On Saturday 27th April the second Derbyshire Athletics Mini-League took place at Moorways Sports Village. This match saw an increase in the number of AVEAC athletes taking to the field for the club, with a total of forty-three athletes in attendance versus thirty-seven at match one.
Under 11s
The young ladies in the U11 girls team worked hard to place second in their age group, a category with a notable absence of Chesterfield youngsters, something I am sure they will look to resolve for future matches. In the 75m Sophie Humphrey finished fourth in a time of 13.27 seconds, crediting her new running spikes as helping take nearly half a second of her previous best time. Ellise Rogers claimed second place in the 150m event, crossing the line in 25.53 seconds, Katherine Turner finished in fourth with a time of 26.41 seconds, and Sophie, Florence Sibley and Esme Wainwright recorded times of 28.93 seconds, 28.98 seconds, and 30.53 seconds respectively. Florence and Esme both also competed in the 600m event, where Florence finished third in a time of 2:22.82 and Esme crossed the line in sixth with a time of 2:34.96. The long jump saw Katherine, Florence, Ellise and Esme compete, with the youngsters recording jumps of 2.96m, 2.74m, 2.56m and 1.77m respectively. In the howler javelin Katherine threw a distance of 19.69m to claim second place, with Sophie recording a throw of 11.96m and Ellise throwing 10.92m. The girls finished second in the 4x100m relay, crossing the line in 76.55 seconds.
Not to be outdone by their female clubmates, the five young men donning the yellow AVEAC vests also finished second in their age group. In the 75m sprint Joseph Brackenbury recorded a time of 12.07 seconds as he finished in fourth, with clubmates Daniel Straker, Reggie Taylor, Benjamin McLaren and Jasper Sangster crossing the line in times of 12.64 seconds, 12.66 seconds, 13.28 seconds and 13.68 seconds respectively. Joseph also competed in the 150m, where he finished second in a time of 24.73 seconds. In the 600m event Reggie claimed second place with a time of 2:09.82, with Benjamin finishing sixth in 2:26.82 and Jasper just behind in seventh recording a time of 2:27.28. With the girls on long jump for this match, the boys headed over to the high jump bed, where Daniel and Benjamin recorded jumps of 1.05m and 0.85m respectively to earn valuable points for the team. Out on the throws field three of the boys competed in the howler javelin, where Reggie recorded a throw of 24.72m, Daniel threw a distance of 21.89m and Joseph finished with a best of 18.30m. Daniel, Reggie, Joseph and Benjamin combined to take part in the 4x100m relay, where they crossed the line in first place with a time of 67.87 seconds, just three-hundredths of a second ahead of their competitors in the Derby team.
Under 13s
The U13 girls team was made up of six athletes, who competed well to finished third in their age group, behind two strong teams from Derby and Chesterfield. The first event of the day for the team was the 70m hurdles, which saw the two AVEAC athletes competing not only finishing in first and second place, but both also setting new personal bests in the event. Summer Biggs crossed the line in 12.57 seconds to finish first, just ahead of Isla Douglas in a time of 12.89 seconds. In the 100m Isla finished in third place with a time of 14.52 seconds, with clubmates Maggie Flinders finishing in fifth with a time of 14.65 seconds and Aimee Brackenbury recording a time of 15.86 seconds. The final track event competed by AVEAC at this match was the 200m, where Isla claimed second place in a time of 30.46 seconds, with Summer recording a time of 32.13 seconds, just ahead of Isobel Weller in 32.33 seconds, with Aimee crossing the line in 35.88 seconds. In the high jump event Maggie and Isobel both achieved jumps of 1.20m to finish fifth and sixth respectively, with Aimee clearing 1.10m to finish in tenth. At the other end of the stadium Summer recorded a throw of 21.57m to claim first place in the javelin, where she was supported by Ruby Shore who picked up points for the club in seventh place with a throw of 9.20m. Three of the young ladies competed in the shot put, with Maggie throwing 4.82m, Isobel throwing 4.59m and Ruby recording a distance of 4.44m. The girls ended the day with a first place finish in the 4x100m, getting the baton round in a time of 60.37 seconds.
There were also six athletes in the U13 boys team, who combined to win their age group in this match. Charlie Davies got the day off to a fantastic start with a first-place finish in the 75m hurdles in a time of 13.53 seconds, with clubmate Archie Kerton showing great resilience to recover from fall to cross the line in 20.02 seconds. Charlie then claimed first place in the 100m recording a time of 14.11 seconds, with Isaac Smith, Lucas Sangster and Oscar Ashmore finishing in 15.31 seconds, 15.84 seconds, and 16.08 seconds respectively. In the 200m Isaac crossed the line in a time of 34.07 seconds to finish just ahead of Archie in 34.45 seconds, as both boys picked up important points for the club. Lucas achieved a fourth-place finish in the 1,500m, completing the three and three-quarter laps of the track in a time of 6:06.48. Marcus Parsons-Loades continued to build on a good start to his season in the shot put, recording a first-place finish in the event with a throw of 7.82m. In the javelin competition Archie finished in third place with a throw of 20.34m, ahead of Marcus in fourth with a throw of 19.41m, and Oscar and Isaac achieving distances of 14.42m and 10.62m respectively. Having already claimed two wins in the match, Charlie recorded a leap of 4.18m to complete his hat-trick in the long jump, with Lucas and Oscar both recording new personal best jumps of 3.41m and 3.27m respectively, and Marcus leaping 3.13m. With a couple of the boys being unavailable for the relay, a non-scoring team was entered, finishing third in a time of 68.04 seconds.
