14-Jun-09 Telford by Tino Dummett

A total of 100 Personal Bests were smashed in the June fixture of the Midland division of the National Junior Athletics League, held at the Telford Athletics Stadium.

The League division sees Telford AC face off against City of Stoke, Derby AC, Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, Tamworth AC and Team Arrows. The Junior League is for athletes in the under-20 age group.

The best performance of the day for Telford was probably that of the 4x400m relay team, consisting of James Wilkins, Phil Shotton, Ben Riekstins and Tobi Birtwhistle. After an excellent first leg run by James Wilkins, Phil Shotton took the lead early on the second leg and ran a very fast 400m. The team continued to pull away from its closest rival, Wolverhampton, after a spectacular run by Ben Riekstins on third leg forging a gap between Telford and the rest that would prove impossible to overcome. The race finished with Shropshire’s best young 400m runner Toby Birtwhistle ultimately finishing streaks ahead of the rival relay teams for the win.

The 100m featured two highly celebrated athletes, Liam Clowes of City of Stoke, and Doniel Dennis of Wolverhampton. Liam Clowes is currently ranked number one in his age group in the UK for 200m, and Doniel Dennis ran in the World Youth Games last year in the 100m. Clowes won the race in 10.9 seconds, followed closely by Judah Simpson of Derby who ran a Lifetime Best of 11.0. Dennis was third with 11.0, with Telford’s fastest sprinter finishing fourth with 11.1. The B-race was won by one of Telford’s brightest young sport stars Mitchell Jenderko of Telford, who achieved his own Lifetime Best of 11.4. The win was even more incredible because Mitchell is just 14 years old, competing against under-20’s.

Telford had a clean sweep in the women’s 800m, with Jessica Bailey winning the A-race by a huge margin, and Chloe Murphy winning the B-race. Their times were 2 minutes 24.8 seconds, and 2 minutes 40.0 seconds respectively. Chloe showed great versatility by also winning the 3000m, and competing in the javelin.
Another clean sweep for Telford was in the men’s Javelin, where Danny Baeriswyl and Rob Miller both threw further than all other competitors. They threw 44.74 and 44.17, both almost 3 metres ahead of the next furthest.

Bethan Partridge of Telford, an English School’s gold medallist, effortlessly won the high jump, jumping 1.73 metres, almost 20cm higher than her closest competitor. Bethan also won the triple jump with a new Lifetime Best of 11.92, again beating her nearest rival by a huge margin.
Congratulations to the many Telford athletes who gained new Personal Bests, and well done to the multitude of athletes who put in tremendous effort for Telford athletic club.

Athletes chosen to represent the Telford AC junior team were:
800m- Chris Carter, James Wilkins, Jessica Bailey, Chloe Murphy
1500m- James Wilkins
3000m- Chloe Murphy
400m- Tobi Birtwhistle, Ben Riekstins
400m hurdles- Phil Shotton, Malcolm Dawes, Lucy Ferguson
200m- Tobi Birtwhistle, Santino Dummett, Sophie Worrall, Lucy Ferguson
100m- Santino Dummett, Mitchell Jenderko, Laura Gibbons
High Jump- Malcolm Dawes, Bethan Partridge, Sophie Worrall
Pole Vault- David Samuels
Long Jump- Mitchell Jenderko, Malcolm Dawes, Sophie Worrall, Laura Gibbons
Triple Jump- Bethan Partridge
Shotputt- Alessandro Dummett, Ed Dawes, Amelia Reynolds, Bethan Partridge
Discus- Alessandro Dummett, Ed Dawes, Amelia Reynolds, Jade Fletcher
Hammer- Danny Baeriswyl, Amelia Reynolds, Jade Fletcher
Javelin- Danny Baeriswyl, Robert Miller, Amelia Reynolds, Chloe Murphy