The penultimate Watford Open took place in typically fine conditions on Wednesday 24th August.
 
Despite it being the end of the season, there was a good turnout from Chiltern athletes and even some season’s bests and personal bests achieved.
 
400m
U17 Isaac Jessop-Tranter honed his speed ready for Saturday’s England Athletics Champs 800m at Bedford with a PB of 53.32 in 400m.
 
3000m
Richard Slade was a runaway winner of the only 3000m race of the evening with a PB of 8.38.32.
 
1500m
Race 2
U15 Issy Robinson ran 5.12.13 and there was a season’s best of 5.17.30 for U15 Lucy Wilkinson. U13 Maya Davis was a fraction outside her best with 5.21.71.
 
Race 3
U20 Liv Cameron ran her first 1500m for five years and impressed with a well-paced 5.00.10. Also doing well in this one were U15s Emily Ford 5.04.78 and Marlie Nkoane 5.056.26.
 
Race 4
There were PBs in this one for U13s Charlie Quantrill 4.53.75 and Kara Gorman 4.54.20. U15 Rory Hilton was off his best with 4.59.18.
 
Race 5
U15 Aidan Suleyman ran a PB of 4.50.96 and U17 Frankie Baxter was close to her season’s best with 4.54.93.
 
Race 7
U15 Alex Hughes ran well for a PB of 4.35.80.
 
Race 8
Good runs from U13 Tom Ford 4.40.44, U15 Callum Powell 4.43.01, and U15 Isaac Collier 4.46.60, all a little off their best .
 
Race 9
U17 Matt Evans confirmed his good training form with a nine second PB of 4.24.31.
 
Race 11
U23 Alex Aldred ran his first 1500m since 2019 and did well with 4.12.99.
 
Race 13
U20 Louis Peterson ran a PB of 4.01.43.

Good evening, all!​

I’m afraid it’s quite a quiet weekend from a Race Report perspective, and I’ve just got parkrun results to update you on. Also, I will need to apologise for the fact that I’ll be away the next couple of weekends. Please do contact me if you have a result that you would like to include the Report when I get back.

The South Bucks team confirmed its place at the top of Division 3 North with a fourth consecutive win at the final match at Sandy on Saturday 13th. The new composite in the Southern Athletics League of athletes from Wycombe Phoenix and Chiltern Harriers has proved successful in 2022, and next year should see promotion to the round-robin based Division 2 West.
 
There were eight Chiltern athletes taking part at an extremely hot Sandy and they contributed to a team score of 310, well ahead of Luton on 173, Biggleswade on 150, Northampton on 135, Maidenhead on 119, and Aylesbury on 7. Sue Slade and Anne Underwood supplied some top level officiating at the match, crucial to keep the league going.
 
U17 Mila Luker had a good day, second in A string 100m in 13.4 and second in A string long jump with a PB of 4.90m. In 800m U17 Lesedi Nkoane had her first track race of the season and was third in A string in 2.34.7 and U20 Charlotte Docwra won B string in 2.35.3. Vet 45 Bex Nkoane had a good run to be third in A string 1500m in 5.22.5.  Mila was in the victorious 4 x 100m team.
 
On the men’s side Senior Men Richard Slade in 9.00.3, and Aran Davidson in 9.02.8, won A and B string 3000m respectively. Ethan McCall was second in B string 800m in 2.13.8 and Matt Evans had a great run in 800m non-scoring to score a PB of 2.09.8. Ethan was in the mixed 4 x 400m relay team that was second.
 
The SAL has seen twenty-five Chiltern athletes contribute to the South Bucks teams across the four matches, ranging from U17s and U20s up through seniors and veterans. All have enjoyed a good level of competition and friendly atmospheres at all the matches.
 
Next year should see a step-up in the standard and number of athletes competing, as the team comes up against strong clubs established in the league.

Chiltern Harriers U13s and U15s had a good match at Eton on Saturday in the fourth and final meeting in the YDL series.
 
The U15 girls, U15 boys and U13 boys all had solid teams out but, mostly due to summer holidays, Zoe Partridge was the only U13 girl. So the team’s fourth place was all the more impressive. The team finished fourth overall in this strong seven-team division.
 
