Sunday 19th April saw the first club fixture of the new track and field season, with eleven AVEAC athletes making the journey up to Newark for the opening match of the Nottinghamshire Development League series. Given the mixed bag over recent weeks, weather conditions were good, with the track bathed in bright sunshine for the majority of the day, albeit with the customary Newark wind bringing a bit of a chill as it swirled around.
Team spirit and performances across the group were fantastic, with ten personal best performances recorded, and all of the athletes laying down markers for the season ahead.
Track Summary
Isla Douglas was the first of the AVEAC group to take to the track, as she participated in the 300m Hurdles. This was the first time Isla had competed in a long hurdles race and she performed well in her mixed heat, finishing in a time of 52.3 seconds.
Up next was middle distance and cross country loving Joe Stimson, running as the youngest competitor in a mixed 1,500m heat, crossing the line in a respectable sixth place with a time of 4:46.5.
The 100m sprint was the next event to take to the track, an event that was as popular as ever, with a total of 34 athletes spread across the six heats, including nine of the eleven AVEAC group. George Reynolds led from the gun in heat one, crossing the line in the fastest time of the day and a new personal best as he recorded 11.5 seconds. Tom Pearce then recorded a time of 12.3 seconds in the second heat, before Adam Hill finished in second place in heat three with a new personal best time of 12.4 seconds. Heat four was the first time we saw direct AVEAC competition on the track, as Nicole Bonser and Charlie Yates went head to head. Nicole crossed the line in a new personal best time of 13.0 seconds, whilst Charlie recorded a time of 13.9 seconds, a time she was happy with as it means she’s still quicker than a certain throws coach at the club. Heat five saw four of the six lanes filled with amber vests as Isla, Olivia Irvine, Ruby Hill and Catherine Wayne lined up on the start line, “expertly” marshalled by Alice Robinson in her role as Starters Assistant. Olivia was the first of the four to cross the line, doing so in 13.8 seconds, with Isla just behind with a new personal best time of 13.9 seconds. Ruby also recorded a new personal best time of 14.5 seconds, with Catherine crossing the line in 15.0 seconds.
Harvey Glover took a short break from his Shot competition to compete in the 3,000m race, where he recorded a personal best time of 10:45.0.
Three AVEAC athletes competed in the 200m heats, with Tom finishing in 25.1 seconds, Adam in a new personal best 26.2 seconds and not to be outdone by her brother, Ruby in a personal best time of 29.3 seconds. The siblings ended their track competition with two new PBs each.
Joe took to the track in the final individual track event of the day, as he took his marks at the start of the 800m. Running in the quickest heat, Joe ran well and finished in 2:29.9.
Then came the highlight of the track competition, the event everyone had been waiting for… the mixed 4x100m relays. Eight of the AVEAC athletes put themselves into teams, agreed their running order, and took their positions on the track. One team consisted of Nicole, George, Adam & Ruby, whilst the other team consisted of Olivia, Harvey, Catherine & Joe. Despite a rather comical first handover, where as Adam accelerated away from his sister without the baton in hand, Ruby decided the best course of action was to throw it at him, Nicole’s team crossed the line as the first of the two teams in 54.2 seconds. The second AVEAC team also struggled with their handovers, and finished in 57.3 seconds. The takeaway from this race was that more practice is needed across the board on handovers, so look out for that on the next issue of the training plan.
Field Summary
The women’s shot was the first of the field events competed by the AVEAC cohort, with five of the group participating. Nicole threw consistently throughout, recording a best throw of 9.09m. Olivia was next for AVEAC with a throw of 7.48m, with Charlie (who was lucky to still be in the competition after trying to bribe the officials for a PB) just 2cms behind with a best of 7.46m. Ruby recorded her third personal best of the day with a throw of 7.32m, and Catherine in her first time competing in the discipline recorded a throw of 5.32m.
The men’s shot followed shortly after, with Harvey the sole AVEAC representative. Having also entered the 3,000m Harvey missed a couple of rounds of throwing, but returned in time for his sixth round throw, and overcame his tiredness to record a massive new personal best of 7.99m. Maybe Harvey has stumbled upon a new approach to preparing for shot, and we’ll see the likes of Crouser, Walsh, Kovacs and Fabbri lining up on an endurance start line at the next Olympics.
Over in the sandpits George led the way in the long jump, with the best overall jump of the day, with a distance of 6.41m. Also jumping was Nicole, who recorded a best jump of 4.84m, whilst Catherine and Joe recorded jumps of 3.84m and 3.62m respectively.
Isla competed in the javelin for the first time at this match, throwing well in all six of her trials, and recording a best throw of 19.25m despite the windy conditions.
Alongside the women’s javelin at the top end of the track was the mixed high jump competition, featuring AVEACs ever cheerful Charlie, who’s solid performance resulted in a best clearance of 1.50m.
Match Summary
This is now the clubs second full season competing in the Nottinghamshire County Development League, and its relaxed, supportive, and athlete centric atmosphere once again proved popular with our athletes. As the name suggests this league is all about the development of athletes, and all of the officials do their upmost to ensure participants are supported in this respect. It is a fantastic competition, and the club would encourage all eligible members (U16+) to compete at at least one of the matches this season.
In addition to this, it is also a fantastic opportunity for developing officials to learn their roles, ably supported by some of the best officials in the county. Three of the clubs officials were present at this match, with Alice undertaking a role as a Starters Assistant, and Dan Humphrey & Rich Woodward assisting as Field Judges, as they all look to hone their skills in support of the club and our athletes. However, as we continue to grow our participation at these matches, more support will be needed from other members of the club to officiate, and Alice will be reaching out to ascertain availability. Not only does your commitment to assisting with this fulfil our commitment to the league to provide officials, but it also supports the club in developing a pool of experienced officials, that will enable us to host our own open meets in the future.
The next match of the series is scheduled for Sunday 24th May at Mansfield’s Berry Hill track, and we look forward to seeing more of you there.
Report – Dan Humphrey, Photos – Janine Bonser