Three OCWK athletes won titles and four others took medals at the Aviva England Under 23 & Under 20 Championships & World Trials at Bedford on 19-20 June.

Laura Weightman (Morpeth Harriers - pictured right) secured her place in the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland Team for the IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, on 19-25 July by winning the Under 20 1500m title.  She had previously run inside the UKA qualifying time for the event of 4:18.00 with a personal best of 4:14.43 when winning at the BMC Grand Prix meeting in Manchester on 29 May.

In cold, blustery conditions the 1500m final went off at a slow pace with Laura running comfortably in the pack.  With 600 metres to go she starting to move through the field, hitting the front at the bell and pulling away to win in 4:32.55 by nearly three seconds from Georgia Peel who clocked 4:35.23.

After the race Laura said: “It was so slow through to 800 metres but I didn’t want to go too early.  Mentally my preparation wasn’t what it should have been because we found out after the warm up that it was a straight final, but maybe it was a good thing because I wasn’t as nervous as I might have been.  I’ve really improved over this past year since I’ve been working with Steve Cram.”

Leigh Lennon (Newham & Essex Beagles - right) added another OCWK victory in the Under 20 800m.  Leigh ran impressively, leading from gun to tape to win in 2:10.10 from Adelle Tracey who clocked 2:10.78.  Leigh is still chasing the UKA World Juniors qualifying time of 2:05.00. 

The women’s Under 23 1500m final was also a slow race with no one wanting to take it on in the early stages.  That changed at the bell when Claire Tarplee (Solihull & Small Heath) went to the front and immediately upped the pace, with Stacey Smith (Gateshead Harriers) following close behind.  It was Stacey who had the strongest finish, passing Claire on the home straight to win in 4:29.26 to Claire’s 4:29.59.  Carolyn Plateau (Radley AC) was fifth in 4:34.21, Jordan Kinney (Royal Sutton Coldfield) eighth in 4:36.09 and Steph Roe (Preston Harriers) ninth in 4:36.93.

Stacey Smith

In the women’s Under 23 800m final, Rachel Stringer (City of Norwich) won the bronze medal in 2:09.29 behind winner Lucy Yates who clocked 2:07.82.  Ejiro Okoro (Birchfield Harriers) was seventh in 2:15.53.  Rachel and Ejiro both qualified comfortably from their heat on Saturday, clocking 2:14.64 and 2:14.68 to finish second and third respectively.

Rick Ward (City of Norwich) and Shelayna Oskan (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) also won bronze medals in the men’s Under 23 800m and women’s Under 23 400m respectively.  After a slow first lap Rick ran a strong last 150 metres to take third in 1:53.00 behind winner Joe Durrant who clocked 1:52.54, having run 1:53.46 in his heat on Saturday.  Shelayna ran strongly to clock 55.09 to finish third behind winner Laura Maddox’s 53.89 after clocking 55.80 for second in her heat on Saturday..

After leading at the bell, Mitch Goose finished ninth in a slow men’s Under 23 1500m final in 3:55.37 which was won by Daniel Clorley in 3:50.98, having clocked 3:50.92 to finish second in his heat on Saturday.  Chris Smith finished sixth in his 400m heat in 49.59.


Elsewhere, Claire Tarplee improved her 800m best by two seconds to 2:05.81 in a mixed race at Watford on 16 June, meaning that she has now improved her best by five seconds this season.


Click here to watch footage of the races on www.athleticos.org

Women’s Under 20 800m Final
Women’s Under 20 1500m Final
Women’s Under 23 400m Final
Women’s Under 23 800m Final
Women’s Under 23 1500m Final
Men’s Under 23 800m Final
Men’s Under 23 1500m Final

Click here for an interview with Stacey Smith
Click here for an interview with Leigh Lennon