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Athletics: National title for brilliant Ben Jones
NENE Valley Harrier Ben Jones made up for his English Schools disappointment by winning the gold medal at the England Under 17 Championships at Bedford.
NENE Valley Harrier Ben Jones made up for his English Schools disappointment by winning the gold medal at the England Under 17 Championships at Bedford.The 16 year-old 400m hurdler has enjoyed a superb year, apart from when he fell over the final hurdle in his heats at the English Schools, but winning a national title in a club record of 54.34 was the perfect consolation.
But Jones had to pull out all the stops, trailing English Schools champion Ben Hopkins by three metres going over the final barrier but then finding another gear to win by 0.11 seconds.
Jones, who had also broken the club record in the heats, admitted: "It was such a close finish that I didn't know at first that I had won. Another Cambridgeshire athlete, Ben Kelk (of Cambridge and Coleridge), finished third and I asked him: 'Was that me?'
"It was a great feeling when I found out I had won. I was not sure really how I would go as it was a bit difficult getting over my English Schools disappointment.
"It was great to win but one of the best things about it is the fact it was not even a good race. There are some elements I can still improve on.
"Apart from Sheffield it's been a really good year for me, not only individually but with the team doing well in the Southern Men's League."
Jones was beaten just once in five outings during the Southern Men's League campaign as Nene Valley finished fourth in Division One – their highest ever position.
They are waiting to hear whether they have been selected to compete in the promotion match for a place in the British League and if they're successful it will prove a great setting for Jones to end his impressive season.
He added: "I hope to have one more 400m hurdles race, in the promotion match, but if we don't get in I'll probably just race some flat 400m and 200m races until the end of the season."
Nene Valley team manager Tim Needham was delighted with Jones, saying: "For a lad of that age to pick himself up from such a disappointment is a great achievement.
"He ran a good semi-final and then ran with a mission in the final, just dipping the English Schools champion on the line.
"He's been training extremely well and I think there's much more to come. He was in great shape for the English Schools so he's done well to peak twice in a short space of time."
There were also silver medals for Peterborough Athletic Club pair Joel Grenfell and Max Everest. Grenfell, the English Schools long jump champion, produced four jumps beyond six metres but his best leap of 6.32m was not enough to prevent a first defeat in the event this year.
His last long jump defeat came in the Eastern Young Athletes League final in September 2008 but second place was certainly no disgrace as the winner, Wolverhampton’s Feron Sayers, has a 100 per cent record in the event this year.
Sayers had opted to go for the high jump at the English School so Bedford saw a head-to-head of the two unbeaten long jumpers and Sayers’ best leap of 6.59m was better than Grenfell’s personal best of 6.54m and within a centimetre of his own PB.
Grenfell also reached the final of the 100m, where he shaved a hundredth of a second off his electronic PB. when finishing eighth.
Everest, who took bronze in the 80m hurdles at the English Schools, went one better on this occasion and twice improved his club record. He ran 11.38 in the heats and then 11.24 in the final where he missed out on the gold medal by just two hundredths of a second.
The Under 17 men’s 400m saw Nene Valley Harrier Darrellon Holding break 50 seconds for the third time but he found himself in a very tough semi-final and bowed out. PAC’s Michael Frankland went out at the same stage, having taken seven hundredths of a second off his electronic PB in the heats.
Nene Valley’s Georgie Ivens and PAC pair Megan Edwards and Alex Pycock went out in the heats, while Ed Fitch (PAC) was below his best in the Under 15 pole vault.
Local results
Under 17 men
100m - Heat 3: 7 Alex Pycock (P’boro AC) 18.70.
400m - Heat 1: 3 Darrellon Holding (Nene V) 50.06; 4 Michael Frankland (P’boro AC) 50.33; Semi-final 1: 7 Michael Frankland (P’boro AC) 50.77; Semi-final 2: 6 Darrellon Holding (Nene V) 49.98.
400m hurdles - Heat 1: 2 Ben Jones (Nene V) 55.14; Final: 1 Ben Jones (Nene V) 54.34.
Under 15 boys
100m - Heat 2: 4 Joel Grenfell (P’boro AC) 11.67; Final: 8 Joel Grenfell (P’boro AC) 11.62.
80m hurdles - Heat 2: 2 Max Everest (P’boro AC) 11.38; Final: 2 Max Everest (P’boro AC) 11.24.
Pole vault - 8 Ed Fitch (P’boro AC) 2.90.
Long jump - 2 Joel Grenfell (P’boro AC) 6.32.
Under 17 women
300m - Heat 2: 5 Georgie Ivens (Nene V) 41.4.
Under 15 girls
100m - Heat 1: 6 Megan Edwards (P’boro AC) 13.04.
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