By Darren Hatton
Four of Thanet Athletic Club’s best crop of multi-eventers took centre stage at the County Combined Events Championships last weekend at Medway Park.
As a coach all you can ask for is that firstly they enjoy what they are doing, but secondly that you do your absolute best. When all four girls achieve at least three personal bests over the seven events of a Heptathlon it is safe to say that they achieved that too.
Millie Vas
First up was Millie Vas in the U20 Women Heptathlon. Millie started off like she was on a mission with a personal best in the 100m hurdles of 17.37s followed by another personal best in the high jump of 1.51m. Next up was the shot, where she threw a season’s best of 9.36m before finishing day 1 with her second quickest time ever of 28.16s in the 200m.
Day 2 started well again with her second best ever jump of 4.78m before sending the javelin out to a new personal best of 18.62m. Wanting to round off the weekend well was clearly on her mind so she set another lifetime best of 2:36.39 in the 800m to smash her previous best points score by 341pts to achieve a score of 3671pts and claim the gold medal and County Champion title.
Lola Brett
Lola Brett, also in the U20 Women event, showed true class to battle through injury and claim the silver medal in what was a fantastic weekend for her. With her ankle strapped up she completed the hurdles in her second quickest ever time of 20.64s. Next up was the high jump where she set her first personal best of the weekend with a 1.39m jump.
Shot put was next up and another personal best was achieved in a distance of 7.30m. Last event on day 1 was the 200m and she flew round in a time of 31.60s.
Day 2 was clearly going to be difficult but she soldiered on to a 4.28m long jump, before sending the javelin out to her 3rd personal best of the weekend with a throw of 20.64m. Not to be stopped she was adamant that she would complete the Heptathlon and ran the 800m in a time of 2:57.84 to record her second best ever points total of 2544pts.
Bethany Shimmen-Smith
Bethany Shimmen-Smith has promised a lot this season, and finally put a lot of doubt behind her by stringing together a great Heptathlon and taking the silver medal. Like Millie, she raced through her 80m hurdles race in a new personal best time of 13.29s.
Next up was high jump and she set a new lifetime best of 1.48m before moving on to the shot put. With a foul in the first 2 rounds, Bethany knew she had to try and register a legal throw otherwise she would achieve no points for the event, but she got herself together and threw a distance of 7.98m to keep the momentum going, and then rounded off day 1 with a very nice 200m time of 28.39s.
Day 2 started with the long jump and this gave her a distance of 4.22m before moving on to the javelin to go over the 20m mark for the first ever time; registering 21.14m. She then had the bit between her teeth to run the 800m in a time of 2:46.35 to score a personal best overall points score of 3410pts.
Gracie Lawton
Gracie Lawton was the fourth member of the girls and she was competing in her first ever Heptathlon, and she impressed all weekend. Relatively new to hurdles and her first ever race over the 80m distance she raced through in a personal best time of 14.68s. High jump was up next and her best clearance of 1.36m set her up for her second personal best of the weekend in the shot put where she launched the metal sphere out to a distance of 8.48m. Gracie finished day 1 with her second quickest time ever in 30.21s.
Day 2 started off with one of her least favourite events in the long jump, but this is no longer thought of like this as she recorded a 38cm personal best of 4.33m. This was promptly followed by her favourite event in the javelin where she flew it out to her second best lifetime throw of 32.53m. Last of all is the dreaded 800m, but she got herself round in a time of 3:06.38 to give herself a points total of 3089pts and claim her first multi events medal in the form of bronze.
Coach Darren Hatton couldn’t give the girls enough praise for the weekend. She said: “These girls are an absolute pleasure to coach, but what makes them really special is the fact that they are such good friends.
“No egos, no animosity, just hard work, commitment and a want for each other to do well. This is what produces these kind of results. I may even give them a couple of weeks off now.”
Chair, Julien Lawton, who was also in attendance at the weekend, said: “What a way to end the season, with a fantastic bag of personal bests and medals. It’s not all about getting to the podium but the journey of training and being committed. Behind every athlete is a workforce of support; coaches, family and the club”.
Julien, who joined as chair in May, is keen to raise the profile of the club and hopes this weekend will encourage more youngsters to get involved, saying: “I hope this is a great advertisement for boys and girls of all abilities to come and just have a go, we at Thanet Athletics Club would welcome you.”
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