AVEAC younger athletes got off to a flying start at their first Heart of England league fixture on Sunday last at the Pingles Stadium, Nuneaton. Competing in division three against seven other clubs from across the midlands, they emerged in pole position on 439 points, thirty ahead of Bicester on 409, with Nuneaton third on 373. All events have athletes competing in A and B pools where they earn points based on their finishing position contributing to the overall team score.
Under 11s
Summer Biggs followed up her Derbyshire Quadkids gold medal at the county championships by scoring a hat-trick of first places in the A howler javelin, A long jump and A 75m sprint. Her ‘howler’ throw was 32.01m, her furthest to date, and she backed that performance up with a 3.63m long jump and 11.8 seconds in the 75m to take maximum points in all three.
Ruby Arnold won the B howler javelin with a fine throw of 26.30m, Katharine Turner took the honours in the B long jump with a best of 2.91m while Aimee Brackenbury did likewise in the B 75m in an good time of 12.2 seconds.
In the longer 600m run Katharine and Ruby placed fifth in the A and B races. Both girls also claimed first places in the A and B non-scoring 75m. In the non-scoring 600m Aimee finished third.
Kyran McCrellis was the club’s sole participant in the boy’s match. He did well winning the A long jump with a personal best of 3.46m, finishing second in A 600m in an excellent time of 2:11.1 and completed a busy day’s competition gaining third place in the A 75 metres.
The mixed 4x 100m relay team comprising of Aimee, Ruby, Kyran and Summer ended the day with a victory, five seconds ahead of second placed Daventry, in a time of 64.7 seconds.
The mixed 4x 100m relay team comprising of Aimee, Ruby, Kyran and Summer ended the day with a victory, five seconds ahead of second placed Daventry, in a time of 64.7 seconds.
Under 13s
In the U13 boy’s match AVEAC had six athletes in action. Alfie Ray and Charlie Davies got the team off to a great start in the field achieving maximum points in the A and B high jumps. Alfie cleared 1.30m in the A event while Charlie’s height was 1.25m in the B pool. Both athletes went straight from the high jump to the 800m with Alfie finishing second in the A race crossing the line in 2:37.8 and Charlie almost running an identical time of 2:38.8 to take top spot in the B race.
Charlie then had a few hours break before returning to the track to take part in the 75m. He duly impressed again winning the A race in 14.5 seconds. Team mate Fraser Jones recorded 15.2 seconds in the B sprint to take second place.
Joe Moss had to wait to mid way through the afternoon before contesting his three individual events. Over the next couple of hours he continued his winning spate scoring maximum points in the A shot put, A 200m and A discus. His effort in the shot was 8.01m followed by a 27.8 clocking in the 200m. while his first competitive outing in the discus this season resulted in a winning throw of 20.78m
Lucas Sangster ran a well paced A 1500m to finish first in a closely fought race. He ran a personal best of 5:31.5 and had just over a second to spare over runner up Ethan Best (Harborough). He also scored maximum points in the B shot put.
Ethan Barnett was also in good form finishing first in the A 75m hurdles, clearing the barriers in 16 seconds dead. He then went on to finish second in the long jump measured at 3.61m. Ethan was well supported by Fraser Jones who took maximum points in the B long jump with a best distance of 3.57m.
The 4 x 100m relay quartet of Alfie, Charlie, Ethan and Joe cruised to victory in an impressive time of 55.3 seconds and had an eight second margin of victory over the runners up.
Under 13s
Isla Douglas got the under 13 girls squad off to a good start with a second place finish in the 70m hurdles in 14.2 seconds, a personal best! Fifteen minutes later she lined up for the start of the B 800m and placed second again in 3:05.7 minutes.
In the A 800m Erin Beresford began her day’s competition with an excellent run placing third in 2:51.00 minutes. Later in the day she went a couple of places better running impressively to place first in the A 200m recording a fine time of 30.2 seconds.
Betsy Wilton followed up on her excellent showing at the county championships with a brace of firsts in the A 100m and long jump. The sprinters and jumpers had to contend with a head wind throughout the day so Betsy did well to record a time of 14.5 in the 100m and a distance of 3.88m in the long jump.
Elllie Ursell’s winning distance in the B long jump was 3.63m and she also scored more valuable points with second place finishes in the B 100m and A shot put. Olivia Irvine did well in the A discus to finish second throwing 12.90m and followed up with two first places in the B shot and B 200m.
In a closely fought 4 x 100m relay the AVEAC foursome of Betsy, Isla, Olivia and Erin took the honours in 58.8 seconds and had half a second to spare over second placed Nuneaton.
Under 15s
In the under 15 boy’s contest , Riley Jones continued to impress posting a throw of 24.77m to finish in pole position in the A discus following on from his second place in the A high jump earlier in the day.
