On Saturday, 21 September, Amber Valley & Erewash Athletic Club held its 2024 Club Championships in its 25th year. It has been a challenging time since 2020, and it was great to see an increase in numbers from last year. And, someone up there was definitely lending us a helping hand as the weather was beautiful for the competition, though only an hour later, we were deluged with rain from the skies!
Every year, AVEAC holds a championship to crown the best athletes in the respective categories: under 11, 13, 15 and 17. The under 11s complete the Quadkids format, which includes a 75m sprint, a 600m run, a long jump, and howler javelin. Traditionally, the older athletes had to pick 3 events. However, this year the decision was made to replicate the Quadkids for them and, in addition to a “run, jump and throw”, all of the under 13s and above had to complete an 800m run. This news was not well received by our athletes but, when it came to it, they all worked exceedingly hard in that race, as they did throughout the day, so, I’m afraid to report, it’s here to stay!!
Under 11s
We had a massive 19 under 11 girls compete on Saturday. The boys’ side was smaller (10) but no less competitive.
In the girls’ 75m, Katherine Turner ran a 12.2, followed closely by Sophie Humphrey with a 12.4 and new athlete Eva Price sprinting 12.5. In fact, 6 of our athletes ran under 13 seconds which is great going. In the 600m, Katherine was only 4 seconds off breaking the 2-minute barrier, to win that race. Florence Sibley came second with 2.15, with Eva in third with 2.22. All 19 athletes ran under 2.45, a great effort.
In the field, Katherine was triumphant in both events (3.18 in the long jump; 20m in the howler javelin), but was fought close by others. Sophie jumped 3.09, just ahead of Flo Sibley in the long jump (3.07) whilst Bonnie Knighton (18.83m) and April Malone (18.55m) took the other places in the howler.
Overall, Katherine (196 points) was the champion followed by Flo Sibley with 166 points and Eva in bronze with 157 points.
In the boys’ side, Elliott Wright ran 11.3 to win the 75m, ahead of Caleb Cheetham (11.9) and Adam Banton (12.1). Caleb took the honours in the 600m running a good 2.10 ahead of Elliott (2.13) and Mason Oldham, who ran home in 2.15).
Moving to the throws and jumps, Elliott replicated Katherine, winning the long jump (3.67) and howler javelin (27.74m). In the long jump, Mason came second with 3.44, ahead of Caleb who jumped 3.33m. Finally, in the howler, Mason came behind Elliott with a throw of 24.02, Adam in 3rd with 23.29m.
The podium was therefore made up of Elliott in first place (227 points), Mason in silver (202 points) and Caleb taking third with 197 points.
Under 13s
We did not have the biggest field in the under 13s but there were still 12 keen athletes trying to claim gold in their categories.
In the girls, Isla Douglas (12.5) edged our Summer Biggs (12.8) in the hurdles whilst Maggie Flinders came on top of the 100 with a 14.4 from Evelyn Maye on 15.1. Only Bibi Mulholland ran the 200m, in a 28.6. The 800m saw Isla come second overall in the girls’ section with a 2.42 whilst Bibi (2.57) also coming under 3 minutes.
In the jumps, Summer won out with a 4.36 ahead of Maggie on 4.11 in the long; Bibi jumped 1.33 ahead of Isla 1.27 in the high. And, finally, in the throws Ruby Shore was the best under 13 (4.85) with Aimee Brackenbury (4.17) in 2nd in the shot. Summer won the javelin with 25.17, Bibi in 2nd (15.69) and Maggie threw 11.30m. And Isla was the only discus thrower (13.08).
So, to the champions platform, Summer came top with 291 points, Isla grabbed 2nd with 255 points and Bibi took home bronze with 249 points.
In the boys, Teddy Wilton and Isaac Smith ran identical 14.5 100m. Charlie Davies scored a 28.2 in the 200m ahead of Marcus Parsons-Loades who came home in 39.6. In the run, Charlie ran very well with a 2.30; Lucas Sangster took 2nd with 2.53.
Jumps wise, Charlie (4.30) and Isaac (4.02) cleared 4 metres in the long jump and Teddy leapt 1.33m in the high jump. Marcus won the shot with 8.20 and Isaac grabbed a 2nd with 5.01. Teddy won the javelin at 21.29 with Charlie in a silver place with 18.49.
This meant that Charlie took home gold with 281 points with Teddy in silver place with 255 points and Isaac took a bronze with 225 points.
Under 15s
Aside from the under 11s, the under 15s were where we saw the best numbers – 23 across the boys and girls. Great numbers despite some notable absentees, with Ryan Ghai, Riley Jones and Joe Moss off representing Derbyshire in the English Schools Combined Events competition.
In the girls, Erin Beresford won the hurdles (13.3) in front of Mamie Skipper (15.1). In the 100m, Betsy Wilton came first (13.5) very much just ahead of Olivia Irvine (13.6). Lucy Norman secured 1st in the 200m (30.5) with Bella Parsons-Loades grabbing the next spot (34.7). Finally, in the 300m, Madeleine Turner (44.2) won that event in front of Jasmine Shore (46.2) and Ailsa McMillan (50.6). The 800m saw a lot of athletes with similar times but Madeleine took top spot (2.21) with Jasmine (2.53) 2nd and Betsy 3rd (2.54).
