National Schools Combined Events Championships

Bedford International Stadium 19th & 20th September 2009

Six Cornish athletes made the very long traffic delayed journey to the National Schools Combined Event Championships at Bedford but came away with much to celebrate.

Phil Warwicker from Truro College represented the Senior boys in the tough decathlon & Philippa Brett from Poltair School represented the county in the Inter Girls heptathlon over both days.  On the second day the Junior Girl’s team were represented by Jordanna Morrish & Lottie Richardson both from Truro High School, Kiani Pay from Truro School & Alice Vage from Penair School.

In his last ever Schools competition before moving onto University, Phil Warwicker’s first day went well.  Despite running into a headwind, he ran very close to his 100m best with 11.79 and followed this up with a very solid long jump performance of 5.95.  Although slightly disappointed with his shot performance Phil equalled his best ever high jump of 1.60m and finished the day with a new personal best of 54.10 in the 400m. 

Philippa Brett started her first day by equalling her lifetime best time of 12.3 in the 80m hurdles, she followed this up with an improvement in the high jump firstly to 1.51m & then a first time clearance of 1.54m.  A further half a metre improvement followed in the shot put & she finished the day with a dramatic improvement in the 200m from 26.8 to 26.20. 

The second day saw the Junior Girls start their campaign well with Lottie Richardson improving her life best time in the hurdles with 12.73 and Jordanna & Kiani running very close to their bests with 11.98 & 13.53 respectively.   The shot competition went well for them all with Jordanna & Alice both putting over 7 metres for the first time.   Next came one of their strongest events with Jordanna leading the National rankings for the year & she did not disappoint, clearing 1.66m to win the event.  Lottie & Kiani jumped close to their bests with 1.54m & 1.45m with Alice equalling her seasons best with 1.45m.  At this point the team moved from fourth position to third.  The Long Jump is an event favoured by Kiani who jumped close to her best with 4.89 and Lottie equalled her best ever performance of 4.81m.  Jordanna was delighted with a 17cm improvement on her best to 4.67m & Alice again put in a very solid performance with 4.45m.

Jordanna finishes close to her best ...

... and Kiani throws well to add more points.

The day ends with the dreaded 800m but it was the event that Alice had been waiting for all day & with the girls still lying in 3rd place it was still all to play for.  Alice stormed to the front of her race and never looked to be threatened to cross the line in 2:31.56 which saw her move up the leader board to a final position of 27th & a point’s tally of 2481.

Alice had a comfortable win in the 800m

Kiani gave everything to her final event & was delighted to improve her best score to 2582 in 22nd place.  The final heat saw the girls in the top 8 positions fighting it out for the honours, Lottie ran all the way to the line chased by Jordanna, both running very respectable times under 2:40.  Lottie finished with her second best points tally ever with 2788 and a well deserved 8th place.  Jordanna moved up the leader board from 7th to 5th with a points tally of 2893 but with another year in the age group the County record of 2985 looks to be under threat.   Next came the eagerly awaited presentation to the teams and there was much to celebrate with a well deserved second place and an amazing points total of 8263 just 64 points behind the winners Merseyside, a score that would have won the competition most years.

Phil started his second day a little down on his 110m hurdles time but was very close to his best with 28.34 in the discus.  He celebrated with a new personal best of 2.81 in the pole vault followed by a good effort of 28.17 in the javelin.  The final event of the day is the very gruelling 1500m, which brings back memories of Daley Thompson plodding around at the end of his Olympic winning campaigns.  Phil was awarded with a season’s best in the event and a big 170 points improvement for his best ever points total of 4691.

Philippa enjoys victory in the 800m and breaks the overall county record for the intermediate girls' age group!

Phil finished his events with a best-ever total of 4601 points.

 

Philippa jumped close to her best in the long jump with 4.95m which saw her maintain her overnight standing of 10th Sposition, but despite a half metre improvement in her javelin she moved down to eleventh.  With just 70 points separating the girls from 8th to 14th position there was still much to fight for in the final 800m event with all of these girls running in the 4th heat.  With 200m to go there were 4 girls in contention for the glory of winning their final event but it was Philippa who stormed away with victory in 2:28.05.  A very tense few minutes followed while the scores were calculated but there were huge celebrations when it was announced that Philippa had moved up to 8th position.  She also smashed the 19 year old County record held by Alison Guy by 202 points.

Jordanna chases Lottie all the way in the 800m final

A very happy Lottie, Jordanna (back) and Alice and Kiani on the podium to claim silver for the junior girls' event.

The Cornish team, from left: Philippa Brett, Alice Vage, Lottie Richardson, Kiani Pay, Jordanna Morrish and Philip Warwicker.