5th place finish for Aiden on the comeback trail at the National Champs
At the England Athletics Senior and U20 Combined Events Championships held in Bedford last weekend, Aiden Davies finished in fifth place in a large and high quality field. In the first Decathlon that he has completed for two years due to injury, Aiden had a mixed weekend with some lifetime personal best but also some below par performances hampered by a persistent knee problem. The competition was won by Welsh Commonwealth Games decathlete Ben Gregory who scored 7,517 points. Aiden’s finished the weekend’s competition with a new PB score of 6,940 points.
100m – time 11.23 secs
The weekend started with a bit of bad luck for Aiden as his blocks slipped at the start of the 100m.
This totally messed up the drive phase of the sprint and stopped Aiden achieving the sub 11 secs time that he was aiming for.
Long Jump – 6.72m
Having changed take off legs only a few weeks ago Aiden wasn’t going to jump close to his PB of 7.24m. He did however have a solid 3 jumps whilst still trying to get to grips with this new jumping technique.
Shot Putt – 13.43m (PB)
After two 12m putts, his third was a new personal best.
High Jump – 1.83m
This was always going to be the problem event for Aiden with a fragile patella tendon.
Having been unable to clear any height in warm-up things weren’t looking good.
He managed an opening height jump of 1.74m and progressed up to 1.83m when the pain got too much to allow him to push any further.
400m – 49.15 (Outdoor PB)
Aiden went out hard from the start and lead the field home in the 400m with the fastest time that he has run for 4 years and an outdoor personal best of 49.15 seconds.
110m Hurdles – 16.68 secs
A disappointing time again with his knee hampering Aiden’s performance. He got out of the blocks well for once and was hurdling well up to the 6th hurdle where his knee went again, stopping him from driving over the remaining hurdles
Discus – 39.70 m
A strong event for Aiden with a good final throw close to 40m
Pole Vault – 4.22m
Another event where Aiden’s knee prevented him achieving full potential.
After a series of vaults, starting at 3.72m, he finally had to pull out of the competition after his first attempt at 4.32m as the pain from his knee was just too much to continue
Javelin – 37.42m
Never a good event for Aiden and after fouling the third throw in excess of 40m, he had to settle for mediocre 37m
1500m – 04:24.32 (PB)
Aiden went into the last event of the weekend in 7th place overall but knowing with the strength of his middle distance running that he could make up a couple of places. It was a determined effort on a hot, humid late afternoon that saw Aiden break the PB that he set three years ago.
P.S. Who can spot Daley Thompsons’s son in the above photo?
Nathan Langley – Under 20 Men’s Decathlon
Fellow Doncaster AC athlete Nathan competed in the U20 decathlon and finished in 9th place with a score of 5,684 points. He achieved a PB in the 400m with a time of 50.90 secs.
Lucy Chappell – Senior Women’s Heptathlon
Unfortunately Lucy hit the penultimate hurdle in her fist event, the 100m Hurdles, and had to push the final hurdle over to avoid a nasty fall, which disqualified her from the competition.