Women’s and Men’s Team win in SAL plus comp round-up, 11-13th June ’22

Croydon athletes brought home 13 medals at the Surrey Schools Championships at Kingston, including five golds.

There was double joy in the 100m thanks to Farrel Fabusiwa (Junior boys) and Ethan Mauge (Inter boys), and training colleague Klaysen Kafuti broke the 50 second barrier over the 400m to take the inter boy’s title in 49.81s. 

Gracelyn Kendeck (Junior girls 300m), Lia Bonsu (Inter girls sprint hurdles) and Kyra Sethna-McIntosh (Senior girls 800m) also wrapped up wins. 

Further medals came courtesy of: 

Silver 

Henry Thomas, Inter boys 100m

Ibukun Akintola, Inter boys 200m

Inessa Atta-Fynn, Inter girls 100m

Christal Afriyie-Amponsah, Senior girls 100m

Bronze

Jayden Atta-Fynn, Junior boys 200m

Faith Chen, Senior girls 800m

Chrissy Afriyie-Amponsah, Senior girls 200m

At the Southern Athletics League 2nd division fixture at Battersea Park, Croydon Harrier’s men’s and women’s squad took a great leap towards securing the 2nd division status with a solid victory over Ealing, Southall & Middlesex, Dacorum AC and Stevenage & North Herts. 

There were 15 A event wins on the day for the Croydon squad, including a cleansweep of the relay events. 

In the women’s events, Kayla Bowley secured a solid win in the 200m in 25.3s with Marie-Louise Abraham (28.1s) securing maximum points. Penny Oliver (1500m, 5:04.4) and Madeleine Armstrong (19:45.5, 5000m) were triumphant in the endurance events, while there was a double first in the sprint hurdles thanks to Sonyce Archer and Laura Marshall, with the latter having completed the Dorking 10 mile road race earlier in the day. 

On the field, Cerys Aboagye won the women’s shot putt, while Christiana Kamdom Kemegne put herself into English Schools selection contention with her runners-up finish in the hammer. 

There were maximum points in the men’s 100m, 200m and 400m for Croydon’s men’s team. European Junior champion Derek Kinlock stole the show in the 200m, winning in 21.4s, with Matthew Pepper winning the B event. Kinlock would also triumph in the B 100m and Suhuyini Osman would win the A, while Pat Lucas and Chizoba Nkamuo enjoyed similar success in the 400m. 

James Hancock would take the spoils in the men’s 3000m with Phil Symonds. 24 hours earlier Hancock would clocked 14mins 48seconds at the British Milers Gran Prix in Watford. 

On the field, Jack Ennis stole the show, with eye-catching wins in the men’s high jump (2.07m) and long jump (6.51m).

The 4x100m teams both secured wins with the men (Osman, Pepper, Sean Edwards and Tre Poppone) and the women (Abraham, Savannah Dyer, Bianca Bimpong and Praise Ogunbiyi) recording solid wins. The mixed A relay team of Kyra Sethna-McIntosh, Kayla Bowley, Patrick Lucas and Matthew Pepper finished three seconds shy of the club record in 3:50.5. 

Croydon Harriers 222, Ealing Southall & Middlesex 199.5, Dacorum AC 163, Stevenage & North Herts 145.5. 

Five Croydon Harriers took part in the Dorking 10 mile road race. David Brown (89th), James Moore (20th M50), Jaran Finn (40th M40), Laura Marshall (9th W40) and Keith Brown (22nd M60) completed the club contingent. Norman Hemming was 11th M60 in the 10k version. 

In parkrun action 25 Croydon Harriers took part in events on Saturday morning. Second claim member Peter Chambers broke the course record at Crystal Palace in 15 minutes and 19 seconds. Other highlights included Omar Harhara finishing runner-up at Mile End and Jessica Moore was first home at Disley in Loughborough in the women’s category.