​There were only 4 competitors in the U15 age group, 2 boys and 2 girls, but nonetheless some excellent results. Kian Whittaker started the day with a best long jump of 3.90 for 5th spot, just a couple of centimetres off his PB. He then competed in the High Jump for the first time achieving 1.30 and finished the day with a PB of 47.9 in the 300m for 7th place. Sebastian Banks was slightly disappointed with his hurdles time of 15.7, but bounced back with PBs in both the high jump and 200m, achieving 1.45 in high jump for 3rd place and 26.5 in the 200m for 6th. For the girls, Eleanor Rigby was also in double PB form, running the 800m in a new best time of 2.44, finishing 8th, and putting the shot out to 5.21m for 6th place. She also finished 6th in the long jump with a distance of 3.41. Isla Hiscocks was in good sprinting form, with 3rd places in both the 100m and 200m in times of 13.2 and 28.1, and 5th place in the 75m hurdles with 13.6.

Numbers of athletes were much better in the U13 age group, where we had 4 boys and 5 girls covering most of the available events between them. Performances included several notable PBs and athletes having a go at events for the first time. The biggest smiles of the day were also recorded in this age group! Highlights of the day included the girls’ shot put, where Jasmine Shore beat her PB by well over a metre to won the event, as well as the girls’ relay team of Sienna, Betsy, Amelia and Jasmine who ran a fantastic race to finish 3rd on the line, their time of 58.5 equal to the 2nd placed team. The full U13 results were as follows:

Riley Jones: High Jump ‘A’ 4th - 1.25; Hurdles ‘A’ 4th - 15.6 (first timer); Shot Put ‘A’ 3rd – 7.64 (PB)

Corey Fisher: 800m ‘A’ 3rd – 2.35 (PB): 100m ‘A’ 3rd – 13.3 (PB); 200m ‘A’ 3rd 27.7

Harvey Glover: Hurdles ‘B’ 2nd 18.9; 1500m ‘A’ 4th 5.48; Long Jump ‘B’ 5th 2.75

Ethan Barnett: 100m ‘B’ 6th 14.9; Long Jump ‘A’ 8th 3.53 (PB); 200m ‘B’ 6th 31.2

Amelia Whittaker: 800m ‘A’ 3rd 2.47 (PB); Long Jump ‘B’ 1st 3.84 (PB)

Sienna Peel: 800m ‘B’ 2nd 3.05; 100m ‘A’ 6th 15.2

Betsy Wilton: High Jump ‘B’ 3rd 1.05; 100m ‘B’ 2nd 14.5 (PB); Long Jump ‘A’ 4th 3.89 (PB)

Jasmine Shore: High Jump ‘A’ 5th 1.30 (PB) Shot Put ‘A’ 1st 7.68 (PB); 200m ‘A’ 3rd 29.8

Olivia Irvine: Shot Put ‘B’ 3rd 4.34; 200m ‘B’ 6th 35.8; 800m ‘NS’ 3.18 (first timer)

A couple of our U11 athletes were unable to attend at the last minute, leaving 3 boys and 2 girls competing for the points in their own scoring match, with the boys finishing 2nd and the girls 7th.  Jacob Adams continued his excellent howler javelin form, winning the A string with a best throw of 35.44. His long jump PB of 3.81 was good enough for 2nd place whilst a time of 11.8 in the 75m placed him 5th. Elliott Barnett stepped in to the howler event at the last minute, throwing 17.57 for 6th place. He also ran a PB time of 2.03 in the 600m to finish 4th and his 11.8 second run in the 75m earned him 2nd place in the B string race. Fraser Jones jumped well for 2nd place in the B string long jump, with a best of 3.53. His time of 2.19 in the B string 600m earned him 4th place, whilst his 11.7 time in the non scoring 75m race will give him confidence in this event going forward. Ruby Arnold rose to the challenge of the day and stepped up to A string in all 3 of her events. She achieved 3rd place in howler with 19.75, 7th place in 600m with a PB of 2.30 and 6th place in 75m with a time of 12 seconds dead. Ruby Shore, with very little previous competition experience, came 4th in the B string howler with 7.01, 7th in long jump with a PB of 1.91 and 5th in B string 600m with a PB time of 2.41. The 2 girls, along with Jacob and Elliott, finished the day with a 6th place finish in the mixed relay. 

Team Manager, Sarah Kaye, would like to congratulate all the athletes who have taken part in the 3 match series, and say a big thank you to the many volunteers who have taken on team managing and officiating roles. 

