Last Sunday, 29 AVEAC athletes made the short journey up the M1 to Chesterfield, to represent the club at the penultimate Sports Hall match of the season. This was the Club’s best turn out so far and would have been even greater with some of our more regular attendees on holiday.
A excellent team effort from all of the young athletes saw them achieve a total of 361.5 points, resulting in a third consecutive second-place finish. Chesterfield again topped the table with a total of 434 points with Derby completing the top three on 254.5 points.
With one final match left to go in the series, Chesterfield sit comfortably at the top of the table, seven points clear of AVEAC who now hold second place, just a single point ahead of Derby in third. High Peak AC and Cannon Events remain fourth and fifth.
Under 11 Girls
With some regulars missing, only seven athletes took to the field for AVEAC in the U11Gs category and despite some excellent individual performances, the team just missed out on top spot. The girls once again dominated the horizontal jump event, with the top four places in the Standing Triple Jump all going to AVEAC athletes. Lilly Robshaw won the event with a jump of 5.14m, followed closely by Sienna Peel on 5.11m and Summer Biggs rounding of the top three with a leap of 4.94m. Sienna also achieved a second, place finish in the Vertical High Jump with a score of 42cm and a fantastic first place in the 1 Lap Sprint. Lilly added to her victory in the Standing Triple Jump with a solid second place finish in the 2 Lap race, timed at 29 seconds, dead, a tenth of a second behind the winner. Lois Driver was AVEACs final U11Gs individual ‘podium’ finisher taking second place in the Chest Push with a throw of 5.80m
Other performances in the U11Gs squad included:
1 Lap
Lilly Robshaw – 14.3 seconds
Lois Driver – 14.5 seconds
Mamie Skipper – 14.6 seconds
Summer Biggs – 14.8 seconds
Poppy Brown – 15.2 seconds
2 Lap
Ruby Shore – 32.9 seconds
Vertical High Jump
Poppy Brown – 37cm
Mamie Skipper – 37cm
Ruby Shore – 27cm
Standing Triple Jump
Mamie Skipper – 4.90m
Lois Driver – 4.72m
Poppy Brown – 4.02m
Ruby Shore – 3.23m
Chest Push
Summer Biggs – 5.20m
4×1 Lap Relay
With an odd number of girls in the squad, Elliott Barnett kindly offered to step across from the U11Bs squad to allow AVEAC to enter two teams into the relay. The scoring team of Sienna, Lilly, Lois and Mamie Skipper finished the race in second place, sandwiched between two strong Chesterfield teams. The non-scoring team finished in fifth place and was made up of Summer, Ruby Shore, Poppy Brown and Elliott.
Under 11 Boys
Another exceptionally strong performance by AVEAC athletes saw the U11Bs team finish the match 30 points clear of their nearest rivals, having dominated every single event in their age category. The 1 Lap sprint saw AVEAC athletes cross the line in the top three places, with Joe Moss leading the way in a time of 13.7 seconds, just one tenth ahead of Alfie Ray and only two tenths ahead of third place Ethan Barnett. The 2 Lap race saw another victory for Joe in a time of 27.7 seconds, with Ethan this time claiming second place, just three tenths behind his teammate. Ethan rounded off his individual events with a victory in the Vertical High Jump, recording a score of 44cm to finish just ahead of AVEAC teammate Finlay Bacon on 43cm. The Standing Triple Jump saw Joe and Alfie again take the top two places with Joe leaping 5.84m to claim his third victory of the day, ahead of Alfie who recorded a jump of 5.70m. Marcus Parson-Loades rounded off the victories in the individual events by throwing 6m in the Chest Push, beating fellow AVEAC competitor Alfie who finished the day on a hat trick of second places throwing 5.60m.
Other performances in the U11Bs squad included:
1 Lap
Elliott Barnett – 14.5 seconds
Finlay Bacon – 14.8 seconds
Vinnie Driver – 14.9 seconds
Sebastian Taylor – 15 seconds
Marcus Parson-Loades – 15.5 seconds
Oscar Ashmore – 15.7 seconds
2 Lap
Ethan Ray – 30.5 seconds
Vertical High Jump
Elliott Barnett – 35cm
Oscar Ashmore – 32cm
Ethan Ray – 29cm
Sebastian Taylor – 28cm
Standing Triple Jump
Elliott Barnett – 4.92m
Marcus Parson-Loades – 4.82m
Vinnie Driver – 4.54m
Oscar Ashmore – 4.22m
Finlay Bacon – 4.22m
Chest Push
Vinnie Driver – 4.9m
Sebastian Taylor – 4.8m
Ethan Ray – 4.4m
4×1 Lap Relay
With a good number of athletes in attendance at this match it was possible to enter two scoring teams into the U11Bs relay. The A team of Joe, Alfie, Ethan Barnett and Sebastian crossed the finish line in 1st place beating their nearest competitors by nearly two seconds in a time of 56.8 seconds. The other relay team made up of Marcus, Ethan Ray, Vinnie Driver and Oscar Ashmore finished the race in fourth place, with a time of 61.1 seconds.
