in the A 400 hurdles in 69.6 and second in the B discus with a personal best 16.21m.
Amber Regardsoe picked up valuable points second in the A discus with 24.85m; third in the shot with 8.99m and fifth in the A hammer with 22.39m while Warren Uden won the B 2000m steeplechase in 7:45.7 and was third in the 3000m in a personal best 10:18.2.
Ashford’s other victory came in the 4×400m in a club best of 4:07.4 with the 4×100m B squad were second in another best of 50.4.
Aaron Kellow scored well with third in the B 800m in a personal best 2:11.9 and second in the B 3000m with 11:20.1 while Andrew Robertson ran a personal best 2:09.8 in the A 800m; was fourth in the 1500m and fourth in the steeplechase. Neil Daughters ran a personal best 4:58.3 for second in the B 1500m.
George Huxley had a superb personal best of 63.9 for second in the 400m hurdles while Dan Weaver had a seson’s best 5.67m for second in the long jump with Tom Williams third in the A event with 6.07m. Weaver was also fourth in the A triple jump with a personal best 11.56m.
Blake Robinson was second in the B shot and fourth in the B discus while Caitlin Dock was third in the pole vault and Tom Williams third in the A long jump.
Tags: Discus, NJAL, PB, personal best, Shot
Posted in Track & Field | No Comments »
July 24th, 2010 by News Desk
Kelsey Howard and Kate Funnell at Glasgow
ASHFORD AC’s Janine Brown stunned even herself in taking a superb gold at the National Police UK Championships held in Scotland.
Despite awful conditions with rain and wind she claimed victory in the 800m with a season’s best 2:29.3 and also took bronze in the 1500m race in another season’s best of 5:06.3.
The event was also trials for the European track and field championships being held in the Ukraine over September 22-25 but Janine said she was not seeking selection as she needs a break after a long and demanding season with injury and marathon training.
But she aims to be back with road and cross country events for Ashford and Kent Police after her break.
Another Shepway athlete enjoying success is Vicky Silk who was back on form with two golds in Dublin strengthening her claim for selection for selection in the world championships in New Zealand in January.
She threw consistently in the discus to win with a personal best 18.88m improving her best by 84cm and she went close to setting another best in the shot with a winning throw of 6.13m in another impressive series.
She now has two meetings left with the Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace on August 15 and then in Slovakia in late August for the IWAS world championships.
Kate Funnell and Kelsey Howard represented the Folkestone School for Girls at the Four Nations U17 International Athletics meeting at Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow with Kate coming fourth and Kelsey fifth.
With race walking an emerging discipline within athletics at the moment, it is quite a coup for the school to have two athletes competing at this level, in the same age group and at the same time being good friends.
Kate also recently competed in the Aviva UK Championships at Birmingham joining Lisa Dobrisky in featuring the club’s colours at the highest level in the BBC televised event.
Tags: Discus, Funnell, golds, Janine Brown, Shot, Vicky Silk, Walking
Posted in Race Walking, Track & Field, Veterans | No Comments »
