Yesterday we had the Devon County Championships. This is the second of the events (after BUCS Outdoors) that I had targeted with my university sprinters. When I was an athlete, county championships were a big deal, and in many parts of the country, they still are. I remember the Hampshire County Championships having heats and finals most years for the sprint events (in most age groups). In addition, the event took place over two days (it still does in Hampshire). International athletes turned up to compete and the standard was high without being exclusive. The Devon County Championships were underwhelming. There were no heats for the sprint events, and no head-turning performances. Devon is smaller than Hampshire (800,000 people vs 1.4 million) but it’s undeniable that more needs to be done to lift the standard. One of my objectives is to drive this standard higher, in the U20 and senior age groups, with Exeter University athletes. There isn’t much competition for senior athletes, and had our best sprinters competed, we would have won most events. Within the next 5 years, I want to be turning up to these championships forcing Devon to have heats and finals with a group of great sprinters. Bizarrely, I suspect we’ll be viewed negatively (there was grumbling yesterday about the number of university athletes) but I’m not afraid to upset apple carts to make progress. Despite these observations, I was delighted with the university athletes who did show up to compete, although it would have been nice to see a few more people. Let’s wrap up the performances:

Men’s 100m

Theo – 12.30 (+0.9) – This lad was one of our ‘have-a-go-heroes’. He’s a fresher who has never done anything beyond a school sports day, so this is a benchmark time. This showed when he turned up 10 minutes before his race! His training has been very inconsistent all winter, but he’s got the talent to run mid to low 11s. I’m hopeful that he’s going to commit to training next year.

Charlie – 12.08 (-1.8) – A PB for another fresher racing for only the third time in a proper meeting. This lad has trained well all winter and was fantastic over the Easter break – regularly pestering me for programs (something I like!). His technique has improved lots, but still needs plenty of work, and I’m really looking forward to coaching him again next year. He has the potential to run mid to low 11s.

Maurice – 12.30 (-1.8) – A comfortable PB for our third male fresher with no experience of proper track and field before joining university. He’s got a great attitude and again, has the potential to run mid to low 11s. Like Theo and Charlie, he’s not the tidiest runner, so there’s huge scope to improve (and he’s improved lots already!).

Cellan – 12.09 (+0.9) – Not the greatest performance from Cell, but he’s getting out there and competing. When you do this, you get the odd bad performance but the odd great one too. There’s also no better training session than competing (particularly multiple times on the same day).

Men’s 200m

Charlie – 24.53 (-0.7) – A good benchmark time for this guy’s first ever 200m race.

Theo – 25.42 (+0.7) – Another good benchmark for this guy’s first ever 200m race. He even warmed up for this one.

Cellan – 24.43 (+0.7) – A solid performance.

Women’s 100m

Hannah – 12.90 (-1.2) – A great performance from a sprinter who’s having a great season. Personal best and winner of her race. It’s been great to see Hannah getting out and competing so often. Hannah also won the 100mH with a PB.

Harriet – 14.18 (-1.2) – Bronze medal and considering the wind, a PB performance. Harriet has been training really consistently and will be rewarded with even better performances this year!

Pippa – 14.44 (-1.2) – With the wind considered, the equivalent to a SB performance. Like Harriet, Pippa has shown a great attitude at training and it’s been great to see her running better than she has for years.

Women’s 200m

Harriet – 28.69 (+0.1) – This was a great performance and only 0.09 off her PB, and her fastest 200m since 2016. Bronze medal.

Pippa – 29.39 (+0.1) – Her fastest 200m since she started university in 2021.

Men's long jump

Bill – 5.86 (-1.6) – Season’s best and silver medal. There’s so much more to come from this fresher! Next year I plan to become more involved with the jumpers as their technical work has been student-led this year.

Theo – 5.46 (-0.6) – A great distance for a very inexperienced jumper! In fact, I’ve not seen him train for this all winter!

Maurice – 5.41 (-1.8) – A PB and gold medal.

Men’s triple jump

Bill – 12.70 (-0.6) – Gold medal and season’s best.

Maurice – 10.94 (0.0) – A solid performance!

In addition to the university athletes, I’ve been working with a young sprinter who absolutely smashed it this weekend. Sam (under 15) won the 100m (PB), the 200m (PB) and the 300m (not a PB, but it was his last event of the day!). Sam hasn’t yet specialised in a sport (as it should be) and spent most of the winter playing rugby and other team games. I’ve been coaching him sensibly and responsibly for his stage of development, and it showed with his relaxed and fluid running style. There’s much more to come from Sam, but his progress doesn’t need to be rushed.