Watford Open  -  Wednesday 1st June 2011

Four IEK females and 2 males raced up to expectation on a balmy Watford evening - 5 tackled the 1500m which attracted 265 athletes from all over the region who were slotted into 20 races at an average of 13 per race, leading to the 3,000m being delayed over an hour.

Amy Old and Lilly Coward (both u-15) had both raced in the Kent Young Athletes League only 2 days earlier - Amy at 800m and Lilly at 1500m -

At Watford, Amy (544) raced boldly in Race 2 to finish 5th, shaving a couple of seconds off her previous best set last season at the same venue

In Race 4 Lilly (543) was 7th, just outside her best.

Next on the track was Anna Weston (also u-15) who had rested at the Kent League match in Bromley by confining herself to just a 300m sharpener

Anna (545) finished 3rd, ahead of older girls, and cut no fewer than 4 seconds off her 1500m best, set only one week earlier at the BMC Regional races at Eltham.

Last IEK 1500m racer was Luke Dawson (u-17) fresh from his programme of sharpening his 800m times. In finishing 4th in Race 18, Luke was 3rd u-17 home, only 2 seconds adrift of the winner from Croydon Harriers.

Luke's 4.06.5 sliced a huge 11 seconds off his pb, set in last year's Kent Schools Final at Ashford and puts him 6th best u-17 in a list headed by Kieran Reilly with Alex Newson 8th and Jason Prickett 11th.

The final track event was the eagerly-awaited 3,000m in which Kieran Reilly (u-20) was up against the National cross-country champion, KIeran Clements, as well as rivals from Tonbridge, all seeking to impress selectors for the English schools in Gateshead in early July.

Kieran's sound training and cross-country racing this last winter had brought him close to those Tonbridge rivals who had outrun him the previous winter.

Deep into the Watford evening KIeran showed all his natural racing instincts by keeping them all in his sights throughout a fast pace, then stormed the last lap to cross the line 4th, 3 seconds behind Clements and 2 seconds ahead of Luca Russo of Tonbridge - in this event at last year's English Schools (Birmingham) Luca finished 5th, 4 ahead of Kieran. 

Kieran sliced a massive 26 seconds off his pb set at the same venue exactly 12 months earlier and his 8.26.6 moves him to 4th best u-20 in IEK history, one ahead of Jason Prickett who also dipped under 8mins 30secs at this venue two weeks earlier.

Kieran and Jason's performances at the latest two "Watfords" put them both firmly in line for invitation to race at televised British Grand Prix, just reward for the balanced training-racing they've both done over the last 3-4 years

IEK All-time u-20 Ranking - 1,500m (Females)

1  

2  

  3  

  4  

  5  

  6  

  7  

  8  

  9  

10  

Charlotte Dale 

Rebecca Weston

Maria Skinner

Beth Carter

Emily Hosker Thornhill

Lily Martin

Sue Hogston

Lydia Gould

Terri Wiley

Heather Friend

4:29.46

4:37.50

4:40.50

4:43.70

4:45.43

4:54.65

4:58.20

5:03.93

5:13.30

5:15.70

®

®

2001

2011

1990

2010

2011

2006

1993

1997

2004

2003

®   indicates IEK age record on the day

IEK All-time u-20 Ranking - 3,000m (Males)

1  

2  

3  

4  

5  

  6  

  7  

  8  

  9  

10  

Dominic O'Mahoney

Phil Hogston

Andy Beckwith

Kieran Reilly

Jason Prickett

Tim Davis

Chris Pickering

Andy Thomas

Ben Wells

Jon Holmans

8:22.50

8:24.27

8:26.24

8:26.60

8:28.92

8:44.00

8:44.30

8:57.30

9:01.20

9:10.10

®

®

1993

1992

1997

2011

2011

1995

1995

1998

1998

2000

The comeback trail for Emily Hosker Thornhill (u-20) looked good - she cut a huge 7 secs off her 1500m best by staying in contention throughout (7th from left) and then unleashing her trademark sprint in the home straight to overtake 3 quick rivals to  finish 4th in Race 9.

Emily's 4.45.43 takes her to 5th best IEK u-20 female and 8th on the IEK All-time female list