AVEAC’s Sportshall Season Ends on a High

Sunday 9th March saw the curtain draw on the 2024/25 Sportshall season with AVEAC bringing its highest number of athletes to a Chesterfield fixture this year. A total of 39 yellows donned their club colours as we battled against the opposition for the final time. Last year, we averaged 29 athletes per fixture at Chesterfield, and this year, we increased that to nearly 34—a positive step forward. However, we need even greater attendance at Mini League events if we want to retain our trophy!

Overall, this was a successful campaign. Last year, our solitary success was in the U13 boys. This year we took both under 11 categories and the under 15 boys were champions as we welcome three more titles to our trophy cabinet.

Under 11s

We had a really good contingent of 19 athletes at under 11s for this fixture. 13 girls came along, together with our 6 boys. Mya and Macey Offler & Liv Blamire made their debuts for our club. It is great to see new faces at competition and I hope to see more going forward.

On the track, Lola-Rose Funnell came in joint 2nd overall in the 1-lap race with a time of 13.80 seconds (equalling her time in February), which earnt AVEAC 8.5 points. She was followed by Sophie Humphrey with a 14.50, April Malone (14.90), Liv (15.20), Mya (15.40), Thea King (15.50), Macey (15.70) and Esme Wainwright (16.50) completing our involvement in the short sprint.

In the 3-lap, Lo-Ro broke the Sportshall record coming home in 42.10 seconds, one hundredth of a second quicker than the existing time. Elsewhere, Katherine Turner grabbed us 6 points with a 43.80 run, with Florence Sibley (45.50), Eva Price (46.60), April (46.70), Florence Protheroe (48.40), Sophie (48.50), Elsie Whittleton (48.80), Macey (52.30) and Esme (52.90) also scoring impressive performances.

Off the track, Eva was 2nd overall in the high stepper with a 14.3, scoring 9 points with Elsie getting us 7.5 points with a joint 3rd finish. FloPro (15.3), Sibles (15.4), Thea (18.1) and Liv (18.2) all navigated the stepper as well. In the standing long jump, Sibles landed spot on 2metres to grab 2nd place and 9 points, with Liv only 6cms back on 1.94m. She came 3rd. Katherine jumped 1.82m, whilst Sophie (1.70), Mya (1.59), April (1.52) and Esme (1.5) all jumping far. Finally, Eva took home gold in the speed bounce with 58 jumps in 20 seconds whilst LoRo and Katherine tied for 2nd with 54 each. We had plenty of involvement in the bounces as well: Elsie (46), Thea (45), Mya (44), FloPro (42) and Macey (38).

Such were the numbers, we had three under 11 girls’ teams. Firstly, LoRo, Katherine, Sophie and Eva came second to the hosts with a 56.50 run. They were followed closely by Sibles, FloPro, April and Elsie (61.20) and then Macey, Mya, Thea and Esme with 64.60. It’s really good to see so many teams.

On the boys side, we had a team of six. In the 1-lap, Joseph Brackenbury continued an impressive season with a second place in a time of 13.5, only 3 one hundredths of a second off the record. Joseph has a few Sportshall left to try and break that. Dylan Knowles gained us 6 points with a 13.7 run, ahead of Adam Banton (13.8), Chris Maye (14.5) and Dan Straker (15.00). In the three lap, Dylan came third with a 43.60, taking 8 points. Chris took 5 points in a time of 46.20 and George Whittleton ran a good 49 dead.

Joseph pocketed a second silver in the hi-stepper with a 13.1. George came 3rd with 14.6 and Dan ran a 16.1. To complete a set, Joseph was also second in the standing long jump – he went over 2metres (2.04) to take 9 points; Adam with a 1.91m came third. The AVEAC line up also saw Dylan (1.84m), Chris (1.77m) and Dan (1.59m) jump for the yellows. Finally, in the speed bounce, George took more points with a 45, finishing 3rd overall. Adam (43) also scored us 7 points.

As we had 6 athletes, we elected to promote Dylan and Adam to the under 13s, meaning that the team of Joseph, Chris, George and Dan ran for AVEAC, coming second in a time of 58.40.

 

Under 13s

We got slightly better numbers for the under 13s, with 5 girls turning out and 2 boys. The girls were Bibi Mulholland, Isla Douglas, Evelyn Maye, Ruby Hill and Ruby Shore. For the boys, the stalwart Isaac Smith and Archie Kerton.

In the 2 lap, Isla was the first AVEACer home, taking 8 points with a 26.80. Evelyn (27.80) and Ruby H (27.90) also ran. Perhaps surprisingly, we had two teams in the 8-lap parlaaf! Bibi and Isla ran a 111.7 to come second, with the Rubys combining to complete the 8 laps in a spirited 127.6.

