English Schools Midland combined events championships Horspath 27th - 28th June 2009

U17 Women
Day 1: The first event of the weekend was the u17 womens 80m hurdles. This did not start well for Oxford Schools as Emily Carstairs (OCAC) fell and broke her finger. She bounced back however and was only just pipped by Louise Brown (Radley) as they recorded 12.5 and 12.6 seconds respectively.

The Oxon team was well supported as Sian Huxtable (Wycombe) and Augusta Charlton (St Edwards) completed a good first event for the team who lead after the hurdles. The high jump proved a success for Louise as she set a new PB of 1.56mts. Emily returned from hospital just in time for the shot and she and Sian both set new PB’s at 8.37m and 9.61m respectively. Emily then set the track alight by not only winning the 200m but by setting a massive new PB of 26.6 secs. This left the girls in first place at the end of day one ahead of Warwickshire.

Day2: The first event on day 2 (the long jump) found the whole field a bit flat. However Emily managed 3rd place overall which with able support from the other girls kept the team in front. Next came the javelin and here Sian and Augusta shone with 2 new PB’s as Sian threw  25.44mts and Augusta on her debut in the event, 18.22mts.  The finalk event was the dreaded 800mts. An event which most multi-event athletes loathe. However the Oxford girls stepped up to the plate and whilst Emily won in a respectable 2.34.0 the other three all had PB’s. This meant that overall the girls won with a points total of 10,986 against Warickshires 10,543. This means that all four girls go to represent Oxfordshire at the All England Chamionships in Bedford on 19/20 Sept. Overall Emily finished 4th Sian 5th, Louise 7th & Augusta 13th.
U17 Men
Day 1: Last years All England Junior Boys team champions of Peter Barnshaw (Abingdon Amblers), Ed O’Hara (Radley) & Marcus Woodington (Ox City) would prove to be formidable competitors as they entered this, their first U17 Men multi-event competition.  The first event of the weekend was the Long Jump in which all three aquitted themselves well. Following this was the discus which proved troublesome as Ed had suffered a shoulder injury and was not at his best. The guys stuck at it however and moved swiftly onto the Javelin were they got there first PB as Marcus threw 37.18m for 3rd place. With one more event, the 400 mts to go the guys stood in 2nd team place overall. They were all three in the fastest heat finishing 1st Peter, 4th Ed & 5th Marcus. This left the team competition very well poised as the lay 2nd with much better events to come on the second day.
Day2: The first event on day 2 (100mts hurdles) is probably are strongest – the guys did not fail as Marcus, 1st in 14.3 sec, Peter, 2nd in 14.9 sec & Ed, 4th in 15.2 sec showed their class. This event proved a turning point as they established a 300 point lead which was to prove untouchable. Next the High Jump where again all three jumped respectable heights  (Peter& Ed 1.,69mts and Marcus 1.63mts). The shot was event seven and again all three showed great tenacity in producing above average performances. (Ed 10.41mts, Peter 9.39mts & Marcus 9.44mts). This left them top of the teams with just the 1500mts to go. Peter pulled out all the stops with a fantastic win in 4.33.3sec with Ed in 4th and Marcus in 7th. This tied up the competition and last years Junior Boys winners became the Intermediate Men champions.  They scored a massive 12,231 pts to beat Buckinghamshire by over 500 pts.  They now also go to the All England finals with every hope of repeating their famous national title win from 2008 a feat never accomplished by any ptrevious Oxfordshire team.
U15 Girls
Due to injury Maike Chapel (Oxford City) found herself the only U15 Girl competitor representing Oxfordshire. Undaunted, in this her first multi-event competition Maike threw herself into the fray setting two PB’s in the first two events. She knocked two tenths of her 75mt hurdles time to finish in 13.1 sec. She them followed this up with 6.56mts in the shot. Unfortunately disaster struck in the high jump as she twisted an already damaged ankle and she had to retire from the rest of the competition – not bad with two new lifetime bests .