Words and photos - Sarah Kaye

Jess Turner turned her attention to the flat 400m at the English Senior and Disability Championships at Bedford on the weekend 30 - 31 July and came away with another national title. 

Saturday’s qualification rounds saw her winning Heat 1 in 54.77 seconds, the second fastest of the sixteen entrants. In the final it was all about the last 100 metres with Jess coming from far back as she entered the straight to take the title on the line in 53:45 seconds ahead of  Lauren Rule (Herts Phoenix) in 53:77 and Lily Beckford (Shaftesbury Barnet) in 53:99. 

A fitting end to season for Jess following her rehabilitation from surgery  during the winter.  Hopefully next season Jess will be back to her brilliant best and focusing on qualifying over the 400m hurdles at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

South of England Combined Events Championships, Horspath - 23/24th July
​Scott Ram contested his third Decathlon of the season at the recent Southern Championships and came away finishing 5th overall.

Scott broke the 6000 points barrier yet again with a final total of 6041.  Highlights over the tough two day event included a 50.67 seconds 400m which was the second fastest of the day,  a 15:96 clocking in the 110m Hurdles, a 6.46m Long Jump and a 38.11m Javelin throw. 

Words - J. McColgan 
Photo - Jess Turner

AVEAC Middle Distance coach Geoff Lowry recently competed at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland which were held  from June 29 – July 10. He was part of a 336  strong Great Britain and Northern Ireland team and competed in the 55 to 60 age category in three events. 

First up was the 5000m  on Saturday 2nd July. Running in very hot conditions with the temperature at 31 degrees, Geoff finished fifth in his heat and was the first British athlete to cross the line recording a time of 19:23:69.  Three days later he lined up for the 1500m heats and this time finished 10th in 5:09:33. On the final Friday of the ten day event , he then took part in  a 10k Road Race and came home in 77th position. Once again he was the first British athlete to finish in his age category posting a time of 41 minutes 17 seconds. 

Geoff thoroughly enjoyed the championships and although not fully fit going into the event, he was nonetheless pleased with his performances.  There was great camaraderie within the British middle and long distance group and after the gruelling schedule at the official event, they also took part in a local Park Run before returning home after a night of celebration. 

Geoff will now continue with his training building up for next year’s World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland as well as continuing to coach our Middle Distance young athletes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the track.

Words - Joe McColgan 
Photos - Geoff Lowry

​Since the club was formed, back in 1999, we have always been known for helping youngsters on their  athletics ‘journey’. The has been based on the concept of run, jump and throw and over the years has enabled us to help an athlete to reach an Olympic semi final in an individual event, an U20 World Champion, and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in multi events and others to reach the very top in both individual and multi events.

We have also helped a number of youngsters develop a real feel for the sport, who despite not being destined for great success, have more importantly grown to enjoy a range of events and partake in a range of different individual events, sometimes on their own, sometimes as part of a club team in a competition, which has helped them to ‘grow’ as more rounded individuals.

The whole ethos of the club has been challenged over the past two years as the pandemic has placed conditions on the way that we deliver sessions. Despite the pandemic currently being on the increase again, we hope that it will not impinge upon our future sessions and thus we propose that the following would be a good way to move forward to ensure we have a positive future.

 We deliver four sessions a week, Wednesday and Saturday as club sessions and Tuesday and Thursday as coach invite sessions. For health and safety reasons and to ensure we do not have youngsters specialising too young, we have always made the coach invite sessions for over 13s only (.i.e. for School Yr 8 upwards). However, we recognise that some individuals would benefit from working with more specialised groups, especially as both mini league and lower YDL offer a fair range of events for U13s.

Thus we envisage the Wednesday sessions continuing for the outdoor season  for the Rec and Transition group (and hopefully soon for a wider audience as more coaches become available) and the Saturday club sessions having Rec and Transition group warm up and work together and from 11.00 the transition group are rota’d to a range of different events - could be shot, high jump, discus, hurdles, javelin etc, pre determined by a coordinator in agreement with coaches. This would give coaches an opportunity to assess any youngsters who would then benefit from attending the invitation sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. We would rely upon the integrity of the coaches to ensure any such youngsters were encouraged to attend a variety of specialist events, so as to ensure we maintain our club ethos of run, jump, throw and do not ‘pigeonhole’ anybody too early.

Stay safe,

Bob

Last weekend’s English Under 20 and 23 Championships held at Bedford International Stadium had AVEAC duo Jessie Brown and Ella Rush in action on Sunday in what was the hottest day of the year so far.

