C&C Athletes Celebrate Medal Success
Cambridge & Coleridge athlete Shannon Flockhart celebrated a bronze medal in the European U23 Championships in Espoo, Finland, on 16 July 2023 – running 1500m in 4:08:37.
Currently coached by Ray Treacy at Providence College, Rhode Island, Shannon celebrated her win with her C&C coach, Mark Vile, who was there to see Shannon follow in the footsteps of C&C’s other European Medallists from recent years, Tom Keen, and Alex Melloy. Thomas Bridger also qualified for these European U23 championships, but unfortunately didn’t make it to the 3000SC final.
Race Report
Shannon qualified easily for the final in what was a cagey heat where only the first 4 were guaranteed a place in the final. The final was the following day and again it was a typical Championship race with a fluctuating pace throughout. A small group of 5 or 6 athletes broke away on the final lap but on entering the home straight Shannon had got herself into the Bronze medal position and held on well to secure her first European medal and run a PB of 4.08.Thomas Bridger competed in the 3000 S/C. Like Shannon he had to navigate a heat on Saturday and for most of the race he was very competitive and looked like he was going to make the final by placing in the top 5 positions in his heat. Unfortunately Thomas clipped the 3rd barrier from home and took a bad fall. Despite clearly hurting his knee, he still manage to recover and finish 7th in his heat but the fall meant that his Championships were over. Thomas is only in his first year as a U23 and has another chance in Bergen, Norway, in two years time. Shannon & Thomas were part of the most successful British team at any European U23 Championships, topping the medal table.
C&C hurdler Leah Wagstaff was also celebrating, having been selected to compete for England in the 80m Hurdles at the SIAB International Schools Match in Grangemouth on 15 July 2023. Competing against athletes from Scotland, Wales and Ireland – Leah added an international gold medal to her collection, winning in a time of 11.55s, into a headwind of 3.2 seconds!
C&C club records continued to be set at other events, with Tom Keen running a new 1-mile Club record of 3:56.06 in tough conditions at the Morton Games, Dublin, whilst Callum Elson ran a PB of 3:36.21 in the 1500m at the Sport Solidarieta in Italy, just a fraction of a second outside the club record.
Huge congratulations to all our athletes.