England Athletics Combined Under 20 & Under 23 Track & Field Championships

Matthew Waterfield, Rory Leonard, and James Young of Morpeth Harriers were all in action at the annual England Athletics combined Under 20 and Under 23 Track and Field Championships, held at Bedford County Stadium,
on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd June 2019.

In his first appearance at such a level, despite equalling his personal best time of 49.39s in his heat of the Under 20 Men’s 400m, where he finished fourth, Waterfield went out in very tough conditions, where only eight progressed from 21, over the three heats, such was the standard.

Unfortunately, Leonard, who has already met qualification criteria over 5000m for the forthcoming European Championships in Sweden, went out in the heats of the Under 20 1500m, where twelve progressed from 24 over the two talent filled races.

Leonard could only finish eighth in Heat 1, clocking a time of 4m01.90s, which was someway adrift of his best.
Finishing fourth in his Saturday heat of the Under 23 Men’s 1500m, and posting a time of 3m49.93s, brought Young an instant qualification for the Sunday final.
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In Sunday’s final, Young finished fifth of twelve, posting a time of 3m52.43s.
The Gold medal went to Wimborne AC’s Piers Copeland, who posted a finishing time of 3m50.49s.