Jessie claimed her first ever national championship medal with a brilliant bronze in the Under 23 Women’s Javelin. Her best throw of 42.22m came in the fourth round  which was good enough to hold on to a well deserved podium position.  Gaining a national medal is a big breakthrough for Jessie who earlier this season was also runner up in the Midland Senior Championships.  

​Heptathlete Ella contested the Under 20 Long Jump and like Jessie came away with a bronze.  Her first round  effort of 5.99m was her best of the competition and  was enough to secure her yet another national medal. 

Two of Jessie Brown's training partners who attend Nottingham University and have been regular members of Scott Knighton’s Javelin group for the past three years were also in very good form. Joss Foot (Orion Harriers) took the Gold medal in the U23 Men’s Javelin with a season’s best throw of 65.69m while Nicky Bell (Walton AC) finished fourth, just behind Jessie, in the Women’s event with a fine  effort of 41.40m. 

Words - Joe McColgan
Photos - Scott Knighton and Joe McColgan

A total of 48 Amber Valley and Erewash athletes made the journey to Moorways Sports Village on a hot and humid day to compete in the final match of the Track and Field Mini-League season on Saturday. This was the best turnout the club has seen at a mini-league event this season, with strong representation across all age categories.

A tremendous effort from the team saw the club achieve their highest points total this year, scoring 530.5 points on the way to a third-place finish behind Derby and Chesterfield, who finished the match on 571.5 and 559 points.  Having won three of the four matches held this season, Derby AC became the new league champions, ahead of Chesterfield in second place with AVEAC completing the top three.

Under 11 Girls
A total of eight athletes competed in the U11Gs age category, with several familiar faces joined in the competition by a couple of newer members. Isobel Weller claimed first place in the Long Jump, recording a distance of 3.15m, over 10cm further than her nearest competitor. Isla Douglas in just her second competition achieved a third-place finish in the 80m sprint, shaving just under four tenths off her previous best, to cross the line in 12.67seconds. Summer Biggs  also got on the ‘podium’, holding off clubmate Isla to finish third in the 600m with a time of 2 minutes 11 seconds, a big improvement on her previous best. Other performances in the U11Gs squad included:
 
80m Sprint
Aimee Brackenbury – 13.07 seconds
Isobel Weller – 13.13 seconds
Summer Biggs – 13.21 seconds
 
150m
Neve Sturt – 27.50 seconds
 
600m
Isla Douglas – 2.11.75
Rosie Boyer – 2.12.92
Alicia Starovla – 2.38.18
 
Long Jump
Aimee Brackenbury – 2.81m
Neve Sturt – 2.46m
Alicia Starovla – 2.38m
Rosie Boyer – 2.33m
Suri Ghai – 2.01m
 
Howler Javelin
Suri Ghai – 14.46m
 
4x100m Relay
As a result of a couple of the girls being unable to take part in the relay, it was only possible to enter one team in the U11Gs age category. Isla and Summer were joined by clubmates Rosie Boyer and Neve Sturt, with the team finishing in second place, in a time of 68.63 seconds.
 
Under 11 Boys
There were ten AVEAC athletes competing in the U11Bs age group with the regular attendees joined in the competition by a couple of new faces. Rupert Turner led an AVEAC 1, 2, 3 in the Howler Javelin, throwing a distance of 26.35m to finish ahead of clubmates Fraser Jones and Marcus Parsons-Loades, who threw 26.18m and 26.00m Rupert also achieved a second-place finish in the High Jump, clearing 1.10m to finish just ahead of Marcus on 1.05m. Elliot Barnett finished the 80m Sprint in joint second place, crossing the line in 12.36 seconds. Other performances in the U11Bs squad included:
 
80m Sprint
Fraser Jones – 12.60 seconds
Alfie Stevens – 12.86 seconds
Oscar Ashmore – 13.77 seconds
Edan Brown – 14.58 seconds
 
150m
Alfie Stevens – 24.88 seconds
Lucas Sangster – 26.40 seconds
Edan Brown – 28.40 seconds
 
600m
Elliott Barnett – 2.07.39
Kyran McCrellis – 2.17.06
Oscar Ashmore – 2.17.67
Lucas Sangster – 2.18.09
 
High Jump
Kyran McCrellis – 1.00m
 
Howler Javelin
Vinnie Driver – 20.77m
 
4x100m Relay
With a couple of the boys unable to compete in the relay, one of the U13Bs squad kindly offered to make up the numbers to allow AVEAC to enter two teams. The scoring team made up of Elliott, Marcus, Alfie Stevens and Oscar Ashmore finished 3rd registering a time of 69.24 seconds. The second, non-scoring team placed fourth place in a time of 69.95 seconds and consisted of Fraser, Vinnie Driver and Edan Brown from the U11Bs squad along with Fraser’s brother Riley Jones from the U13Bs squad.

