Page 18 - Summer2014Gazette

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Continued
Brno from the Czech Republic
(both of whom had beaten
us in Brno in 2013) as well as
Sparta AM from Denmark,
Playas de Castellon of Spain,
Pro Sesto Atletica from
Italy and the Slovenian and
Slovakian teams, AD Kladivar
and SK Sog Nitra. All we could
now do was our best.
Opening leaps and throws
in the field
Boosted by the receipt of a
good luck tweet from Jess
Ennis, though neither of them
feature in the heptathlon, we
started solidly in the opening
field events, with Victoria
Wiltshire and Helena Coleman
both mastering the tricky
conditions and finishing 4th,
in the hammer and pole vault,
respectively. Jamiyla Robinson-
Pascal found the going rather
tougher in the long jump and
a leap not too far from her
season’s best was only good
enough for 7th. The track
programme kicked off with the
‘100m Extra’ (or non-scoring, if bravely up the home straight
you prefer) and an encouraging
win for Parris Johnson, with
Magda Cienciala taking 4th.
Next up, Divine Oladipo, fresh
(or perhaps not so fresh!) from
her recent trip to Samoa for the have felt like the teeth of a gale,
Commonwealth Youth Games,
produced a fine 2nd place in the 4th in the sprint hurdles.
discus, despite the wind playing
havoc with her flight, and
Annie Davies wrested 3rd in a
very competitive triple jump,
where the difference between
2nd and 6th was a mere 15cm.
Hard earned points on
the track
The first available points
on the track came in a high
quality 400H, where an under
the weather Isabella Hilditch
nevertheless secured a hard-
earned 5th. Niamh Bridson
Hubbard went one better,
picking up 4th in a tactical
800m, before Viv Olatunji, for
so long the understudy to Dina
Asher-Smith and the Hylton
twins, grabbed her chance to
demonstrate what a fine sprinter
she is and followed in their
footsteps with a win in the
100m. Further wins followed
from Cheriece Hylton: in her
own speciality, the 400m, and
then, standing in for injured
sister, Shannon, in the 200m.
In the interim, Georgina Taylor
made her debut in the 3000m
steeplechase, twice the distance
that she normally competes at,
and called on all her reserves
to make it home in 6th place.
Niamh also returned to contest
the 1500 and fought back
to secure 3rd. Molly Scott was
another venturing outside her
comfort zone: in only her 2nd
competitive outing over the
U20 heights, and into what must
she finished a very creditable
As the afternoon began to
draw to a close, the final event
scheduled before the relays was
the 3000m, where Jess Keene
rounded off a very successful
summer with an extremely
gutsy, front-run win, taking
50m out of the field in the
first two laps and holding that
lead all the way to the tape.
Interviewed afterwards – it’s
all out there on You Tube – she
was asked when she realized
she had the race won. As is
often the case in life, it was
only later that she realized that
what she could have replied
was: “I knew I had won the
race when my team manager
shouted at me to slow down
and save myself for the relay!’
Meanwhile, out in the field,
Divine’s jet lag had finally
caught up with her, but she still
threw the 4kg shot far enough
to secure 5th, the same placing
as Tabitha Lisciotto in the
high jump. Things didn’t go
smoothly either for Ali Higgins
in the javelin. Having brought