The 87th ESSA (English Schools Athletic Association) Track and Field Championship took place over two days on 7/8 July 2017 at The Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. This event is the largest national competition for school age children in the world, athletes are selected by Team Managers from each county.
Four Athletes from Vale were selected by their county schools team. Bronwen Reed (400m Senior Girls), Lee Richards (100m Inter-Boys) and Max Perry (1500m Inter-Boys) were part of Buckinghamshire and Kitty Shepherd-Cross (1500m Inter-Girls) was part of Berkshire Schools teams.
Lee ran a strong race in his heat, coming 2nd securing his place in the final where he finished 7th in a time of 11.14. Bronwen ran a new pb in her 400m heat of 57.55 placing her 2nd, unfortunately it was not enough to make it through to the final this year, Bronwen is 1st year of this event so she will be well placed for next year.
Our Inter 1500m runners; Kitty Shepherd-Cross finished an amazing 1st place in her heat firmly securing her place to the final where she won Silver with a pb in a time of 4:35.54 (possibly a new club record, awaiting confirmation) fantastic achievement particularly as she is first year. Max took full advantage of running in the second heat, knowing the time he would need to secure his place in the final which he did with a new pb of 4:04.33. In the final he gave all finishing 11th overall.
Vale are very proud of all 4 athletes who competed for their school county teams over the weekend. If you would like to watch videos of any of the above link is here. http://www.runjumpthrow.com/fixtures/12020-esaa-2017-track–field-championship
Whilst reporting on this event, we wish Lucy Perkins who has been selected for the junior girls pentathlon English Schools Combined Events, in Mid-September, the best of luck with preparation over the summer and good luck at the event.