At the Second Mini League of the season, on Saturday 17 May, AVEAC boosted its highest number of competitors in years as 53 of our members wore the yellow. Only hosts Derby, with a single extra athlete, brought more. This was especially impressive as we travelled down the country for Heart of England the next day.
The weather varied from pretty chilly first thing to stunningly bright and warm by midday. The only drawback seemed to be the delays to the programme and the errors in the automatic timing system that led to several races being run twice and one actually failing to the extent that some did not receive a time of their 150m in the girls U11. Disappointing.
However, overall things went well for AVEAC as we again challenged at the top of the table!
Under 11s
We had a great sized team of 18 athletes representing the under 11s across the genders. Traditionally we have always struggled to attain good numbers at under 11 after the transition of the year 6s in April, but this season our work with the younger athletes has paid dividends – 10 girls and 8 boys were at Moorways for our club on Saturday.
In the girls’ side, Eva Price (12.40) and Flo Sibley (12.43) took a 1-2 in the 75m whilst April Malone (12.77), Sophie Wright (12.89) and Mya Offler (13.22) put in competitive sprints. For the 150m, Eva was again our quickest AVEACer coming 4th in 25.36. Jessica Wright picked up 6 points for the team with a 27.18 ahead of Sophie (27.64). As mentioned, the timing failed in this race though, even without the times, we know April, Macey Offler and Esme Wainwright all ran well.
For the middle distance 600m, Sibles took gold in 2.08.29. Bonnie Knighton picked up valuable points with a 2.21.26 just ahead of Jessica (2.21.74), Sophie (2.25.55), Mya (2.27.58), Claudia Sangster (2.28.67) and Esme (2.28.90).
Sibles doubled up with a win in the long jump (3.14m). Mya jumped 2.89m, Claudia 2.76m, Macey 2.59m, and Esme 2.11m. Finally, in the howler javelin, Eva came second with a 24.75m throw, only 72cm more than April who threw 24.03m. Bonnie continued a good debut with 22.20 whilst there were also good efforts from Macey (16.75m), Claudia (11.62m) and Jessica (10.38m).
We managed to run 2 relay teams. The side of Sibles, April, Bonnie and Sophie came 2nd in 69.23 whilst our team of Jessica, Macey, Esme and Mya ran a good 73.94.
In the boy’s competition, Reggie Taylor had a great competition as he narrowly came 2nd in the 75m, coming home in 11.85. Harley Alldread (debutant) ran an impressive 12.66 to take 6 points. Following up were Daniel Straker (12.83), Ben McLaren (13.11) and the other first comers Sebastian Coombes (13.17) and Charlie Groves (13.69).
In the 150m, Harley grabbed 7 points with a 25.44 run; Chris Maye got us additional points with a 26.99. George Whittleton (28.02), Ben (28.53) and Charlie (29.17) also ran in yellow. In the longer 600m, Reggie broke 2 minutes to come home first in 1.57.24. Chris ran a good 2.13.89 being aided by George (2.18.03), Harley (2.29.06) and Charlie (2.29.22).
In the field, Daniel won the high jump with a 1.10m leap and Seb got valuable points with a 0.90m vault. Whilst in the howler, Reggie threw a massive 36m to win; George (22.80m), Chris (17.05m), Ben (16.12m) and Seb (15.26m) also aided the cause.
Finally, the relay team of Harley, Seb, Charlie and George took first with a 72.44 run.
Under 13s
We managed to pool a few more athletes from the under 13s on Saturday, 9 girls (including debutants Olivia Blamire and Harriet Lee) and 4 boys which made us more than competitive.
Nisha’s coaching paid off as we had 4 competitors in the hurdles for the girls. Summer Biggs took first with a 12.15 run but Liv (16.25), Amie Saxby (17.09) and Sophie Humphrey (17.73) took their first steps into the vaulted run. In the short sprint, Evelyn Maye was the fastest AVEACer with a 15.21 run. She was aided and assisted by Aimee Brackenbury (15.35), Lola Funnell (15.48), Sophie (16.63), Liv (16.76), Amie (17.17) and Harriet (18.21).
The 200m saw Summer pick up a second win (29.30) and LoRo grab us 6 points with a 32.81 run. Evelyn (33.32), Liv (37.05), Amie (37.69) and Flo Protheroe (38.27) also running. We actually had 2 1500m runners – both scored us points. LoRo came 2nd overall with a 5.30.03 run; FloPro passed the finish line in 6.51.82.
Aimee added to a good season start with a 1.15m leap in the high jump; unfortunately, we didn’t pick up a second round of points in that competition. Further, we had no shot putters which was disappointing. We did, though, bring up scores for 4 athletes in the javelin. Summer won with a 28.97m throw. Sophie came 4th overall with a 12.38m throw whilst Evelyn chucked 8.73m and FloPro 7.84m.
The relay team of LoRo, Sophie, Amie and Harriet ran a 68.32 to pick up 6 points.
