Weekend Round-up 29th/30th June 2013

Jess Judd-ges finish to perfection to win Diamond League in new PB!

Canvey's young athletics star Jessica Judd ran a superb tactical race to take the victory in the 800m in a Personal Best and World Qualifying A standard of 1:59.85. Always in contention, Judd powered home down the last 100m to take the win, continuing the fine form she has been showing this season and booking her place in the Great Britain squad for the World Athletics Championships in Moscow in August. You can see Jessica's last 100m of her 800m win on the BBC Sport website here

Other local athletes that competed at the Diamond League in Birmingham included Gianni Frankis (Newham & Essex Beagles) who ran well in the heats of the 110m Hurdles to record 13.64s and finish 6th in his heat. James Shane (Newham & Essex Beagles) unfortunately pulled out of the 1500m just 500m into the race.

Full results from the Birmingham Diamond League can be viewed here

McLean tops UK Junior Rankings with PB in Germany

Hayley McLean has shot to top of the UK Junior 400m hurdles rankings with a fantastic win in Bauhaus, Germany in a personal best of 57.38s which has also put her top Junior in Europe. The Stanford-Le-Hope athlete took almost half a second off her previous best set in Belgium in May.

Local schools perform well at English Schools Cup Final

Southend was well-represented at the English Schools Cup Final competition held at Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday as many of our local young athletes performed extremely well, with all but one overall title going to one of our schools.

In the Junior Boys competition Southend High School for Boys were 2nd with Westcliff High School for Boys 7th. In the Inter Boys final, Rayleigh's FitzWimarc School competed well as a team to take the  overall crown with Southend High School for Boys 2nd.

On the girls side of the competition, three Essex schools took the top three postitions in the Junior Girls event with The FitzWymarc School 1st, Southend High School for Girls 2nd and The Coopers School 3rd. Southend High School for Girls were able to go one better in the Inter Girls event to take the overall crown, ahead of The King John School in 3rd, The Coopers School in 4th and The Brentwood School in 6th.

Overall results from the championships can be viewed here

Record attendance at Southend Parkrun

A total of 205 runners completed the popular Southend Parkrun last weekend with a record 55 first timers and a fantastic 69 personal bests being set!

The top three male finishers on the day were:

1st: 17:12 Ian Anthony (Havering Mayesbrook AC)
2nd: 17:57 Adam Jordan (Southend AC)
3rd: 18:32 David Walpole (Unattached)

The top three female finishers on the day were:

1st: 20:32 Jordan Lacey (Southend AC)
2nd: 21:34 Felicity Galbally (Basildon AC)
3rd: 21:49 Hollie Boyd (Leigh On Sea Striders)

Well done to everyone that took part on Saturday, the latest Southend Parkrun results can be viewed here

Over 500 runners take park in Horndon 10k

Organisers Sunday's Horndon on the Hill 10k were very lucky with the weather as a total of 506 runners completed their annual 10k.

The top three male and female placings were as follows:

Male:
1st: 33:04 Alexander Short (Chelmsford AC)
2nd: 33:34 Tom Heslop (Victoria Park Harriers)
3rd: 33:59 Anthony Jackson (Unattached)

Female:
1st: 42:36 Elizabeth Davies (Unattached)
2nd: 42:36 Emma Deary (Bishops Stortford)
3rd: 43:49 Samantha Monk ( Dagenham 88 Runners)

Provisional results can be viewed here

Local athletes compete at Watford BMC Grand Prix

A host of local athletes made the journey to Watford Athletics Stadium for the British Milers Club Grand Prix Sunday afternoon. There were several athletes representing Southend Athletics Club including Adam Hickey (14:08 - 5000m), David Smale (1:58 - 800m), David Gibbon (3:55.31 - 1500m), Tom Frith (3:57.14 -1500m), Paul Whittaker (14:41.50 - 5000m), as well as other local athletes from Basildon (James Tydeman 1:58.91 - 800m and Gemma Kersey - 4:20.11 - 1500m), Chelmsford (Mark Woodley 3:51.54 - 1500m and Sophie Riches 4:36.76 - 1500m).

Full results from the BMC Watford Grand Prix can be viewed here

Congratulations to everyone who got out and ran last weekend, wherever you were!

The RunSouthend team