Woking Athletics Club won an impressive 17 medals at the Surrey County Championships at Kingsmeadow.

Woking athletes of all ages were in action at the championships, which were held in sweltering conditions across the whole weekend.

There were a number of scorching performances producing a series of medals and lifetime bests across all age groups, in what is arguably the toughest county championships in the country with more than 900 athletes competing from across the county.

Four of the medals were won by one athlete. Harry Findlay got his weekend off to a superb start in the long jump with a huge personal best of 6.85 metres, which improved his personal best by 67 centimetres and moves him into the top 12 in the UK and the qualifying distance for the English Schools’ Championships. Even this wasn’t good enough for first place, with the winning distance being more than seven metres. Findlay picked up further medals – all bronze medals – in the shot put with a personal best of 9.41 metres, the high jump with a leap of 1.75 metres and in the 110 metre hurdles in 15.45 seconds. Findlay finished just four hundredths of a second behind the silver medallist in the 110 metre hurdles.

Harry Findlay won four medals
Harry Findlay won four medals (Woking Athletics Club)

There was another outstanding performance in the under-17 men’s long jump with Sahil Vassanjee saving his best jump until the sixth and final round, where he improved his personal best by 40 centimetres when recording a leap of 6.12 metres to break the six-metre barrier for the first time and win the silver medal by one centimetre. Elsewhere in the jumps Daniel Gilbert equalled his personal best of 1.75 metres to finish in second place in the under-17 men’s high jump.

Sahil Vassanjee in action
Sahil Vassanjee in action (Woking Athletics Club)

There were a number of outstanding performances in the endurance events where Woking picked up four medals and a number of personal bests. The most exciting race was the under-17 men’s 800 metres, with training partners Oscar Sinnett and Jack Dormer going head to head. There was an exciting battle between the pair in the home straight with Sinnett just beating Dormer to the gold medal – winning the gold medal in a personal best time of 1.56.47 with Dormer just behind in 1.56.87. Both times put the Woking runners currently in the top 15 in the UK, with Dormer going under two minutes for the first time ever. There was a superb double in the senior men’s middle distance events, with Theo Cheshire comfortably winning the 800 and 1,500 metres with a big personal best in the 1,500 metres to win in a time of 4.02.17. In the under-17 women’s 3,000 metres Imogen Freeman was competing in what was probably the hottest temperatures of the weekend and battled superbly for a brilliant bronze medal in an impressive time of 10.47.70.

There was a further gold medal in the under-20 women’s 400 metre hurdles with a superb run from Nerys Tullett, who led from start to finish and showed excellent strength and technique when she came under pressure late on in the race to hold on to win by 0.45 seconds in a new personal best time of 64.37 seconds. Tullett knocked nearly three seconds off her previous best time and moved to fourth in the UK rankings. There was a further medal in the hurdles with Kaspars Kazemaks winning a silver medal in the senior men’s 110 metre hurdles.

In the throws there were further medals won in four events with Jack Dormer winning his second medal with a throw of 40.21 metres, his second best ever throw, to pick up a bronze medal. In the under-17 women’s hammer throw Emilia Wazydrag was in fine form and picked up a silver medal with a throw of 30.39 metres, just shy of her best. Eleanor Gatrell picked up two medals, finishing in second place in the shot put with 12.28 metres and third in the discus with 32.35 metres. The final medal in the throws was picked up by Jack Harel in the shot put with a throw of 11.14 metres.

There were further personal bests over the weekend for Rohit Rohje and Isiah Fostin in the under-20 men’s 100 and 200 metres, Liam Trinidad in the under-17 men’s 100 metres, Aidan Whitton in the under-15 boys’ 800 metres and Annabel Greenbank and Ruby Whitton in the under-13 girls’ 800 metres.