Croydon Harriers Stevie Lawrence takes bronze in 3k event – South London News

BY MIKE FLEET

Nationally, steeplechaser Stevie Lawrence, sole survivor of a trio of top-quality Croydon Harriers at the British Championships and Olympic Trials, built on her third place in the UK rankings with a well-earned bronze in her event of 3k.

Off the pace early on, she worked her way through the field.

To her credit, she persevered and was rewarded with a personal best of 9 45.46 – a time which lifted her to seventh in the UK all-time list.

With the potential to improve over the 28 barriers in clear dry conditions, the Croydon athlete must surely be on the verge of a major breakthrough

Unlucky Olympic hopefuls European bronze medal sprinter Romell Glave and British discus record holder Lawrence Okoye were unfortunately ruled out through injury.

Harriers’ young athletes went about their business well elsewhere, the Lily B (Braben) League girls at Ewell Court on Saturday and the National Development League senior mixed team at Crawley

A well-deserved win at Ewell oozed excitement and promise, while a hard-fought mid-table result at Crawley earned them top-flight status.

With the sprinters predominating at Ewell, the field competitors were not to be outdone and produced some of the clearest performances of the day. U17 hammer specialist Evelyn Bosoko’s winning mark of 49.47m almost doubled that of her nearest challenger, B string winner and teammate Gabriella Tcheukam. Evelyn has now climbed to number eight in the UK charts.

Gracelyn Kendrick, Great Britain’s number one in the U17 300m hurdles, produced a display of virtually solo perfection, finishing 11.0 seconds clear of the rest in 44 seconds.

Equally dominant was U15 javelin thrower Pole Podzerek, whose best effort of 22.03 saw her within about seven meters of the runner-up.

here was a double first under 100m under 13 from Ebony Rose Donker 27.2NS Dougita Danro 29.2sec, while Kezia Wheeler’s javelin throw of 19.68m hinted at great things to come

Top ten events were impressive indeed, capped by a clean sweep of the relays

The U13s clocked 54.6 seconds, the U15s 50.6 and the U17s 48.5 seconds

Harriers’ winning tally of 311 almost doubled that of runners-up Herne Hill Harriers

At the K2 Stadium Crawley, Lia Bonsu ended her young career in the best way possible. Barely missing a club match since the age of 12, the two-time UK top 10 has recorded three victories, winning the 100m in 12.46 and the long and triple jumps with distances of 5.65 m and 12.08 m.

Kyron Bailee-Burke, despite not being well, was the epitome of a team player and competed with his usual determination.

He kept the winner close throughout, closing in a very creditable second in 2:01.32, and earlier ran a close 400m best of 51.68sec for valuable points in 5th place.

Great Britain’s second-ranked U17 sprinter Farrell Fabuswa also caught the eye with a runner-up time of 21.96s and a scintillating relay that took the club to the top of the Great Britain list with a time of 43.01 seconds. His fellow winners were Malaka Eludoucuou and Amari Donkor.

The club’s fifth place secures them in this top division for 2025.

PHOTO: MIKE FLEET

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