Sarah Connolly made her heptathlon debut on Saturday and Sunday at the Woodford Green Open which incorporated the Essex Championships and open events. On a very blustery weekend, 17 year old Sarah finished 2nd in the Junior Open on 4010 points, 46 points behind Amy Richards of Orion Harriers. The 4000 point mark may not sound much in European terms but from 2006 in the Power of Ten era and probably a good few years before, no Northern Ireland athlete, Junior or Senior, has come close. It is a North Down club record.
Sarah’s scores were 100mH 16.03 (+1.9) 711 pts, HJ 1.62m 759 pts, shot 7.74m 383 pts, 200m 26.80 (+3.5), LJ 5.09m 584 pts, javelin 22.73m, 800m 2:46.16 min 2:46.16. The heptathlon, hurdles and javelin are pbs, while the windy 200m is legal under Combined Event Rules but not for single event purposes. There is obviously much more to come with scope for improvement in the throws parlicularly.
Tom Reynolds, Sarah’s coach, was 5th in the Senior Open decathlon with 6386 points. His scores were 100m 11.39 (+2.9) 776 pts, LJ 6.58m (+4.6) 716 pts, shot 12.04m 609 pts, HJ 1.83m 653 pts, 400m 54.30 sec 627 pts for a first day score of 3381. He then did 110mH 15.60 (+1.5), discus 35.10m 566 pts, PV 4.04m 628 pts, javelin 43.61m 495 pts and 1500m 5:03.87 min 538 pts.
Woodford Combined Events Open External Results