Under 15s
Even with a couple of regular attendees missing for this match, a total of thirteen young ladies turned out for the U15 girls team, achieving a second place finish in their age group. Mamie Skipper took to the track first for the team, recording a third-place finish in the 75m hurdles in a time of 15.13 seconds. Nine of the team opted to enter the 100m sprint at this match, creating some fantastic racing between friends in the heats. Erin Beresford led the way recording a fourth-place finish in a time of 13.83 seconds, just two-hundredths ahead of Betsy Wilton in 13.85 seconds. Olivia Irvine crossed the line in 14.89 seconds, followed by Lilly Robshaw in 15.09 seconds, Charlotte Slater in 15.31 seconds, Lucy Norman in 15.48 seconds, Mamie in 15.49 seconds, Imogen Sharp in 15.96 seconds and Ellie Ursell in 16.21 seconds. In the 300m event Jasmine Shore finished in third with a time of 47.39 seconds, ahead of Erin in 47.77 seconds, Betsy in 48.88 seconds, Ailsa McMillan in 50.45 seconds and Lucy in 52.79 seconds. Having clearly not had enough of the track by this point, Lucy then entered the 1,500m, finishing in seventh in a time of 6:05.92. As the long jump competition got underway there was a sea of yellow crowded around the run up, with eleven of the twenty-one competitors wearing an AVEAC vest. It made for a fantastic atmosphere as the group cheered each other on, celebrating every improved jump. Betsy jumped 4.02m to claim second place in the competition, closely followed by Ailsa in third with 3.98m, Erin in fourth with 3.96m, Jasmine fifth with 3.86m, Jessica Dickinson in sixth with 3.81m and Lilly finishing ninth with 3.62m to make it six AVEAC athletes in the top ten. Also jumping in the competition were Ellie with 3.23m, Charlotte with 3.19m, Olivia with 3.11m, Isabella Parsons-Loades with 3.06m and Imogen with 3.05m. Isabella finished third in the shot put with a distance of 7.34m, followed by Jasmine with 6.81m, Ailsa with 6.64m, Charlotte with 6.59m, Olivia with 6.56m, Ellie with 5.62m and Mamie with 5.59m. In the javelin, Isabella went one better and finished in second place with a throw of 14.72m, with clubmates Lilly and Jessica throwing 12.47m and 11.68m respectively. Three teams were entered into the 4x100m relay for the U15 girls, finishing in third, fifth and sixth places, with times of 57.78 seconds, 61.64 seconds and 62.63 seconds.
The seven young men competing in the U15 boys AVEAC team ended their day with a first-place finish in their age group. Sebastian Mcaughtrie finished in first place in the 80m hurdles, recording a time of 14.57 seconds. Seb also claimed first place in the javelin, throwing 29.17m to finish ahead of clubmates Joe Moss in second with 28.53m, Riley Jones in third with 26.10m, Ryan Ghai in fourth with 24.96m and Corey Fisher in sixth with 18.56m. In the 100m sprint Joe crossed the line in 12.02 seconds to claim first place, with Corey just behind in second with a time of 12.34 seconds, and followed by Ryan and Riley in 12.96 seconds, Ashton Hayes in 13.76 seconds and Alfie Ray in 14.20 seconds. Joe also secured himself first place in the high jump, recording a leap of 1.45m, with Ryan in third with a jump of 1.40m and Alfie in fourth with 1.35m. Riley was the only AVEAC athlete to take part in the shot put in this age group, but this didn’t deter him as he recorded a distance of 10.37m to finish in first place. Having seen his friends pick up victories in all but one of the events in their age group (they didn’t enter the 1,500m), Corey ran a time of 42.58 seconds in the 300m event to claim his own first place finish, supported by Ashton in a time of 45.43 seconds and Alfie in 47.86 seconds. The boys ran an excellent time of 50.19 seconds in the 4x100m relay to take the win but finished agonisingly short of the 49.30 seconds record that they have set themselves the target of beating.
Under 9s
In the U9 mixed 50m race Edward Straker, Beth Davies, Claudia Sangster and Amelia Wainwright took to the track for AVEAC, emulating their older siblings in showcasing their talents.
Thus we placed second on the day, beaten by Derby by four and a half points, but still lead the season by twenty points from Derby. Another good turnout at the next two fixtures, along with a little careful event selection can see us maintain our top spot and win the end of season trophy.
Our thanks as ever go to the team managers, officials, helpers, coaches, result recorders, athletes, and supporters.
Keep enjoying!!!
Report – Bob Boyd & Dan Humphrey
