Johanna runs milestone sub-58 seconds 400m at Eltham
The Chengelo Athletics Squad traveled from Wellingborough to Eltham on Wednesday to take part in the Cambridge Harriers and British Milers Club Open Graded Meeting. A visit to the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum and Forty Hall in Enfield helped to separate the long trip into three smaller ones. It made for a relaxing day before a big competition and the squad were in good spirits and determined moods to run well.
The venue was Sutcliffe Park and the competition was attended by hundreds of top athletes. After some 100m heats and an extremely quick 5000m race, the first race for Chengelo athletes was up. Johanna ran in the third heat of the 400m and was aware that it was her last competitive one lap race of the trip. She started off fast and maintained a good pace before pushing towards the line to finish well. An agonising wait of more than half an hour culminated with her finally discovering her time - a new personal best of 57.94 seconds! Johanna is now only 2.12 seconds away from beating the Congolese Women's National Record which has stood for 28 years! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo_records_in_athletics
Maria was running in the fourth heat and also started well before leaving her competition on the final straight. Her time of 60.74 seconds was just 0.06 seconds faster than her 400m in Corby but nevertheless an improvement. She and Johanna will now look forward to the Hampshire Athletics Grand Prix at Southampton Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon where they will compete in the 200m races.
The BMC 800m races had at least 12 heats and Chigo was in heat 9. He waited patiently for his race and lined up as the floodlights were switched on. He once again ran excellent splits and concluded with a superb sprint finish to go from 8th at the midway point to 3rd at the finish. His time of just over 2 minutes 8 seconds was good considering the cold and wet conditions of the track.
The athletes enjoyed a well-deserved McDonalds dinner before the long journey back to Southampton. They will now look forward to Sunday afternoon's competition in Southampton. Please come and support if you can. First race at 3 o'clock! http://www.hampshireathletics.org.uk/events/gp.html
We thank God for all you guys for the excellent performance portrayed while you have been out there. It is exciting to watch you all and seeing all that you have been up to. We give God all the glory for all that He has enabled you achieve; Psa 103.
ReplyDeleteWe are so Grateful too for all of you Dear ones who have gone out of your way to ensure that the Chengelo team has an enjoyable and memorable time while in UK. I am sure they will be forever grateful for all your sacrifice and labor of love. May the Lord reward you all. Amen!!
We love you all. M. Kawonga (Gaborone, Botswana)