Aaron Sexton was part of an Ulster select team that travelled to Bedford to compete in the highly competitive England Athletics U15 & U17 championships on Sat/Sun 27/28th Aug. The 100m took place in blustery conditions on Saturday but Aaron eased through his morning heat in second place with 11.43s (-3.3w). The semi-finals took place early in the afternoon and in a very tight finish he just missed out on automatic qualification but made it through to the final as the fastest runner-up, finishing 4th in 11.18s (-2.2w). By late afternoon, conditions were somewhat better for sprinting as the wind dropped and changed direction for the final. Following a great start he just couldn’t quite match the leg speed of some of the others but was still delighted to record another sub-11 time of 10.98 (1.1w) to finish 5th.
Sunday was a better day for Aaron’s preferred event with conditions more conducive to good times. He cruised to victory in the heats of the 200m with 21.99s (1.7w) to secure a good lane for the final where, again, he got off to a good start and ran a strong bend with the main opposition all inside him. The first three were fairly even coming off the bend but the other two gradually opened up a small lead along the home straight. The race was eventually won by Jona Efoloko, the European Youth 200m champion, but Aaron ran strongly and was delighted to win a bronze medal in a time of 21.98s (1.3w). The three are likely to meet again at the UK School Games in Loughborough next weekend.