Ben Reynolds was the most successful Northern Ireland athlete in Stoke at the Combined Events International in Stoke. After being in contention in the U17 decathlon category throughout with a series of good scores, nearly all at pb level, he had a poor closing event at 1500m and dropped to 3rd but still had a very respectable score of 6180 points. Katie Hewitt in the heptathlon scored 3640 points, about the same as her seasons best.
[Not a valid template]The small and young Northern Ireland team found the wind rather chilly for the Combined Events HomeNationd International which was incorporated in the UK Challenge Combined Events Final. After a badly-delayed flight and a miserable set of traffic jams, North Down had Ben Reynolds and Katie Hewitt there with Claire Scarth as Team Manager. Ben had a brilliant first day and was lying 2nd in the decathlon U17 category with 3269 points. He had 100m 11.82 sec (687 points), LJ 6.43m (682), 5K shot 12.04m (609), HJ 1.93m (740), 400m 56.22 secs (551). Katie had 2158 points in the first day heptathlon and was 16th, 6th in the U20 category. Her scores were 100mH 16.71 sec (630 points, HJ 1.42m (534), shot 7.33m (356), 200m 27.91 sec (638).
[Not a valid template]On the second day on Sunday, Ben continued with 100m Hurdles 13.69 sec (836 points), Discus 35.01m (564), Pole Vault 3.95m (603), Javelin 44.27m (504), 1500m 5:29.05 min (404). Katie scored LJ 4.62m (459), Javelin 23.57m (355), 800m 2:32.04 min (668)
English-based Tom Fright, competing in the U20″s had 5251 points with 110m 11.85 sec (681 points), LJ 6.09m (606), 6K shot 10.20m (498), HJ 1.69m (536), 400m 54.56 secs (61), 110m Hurdles (3″3) 15.61 sec (777), Discus 33.49m (534), Pole Vault nh (0), Javelin 39.46m (434), 1500m 4:58.51 min (568).
A former winner of the Northern Ireland title Ed Dunford (Birchfield Harriers) made a dramatic bid for a place at next year’s Beijing Olympics by winning the decathlon with a massive personal best of 7734 points.