It was perhaps a bit close to Christmas and the feast that accompanies it, as the Derbyshire teams met at Chesterfield’s Queens Sports Park on 05 January 2025 for the next Sportshall fixture. Personal bests were a bit of a rarity but then, when there has been little training (and a calorie intake that is greater than normal) that is perfectly understandable! Still, the athletes gave their all as we marched onwards, and towards the inter counties selection which should be announced shortly.
We had 32 athletes, which seems to be our average this season. We were heavily inflated by a lot of under 11s and it is disappointing we are not seeing more in the older categories, especially as we stood a chance of catching the hosts. Hopefully this improves in February!
In any event, during the day, AVEAC athletes delivered strong performances across the track and field events, with notable contributions in every age group.
Under 11s
We had 18 of our young athletes in Chesterfield, representing the under 11 category – 7 boys and 11 girls. We saw debuts for George & Elsie Whittleton this year, as well as April Malone.
Lola-Rose Funnell finished 2nd overall in the 1-lap race with a time of 14.00 seconds, which earnt AVEAC 9 points, with Eva Price following closely in 3rd place with 14.30. AVEAC also saw Sophie Humphrey, April, Florence Protheroe, Francesca Parsons-Loades, Elsie and Esme Wainwright all compete in the short sprint.
In the longer 3 lap, Lo-Ro displayed her endurance, clinching 1st place with a time of 44.60 seconds, contributing 10 points. Katherine Turner came 2nd in 49.00. Florence Sibley ran a good 46.20 with April, Thea King and Esme all contributing to the club’s cause.
In the hi-stepper, the Florences, Sibles and FloPro tied for 1st place with runs of 15.3, earning 10 and 9 points, respectively. Sophie and Thea also ran well. Moving on to the standing long jump, Sibles came second overall with a 1.97 personal best. It was the event for PBs, as Katherine, Eva, Sophie and Frankie, April & Esme all setting new records for themselves. Finally, in the speed bounce, Eva took home gold with 50 bounces in 20 seconds, 1 ahead of Lo-Ro and Katherine. Elsie, Thea, Frankie and FloPro all tiggered their way to scores.
We managed to put out 3 relay teams in the girls’ section, albeit one was a mixed team. The girls’ team of Katherine, Sophie, Eva and Sibles beat Chesterfield to finish first whilst the teams of George, Elsie, Ben and Thea & Esme, FloPro, April and Frankie ran very well.
For the boys, Dylan Knowles shared 1st place in the 1-lap with a time of 13.50 seconds, earning 9.5 points. Adam Banton was the second AVEACer back with a time of 14.20. Chris Maye, Daniel Straker, George Whittleron and Benjamin McLaren all sprinted in the single lap. For the 3-lap, Dylan showcased endurance and pace, securing a 2nd place with a time of 43.90. Joseph Brackenbury ran a PB coming 4th (45.20) with Chris and George also running for the yellows.
In the field, Joseph took home 10 points with a 1-second win over his nearest rival with George also chipping in 8 points in the hi-stepper. Adam and Daniel put in good performances. Joseph was having a great day, leaping 1.96 metres to claim another victory. Adam followed closely in 2nd place with 1.92m. Dylan, Chris, Daniel and Benjamin all leapt over 1.5m. In the speed bounce, Benjamin collected 5 valuable points for the team with a bounce count of 36.
The boys, after watching a girls’ victory, followed suit with a half second win ahead of Chesterfield. Dylan (who had a painful heel but ran anyway), Adam, Chris and Joseph sprinted home in 56.5.
In the U11s section, AVEAC picked up 101 points in the girls and 84.5 points in the boys. Considering the maximum a team can get is 105, that’s really impressive! Going into the final 2 fixtures, the girls have a 6 league point lead, whilst the boys are ahead in their section by the same score.
Under 13s
Again, we struggled with numbers in the under 13s. The girls had a team of 6, but we only had 2 again in the boys’ category. That didn’t stop all 8 athletes from shining.
In the 2 lap, Bibi Mulholland and Summer Biggs took 7.5 points each with a run of 26.9 seconds. Isla Douglas was the 3rd AVEAC athlete, with Evelyn Maye and Aimee Brackenbury also contributing well. In the longer 6 lap, Isla shone again, claiming 1st place in 95.10 seconds and adding 10 points to our total.
