On Sunday 24th May a group of sixteen AVEAV athletes travelled up to Mansfield and donned their yellow vests for the second match of the Nottinghamshire Development League series. Weather conditions were dry and pleasant, with sunny skies and temperatures in the late twenties, although the usual Berry Hill gusts of wind made an appearance as the day wore on.
As at the first match, team spirit was again high amongst the group, with lots of support and encouragement for all as they delivered some great performances, with a total of ten new personal bests achieved across the group.
Track Summary
Jasmine Shore was the first of the AVEAC group to take to the track, competing in the 400m Hurdles for the first time. Jas ran a strong race against just one other competitor, crossing the line in a time of 76.6 seconds and giving herself self a benchmark for her next outing.
Joe Stimson was next yellow vest to take to the track, competing in the 1,500m. Running in the quickest of three heats, Joe beat his previous best set at the first match of the series by five seconds, stopping the watch at a time of 4:41.5 for a new personal best.
As always the 100m proved popular with thirty-six athletes taking to the start line, including seven of the AVEAC cohort. Will Stimson and Adam Hill ran in the second heat of the day, with Will beating his teammate by just three tenths of a second, with the pair finishing in 12.6 seconds and 12.9 seconds respectively. Heat three saw two of Rich’s sprints group going head to head, as Alfie Ray and Nicole Bonser took their marks. Alfie crossed the line in 12.6 seconds versus Nicole’s 13.2 seconds to take the bragging rights into this week’s training sessions. Ethan Ray, Leah Parkin and Ruby Hill competed in heat four, with Ethan leading the trio in a time of 13.9 seconds, before Leah and Ruby crossed the line together to record a time of 14.2 seconds.
Two AVEAC athletes competed in the 400m races at this match, with Jason Plewinski running in heat one and Joe Falivena in heat two. Jason finished his race in second place, crossing the line in 53.8 seconds. Not to be outdone, Joe also claimed second place in his race, in a new personal best time of 59.9 seconds.
The final individual track event competed by the AVEAC group was the 200m, where the club had three athletes primed and ready to go. Will was the first of the trio to run, crossing the line in a time of 25.9 seconds, before Alfie and Nicole renewed their rivalry in the second heat. Once again Alfie came out on top, crossing the line in first place with a time of 25.7 seconds, whilst Nicole recorded a time of 27.9 seconds.
The relays always conclude the track day at the NCDL matches, and following the calamities witnessed at the last match, there were hopes for better runs this time round. And although one team made it round unscathed in a time of 53.3 seconds, a combination of sweat and sun cream resulting a dropped baton during the second handover was unfortunately the ruin of the second of the teams. Despite this, the baton was recovered and the team completed the race in a time of 58.0 seconds.
Field Summary
Second claim member Ross Douglas donned his AVEAC vest for the first time this season at this match, and was the first of the group to take to the field as he competed in the Hammer. Ross came away with the best throw of the day, as he launched his 7.26kg ball of steel out of the cage and to a distance of 52.35m, beating his nearest competitor by approx. 11m.
The women’s Shot got underway shortly afterwards, with Nicole and Ruby joined by Ailsa McMillan. All three of the ladies threw new personal best distances, with Nicole leading the trio with 9.48m, Ailsa recording 8.71m and Ruby putting a best of 8.02m.
Three of the group competed in the men’s Shot event, as Gabriel Parr and Harvey Glover joined Ross in taking to the circle. Ross achieved the best throw of the three gents, as he recorded a distance of 9.64m. Harvey was just short of his personal best as he threw 8.62, whilst Gabe threw 8.35m to achieve a new personal best in the event.
As core members of AVEACs High Jump Club, Alfie and Joe Falivena were always going to take part in the event. Alfie successfully cleared 1.45m before bowing out of the competition after failing to clear 1.50m. Joe however, jumping from the right hand side of the bed for the first time in competition went a couple of rounds further, successfully clearing 1.55m to record a new personal best.
The first pool of the Long Jump saw the female athletes competing, of which three members of the AVEAC squad were involved. Nicole recorded the best jump, leaping 4.95m, followed by Jess Dickenson who recorded a best jump of 4.32m and Ailsa achieved a best leap of 4.24m. The men’s pool followed shortly afterwards, and as the wind started to pick up, seven AVEAC athletes marked their run-ups. Adam recorded the best leap of the septet, jumping 5.27m. Will was a short way back, with a best of 5.08m, with Harvey and Alfie a little further back having jumped 4.65m and 4.60m respectively. Next in the rankings for AVEAC was Joe Stimson who jumped 4.26m, closely followed by Gabe with a jump of 4.15m and Ethan who achieved a jump of 3.87. Due to the gusty conditions a lot of these jumps were recorded as wind assisted, but even so, some good performances from the group.
At the other end of the field, Ross competed in a rather large pool of Discus throwers, coming out with the best throw of the day, recording 34.45m to finish at the top of the twenty athlete pile.
Due to the large number of throwers entering the Discus, the event ran a bit longer than anticipated, resulting in the final field event of the day, the Javelin starting a bit late. This was then further compounded by an even larger pool of twenty-two athletes gathering at the runway. Ross again led the way from an AVEAC perspective, achieving a best throw of 35.21m. Harvey recorded a best throw of 22.71m from his five trials, just ahead of Ruby who threw a new personal best distance of 21.44m. Ethan was the next best AVEAC’er with a throw of 18.00m, with Gabe right behind him with his new personal best throw of 17.13m. Joe Stimson rounded off the AVEAC sextet with his own new personal best throw of 12.60m.
Match Summary
Overall another cracking day out for AVEAC at the Nottinghamshire County Development League, with the club seeing improved numbers across both athletes and officials despite the combination of the Bank Holiday weekend and half term holidays. The series continues to prove popular with the athletes, with a number once again commenting on how relaxed the atmosphere feels around the track, and how supportive the officials and members from the other clubs were. For any newer members of the club that are perhaps a little nervous about competing, it would definitely be worth speaking to some of the athletes who have attended, and then considering the next match in this series as an introduction to competing.
The next match of the series is planned for Sunday 12th July at the Newark YMCA facility, where I understand a full programme of events will again be available following issues with the cage having been addressed. It would be great to see more yellow vests there competing.
Report – Dan Humphrey, Photos – Janine Bonser