Mo Aadan and Tracy Barlow Top UK finishers at Commonwealth Half Marathon
Commonwealth Half Marathon – Cardiff Sunday 7th October 2018
The inaugural Commonwealth Half Marathon took place in Cardiff with 3 TVH athletes competing for their national teams; all 3 had fantastic runs in Personal Best times.
Congratulations to Mo Aadan and Tracy Barlow competing for England; Mo 5th man in 62:30 and Tracy 5th woman in 72:15 and AnnMarie McGlynn running for Northern Ireland, 9th woman in 73:47.
Mo and Tracy both finished first athlete from the Home Nations leading the England teams to bronze medals in the team events. Tracy and Mo continue their great improvements this year over the half marathon distance; Tracy is now ranked 4th woman in the UK for 2018 and Mo is ranked 6th in the men’s rankings, led by training partner Mo Farah.
Like Mo, AnnMarie is fairly new to the event, making a big improvement when running 74:28 earlier this year and has further improved on that time.
National Road Relays, Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, Saturday 6th Oct 2018
Young Athletes – Charlotte Buckley’s last Young Athletes National!
This is Charlotte’s final season in the Under 17 age group and what a fantastic achievement Charlotte has attained at the National Road Relays; starting as an Under 13 she ran in 2013 with 14:42 leading the TVH team to fourth place, our best ever position by any team. In 2014 she was the fastest under 13 in the race with 14:08 and received the fastest time medal. Next as an under 15 she ran 14:24 and followed that in 2016 with 14:08. Then on Saturday she ran the first lap for the Valley and came home in 8th place with 14:18. This enabled Niamh Murphy to cling on to some very good Women as she brought the team home in 13th place with 15:21. Melina Duer also had a good run to only lose three places in 16:08 as they finished 16th out of 40 teams. Our best result of the day.
The day started with the under 13 boys relay on the 3.9km circuit. Leading off, Morris Rock gave us a good start, finishing 28th in 14:37 with 80 teams starting. He handed over to Rory McConnon who is only just coming back after a summer with glandular fever. He dropped back to 45th with 16:03 but then Cameron gained 12 places as he went through the field to finish 33rd with his time of 15:00. These two will still be under 13s next year.
Leading the under 13 girls off, Charlotte Edge had a good run to finish in 27th out of the 63 teams with 15:45. Thea Almqvist-Dutton who is new to the club this summer, held 27th place with her 16:35. As an 800m runner, Sofia Cappelli had been delegated to take part in the road relays and she didn’t disappoint as she moved up to 26th with 16:49. This was the second best result by TVH.
It was difficult to get a team for the under 15 boys event. With Basil Rock finishing 58th out of 85 teams starting he was hindered by a loose shoe but still managed 14:14 for his lap. Baqar Abamecha, another 800m specialist, did very well to gain two places with his 14:59. Last minute substitute Joseph Nixon, who has only been a member for a week stepped in to save the team and with his 16:23 slipped back to 64th, but at least we had a team.
Our under 15 girls team has another promising new member in Jasmine Palmer. She ran the second leg and starting in 63rd place, moved up 17 places with 15:50 to finish in 46th place. Olivia Colegrave ran 16:23 on the 1st leg and Zenia Gordon, also brought in as a reserve, then had a great run to only lose three places with her 16:57.
Thanks to all the parents who drove the young athletes to Birmingham, especially Pete McConnon and Rebecca Rock for each bringing 4 of the U13/U15 athletes!
Results – Young Athletes 3 x 3.9km:
U13B. 28 M Rock 14:37; 45 R McConnon 16:03; 33 C McConnon 15:00. U13G. 27 C Edge 15:45; 27 T Almqvist-Dutton 16:35; 26 S Cappelli 16:49. U15B. 58 B Rock 14:14; 56 B Abamecha 14:49; 64 J Nixon 16:23. U15G. 63 O Colegrave 16:23; 46 J Palmer 15:50; 49 Z Gordon 16:57. U17W. 8 C Buckley 14:18; 13 N Murphy 15:21; 16 M Duer 16:08.
Senior Men
Our men’s team competed in the final race of the day with 6 stages of 5.9km. It wasn’t as strong a team as at the Southern Road Relays with Mo at Cardiff and others unavailable and Antonio, Myles, Daniel, Michael, Hugo and Ollie did well to finish 43rd of 76 teams. Our fastest runners were on the first 2 legs, Antonio Silva a good 21st on the very competitive 1st leg and it was great to see Myles Edwards back running well on leg 2 after long-term injuries and last competing on the track for TVH in 2015.
Result – Senior Men 6 Stage TVH 43rd
Antonio Silva(21)17:48, Myles Edwards(24) 18:38, Daniel Garcia-Rasines (40) 20:02, Michael Cameron(40)19:09, Hugo Cayssials(40)19:19, Oliver Newton(43 ) 20:30