FUTURE OLYMPIANS PROVIDE THE ACTION

NOW THE DUST HAS SETTLED ON RIO, THE ATTENTION TURNED TO THE COUNTRY’S TOP TEENAGE ATHLETES IN BEDFORD

REPORT: PAUL LARKINS

UNDER-15 BOYS

UNDISPUTED star of the show was Highgate’s Dominic Ogbechie, who completed an unprecedented championship best double, winning the long jump in 6.84m (+2.1) and the high jump in 1.96m. Statisticians, get checking: when has that ever been done before?

“My speed showed me I was close. Now I need to work on my launch,” he said after his long jump.

Dominic Ogbechie: won both the long jump and the high jump in style

PICTURES: GARY MITCHELL

A day later he was talking about how there’s more in the tank for the high jump and, given he’s got his eye on this month’s English Schools Combined Events Championships in Exeter, he may just also be talking about a little more to come in the 200m and a few other events!

Not to be outdone in the record-breaking department, Ben Pattison, Britain’s No.1 in the 300m before the championships, clocked a championships best 35.41, remarkable speed for someone calling himself an 800m runner just a month earlier.

“I thought my endurance had run out so I thought I should run this event,” he said.

Bedford always seems to play host to some incredible 100m running and so it proved once again as Belgrave’s Kyle Reynolds-Warmington got an amazing set of finals under way with a 10.98 clocking, easily the best in the country for this year.

Understandably pleased with cracking the 11-second barrier, he didn’t reveal if he was also pleased to eclipse his coach Andrea Lynch’s best of 11.16!

Defending champion Max Law of Havering won a fantastic javelin, extending out to 61.23m in the last round. Law has been pretty much unbeatable for a couple of seasons now and looks like he’ll extend that streak a little further yet.

Kyle Reynolds-Warmington (58): clocked 10.98

Joe Smith of Crawley was equally impressive in the 3000m, running even splits to stop the clock at 9:01.33, while Alfie Bould from Vale Royal produced a sub 60-second last lap to win the 1500m in 4:17.51 after the pack dawdled through 400 in 74.1.

This event is all about intense competition and the triple jump perfectly illustrated that. Prior to the weekend Glasgow’s Miraji Ahmed had a PB of 12.99m and was No.1 ranked in the country. However, with his last jump and with just one jump remaining – Ahmed’s – it was Herbert Zumbika who found himself in the lead with a massive 68cm PB of 13.10.

It would take something very special to win and so it proved as Ahmed leapt out to 13.63m, No.2 on the Scottish all-time list.

UNDER-15 GIRLS

CHAMPIONSHIP running is all about getting it right on the day and Enfield and Haringey’s Alicia Regis can say she did exactly that, moving her already impressive PB for 200m down from 24.78 to a gold medal-winning 24.36.

Interestingly, she hadn’t competed in the English Schools Championships and, as one key player in the athletics world noted, may now never compete in that event as she’s likely to be steered towards major European championship outings instead.

Life in the fast lane? Alicia is just about there, but with Jenny Stoute and John Regis as parents, both of Olympic and British record-setting fame, that’s perhaps no surprise.

The 800m was won by Molly Canham of Exeter, who won the English Schools title easily in July.

Marcia Sey: came so close to a record time with her win in the 80m hurdles

She continued her dominance of this year’s events in her age group with a gun-totape 2:08.59, quicker than her run in Gateshead in July but still shy of what she thinks she can run with a bit of competition.

Marcia Sey of Croydon was a tantalising two hundredths of a second from the 10.91 record in the girls 80m hurdles, winning in 10.93. However, one athlete who very much added her name to the record books was Jade Spencer-Smith of Harrow, who raised the pole vault mark to 3.46m.

On paper that may have appeared to be the most likely result given Spencer-Smith has a 3.61m to her name indoors this season, but she has barely trained since turning her ankle as she prepared for her first jump in July’s English Schools.

“Training has been going okay,” she said, “but today I went off a shorter than usual run-up because of the injury.”

Orla Brennan flew to 40.39 victory in the 300m and was understandably elated with her victory. She had finished second in the Southerns and had a PB of just 41.1 so this was a real step up. And the English Schools, how did that go? “I didn’t qualify for that. The Berkshire Schools team is difficult to get on to,” she said.

Instead she made do with a national title; there’s a moral in there somewhere.

Alicia Regis: is following in her parents’ footsteps

UNDER-17 MEN

CLEARLY the sprint double would be on the cards given Jona Efoloko’s recent form. The Sale Harrier won the European Youth 200m title in 21.15 and was most definitely the man to beat.

In just about perfect conditions on Saturday he ran 10.59 (+1.1) to take the 100m title before doubling up a day later to run a slightly more sedate (for him) 21.53.

Jona Efoloko: took 100m and 200m

“I didn’t expect that,” he said after his 100m, “but it is a quick track.”

Next up for Efoloko is the 2016 School Games in Loughborough this Friday.

Earlier on the Saturday there was a superb high jump that saw Joel Khan go head to head with Thomas Hewes.

It took a PB of 2.10 for Worcester’s Khan to take the title but Chelmsford’s Hewes wouldn’t allow him to have it all his own way, clearing a PB of his own with 2.05m.

Khan, who failed three times at a CBP of 2.12, said: “That was great – a PB – I’m really, really happy with it. I have been waiting for that a long time. I went to Tbilisi for the European Youths and didn’t quite get what I wanted; I wanted a PB. Thomas Hewes was amazing. He hasn’t been jumping as well this year but he came out and equalled his PB.”