Matilda Crowned as English Champion

It was a momentous weekend for Bury AC with two members competing in the England Athletics Age Group Indoor Championships in Sheffield and one making his England debut in Sweden.

Thirteen year old sprinter Matilda Nott made an explosive start to her championships career when she won her heat in the under 15 girls 300m on the Saturday morning, recording a season’s best time of 41.75 to qualify for the final. She returned to the track in the early afternoon and was drawn in the outside lane so she had no sight of her competitors, most of whom were a year older than her. She rocketed out of the blocks and took the lead when the athletes moved from their lanes on the back straight of the 200m track. She maintained her cadence and her composure, moving away from the field to take the national title on a new personal best of 41.14. A superb mature performance from the modest athlete from Lowercroft. Fellow sprinter Matthew Wheatley competed over 60m in the under 20 mens heats on the Saturday morning. He was drawn in the first heat, that proved to be the fastest, and although he recorded a new PB of 7.05 it was unfortunately not enough to qualify for the final.

Matilda was back on the track on Sunday morning in the heats for the 200m. She set a new PB of 26.00 in the third heat to place second and qualify for the final. She was drawn in the tight inside lane in the afternoon’s final and had to settle for fifth place in 26.34. Overall, a brilliant weekend for the youngster.

Sixteen year old Ben Clarke competed at the Vaxjo Indoor Throws International in Sweden on the Saturday, and wore his England Vest with pride. In the last round of the under 18 men’s javelin competition, he produced a lifetime best throw of 63.69 to take second place behind teammate Ned Scott. A great start to his international career.

Saturday also saw the final meeting in the Manchester Area Cross Country League series, held at Heaton Park. The under 11s were first away with Finlay Alldred placing 55^th in the boys race and Maya Akram taking 39^th in the girls. Ethan Statham produced another fine performance in the under 13 boys race, having to settle for second, but doing enough to complete the series as league champion. In the girls race there were superb performances from Heidi Wilkinson and Isla Taylor placing 4^th and 7^th respectively. Lucy Dent took an excellent 5^th place in the under 15 girls race with Lydia Worsley in 35^th. The senior mens race saw a battle between Bryn Lawrence and Ben Coop placing 8^th and 9^th respectively, although Bryn was the first under 20. The other Bury competitors were James Brown (20^th), Patrick Babb (119^th), Ed Hunt (142^nd) and Giles Bennett (211^th).

The previous weekend saw the Greater Manchester Sportshall Championships at Sportcity with a substantial number of Bury youngsters winning medals. For the under 11 boys there were gold medals for Hamish Simpson (vertical jump)  and Finlay Thompson (standing long jump). Bronze medals went to Faheem Gyagender (1 lap and javelin), Findley McCallum (3 lap) and the boys 4 x 2 lap relay. For the under 13 girls there were gold medals for Matilda Nott (2 lap and 4 lap), Nancy Blain (6 lap), Violette Overlunde (shot) and the girls 4 x 2 lap relay. Silver medals went to Claudia Chapman (6 lap), Violette Overlunde (4 lap) and Matilda Nott (standing long jump). Bury’s other competitors included Rocco Balsamo, Teddy Bowman, Jason McGuiness, Teddy Overlunde, Evelyn McDonald, Maya Akram, Pippa Stockley, James Tallentire and Phoebe Thompson.