England Combined Events Indoor Championships, EIS Sheffield – 6 and 7 January
Three AVEAC senior athletes were in action at last weekend’s national combined event championships at the indoor arena in Sheffield. Scott Ram and Ben Pitts took part in the senior men’s heptathlon over the two days while Alice Robinson contested the senior women’s pentathlon on Sunday. The three multi-eventers acquitted themselves admirably and came away with overall personal best scores at the end of their respective competitions.
Scott Ram finished sixth overall in the senior heptathlon with a final points tally of 5032, beating his previous best score from 2022 by over 300 points. He started day 1 marginally bettering his previous 60m best time with a 7.24 clocking and things got even better in the next discipline, the long jump, when he soared out to 6.76m improving his outdoor PB by ten centimetres. Next up was the shot with a solid throw of 11.96 and he then went on to clear 1.78m in the high jump to end the first day of competition in sixth place overall.
Day 2 started well again for Scott when he posted a time of 8.68 seconds in the 60m hurdles, just a tenth of a second off his previous best while in the pole vault he equalled his personal best clearing 3.80m. Scott has always had a good reserve of endurance and he dominated the final 1000m run with an excellent time of 2:39.22. This fantastic effort over five laps conslidated his overnight position and he came away with a brilliaant new best ever points total. Scott has contested this indoor championship on three previous occasions with this year’s overall placing being his best to date. Running alongside the national championship, the North of England title was up for grabs as well, and it was fitting that Scott’s overall tally secured him a bronze medal in the regional event.
Competing alongside Scott was Ben Pitts having his first experience of a senior multi-events contest. Ben did incredibly well having to cope with higher hurdle heights and a heavier weight in the shot from last year when he was in the under 20 age group. He ended up placing 11th with a final score of 4486 points and had it not been for a cautious high jump of 1.75m due to a bruised heel and only taking one jump, he certainly would have ended up in the top ten.
Ben recorded five personal bests over the two days recording 7.59 in the 60m, 10.02m in the shot, 9.07 in the sprint hurdles, clearing 4 metres for the first time in the pole vault and knocking fourteen seconds off his previous best in te 1000m running 2:56.69. In the long jump he got out to 6.45m, three centimetres behind his all time best.
On Sunday Alice Robinson contsted the five event pentathlon. She put together a solid set of performances and, although there were no individual event personal bests on this occasion, the consistency of her efforts led her to acahieve a final tally of 2399 beating her previous best score by exactly fifty points. Her event by event performances were; 60m hurdles – 11.23s, high jump – 1.33m, shot – 9.81m, long jump – 4.42m and 800m – 2:43.29. Alice finished 15th overall and, opting for the regional Midland Championship rather than the northern one, she too picked up a bronze medal.
Run Jump Throw Grand Prix, EIS Sheffield – 29th December
England qualifying standard for Joe Moss
Joe Moss had his first indoor outing of the season at this popular Christmas holiday meeting on the 29th December. Now in the under 15 age group he produced a good double victory in his graded 60m sprint and long jump. A time of 7.79 in the short sprint was nearly a second faster than his time last year at the same meeting. In the long jump he added 20 centimetres on to his previous best with a great effort of 5.36m and in doing so surpassed the 5.30m qualifying standard for the England age group championships in February.
Betsy Wilton also now in the under 15 age group came away with two personal bests in the 60m and 200m. She was outright winner in her graded 60m recording 8.63 and, then went on later in the day to place second in the longer sprint, dipping through the finish in 29.17 seconds. Just behind Betsy in the 200m was Erin Beresford who also recorded a PB of 29.41 seconds. Erin also finished third in her graded 60m registering 8.90 seconds, yet another personal best. Other 60m PBs were set by U17 sprinterIsla Hiscocks who bettered her best time from last year for the third time this indoor season when finishing second in her graded race edging closer to the eight second mark in 8.13 seconds and by U13 Teddy Wilton who recorded a time of 9.44 seconds.
Other fine performances on the track were recorded by;
- Madeleine Turner (U15) – 800m with a time of 2:24.33 placing second and 200m clocking 29.45 seconds,
- Jasmine Shore (U15) – 600m with a time of 1:59.78 and 200m in 29.92 seconds,
- Summer Biggs (U13) – 60m hurdles with a time of 12.67 – her first ever attempt over the barriers,
- Erin Berrisford (U15) – 60m hurdles with a time of 11.45 seconds,
- Coach Geoff Lowry (Masters) – 800m timed at 2: 35.86 .
Senior multi eventer Ben Pitts warmed up for the England Athletics national heptathlon championship in early January by setting personal bests in the 60m hurdles (9.05 seconds) and Shot (9.55m).
As well as Joe Moss’s excellent long jump other fine performances were recorded by Grace Young (U20) who set an indoor best ever performance of 4.94m; her change of technique to the ‘H kick’ improving her previous best indoor mark by twenty six centimetres, Katharine Turner (U11) – 3.14m, Summer Biggs (U13) – 3.69m, Ruby Arnold (U13) – 3.29m, Jasmine Shore (U15) – 4.08m and Betsy Wilton (U15) – 3.96m.
Finally in the girls under 13 Shot Ruby Arnold placed first with a throw of 6.53m ahead of team mate Summer Biggs on 6.42m. In fourth pace was Ruby Shore with a distance of 4.42m.
Derbyshire Athletics Mini League Cross Country Match 3, Moorways, Derby – 16 December
Madeleine Turner takes overall under 15 girls title
With a clean sweep of victories over the three cross country mini league matches Madeleine Turner emerged as the overall under 15 girls champion for 2023. In the final fixture which took place around the grounds of Moorways Sports Village, Madeleine was once again was untroubled over the 3km course with a twenty second margin of victory over the runner up.
AVEAC had nine other young ‘harriers’ in action, all of them ran well in their respective races. Kyran McCrellis’s fine third place run in the under 11 boys race meant that across the three matches his high placings earned him the silver medal overall. In the under 11 girls Katharine Turner finished fifth on the day and over the three matches just missed the bronze medal placing fourth overall. In this final match she was ably supported by Florence Sibley in 11th and Claudia Sangster in 15th resulting in the team finishing third behind Derby and High Peak.
In the under 13 girls race debutee Lucy Norman ran an excellent race to come home in fifth position with Bibi Mulholland not far behind her team mate in ninth. Harvey Glover has performed consistently across the three matches and had another fifth place finish at Moorways. Lucas Sangster and Isaac Smith placed sixth and eighth and overall the team were second behind Derby.
Congratulations to Derby AC who were crowned overall team champions on 180 points. They dominated each of the six age groups and showed great strength in depth. AVEAC finished runners up on 354 points just ahead of High Peak on 367. Heanor and Buxton finished fourth and fifth.
Report – Joe McColgan
EA Combined Events Photos – Ian Pitts
Cross Country photo – Sarah Turner