​York Summer League 2019 - by Luke Pichler

This season I competed in the York Summer League series, which is a four-round athletics competition hosted by the City of York Athletics Club. Competitors can enter up to 3 rounds and have a choice of many track and field events. At last year`s competition, I took part in just one round but I liked the venue so much that I wanted to come back this year and compete in every round for a chance to win the under 13 overall title.
 
April was the first round of the competition where I chose Long Jump, High Jump and the 75m Hurdles,  which was to be my first time trying hurdles at this distance. Up first was Long Jump in which I was up against some high quality athletes including Joshua Chrisp who was the current UK number 1 Long Jumper. I got a solid 4.48m jump that put me into second place and a good start to the day. I went into the High Jump with the sun shining and I was delighted to get a PB of 1.40m. My final event of the day was the hurdles where I got off to poor start but managed to power through to cross the line in first place. 
 
In round 2 I competed in Long Jump and High Jump and thought I`d try my luck at 200m as well. I was up against Josh again in Long Jump where conditions were quite windy but I still pulled off a decent 4.31m jump to claim another second place. As soon as it finished I hurried over to High Jump but by then the wind had picked up making conditions tricky. 1.35m was the best I could manage but I still finished in first place. The 200m went well despite being up against, you guessed it, Josh Chrisp! The rain was pouring down hard for the race but I finished second with a PB.
 
At the penultimate fixture I entered High Jump, Long Jump and 100m. First was High Jump and I was chuffed to bits to get a fantastic PB of 1.42m! I felt strong going into the 100m in which I was racing against a tough crowd, but finished in last place which was big learning experience for me. After this disappointment I had to pull off a special jump in the Long Jump, and that`s what I did with a 4.50m effort - my second best ever jump.
 
I went into the final round of the competition in first place overall but I still had to focus because there was a strong year 2 York athlete who was sitting only 5 points behind me in second place. First event was the hurdles but I was far more confident this time round having gained experience over the season. I won the race with a 4 millisecond PB of 13.15, which I was very pleased with. The long Jump was next but my first attempt was poor and I had a no jump for my second attempt, which put me in third place with one jump remaining. Luckily I hit the board absolutely on the edge and jumped an official PB of 4.66m which was a big relief. I finished the day with a solid 1.40m jump in High Jump which concluded my Summer League campaign and made me the under 13 overall champion. I look forward to receiving my award and to hopefully be back next year to try and defend my title.