Jade O’Dowda wins national under 20 Heptathlon title
Published: 30 May 2018
Under 20 Women Heptathlon
When it comes to impressive surely Jade O’Dowda (Club: Oxford City AC, Coach: Marcia Marriott) will leave Bedford with the strongest hold on that title given her win in the U20 championships raised her to eighth on the all-time list thanks to the 5610 points she scored. It was also a championships best performance, beating the 2009 mark held by a certain Katarina Johnson-Thompson. O’Dowda’s first day was good, but her final three events – a 6.05 long jump, 37.43 and a 2:22.17 800m – really showed the crowd what she was all about. Encouragingly, Grace Bower (Club: Sale, Coach: Mike Holmes) actually beat her Oxford rival in the 800m with a very fine 2:21.88. She hauled herself up from third on day one, so she too is most definitely a name to look to in the future thanks to her personal best 5283, and in the type of form that took her to the English Schools pentathlon title in 2014. Twelve of the 13 finishers recorded personal bests in what was one of the finest competitions held at Bedford.
(With thanks to the Oxford Mail for reporting and Ian Marriott for the photo).