Later in the afternoon, Corey Fisher clocked a time of 44.1 seconds in the A 300m and had a winning margin of six seconds ahead of the second placed runner. Half an hour later he got on his marks again for the shorter A 200m and finished a creditable third in 27.4 seconds.
In the morning session Ryan Ghai put together two fine performances with third place finishes in the A long jump and 100m. Eliot Wood did likewise winning the B long jump and placed third in the B 100m.
In the A shot put, Nicholas Driver finished with a best of 7.45m to place second and then went on to score maximum points in the B discus.
Samuel Davies had a good run in the 800m to cross the finish line in third recording a time of 2:41.3. He also went on to won the B high jump and B 300m securing more valuable points for the team.
In the girl’s match Madeleine Turner completed a trio of first places throughout the day. Her first victory came in the A discus with a throw of 14.58m. Next up was the A 800m where she solo ran the two laps in 2:25.4, just a second short of her personal best. Her margin of victory was huge and had she been in a more competitive field would probably have run considerably faster. It was the same story in the shorter A 300m where she had exactly eight seconds to spare over the runner up.
Ever reliable Jasmine Shore took part in three events. In the A shot put she came first with a throw of 5.98m while in the A high jump there was a second place finish getting over 1.28m. She cleared the same height as the winner only to get beaten on countback. In the A 200m Jasmine placed third in a tight finish with four tenths of a second separating the top three.
Ailsa McMillan’s distance of 4.14m placed her second in the A long jump and she went on to post a time of 30.1 seconds to go one better in the B 200m taking maximum points.
Isobelle Protheroe took part in the B shot and a throw of 5.24m ensured that she too took maximum points for the team.
The four girls then combined to finish second in the 4 x 100m relay behind Bicester clocking a time of 56.9 seconds.
Under 17s
With many of our under 17s taking their GCSEs, Eden Klugman was our only athlete in action. He was up against a particularly strong field in the 800m and ended up in fifth position. His time of 2 minutes 20 seconds was a PB and marginally quicker than his run at last weekend’s county championships.
Overall this was a very successful outing for Team AVEAC and sets them up well going into the next fixture of the tree match series on Saturday 17th June which will also take place at Nuneaton.
Thanks are due to team managers Rich Woodward and Dan Humphrey and to parents who supported the team and acted as officials throughout the long day’s proceedings.
PENTATHLON GOLD FOR ISLA AT DERBYSHIRE SCHOOLS
Isla Hiscocks representing her school Swanwick Hall put together a fantastic set of performances at the Derbyshire School’s combined events championships on Wednesday afternoon at Mount St. Mary’s School track, Spinkhill to take the gold medal in the Junior Girls age group.
Taking part in the five event pentathlon she scored a total of 2241 points to achieve the coveted title. She started the grueling afternoon setting a personal best in the 75m hurdles, speeding over the barriers to pass the finish line in 13.1 seconds. This was followed by two more PBs in the high jump with a clearance of 1.30m and in the shot put in which she hurled the 3kg ball out to 8.72m beating her previous best mark by almost two metres.
The long jump followed the shot put and and a solid opener and season’s best of 4.37m set her up nicely for the final event, the 800m. Having not run the two lap event before, she covered the distance intelligently and, was rewarded with a time of 2:53.1.
Isla’s winning performance has gained her selection to represent Derbyshire at the Midland school’s regional combined events championships which will be held at Moorways, Derby on the last weekend in June. She will be working hard over the next month with her coaches to improve her overall score. Well done Isla.
SENIORS IN ACTION AT NORTHERN AND MIDLAND LEAGUE MATCHES
Grace Young, Charlie Yates and Alice Robinson competed for their higher claim clubs in the Northern and Midland Senior Leagues on Saturday.
Grace who is under 20 and Charlie competed in the Northern League East Division 1 match in Boston for near neighbours Chesterfield. Grace won the senior A long jump setting a new personal best of 5.03m into a strong headwind and then went on to place second in the 100m B race in 14 seconds dead, once again facing a stiff breeze.
Charlie Yates had her first outing of the season competing in three events. She won the triple jump with a distance of 10.45m, finished second in the A high jump clearing 1.50m and placed second as well in the B 200m.
Meanwhile at the Midland League Division 4 match at Burton, Alice Robinson contributed sixty points to Burton’s overall victory, taking part no less in six scoring events, one non-scoring event and the 4 x 400m relay.
Alice’s performances included three personal bests. She won the B long jump with a best of 4.71m, the B high jump clearing 1.35m and non scoring 100m timed at 14 seconds dead. She also won the A triple jump, A 100m hurdles, B javelin, C shot put and finished her marathon day running a leg in the winning mixed 4 x 400m relay team.
This weekend AVEAC athletes will be in action again. The under 17 and 20 athletes will compete in their second YDL fixture at Loughborough while the younger age groups will be in action at the third mini league contest at Moorways.
Credits
Report – Joe McColgan
Heart of England photos – Sarah Turner
Derbyshire Schools event – Ailsa Hiscocks