SCOTTISH INDOOR NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
This weekend saw Lucy Chappell travel up to Glasgow to compete in the Pentathlon at the Scottish Indoor National Combined Events Championships.
The day started off with the 60m Hurdles where she ran a personal best of 9.04 seconds, which was 0.09 seconds faster than she has ever ran before so this set up the day on a highly positive note. This time also extends her own club record.
The second event was the High Jump which is Lucy’s strongest discipline when it 
comes to the combined events. She managed to jump a big personal best of 1.77 which was a 4cm PB which now ranks her 4th in the UK in the U23s and 10th in the UK overall which is a great achievement for a Heptathlete as she is now up there with those who are known as high jump specialists. This clearance of 1.77 also means that she has exceeded the standard set by British Athletics to compete in the British Athletics Championships & World Trials in Birmingham in June. This height also extends her own club record.
The third event was the Shot Put and Lucy managed to continue her PB form by throwing 10.39 which was a 1cm personal best but she was still delighted that she was still continuing her great form by producing 3 PBs out of 3 events so far. This distance also extends her own club record.
The fourth event was the Long Jump. Over the past year Lucy has struggled to hit the distances that she knows she is capable of due to a change in technique however over the winter she has managed to work on this and managed to jump an indoor personal best of 5.44 which was a really strong performance which put her on 3080 points after four events with just the 800m to go.
The final event of the day was the 800m. Lucy knew she was in great shape as she had been running strongly when it came to speed endurance sessions in training. She managed to record a time of 2.29.50 which was an indoor personal best by 6 seconds and was just outside of her outdoor personal best. She was slightly disappointed with the time she produced due to knowing she was in much better shape however after a long day she was happy to still run an indoor personal best.
Lucy ended the day with 3870 points which was a huge personal best as it increased her previous personal best by 395 points which is an incredible achievement. She finished the competition in 5th place in a really strong field. This score also beats the club record by 1,055 points. Her training partner Joanna Rowland, won the competition in a Championship Best of 4103 points. This score of 3870 ranks Lucy as the 4th best U23 athlete in the UK this year and 10th in the UK overall which is a great achievement to be proud of.
Lucy will now turn her focus onto the outdoor season but will first be heading out to Torremolinos for two weeks on a warm weather training camp with her training group and coach, Toni Minichiello. Then a few days after she gets back she will be focussing on the British University Championships where she will represent Sheffield Hallam University in the High Jump and will be a strong contender for a medal after her performance at the weekend.