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Summer of Sprint for Philippa

With lockdown leaving many training facilities unavailable, 2020 was an incredibly tough year for Philippa. It was clear that the chances of combined events were going to be very slim due to restrictions on high jump beds & long jump pits, plus access to hurdles was also very tricky. Between her & Geoff, the decision was made early in lockdown to make 2020 a Summer of working on speed.

Training was tricky in lockdown with most tracks closed but Philippa joined the throng at Silksworth or trained in our street or in the back garden - skipping has been the new phenomenon and the back garden has an ideal skipping square. We're also blessed with plenty of hills,  so hill training is nice and easy in Lumley. 


So, onto the performances. Competition options were very slim in 2020 and Philippa only competed at Darlington and Morpeth - two tracks that aren't ideal as Darlington is falling apart and both can be a bit windy. Philippa hadn't competed at Morpeth since she was a first year U13, where we enjoyed a great NEYDL day when she was at Houghton Harriers.


Philippa competed over 3 distances outdoors in 2020 - 100m, 150m & 200m.



We'll start with the 200m first and Philippa had two runs at the distance and on consequentive weekends at Darlington and Morpeth.  Her pb had stood at 25.94 seconds and that was back in 2017. At Darlington she ran 25.5 seconds and the following week at Morpeth, she ran 25.48 seconds - big improvements on her times from the past couple of years. 

150m feels more like a fun distance to run as races are few and far between.  Philippa's previous pb sat at 19.28 seconds and she ran 18.94 seconds at a very chilly Darlington on the 10th October. Her time saw her ranked 16th in the UK across all age groups.

The real success was in the 100m though. Having her previous pb questioned by Power of 10 from 2019, she's had a determination to prove that her 12.36 second time was no fluke. In late August,  she ran 12.45 seconds and was disappointed with the time and she knew she could be faster. She then competed at Darlington on the 26th September & had a stormers, with a hand timed 12 seconds dead - she was delighted and the time saw her ranked 9th in the UK in the U20W age category.



All in all, she's happy with her outdoor season of sprinting & who knows what 2021 will bring - might even be some hurdles,  you just never know.........

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