Hardworking Chengelo athletes finish week at Brighton Open Meeting

Chigo runs first ever Mile as girls mix it with the men!

After a busy week of competition, the CEA Squad travelled to Brighton for the Brighton and Hove City Athletics Club Open Meeting. After a lovely stay at the house of Trevor and Mollie Roff, Brighton was about one hour’s drive. Meeting the squad there were Mr and Mrs Hobden, great supporters of Chengelo School and members of the Chengelo Educational Trust.

The Withdean Sports Complex was the venue for this meet, at which the Bangala sisters would double up in the 400m and 200m for the third time in four days. Chigo was to attempt to run in the Rebecca Seymour Memorial 1 Mile Race. Chigo had never run a 1 mile race before and was set a target of sub-5 minutes.

After the 100m sprints, the girls lined up for their 400m race. Feeling tired from a busy week, the misery was compounded for Maria as she was placed in lane 1, her least favourite lane! Johanna was in lane 4 and both girls would run against a group of male athletes. Johanna managed to chase one of the other athletes on the home straight and record a time of 58.69 seconds, her fourth-fastest time ever over the distance. Maria struggled with fatigue and recorded a time of 1 minute 2.59 seconds.

Chigo was involved in his first ever mile race and found himself starting alongside a mixture of runners. However, he settled quickly into the race, which is just over four laps of the track. He once again paced himself extremely well and his first lap was run in 1 minute 14 seconds, putting him in a good position to record a time of less than 5 minutes. He continued with that pace and eventually finished fourth, holding off a late challenge from the fifth-placed competitor. His time of 4 minutes 58.79 seconds will go down as a personal best. However, he will have an opportunity to beat that on Tuesday in Corby when we competes in the mile at that competition.

Finally, Johanna and Maria ran their 200m races. They were seeded with fast male runners yet again and found themselves in different heats. Johanna saw the powerful men pass her on the bend but managed to chase one of them down to force the officials to review a photo finish. Her time of 26.40 seconds was pleasing and shows her consistency in the event.

Maria had a similar experience as she found herself behind the male runners as she came into the bend but targeted the runner in the lane next to her, almost catching him on the line to clock 26.80 seconds.

The group will now enjoy a well-earned break and head to Bournemouth over the weekend to celebrate Maria’s 16^th birthday! Their next athletics meeting will take place in Corby on Tuesday.