National title for Owen Richardson (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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National title for Owen Richardson
4:00pm Monday 4th March 2013 in Sport
Owen Richardson celebrates on the podium.
BASINGSTOKE and Mid Hants athlete Owen Richardson sprinted to a comfortable victory in the under-15 300metres at the England Athletics Championships.
Several athletes from the Down Grange club travelled to the National Indoor Arena, in Birmingham, for the championships, but Richardson was the only one to come back with a medal.
He dominated the final, clocking a new personal best time of 36.87sec to finish almost two seconds clear of his nearest rival with a performance that bodes well for the rest of the year.
His elder brother, Myles Richardson, was also at the championships, competing in the under-17 60m and 200m.
Richardson finished second in his heat of the 200m, clocking 22.77sec, but he failed to reach the final after finishing third in his semi, completing the race in 22.55sec.
He fared better in the 60m, winning his heat in 7.17sec and setting a new personal best of 7.07sec in his semi-final to finish second and qualify for the final.
Richardson produced another personal best in the final, but his excellent run of 7.04sec was only good enough for sixth place in an incredibly tight race. Richardson was just 0.04sec off second place and 0.06 behind the winner.
Another Basingstoke and Mid Hants sprinter, Elizabeth Butler-Clack, was also on personal best form at the championships.
Competing in the under-15 60m, Butler-Clack qualified for the semi-finals by finishing third in her heat in a new lifetime best of 8.34sec. She was fractionally slower in the semi-final and it cost her, a run of 8.36sec meaning that she finished eighth and failed to reach the final.
The Basingstoke contingent was made up by Lucy Wildash, who has been in excellent cross country form of late, winning the Hampshire League and finishing sixth in the South of England Championships.
Competing in the under-15 800m, Wildash claimed a fifth-place finish, clocking a season’s best time of 2min 24.48sec.
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