In the field, Summer took 2nd place in the standing long jump with a leap of 2.21 metres, followed by Bibi in 3rd with 2.11. Aimee, Evelyn and Ruby Shore also did well for our club. In the shot put, Summer took another 2nd with a throw of 8.51 metres, with Bibi again getting points for the team. In the speed bounce, Isla hopped 70 times in 30 seconds, with Aimee and Ruby also doing well.
The under 13 girls’ team of Isla, Bibi, Evelyn and Lola (promoted from the U11s) were exceptional in overhauling Chesterfield to take 1st place and 10 points. We did not have enough boys for an under 13 team, but Marcus joined Aimee, Ruby and Daniel (promoted up) to run 120.9 in their heat.
Isaac Smith and Marcus Parsons-Loades were our sole representatives in the boys’ section but did very well. Isaac collected 26.5 points by himself, whilst Marcus got 24 points; both brilliant efforts.
Isaac placed 3rd in the 2-lap, completing the race in 27.60 seconds. He won the standing long jump with a leap of 2.18 metres and bounced to 2nd place in the speed bounce with 64.
Marcus excelled in the shot put taking 1st place with a throw of 8.38 metres, jumped to 1.65 in the long jump and hopped 58 times in the speed bounce.
The girls currently sit in 2nd place overall, two league points ahead of Derby, whilst the boys (whose numbers have been low) are in 3rd.
Under 15s
In the 2-lap, for the girls, Jasmine Shore was our only runner. She scored 9 valuable points coming second with a time of 26.50 seconds. In the longer 4-lap, Madeleine Turner’s exceptional performance secured 1st place with a time of 54.10 seconds, with Jasmine following closely in 2nd, clocking 58.30.
In the field, Jasmine came 2nd with a good 2.08 leap. Madeliene was only 1 cm behind with 2.07, with Bella Parsons-Loades another 4cm back with 2.03. Very small differences. In the shot put, Bella topped the leaderboard with a throw of 8.55 metres, while Madeleine contributed a 7.28 metre throw. Finally, Bella scored 8 points with 70 bounces in the speed bounce.
In the relay, the girl’s team of Madeleine, Jasmine, Bella and Summer (promoted up from the U13s) came a close 2nd in a time of 108.8.
We had three boys in the Under 15 category: Joe Moss, Alfie Ray and Joe Stimson. This meant we couldn’t squeeze out a relay team, but the lads still put in strong performances.
Joe Moss dominated the 2-lap, finishing 1st in 23.40 seconds. Alfie contributed 7 points to the cause. In the 4-lap, Joe Stimson showcased his stamina, finishing 2nd with a time of 58.00.
In the standing long jump, Joe Moss delivered a standout performance with a winning leap of 2.68 metres, followed by Alfie in 2nd at 2.33 metres. In the shot, Joe Moss secured another 1st place with an impressive throw of 11.26 metres. Lastly, Alfie (70) and Joe Stimson (62) bounced to 3rd and 5th in the speed bounce, adding 15 points for AVEAC.
The boys hold a small lead of 3 points from Chesterfield going into the final fixtures with the girls 4 points behind the hosts in 2nd.
Getting towards the home straight
In our last report, we stated that, if we could increase numbers, we could catch Chesterfield. Unfortunately, they had 18 more athletes than us on Sunday, and it secured them the win.
The match scores for Sportshall #3 were as follows:
- Chesterfield 538.5
- AVEAC 463
- Derby 181.5
- High Peak 41
This means it’s unlikely we can claim first as, with two to go, the points are as follows:
- Chesterfield 1,920.5 (15 league points)
- AVEAC 1,732 (13)
- High Peak 873 (7)
- Derby 777.5 (5)
However, we can keep the second place and some of our teams (under 11 girls and boys and under 15 boys) have the chance to take home gold. Plus, athletes still have time to beat their PBs and finish the winter indoor Sportshalls on a positive before we go back to track & field for AVEAC.
Let’s see a sea of yellow for Sportshall #5 on 2nd February, which will have an inter-counties trial for the under 11s who have been selected to compete.
Report – Richard Woodward