Huge congratulations to all of the Isle of Wight Athletic Club members who represented the Island in Gibraltar this year.

In particular the support team at the Games – who gave up their own time to allow the athletes to perform at their best. Nick Groocock, Paul Simpson, Nicola Canning, Joni Simpson all helped deliver a superb Athletics team – many of whom were at their first International competition.

Paul Simpson (Endurance Coach) with  Mabel Lewis.

Competitors in Athletics:

Medallists in Athletics

Sport	Event	Competitor	Island	Medal
Athletics	1,500m Women	Mabel Lewis	Isle of Wight	Bronze
Athletics	3000m SteepleChase Men	Daniel Eckersley	Isle of Wight	Gold
Athletics	400m Hurdles Men	James Forman	Isle of Wight	Gold
Athletics	5,000m Men	Daniel Eckersley	Isle of Wight	Bronze
Athletics	Discus Women	Bridget Fryer	Isle of Wight	Bronze
Athletics	Half Marathon Team Women	Isle of Wight	Isle of Wight	Silver
Athletics	Half Marathon Women	Charlotte Metcalfe	Isle of Wight	Gold

A few IWAC club members that took part in the Hampshire Schools event on 9th July i Southampton were:

U14 Girls:

Shana Ewbanks 4th in the 200m final (following a very fast win in the heats).

Maisey Kent (4th) and Lily Barclay (13th) in the 800m

Evie Taylor – 1st Discus – a fantastic win!

U14 Boys:

Archie Williams – 8th in the 1500m

U13 Boys:

Arthur Attrill 13th in the 600m

Joe Roberts (6th) Owen Clark (14th) in the 1000m

All three Island athletes on the Hampshire Schools Team for this years Inter-Counties match were from the same school. From the Isle of Wight AC Mabel Lewis finished 3rd in the 1500m in the Intermediate Girls age group – and Naomi Holdsworth was 4th in the Junior Girls Discus.

On the 11th/12th May, the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth hosted this year’s Hampshire Track and Field County Championships; a showcase of 745 athletes in the county including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Wight.

Many of these athletes had to get through very tough heats to qualify for semi finals and finals really testing their endurance.

There were 10 medal winners from the club:

• U15 Girls
• Discus (Bronze) – Naomi Holdsworth
• U17 Girls
• 1500m steeplechase (Gold) – Milly Bacon
• Discus (Silver) – Ellie Lovett
• U13 Boys
• 1500m (Silver) – Joseph Roberts
• U17 Boys
• 3000m (Silver) – Campbell Laird
• U20 Men
• 400m (Gold) – Luke Margham
• 400m hurdles (Silver) – Ben Holdsworth
• Senior Men
• Discus (Gold) – Nicholas Percy – new Championship record
• 3000m steeplechase (Gold), 5000m (Gold) – Daniel Eckersley
• 400m hurdles (Gold) – James Forman

Athletes took part in a variety of events.

In the U15 Girls category with the largest number of competitors, Jessica Heng had a busy weekend taking part in the 100m, 200m, 300m, 1500m and long jump reaching the semi-finals of both the 100m and 200m. Naomi Holdsworth, as well as coming 3rd in the discus also competed in the javelin. She entered the 800m and 1500m running PBs to reach the final in both events. Maisey Kent also took part in the 800m and 1500m, reaching the 1500m final and narrowly missing out on a place in the 800m final. Evie Taylor ran in the 800m and threw the discus, finishing 6th overall.

In the U17 Women category, Mabel Lewis finished 5th in both the 800m and 1500m and Eden Canning qualified for the 80m hurdles final and finished 5th in the long jump. Ellie Lovett took silver in the discus. Millie Bacon came home with a Gold in the steeplechase.

In the U20 Women category, there were three Isle of Wight Athletic Club athletes in the 100m. Lucy Drover, Mollie Butler and Holly Whitter finished 5th, 6th and 7th respectively.

Lucy also took part in the 200m finishing 6th.

Joe Roberts was the only U13 boy from the IOW who entered the championships and ran very strongly to gain a 2nd place.

In the U15 Boys category, Jay Spooner entered the 800m race.

In the U17 Men category, Max Henley finished just outside of the medals in the 100m and 7th in the 200m after tough heats. Campbell Laird finished strongly to get silver in the 3000m.

In the U20 Men category both coming back from injury, Ben Holdsworth threw the javelin and finished 4th in the 400m. He is also the current U20 Men Pentathlon champion having won gold the previous week. James Haggerty finished 5th in the 400m and 6th in the 800m. Luke Margham ran a fabulous 400m to gain the the gold.

In the Senior Women, Emily Fry competed in the 100m narrowly missing a podium place.

In the Senior Men the results above show they all have cleaned the board with their 1st places on the podium.