Athletics: Special Events Two competition-Dean William shatters youth hammer record |13 February 2012

Still young and eager to further improve in the future, the young hammer thrower, who has still not reached his full potential, shattered his previous best of 43.80m set on January 1, 2011 with a toss measuring 60.40m in Saturday’s Special Events Two competition dominated by young athletes.

Speaking immediately after his record-breaking exploit, William, who was competing for the first time this year and had no one to push him, said he did not come into the competition with the idea of beating the record.

“I did not expect to throw the hammer that far, but I’m happy I got the record today,” said William, adding “I’ve been training hard lately with the 7kg hammer and this helped me throw the 5kg hammer further.”

Asked about his goal for the year, the 17-year-old who is still in secondary five at Belonie school, replied: “I want to continue improving to throw the hammer even further to better my youth 5kg best as well as my youth, junior and senior 7kg records.”

William’s youth, junior and senior 7kg hammer records stand at 40.45m and he set it at last year’s Indian Ocean Island Games.
William also won Saturday’s shot put throw event with a distance of 29.21 seconds.

After shunning the Special Events One competition, young local athletes came out in full force for the second and there were quite some good rivalry in events like male long jump, male 2,000m, female 2,000m and male 150m.

Jean-Yves Esparon (junior, under-20) won the male 150m race in 16.35 seconds ahead of Lester Dogley (senior, 17.04 seconds) and Aaron Tirant (youth, 17.53 seconds) as 200m record holder Leeroy Henriette watched from the stands.

Ezra Almaze (youth) had no problem winning the female 150m race in 19.9 seconds ahead of only opponent Peggy Rachel (youth, 22.0 seconds).

One of only four senior athletes in action, Danny D’Souza did not run unchallenged this time and he hit the tape of the 60m dash in 6.97 seconds – four hundredths of a second slower than his record of 6.93 seconds set  on February 14, 2009. Junior (under-20) sprinter Samuel Maria (7.49 seconds) and Aaron Volcère (youth, 7.73 seconds) finished second and third.

Janet Boniface (senior) won the women’s 60m race in 8.00 seconds, relegating Matty Molta (junior, 8.33 seconds) and Diane Nioze (youth, 8.66 seconds) into second and third positions.

Boniface also won the long jump with a best leap of 5.64m ahead of a field of eight, with Nioze finishing second with 4.76m and Surera Charles third with 4.71m.

Junior jumper Alvin Kilindo leapt to victory in the male long jump with a distance of 6.17m, relegating Dayen Finesse (junior, 6.03m) and Stephan Souris (youth, 5.58m) into second and third places.

Ricardo Suzette (senior) clocked 8.55 seconds in the 60m hurdles, while Finesse (junior, 9.45 seconds) and Jean-Michel Vidot (youth, 9.78 seconds) were ranked second and third.

Vanessa Cherry left fellow youth category runner Stephanie Underwood in her wake with 300m to go in the 2,000m race, winning it in 8 minutes 29.63 seconds (8:29.63). Underwood finished second in 8:49.53 and Sharon Seth was third in 10:48.90.

Youth category distance runner Roch Bamboche stepped on the gas hard on the final lap of the male 2,000m race to win in 6:52.68 as  Steward Louise (youth, 6:55.21) and Travis Cadeau (junior, 6:56.27) trailed in second and third positions.

Marie-Helen Rose dominated the female hammer throw event with a best effort of 26.66m, finishing ahead of fellow youth competitors – the Rose twin sisters Elma (22.17m) and Elna (19.22m).

Aicha Cushion (youth) registered a distance of 19.76m in the female discus event to take first place. Elna Rose was second with 19.14m, while Marie-Helen Rose did not get any good throw.

Unchallenged in the female high jump, Samia Almaze (girl, under-16) cleared the bar at 1.40m, while Leeroy Gamatis won the male event with a height of 1.85m ahead of Stephan Souris (1,75m) and Steward Louise (1.60m).

G. G.