ATHLETICS: Oriel on right track to glory (From This Is Lancashire)

ATHLETICS: Oriel on right track to glory

11:30am Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

RISING track star Oriel Hardman is refusing to get carried away by her high ranking in the British 800m scene.

The 17-year-old Edgworth student will go head-to-head with the best under-20 runners in the country this summer in her second season in the age group.

She ended last season seventh in the national rankings, and as most of the girls who were ranked higher than her are now too old for the age group, she has a good chance to fight for honours this season.

The Bolton Harrier has stormed on to the national scene in the last two years, reducing her personal best from 2 minutes 17.86 seconds to 2:06.24.

In her last season at under-17s two years ago, she was ranked second in Britain. Then, last year, she ran her staggering personal best — which is just over six seconds outside the Olympic qualifying time — and was called up to run for Great Britain for the first time.

With two years left at under-20s, the number one spot in the age group is not beyond her before she advances to open age in 2012.

Throughout this winter she has been working on developing the strength to get closer to the magical two-minute mark.

Never a specialist at cross-country, which can be gruelling for a middle-distance runner, her hard work and dedication in that form of running has seen her emerge as a serious contender for national honours. She finished an impressive 16th in the Northern Cross Country Championships last month in which she completed the course in 26mins 6secs, just 15 seconds behind the winner.

Then she followed up with a second-placed finished in the Greater Manchester Schools Championships to qualify for the English Schools National Championships which takes place at Heaton Park, Prestwich, on Saturday.

Finishing second in the GM Championships exceded her expectations as she set a target of a top-five finish going into the race.

And she is confident she can run faster at the nationals as she had been sick all week leading up to the regionals.

“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to run because I’d been ill with a tummy bug,” she said.

“But I did it and there was a lot left in the tank at the end which I was pleased with because it gave me confidence that I’ll be able to run faster in the English finals.”

Her major ambitions for the season involve improving her personal best and running well at the AAAs National Championships in Bedford in June which double up as the trials for the hugely prestigious World Junior Championships which take place in Canada in July.

“If I just knocked a second off my personal best this season I’d be happy,” said the Bolton Harrier. “I’m still young and I just want to keep improving. I don’t set targets which are too ambitious because it’s a gradual thing.

“The AAAs Nationals is probably the biggest event of the year for me. I’m not looking to qualify for the World Junior Championships there but if I can get my health right and run a good race then I might sneak into the team.”

She is currently benefiting from a good winter injury-wise, unlike last year when she was sidelined for several weeks with injury.

Her bad luck continued when she was diagnosed with rhinosinusitis which hampered her breathing.

The problem held her back in some big races, but it couldn’t stop her running a staggering personal best or winning her first Great Britain vest at the World Youth Championships.

Oriel is one of six youngsters attending schools in Bolton to qualify for the national finals on Saturday.

Leah Peploe, of Ladybridge High School, will be competing in the year 8/9 girls race.

Simon Walker of Canon Slade will be in the year 8/9 boys race. Thomas Kneller and Ryan Moore, both of St James’, Farnworth, will be in the year 10/11 boys race and Beth Faulkner, of Bolton School, will compete alongside Hardman in the sixth-form race.