In the boys’ side, Adam Banton was our quickest 100m runner (15.08); Jasper Sangster scored 5 points with a 17.73. In the 200m, Dylan Knowles ran a 31.21, ahead of Adam (32.02) and Jasper (36.27). Finally, on the track, Dylan came 2nd in 5.32.8 with Jasper dipping in 5.49.8.
In the long jump, Leo Durrant passed 3 metres with a 3.39m with Dylan getting additional points for us with a 2.98m. Adam threw the shot put 4.82m, though we lacked a second athlete to score more. Lastly, Leo was our sole javelin thrower – a good 14.81 from him.
The relay side of Leo, Jasper, Reggie and Chris did well and ran a 65.08.
Under 15s
Twenty-one athletes came out at Mini League for the yellows; 13 in the female category and 8 boys.
Beginning with the hurdles, Erin Beresford took gold again with a 12.89. Isla Douglas replicated the first ML but this time went under 14 seconds (13.87) to take 4th place. In the 100m, Bibi Mulholland continued a good start to 2025 with a 13.66 sprint, just ahead of Olivia Irvine (13.82). Our other runners were Ruby Hill (14.54), Lucy Norman (14.98), Daisy Smith (15.02), Charlotte Slater (15.07), Xanthe McAughtrie (15.48), Ellie Ursell (15.60) and Catherine Wayne (15.88)
In the 300m, Isla took 8 points with 46.10 but we also had a number of other competitors – Lucy (46.56), Maggie Flinders (51.05), Ruby H (52.31) and Catherine (60.43). We had no 1500m runners, so our other points had to come in the field.
It was long jump for the girls this time; Maggie leapt 4.24m to take 3rd place. Bibi also cleared 4m (4.16) whilst Biscuits (3.83m), Isla (3.78m), Lucy (3.69m), Charlotte (3.68m), Catherine (3.63m), Ellie (3.30m), Bella Parsons-Loades (3.29m) and Xanthe (2.62m) completed a big field. Bella took second in the shot (8.19m) ahead of Biscuits (7.51m). Ellie (6.92m) & Ruby Shore (4.99m) also threw. The other field event was the javelin. In second overall was Erin (22.41m) with Daisy (on debut) spearing 17.67m. Our others were Ruby H (16.59), Bella (16.14m), Bibi (14.44m), Maggie (13.97m) and Ruby S (8.97m).
We managed to run three relay teams – great to see. The team of Bib, Maggie, Biscuits and Summer came 3rd in 55.75, then we had teams of Charlotte, Ellie, Xanthe and Catherine and Ruby H, Ruby S, Evelyn and Lucy.
On the male side of the draw, Joe Stimson ran a 17.61 in the hurdles to take 8 points. Joe Moss was the first sprinter back with a 11.60, ahead of Isaac Smith (14.17), Joe Falivena (14.39) and Lucas Sangster (15.25). In the 300m, Joe F (49.67) and Lucas (50.05) took home 11 points between them for us. Joe S and Harvey Glover then doubled up to give us 15 points running 4.51.71 and 4.54.81 respectively in the 1500m
In the high jump, Harvey won with a 1.35m, just ahead of 2nd place Joe F (1.30m). Joe M won the shot with a mammoth 13.15m throw. Our other putters were Marcus Parsons-Loades (7.65m), Joe S (6.64m), Gabe Parr (5.36m) and Isaac (4.92m). And, lastly, Harvey (23.74m), Marcus (17.52m), Isaac (16.46m), Gabe (16.11m) and Lucas (3.72m) produced good performances in the javelin.
We had two boys relay teams. Joe M, Isaac, Joe F and Harvey win their race in 52.43 whilst Joe S, Lucas, Dylan and Adam tipped the line in 58.89.
Standards
As with the last Mini League, we had several athletes who achieved PB Award standards at level 5 and above. They were:
- Summer Biggs (U13G) : L8 (javelin), L7 (200m), L6 (hurdles)
- Lola-Rose Funnell (U13G) : L5 (1500m)
- Isla Douglas (U15G) : L5 (300m)
- Lucy Norman (U15G) : L5 (300m)
- Joe Moss (U15B) : L9 (100m), (shot)
Current standings
We are halfway through the competition and have maintained top spot after the end of the day. The scores from Match 2 were as follows:
- AVEAC 537 match points (4 league points)
- Chesterfield 535.5 (3)
- Derby 482.5 (2)
- High Peak 286 (1)
Overall that means the table sits like this:
- AVEAC 1036 match points (8 league points)
- Chesterfield 977 (5)
- Derby 950 (5)
- High Peak 612 (2)
So, with two to go, we have a 3-point lead, which is great to see. However, we need to maintain, and we need to ensure all events are covered as far as we can. We probably missed out on 50odd points by not filling events this time around; considering the difference in points between us and Chesterfield was 1.5, that could have cost us.
All being said though, another great day for AVEAC. More newbies tasting competition for the first time and those bravely stepping up to do events they’ve never done before. Hopefully more to come!
The next fixture is on a Sunday. So, see you all again on 13 July at Moorways!
Report – Rich Woodward, Photos – Various Parents, Coaches & Volunteers
