National News

Following her gold medal in the 60m at the Southern U20 and Senior Championships at Lee Valley on 31 January 17-year old Maia Heward-Mills stepped up another gear to become England Champion at the U15-U20 National Championships in Sheffield on 7 February in a PB of 7.44, bettering her own all-time Women’s Club record. Although she finished in the bronze medal position, the two athletes ahead of her were guests from Scottish and Welsh clubs.

Adam Ofeimun, who also won gold in the 200m in Lee Valley finished just outside the medals in a strong final, in 22.00.

In the U17 800m Thomas Whorton (below left) shaved exactly a second from Liam White’s Club record, which had stood since 2009 (the year Thomas was born!), to take the silver medal in 1:56.39, adding to his Southern gold medals in both the 800m and 1500m. For Thomas this return to top form is just reward for managing to stay patient during a year of frustration after a stress fracture in his foot, diagnosed in October 2024, meant he had to wear a boot for three weeks and only very cautiously return to training and competing last summer – but now, says Thomas's mother and HW assistant coach, Kate, 'it is all starting to be worth it!'      

Fellow U17 Theo Creed, who was crowned Surrey County Cross Country Champion in January, won the silver medal in the 1500m in Sheffield in 4:04.30, and Max Barckhahn joined him on the podium with the bronze in a PB of 4:05.49. Max Harrison finished in fifth in the U15B 1500m in 4:25.60, also a PB.

Sadly for Tommaso Crosara, in great shape after winning the silver medal in the Southern Championships over 400m, his hopes of another medal in Sheffield were dashed as illness forced him to withdraw. 

Photos above left and below by Pat Scaasi

Maia the force be with you

This weekend (14/15 February) Maia Heward-Mills has accepted an invitation to compete amongst the stellar names of the sport at the Novena UK Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, one of five Club athletes to receive a coveted invitation. Chad Miller goes in the 60m, Freddie Arkell in the 60m/200m, and Andrew Penney in the 3000m.

Also invited was U18 Irish record-holder over 200m, U20 Adam Ofeimun, who like Maia, won gold in the Southern Championships but just missed out on a medal in the 200m in Sheffield, having clocked his fastest time of 21.82 in the heats. However Adam is now being supported by Ireland Athletics on the 'Emerging' tier of their Performance Pathway, and will be away in Portugal training with the squad.
 
'I’m very, very excited', says Maia ahead of the Championships, 'but I am looking at it more as an experience than anything else. I have always watched the British Champs on TV, but never expected to be invited at seventeen!'

In the month of January alone, she has whittled her 60m PB  from 7.57 to 7.44, bringing her A-game to the big competitions and negotiating the rounds with aplomb. 'Her preparation and ability to run the heats and semi finals quite comfortably and then execute in the final is very impressive', says head sprint coach Paul Miller. 'She has stepped up both mentally and physically'.
 
‘This is my sixth year of track and I have always loved competing as much as I can, which I think is the best way to learn how to get through rounds’, says Maia, who joined the Club from Epsom & Ewell in 2024, and is also a talented sprint hurdler. ‘I don’t get too nervous in competitions any more', she says. 'I’m able to tell myself I have done all the work in training'.  As to delivering PB after PB indoors, she says, ‘I feel it is down to a change of mindset. Last year I started really well, but I didn’t get to where I wanted to be in the important competitions, like English Schools, which made me reflect on giving myself a real focus and motivation for this season: to try to make it to the World U20 Championships in Oregon in August’.
 
As a first step on the pathway to international competition, Maia, along with fellow sprinter James O’Flynn, has been accepted on the two-year England Athletics Youth Talent Programme, designed to support and guide athletes aged 17-18 across key aspects of training and competing, including nutrition, psychological demands, lifestyle and social media. ‘We’ve had two training camps so far in Birmingham with one more to come in March, which I really enjoyed’, she says. ‘It’s a great experience and nice to get to know and become friends with the people you are competing against!'