The third and penultimate match of the Track & Field Mini-League season took place in mixed weather conditions at Moorways Sports Village on Saturday 25th June. For the second match in a row the number of AVEAC athletes was up on the previous mini-league competition, with total of 35 athletes making the journey to don the amber vest and represent the club.
A tremendous effort from all AVEAC athletes saw the club achieve a total of 459.5 points on the way to a second-place finish behind Derby, on 548 points with Chesterfield completing the top three on 454 points.
Under 11 Girls
A total of 8 athletes competed in the U11Gs age category with a number of familiar faces supplemented by a couple of newer members. Summer Biggs took first place in the High Jump recording a personal best of 1.10m. Isla Douglas, competing in her first competition since joining the club earlier this month, crossed the line in 13.04 seconds to finish in third place in the 80m Sprint. Poppy Brown was the only other podium place in the age category, finishing in third place in the 600m event in a time of 2 minutes 16 seconds. Other performances in the U11Gs squad included:
80m Sprint
Poppy Brown – 14.12 seconds
Suri Ghai – 15.74 seconds
150m
Isla Douglas – 24.50 seconds
Summer Biggs – 25.08 seconds
Ruby Arnold – 27.52 seconds
Ruby Shore – 27.87 seconds
Neve Sturt – 27.89 seconds
600m
Rosie Boyer – 2.17.31
Howler Javelin
Ruby Arnold – 13.75m
Rosie Boyer – 13.17m
Neve Sturt – 12.35m
Ruby Shore – 12.09m
Suri Ghai – 10.18m
4x100m Relay
With Suri Ghai having to unfortunately withdraw from the competition with an injury, it looked increasing likely that it was only going to be possible to enter one team into theU11Gs age categories relay. However, Mamie Skipper kindly stepped in from the U13Gs squad to make up a second, albeit non-scoring team. The scoring team consisting of Summer, Isla, Poppy & Neve Sturt finished the race in third place in a time of 69.09 seconds. The non-scoring team consisting of Mamie, Ruby Arnold, Ruby Shore & Rosie Boyer finished in fifth place, crossing the line in 70.95 seconds.
Under 11 Boys
With several athletes from the U11Bs squad unavailable AVEAC representation across the age category was again unfortunately limited. That said, those in attendance performed admirably, earning valuable points for the club. Jacob Adams secured himself two first place finishes, first in the Long Jump with a distance of 3.62m and then in the Howler Javelin, with a throw of 34.40m. Ethan Ray placed second in the Howler Javelin, throwing a distance of 28.81m. Other performances in the U11Bs squad included:
80m Sprint
Edan Brown – 14.65 seconds
150m
Ethan Ray – 25.80 seconds
600m
Lucas Sangster – 2.19.05
Oscar Ashmore – 2.19.50
Long Jump
Oscar Ashmore – 2.76m
Marcus Parson-Loades – 2.56m
Howler Javelin
Marcus Parson-Loades – 21.53m
4x100m Relay
With only six boys in attendance at the match, two of the U13Bs squad kindly offered to make up the numbers to allow AVEAC to enter two teams into the age category relay. The scoring team made up of Jacob, Ethan, Marcus Parson-Loades & Oscar Ashmore finished the race in 69.20 seconds, crossing the line in second-place. The second, non-scoring team crossed the line in fourth-place in a time of 75.10 seconds and consisted of Lucas Sangster & Edan Brown from the U11Bs squad and Sebastian Taylor & Harvey Glover from the U13Bs squad.
Under 13 Girls
For the second match running the U13Gs was AVEACs best represented age category, with a total of nine athletes taking part. Mamie Skipper quite literally got her competition off to a flying start, as she glided over the hurdles in the 70m Hurdle race to finish in 14.38 seconds in place. Once again, Jasmine Shore had strong individual competition, claiming first place in both the 100m & 200m Sprint events, with times of 14.17 seconds & 29.28 seconds. Ailsa McMillan won the Long Jump recording a distance of 3.86m in the Long Jump. She finished just ahead of her clubmate Madeline Turner in second, who jumped 3.82m. Madeline finished the day with a total of three podium finishes, as she also took first place in both the 800m with a time of 2 minutes 25 seconds and then the Discus throwing 16.30m. Other performances in the U13Gs squad included:
70m Hurdles
Olivia Irvine – 16.53 seconds
100m Sprint
Ailsa McMillan – 14.71 seconds
Lucy Rowcroft – 14.98 seconds
Amelia Whittaker – 15.01 seconds
Sienna Peel – 15.27 seconds
Olivia Irvine – 16.01 seconds
Ellie Ursell – 16.38 seconds
200m Sprint
Sienna Peel – 31.52 seconds
800m
Amelia Whittaker – 2.50.85
Long Jump
Lucy Rowcroft – 3.58m
Amelia Whittaker – 3.58m
Jasmine Shore – 3.54m
Mamie Skipper – 2.84m
Sienna Peel – 2.75m
Ellie Ursell – 2.20m
Shot
Olivia Irvine – 4.43m
Discus
Ellie Ursell – 10.90m
4x100m Relay
With the number of athletes in attendance, AVEAC were able to enter two scoring U13Gs teams into the relay for the second match in a row. A familiar line-up consisting of Jasmine, Ailsa, Madeleine and Amelia Whittaker ran a fantastic race, finishing in first place, in 58.51 seconds. The second AVEAC team consisting of LucyRowcroft, Sienna Peel, Ellie Ursell and Olivia Irvine, crossed the line in fifth place, with a time of 63.40 seconds.
