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Southern 3000m Champs

The Southern 3000 Championships at Barnet Copthall produced 4 pbs, two club records and two top 5 placings.

The U15 girls were first up with Rebecca Killip and Josie Savill among the youngest in the race.  A fast early pace saw first-timer Rebecca pass through 1500 in 5:08, faster than intended but unavoidable in the circumstances of the race.  She dropped off the pace in the final km, just losing contact with the girls in 2nd and 3rd.  10:37.20 represented a club record by 28 seconds, and puts her in the top 10 U15s in the country this year.  Josie ran 11:07.44 to narrowly miss the old record, her debut showing once again the talent she has at running as well as swimming.

Jamie Finnigan had a sub-10 target in mind for his first 3k in the U15 boys race and he ran sensibly from the start, hanging at the back of the field and working his way through mid-race.  A 36 second last 200 saw him come home in 9:56, his sub-10 target achieved and with it a new club record despite, like Rebecca, being only a first-year U15.

In the U17 men's race Jack Killip looked like he was getting involved in the medal hunt after 3 laps but lost contact in the 2nd half of the race.  A storming 65second last lap saw him move back up to 5th but not the medal he was perhaps capable of.... another time... three or four races left this season to put that pace to use!  Eoin O'Brien dug deep late in the race to knock twenty or so seconds from him personal best to record a very useful 9:32 - sub 9 next year a realistic target.