Beballs took silver in the standing long jump with a 2.15m jump, with Ruby S jumping 1.47m. In the shot, Beballs took home 8 points throwing 6.85m, just ahead of Ruby H (6.40m) and Ruby S (5.28m). Finally, in the speed bounce, Isla came second overall with 81 bounces in just 30 seconds.

The girls’ team of Beballs, Ruby S, Isla and Evelyn came third in the relay in a time of 112.10 seconds.

Isaac continued his exceptional Sportshall season with a win in the 2-lap, in a time of 25.9 and a success in the standing long with a mammoth leap of 2.30m. He also put in 68 speed bounces. Archie ran a good 27.70s in the 2-lap, jumped 2m dead in the long jump and bounced 69 times, scoring 20 points for the club.

In a superb relay effort, Isaac and Archie were joined by Adam and Dylan and held off a strong Chesterfield team to win the relay in 110.80 seconds.

 

Under 15s

We returned to decent numbers for the under 15s. The girls brought 7 members, whilst boys team consisted of 5 athletes.

In the 2-lap, Jasmine Shore took home a joint silver with a run of 26.30, finishing the exact same time as her teammate Erin Beresford. Olivia Irvine came home in 27.6, just ahead of Jess Dickinson (28.00) and Ailsa (28.20). Madeleine Turner headed up the AVEAC charge in the 4-lap, breaking the Sportshall record, with a 53.80 second run. Jasmine (58.70) was third with Lucy Norman 4th with a 59.10.

Madeleine, Jasmine and Jess all got exactly the same score in the standing long jump, 2.08m, taking home bronze. Ailsa leapt 2.05, with Earring a cm behind, with Lucy jumping 1.70m. In the shot, Ailsa and Madeleine threw 7.71m each, with Jess a whisker back on 7.56. Biscuits went over 7m with a 7.14m, whilst Erin chucked 5.97m. Finally, Biscuits (73) and Lucy (58) scored us 15 points in the speed bounce.

In the relay, the girls’ team of Madeleine, Jasmine, Earring and Biscuits came second in a time of 106.10. Our other team of Ailsa, Jess, Ruby H and Lucy came home in a good 112.40.

Once again, the 2-lap saw an AVEAC 1-2, as Riley Jones came first with 23.90, and Corey Fisher in 2nd on 24.10 seconds. Alfie Ray (25.10) also sprinted for us. In the 4-lap, Corey won with a time of 52.2s, though Shades took home 8 additional points with a 55.1s. Harvey ran a 56.9s.

Riley ate up the competition in the standing long jump (2.59m) and was only 2cm short of the record in the shot – he won that competition by nearly 4.5m as he threw 14.26m. Shades was second in the standing long jump with a 2.33m jump. He was joined by Corey (2.24m), Harvey (2.08m) and Gabe Parr (2.02m). Accompanying Riley in the shot, Gabe threw 6.55m giving us 6 extra points. Finally, in the speed bounce, Harvey took home gold with a 76.

The relay team of Corey, Riley, Shades and Harvey went under 100 seconds again with a 98.10 to take first place.

Final standings

Today’s results were as follows:

  1. Chesterfield 510.5
  2. AVEAC 478.5
  3. High Peak 244.5
  4. Derby 170.5

 

As I mentioned, Sportshall has finished for another year, and so the fixture ended with an award ceremony. Our age groups finished as follows:

  • U11 Girls : 1st place (23 points)
  • U11 Boys : 1st place (24 points)
  • U13 Girls : 2nd place (15.5 points)
  • U13 Boys : 3rd place (6.5 points)
  • U15 Girls : 2nd place (11 points)
  • U15 Boys : 1st place (17 points)

 

Overall, the final table was:

  1. Chesterfield 2,872 (23 league points)
  2. AVEAC 2,589.5 (19)
  3. High Peak 1,379 (11)
  4. Derby 1,166.5 (7)

 

Three wins and a second overall are not a bad effort at all and shows a progression at our club. One key factor is the amount of athletes each club has had at the competition overall. We saw 203 competitors, which was 89 less than the hosts. Whilst that can be expected (the competition is in Chesterfield), if we can increase our numbers, we can improve on 3 wins and go for the overall trophy in 2026.

All that being said, a massive well done to all our athletes. Some were Sportshall veterans, who have been competing for years. Some cannot compete at the competition again. Whilst others made their competing debuts this winter season and we hope to see them again for years to come! Winning is fantastic, but enjoying the experience is what matters most. We hope you all had fun and are ready for the outdoor season!

Report – Rich Woodward, Photos – Dan Humphrey