Chigo the star as CEAS athletes impress at first UK competition

Athletes off to great start at Wimbledon Hercules Meet

 

The Chengelo Elite Athletics Squad traveled to London to take part in the Wimbledon Hercules Open Graded Meeting less than 24 hours after arriving in the UK. After a long, tiring flight and in damp, cool conditions, the athletes were not expecting to be in peak condition. Despite this, they performed well and made spectators stand up and notice their ability and fighting spirit.

After a delayed start due to the London Underground strike, Maria ran in the very first race of the night, the 100m. She was put in a mixed group of athletes but came out on top, running just over 13 seconds to take first place. Maria will be looking forward to some tougher competition in some of her next races. 

Next up was Chigo in the 1500m. Chigo had been struggling with injury in the past few weeks and admitted afterwards that he did not want to run in this race. However, he stepped up to the challenge and ran a superb race to take first place in a time of 4 minutes 35.22 seconds. His last lap split was around 67 seconds, prompting supporter and former Chengelo staff member Mr Alan Dalton to nickname him "Chigo Farah"! Mr Dalton was visiting from London and certainly helped to motivate the athletes with his support.

Maria was soon in action again, running a strong 200m to finish second in a time of 27.77 seconds. This time was unofficial as the electronic timing system was not working perfectly. The official time will be published on the Wimbledon Hercules website in the next few days. Maria's finish was particularly impressive as she showed her speed endurance is at a good level.

When Johanna stepped up at the start line to race against a full-grown man, it looked like she would have someone to chase towards the finish line. But she surprised everyone by passing her fellow competitor on the straight, winning in 26.59 seconds. Again, this was an unofficial time and the official time will be published later.

The squad can be satisfied with three victories and a second-place for their efforts. This was a great opportunity for them to test themselves out despite being tired and feeling the cold weather. It was also pleasing to see that they had learned from our morning devotion, entitled "Expressions of Hope", that "a committed heart will be noticed by others." Click here to read the devotion for yourself.

The squad are now in high spirits and will take part in some training in the next few days before a non-competitive 5km run on Saturday followed by their next competition, the Blackheath and Bromley AC Open Meeting on Monday night.

Thank you, Mr Dalton for your effort to come and support the squad. It meant a lot!