Cooke’s triple success comes in hectic month

Athletics starlet Heather Cooke branched out into a new discipline last weekend, with impressive style.
Athlete Heather Cooke (w130604-2a)Athlete Heather Cooke (w130604-2a)
Athlete Heather Cooke (w130604-2a)

The teenager, competing in a seniors competition at Derby, entered the triple jump for the first time and won.

The North of England League Two event gave Cooke the chance to showcase her usual hurdles prowess, and her ability to transition to other disciplines, in triple jump and long jump.

Scunthorpe Athletic Club’s Cooke was victorious in the triple jump thanks to a jump of 5m 56cm.

The English Schools qualifying standard is 5m 70m, just 14cm longer than her first ever competitive jump.

In the long jump the Queen Elizabeth High School student finished in second position, after jumping 4m 99cm, 7m off her personal best.

Cooke also went on to win the 400m hurdles race in a time of 66.7 seconds, a mere .5 of a second slower than her personal best time.

The hat-trick of impressive results will stand her in good stead for what is a hectic competition schedule ahead.

The youngster has four more events in the month of August, before the UK School Games in Sheffield next month.

On 17th and 18th August she will take on the Northern Athletics Under 17 Championships at Liverpool, before the Southport Open on 24th August.

Two days later she’s down in Peterborough for the City Games, and she rounds off a busy month with the English Schools Under 17s Championships at Bedford on 31st August.

The UK School Games take place from 12th to 15th September.

It’s already been a successful year for 15-year-old Cooke.

Her performance at the Lincolnshire County Championships at Grantham qualified her for the English Schools event, when she took two gold medals three silvers and a bronze from six events.

Her 300m hurdles time of 44.8 seconds was a new Lincolshire County Championship record.

Dad Gary was delighted with her recent set of results in Derby.

“It was a very pleasing result, when she won the triple jump,” he said.

“And the hurdles result was a good one, in very windy conditions.”

Anyone interested in helping to fund the promising athlete’s aspirations, email Gary Cooke at [email protected]