In the field, Madeleine took home top spot in the long jump (4.48) with Jasmine (4.36), Erin (4.25), Ailsa (4.18) and Olivia (4.02) all going past 4 metres. Betsy was the sole triple jumper – 9.69m. Bella (1.24) and Lucy (1.18) competed together again in the high jump.
Throws wise, Betsy won the shot (7.86) ahead of Madeleine (6.79), whilst Lilly Robshaw won the javelin (10.79) and Charlotte Slater taking the honours in the discus (15.09). Bella (24.19), Ellie Ursell (18.16), Olivia (16.89) and Erin (15.50) all took part for the first time in Club Championships in the hammer.
The winning places of the event went to Madeleine (305 points), Betsy (283 points) and Jasmine (278 points).
Nine athletes competed for the under 15 boys’ title. Harvey Glover ran a 15.9 hurdles ahead of Joe Stimson (17.6) whilst in the 100m, Corey Fisher came 1st with a 12 dead time and Jonah Buchanen ran a 14.9. In the 200m, Oliver Seagrave sprinted a 26.9 ahead of Alfie Ray (27.7) and Ashton Hayes won the 300m in 42.8 in front of Joe Falivena (46.2). In the 800m, Harvey came top with 2.30 with Alfie running 2.38.
On the field, Corey topped with 4.87m in the long, Ashton (4.54), Joe F (3.66) and Gabriel Parr (2.47) whilst Joe S tripled to 7.50. In the verticals, Oliver won out with a 1.39 with Harvey and Alfie leaping 1.36.
Throwing, Corey putted 8.26 ahead of Ashton 7.18 and Gabriel (6.09) with Harvey winning the javelin (20.15) in front of Oliver (16.66) and Joe F (11.80). The discus shaw Jonah take first (12.67) ahead of Joe S (10.58).
All this saw, Corey took home gold (314 points) ahead of Ashton in 2nd with 296 points and bronze going to Oliver (276 points). In addition to his gold medal, as the overall highest points scorer across all age categories on the day, Corey also took home the Jessica Turner trophy.
Under 17s
We didn’t have a huge pool for the under 17s but, it was an improvement on last year, and those competing certainly did not hold back. I really see this category having even better numbers in 2025.
In the women’s category, we had Ella Bateman, Ebony Longdon, Leah Parkin and Eleanor Rigby whilst Adam Hill and Will Stimson for the men.
Ella (13.8), Ebony (14.2) and Leah (14.6) ran the 100 with Eleanor running a 200m in 31.6. All the women chose long jump with Ebony jumping over 4m and the others being only 10cm apart. In the throws, Eleanor and Ebony shot over 6m with Ella taking up the javelin and Leah the discus. In the 800m, Eleanor won out with a 2.47 with again the others being within 10 seconds of each other.
In the end, Ebony scored 247 points to come out on top with Eleanor 2nd (237 points), Ella in 3rd (218 points) and Leah with 191 points.
In the mens, Will ran a 15.5 in the hurdles, Adam did a great 63 in the 400m, with Will acting as his pacemaker. Will jumped 4.43 in the long, Adam went for the triple and landed a 8.70. In the throws, Will threw 9.90m in the shot with Adam spinning 18.64m in the discus. In the 800m, Adam was ahead of Will running 2.42 to 2.45.
The podium saw Will claim gold with 305 points and Adam in 2nd with 267 points.
Special Guests
We were delighted to invite some special guests to the Club Championships. Firstly, Heidi Bradley from England Athletics came down to RSP to see our club and was, I’m told, thoroughly impressed with the setup of the event and, more importantly, the commitment of our athletes.
Secondly, it was wonderful to see Felicia and Megan from the Maddy Cusack Foundation at the championships, as well as Maddy’s grandmother. In addition to the fundraising of own Amelia Wainwright for MC8 (Crowdfunding to support The Maddy Cusack Foundation. Amelia’s Miles For Maddy on JustGiving), you can learn more about the Foundation at Facebook and The Maddy Cusack Foundation (@themaddycusackfoundation) • Instagram photos and videos.
Finally, a big thank you to The Derby Runner who kindly sponsored the athletes vest numbers for the event.
New Season
The 25th AVEAC Club Championship was a great day and a massive congratulations should be given to all those involved: Dan, who ran the organisation, the officials and helpers, those running the tuck shop, the registration team … the list goes on and, if I tried to name everyone, I would undoubtedly forget. So, thank you to all those involved in the day.
And, to finish, a big thank you to our athletes that competed. Now, you turn your mind to the Winter Season and the Sportshall and Mini League Cross Country. Here’s to a successful end to 2024.
More details on some of the winter competitions available to athletes can be found on our Events page.