Despite it being the end of a long season there were many personal bests and season’s bests from the Chiltern athletes
 
U15 Girls
Abi Masters logged PBs in both 100m (4th in 13.52) and 200m (5th in 28.13). Florence Lee-Rubis scored a PB to be fourth in B string 100m (14.00) and Issy Robinson was fourth in B string 200m in a PB of 29.65. In 300m Ffion Harman was fifth in A string (45.05) and Yasmin Warnes was second in B string (45.68). The middle distance girls scored good pints with Lily Jessop-Tranter winning A string 800m in 2.26.10 and Izzy Martin second in B string in 2.27.62. Lucy Wilkinson and Rebecca Lawson ran well in non-scoring 800m. Marlie Nkoane was third in A string 1500m in 5.06.66 and Emily Ford was second in B string in 5.09.04. Florence Lee-Rubis was third in A string 75m hurdles in 14.11 and Ffion Harman second in B string in 15.10. The 4 x 100m team of Abi, Ffion, Yasmin and Florence were an excellent second in a season’s best 53.35. The 4 x 300m team also ran a season’s best of 3.09.61. The quartet featured Lily, Marlie, Charlotte Hewson and Izzy.
 
In the field Florence was second in A string long jump with a PB of 4.58m. Rebecca was third in B string with 3.45m. Charlotte Hewson was fifth in A string high jump with 1.35m and Issy Robinson won B string with 1.30m. In shot there were PBs for Ffion and Emily, and Genevieve Donald and Izzy looked after discus. Lucy Wilkinson was second in A string hammer (20.55m) and Lily was second in B string (12.23m). Lucy was third in A string javelin (20.55m) with Marlie third in B string.
 
U15 Boys
There were 100m PBs for Oscar Freemont (3rd in A string in 12.13) and Issa Phillips-Pope (4th in B string in 12.91). Oscar gained another PB in A string 200m – 2nd in 24.25 whilst Cameron McGuffin was fifth in B string in 27.43. The 300m A string saw a PB for Cameron of 43.66, and Enzo Chiappe was fourth in B string. Max Roughton was second in A string 800m in 2.21.67 and Mattie Gemmell ran a PB of 2.32.78 to be second in B string. Rory Hilton ran 4.54.76 to be fourth in 1500m. The 4 x 100m team of Mattie, Issa, Enzo and Oscar were fifth, and the 4 x 300m quartet scored a season’s best 3.03.30, courtesy of Mattie, Rory, Cameron and Max.
Issa and Oscar looked after long jump and Max and Mattie coped well in high jump. Max (5th in a string with 8.20m) and Cameron (3rd in B string with 6.06m) both got PBs in shot. Rory did A string discus and Enzo and Rory looked after javelin.
 
U13 Girls
Zoe Partridge was the sole U13 Chiltern girl on the day and gained PBs in 800m (3.05.94), long jump (3.46m) and shot (5.47m).
 
U13 Boys
Zeno Chiappe (11.77) and Theo Roughton (12.22) were the 75m scorers and Kit Dixon (11.59) and Luke Coultate (12.50) ran non-scoring. In 150m Aarav Johnson (22.01) and Luke Coultate (23.22) did well. In A string 800m Jack Martin ran well for second in 2.29.82 and Hugo Mundy was second in B string in 2.39.00. Eddie O’Brien won the non-scoring 800m with Theo Roughton fourth. The 1200m saw an excellent win for Tom Ford in a PB of 3.43.21, inside the UK top 20 for the distance for U13s. In the B string Charlie Quantrill ran a PB of 3.56.78 to be third. Jack Martin and Kit Dixon scored very useful points, third in A string and second in B string respectively, in 75m hurdles. The 4 x 100m relay team of Zeno, Eddie, Tom and Aarav ran well for third in a season’s best 59.10.
Jack Martin and Tom Ford helped with long jump and Charlie Quantrill was third in A string high jump.  In the throws Hugo Mundy continued his great progress with javelin, second in the A string with a PB of 28.36m. Luke Coultate was fourth in B string. Kai Burgess, third in A string and Kit Dixon, third in B string, did well in shot.