Under 13 Boys
There were six boys competing for AVEAC in the U13Bs age category with some fantastic performances with each of the team achieving at least one podium finish. There were clean sweeps in both throwing events, with AVEAC athletes taking the top three spots in each. Joe Moss recorded a distance of 6.57m in the Shot Put to finish in top spot, followed by Ryan Ghai in second and Sebastian Taylor in third, with throws of 6.08m and 5.55m. Joe and Ryan also took the top two places in the Discus with distances of 15.41m and 14.29m, although this time it was clubmate Alfie Ray in third, with a throw of 13.46m. Joe rounded off his day with a second place in the 200m Sprint with an excellent time of 27.76 seconds, just ahead of fellow AVEAC athlete Corey Fisher in third with on 28.16 seconds. Corey also finished in second place in the 100m crossing the line just over two tenths of a second ahead of Ryan in third, with the duo recording times of 13.42 seconds & 13.63. Corey ended his individual events with a third-place finish in the 800m, in a fine time of 2 minutes 41 seconds. Not to be outdone by his teammates, Harvey Glover achieved second place in the 75m Hurdles in 18.10 seconds. Other performances in the U13Bs squad included:
100m Sprint
Sebastian Taylor – 16.69 seconds
200m Sprint
Sebastian Taylor – 36.37 seconds
800m
Alfie Ray – 2.52.25
Harvey Glover – 2.53.52
High Jump
Alfie Ray – 1.15m
4x100m Relay
Joe, Ryan, Alfie and Corey made up the U13Bs relay team for this match, as Sebastian & Harvey offered to join forces with the U11Bs in their event. With Derby & Chesterfield unable to enter teams this time round due to a lack of numbers, the AVEAC team took to the track against a team from High Peak and were hoping to break the Mini League record. Despite a fantastic effort from all the quartet, a slight hiccup with one of the handovers saw them finish just over two seconds off the record.
Under 15 Girls
There were four girls representing AVEAC in the U15Gs, with some great individual performances. Freya Kirby achieved a second-place finish in the Shot Put with a throw of 6.46m, before going one better in the Discus with first place throwing 18.29m. Isla Hiscocks won 75m Hurdles in a time of 13.35 seconds. She then secured second place in the 100m with a time of 13.29 seconds. The athlete ahead of her was an U17 guest do Isla earned the club the maximum 10 points as the fastest U15. Other performances in the U15Gs squad included:
100m Sprint
Naiya Starbuck – 14.73 seconds
Isabella Overy-Jones – 14.83 seconds
Shot
Isla Hiscocks – 5.78m
Isabella Overy-Jones – 5.63m
Under 15s Boys
There were two athletes in the U15Bs AVEAC squad; Joshua Bailey was joined by Jack Moss. They both did well in their individual events and although there were no podium finishes on the day, both should be pleased with their performances. Joshua recorded times of 27.04 seconds in the 200m Sprint, 2 minutes 28 seconds in the 800m event and had a distance of 4.03m in the Long Jump. Jack recorded 3.88m in the Long Jump and a time of 28.22 seconds in the 200m Sprint.
4x100m Relay
With only two U15B athletes in attendance , it looked likely that the boys would miss out on being able to compete in the relay race. However, following a plea from the AVEAC team manager to the officials, the boys were allowed to join forces with two of their clubmates from the U13Bs age group and enter. The team crossed the line in second place, recording a time of 54.19 seconds.
What’s Next?
The final Track & Field Mini-League match of the season is scheduled for Saturday 16th July, again at Moorways Sports Village. And whilst there is little hope of an overall club victory in the series, it is extremely possible that we will be able to walk away with a couple of individual age category victories. So let’s all get behind the club and encourage all our eligible athletes, across all age categories to attend the match and bring home some silverware.
Words – Dan Humphrey
Photos – Chris Kirby