Thirty-two motivated athletes gathered for the third and concluding
round of Phnom Penh Athletics Club's inaugural Youth Championship. For Round
3 athletes started with 200m in ten category-based heats of three or four
runners, followed, after a short rest, by the 400m with just one heat per
category.
Event 4 - 200m
The 200m sprint was the second event held fully
in lanes on the track (after the 100m). Athletes set off from a staggered
start on the back straight before negotiating the bend and finishing the
race on the home straight. There were a number of exciting races with heats
seeded by overall points ranking leading to some close finishes, including
the top two U19 girls who were separated by just 0.05s at the line.
Event 5 - 400m
The 400m followed a unique format owing to the layout of the 300m track, with a staggered start in lanes from the 100m start point with all athletes breaking to the first lane at the 50m mark of the 100m straight. From there athletes would run one 300m circuit as a group before finishing at the end of the 100m straight.
With 400m being the 'middle' distance of this competition, there were standout performances from each of the eventual four overall category winners while others secured their places on the podium with fine efforts in the final event.
Final 2022 Youth Championship Points Table
Congratulations to
all athletes who took part and completed the event. After three competitive
rounds and five different race distances, featuring forty two Cambodian and
international youth athletes, we have final podium positions for eleven of
Phnom Penh's top young runners.
Only athletes taking part in all five race distance would be eligible for a
place on the podium and by the final event twenty athletes had toed the line
for 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 3km. Nine of those twenty who didn't
make the podium received medals for their dedication and commitment to
completing the event.
In the U16 girls category, Sokung won four
of her events for first place with impressive performances at every track
distance from 100m to 800m. Second and third were tied on 77 points, however,
April's superior head-to-head performance and strength in the 400m to 3km
events saw her claim the second spot with Inlee third.
There were five wins out of five for U16 boys category champion, and previous PPAC 3km Youth Road Race winner, Soboros, while second and third place were separated by only four points. Second placed Uddom edged out his adversary in the 400m to 3km distances to finish with 81 points ahead of Tom who scored strongest in the sprints for a total of 77 points.
Podium U19 Girls
Two athletes dominated the U19 boys category with first overall athlete, Hector, winning all five events and staying just ahead of Hangthirith who scored five second place finishes for the second podium place. Two excellent and hard fought third place finishes in Round 3 saw the final podium place go to Sothearath, climbing from fifth overall after two rounds to take third in the championship.
Full Round 3 Results & Analysis - 200m & 400m
None of the present athletes have previously raced 200m in a PPAC event. However, nineteen athletes scored points PBs in the 200m, including four who scored points for the first time. The 200m race saw the best overall performances across all athletes, with the most PPAC point scoring performances, and just slightly better average performance than the 100m.
In the 400m there were eight PBs out of 11 for athletes with previously recorded times, many of which were set at PPAC's last 400m race (and YC warm up event) in January. However, there was only one points PB for U19 girls champion Sreyleap, scoring just under 400 points after also hitting a points PB in the earlier 200m, underlining a standout performance in this event!
Special thanks to our volunteer officials, assistants on the
morning, Lorinda Wishart (timekeeper), Seavleang, Kimkheang and Annick Schubert (photographs) as
well as all who supported the event by accompanying the athletes or helping
in any other way.
Thanks to
Kirisu Farm
for providing delicious & refreshing snacks on the morning, thank you to
Northbridge International School for hosting the two track events and thanks
to Care for Cambodia's plastic waste awareness project for their colourful
and innovative recycled medals and trophies.
Finally, thanks to all
from the PPAC Team, Meyjou, Jack and Neil for helping us put on another
great event, we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did and hope to see
you all again soon for more fun athletics events!