Under 13 Girls
Having won their age category at the last match, the U13Gs narrowly missed out on repeating this achievement this time round finishing in second place just 4 points behind the winners Chesterfield. Having ruled the roost in the horizontal jump events at all of her previous sports hall matches, Isla Hiscocks once again was the victor in the Standing Triple Jump, recording a distance of 5.94m to lead a AVEAC one, two, three. Eleanor Rigby was second with a jump of 5.38m while teammate Madeline Turner hopped, stepped and jumped 5.34m in third place. Isla also added a second-place finish in the Vertical High Jump, beating the previous record score by 3cm, with a leap of 69cm. A further second-place finish was achieved for the U13Gs AVEAC team, with Freya Kirby ‘putting’ 6.35m in the Shot event.
There should also probably have been at least one AVEAC athlete on the ‘podium’ in the 4 Lap race, however in a bizarre series of events the event was declared null and void after the athletes in the first heat ran a total of 5 laps. This resulted in some very disappointed athletes and team managers as no points could be awarded for the event, despite some strong performances from the AVEAC competitors.
Other performances in the U13Gs squad included:
2 Lap
Isla Hiscocks – 27.3 seconds
Jasmine Shore – 28.3 seconds
Amelia Whittaker – 29 seconds
Jamie-Lee Scott – 29.2 seconds
4 Lap
Jamie-Lee Scott – 62.1 seconds
Amelia Whittaker – 63 seconds
Madeline Turner – NO TIME (Ran 5 Laps)
Eleanor Rigby – NO TIME (Ran 5 Laps)
Vertical High Jump
Jasmine Shore – 61cm
Freya Kirby – 60cm
Madeline Turner – 55cm
Standing Triple Jump
Amelia Whittaker – 5.02m
Freya Kirby – 4.88m
Jamie-Lee Scott – 4.64m
Shot
Jasmine Shore – 6.14m
Eleanor Rigby – 5.64m
4×2 Lap Relay
With the support of Luca Maniadakis from the U15Bs squad, two U13G relay teams were able to be entered in this match, although with Luca stepping in to make up the numbers, one was a non-scoring team. The scoring team consisting of Isla, Madeline, Jasmine Shore and Amelia Whittaker finished in joint second place, just one tenth of a second behind the winners, recording a time of 111.8 seconds. Eleanor, Freya, Jamie-Lee Scott and Luca made up the non-scoring team and finished just behind their clubmates in a time of 116.2 seconds.
Under 13 Boys
Only three AVEAC U13Bs were in action on Sunday. Joshua Bailey finished in first place in the 4 Lap race, with a time of 57.5 seconds, before adding a third-place finish in the Vertical High Jump on 58cm. Corey Fisher picked up a second-place finish in the Standing Triple Jump with leap of 5.76m.
Other performances in the U13Bs squad included:
2 Lap
Corey Fisher – 27.1 seconds
Joshua Bailey – 27.5 seconds
Nicholas Driver – 27.7 seconds
4 Lap
Corey Fisher – 61.9 seconds
Shot
Nicholas Driver – 5.67m
4×2 Lap Relay
Entering a team into the U13Bs event was a real club effort, with athletes from the U11Bs, U13Bs and the U15Bs combining to make up the quartet. With Nicholas Driver unfortunately having to pull out through illness, Corey and Joshua were joined in the race by Finlay Bacon (U11) and Kian Whittaker (U15), with the team finishing in second place, in a time of 113.6 seconds.
Under 15s Boys
AVEAC had two representatives in the U15Bs category, with Luca Maniadakis and Kian Whittaker both earning valuable points for the club over the course of the day. Luca recorded a time of 24.9 seconds on his way to achieving a second-place finish in the 2 Lap race and went on to take third place in the Standing Triple Jump with a leap of 6.38m. Kian and Luca then combined to compete in the 8 Lap Parlauf, finishing third recording a time of 116.6 seconds.
Other performances in the U15Bs squad included:
2 Lap
Kian Whittaker – 29.3 seconds
Standing Triple Jump
Kian Whittaker – 5.44m
Under 9s Mixed
There were two potential future AVEAC athletes showcasing their talents in the U9s sprint. Esther Druverrecorded a time of 17.3 seconds to finish in joint first place while Grace Bailey finished just behind in third, with a time of 18.4 seconds.
Next Event
The next and final match of the indoor season is scheduled for Sunday 27th March, once again at Queens Park Leisure Centre in Chesterfield. Whilst we appreciate that this is Mothering Sunday, it would be absolutely fantastic to see a good number of AVEAC athletes competing at the event. We are not going to able to overtake the hosts (it’s actually mathematically impossible), but with another strong performance we can definitely make sure of our second-place finish overall.
Words – Dan Humphrey
Photo – Richard Woodward