Taunton AC continues to build on its history of producing steeplechase athletes that compete at a top level.

Charlie MacLean, Blair and Holly Brown all won English School National Finals in the past, with Archie Walton coming away with a silver.

But this season has seen a steeplechase revival at the club, with Kirstie Booth being selected to represent GB Masters in the V40 2km steeplechase in Tampere, finishing with a silver in 7min 13.39s. Kirstie has also broken the British Athletics V40 record, setting a new record time of 7m02.39.

 

Tom Heal competed at the English School National Finals over the Under 19 2km steeplechase, coming home second, and the following week over the 3km steeplechase he picked up another silver, setting a massive 45 second PB at the Under 20 England Athletics Age Group Championships. Sophia Wilson was also selected to represent Somerset at the English Schools National Finals over the 1500m steeplechase, and Oscar Lee finished 4th at the Under 20 3km steeplechase in the same race that Tom finished 2nd.  Under 17s Dillon Millard and Noah Heal are a couple of the newest chasers in the group, and they too made the English School Finals finishing sixth and seventh.

Endurance Coaches Charlotte Fisher and Dave Lee (a steeplechaser himself) are responsible for the training at the club, and we have a dedicated session on Saturdays to perfect their steeplechasing technique.  But this is not without its challenges as the water jump will not fill or drain correctly, and needs to be filled externally with a bowser and water buckets.