Under 13 Girls
For the third mini-league match in a row, the U13Gs were AVEACs best represented age category, with a total of eleven athletes competing. Jasmine Shore once again had a great individual competition, finishing third in the 100m with a time of 14.39 seconds, before taking victory in the 200m  posting 29.42 seconds; she then took the top spot in the Javelin with a throw of 19.46m.

Ailsa McMillan, having literally just finished her 100m race, ran over to the High Jump event and cleared the bar at 1.30m on her way to another first-place finish.

In her first attempt at the distance in a competition, Madeline Turner ran a fantastic race in the 1500m to record a time of 5 minutes 31 seconds to give AVEAC their third first place finish.

Mamie Skipper finished in second place in the 70m Hurdles, beating her previous best time by four hundredths as she crossed the line in 14.34 seconds. Other performances in the U13Gs squad included:
 
100m Sprint
Ailsa McMillan – 14.61 seconds
Madeline Turner – 14.72 seconds
Betsy Wilton – 14.89 seconds
Amelia Whittaker – 14.91 seconds
Lucy Rowcroft – 14.98 seconds
Mamie Skipper – 16.37 seconds
Ellie Ursell – 16.51 seconds
Lois Driver – 16.92 seconds
 
200m Sprint
Amelia Whittaker – 30.48 seconds
Lucy Rowcroft – 30.95 seconds
Ailsa McMillan – 31.24 seconds
Sienna Peel – 32.35 seconds
Mamie Skipper – 33.63 seconds
Ellie Ursell – 34.28 seconds
Olivia Irvine – 35.31 seconds
Lois Driver – 35.70 seconds
 
1500m
Sienna Peel – 6.17.26
 
High Jump
Betsy Wilton – 1.10m
 
Shot
Madeline Turner – 5.67m
Olivia Irvine – 3.97m
Ellie Ursell – 3.97m
 
Javelin
Betsy Wilton – 12.63m
Amelia Whittaker – 11.07m
Sienna Peel – 8.39m
 
4x100m Relay
AVEAC were able to enter two scoring U13Gs teams into the relay for the third match in a row. A familiar line-up consisting of Jasmine, Ailsa, Madeleine and Amelia Whittaker ran a fantastic race, finishing in first place, timed at 58.16 seconds. The second AVEAC team consisting of Mamie, Sienna Peel, Ellie Ursell and Olivia Irvine, placed sixth place  in 64.66 seconds.
 
Under 13 Boys
There were a total of eight boys competing for AVEAC in the U13Bs age category, with excellent performances from all throughout the day. Joe Moss won the 75m Hurdles in a time of 13.42 seconds, with clubmate Ethan Barnett finishing third in 16.41 seconds. Joe then went on to place first in the Long Jump with a brilliant leap and new personal best of 4.47m. Team mate Ryan Ghai recorded a jump of 4.21m to finish third. Ryan was third as well in the 100m Sprint with a time of 13.76 seconds, before going on to throw a distance of 20.28m to take first place in the Javelin. Riley Jones finished in third place in both the Javelin and Shot, recording throws of 16.33m and 6.87m.

​Corey Fisher started his day with a second-place finish in the 100m Sprint, crossing the line in 13.50 seconds, before going one better in the 200m race, as he finished in 27.61 seconds in first place.  Harvey Glover achieved the final individual ‘podium’ finish for AVEAC in the U13Bs category, finishing the 1500m in 5.37.46 in third place. Other performances in the U13Bs squad included:
 
100m Sprint
Joe Moss – 13.78 seconds
Alfie Ray – 14.59 seconds
Ethan Barnett – 15.24 seconds
Sebastian Taylor – 16.70 seconds
 
200m Sprint
Ethan Barnett – 30.72 seconds
Riley Jones – 31.50 seconds
 
Long Jump
Corey Fisher – 3.79m
Alfie Ray – 3.34m
Harvey Glover – 2.95m
Sebastian Taylor – 2.86m
 
Shot
Sebastian Taylor – 5.54m
 
Javelin
Harvey Glover – 13.79m
 
4x100m Relay
A line up of Joe, Corey, Ethan and Ryan made up the U13Bs relay team for this match, with Riley & Alfie Ray supporting the U11B & U15B teams to enter their respective events. The team crossed the line in a time of 55.91 seconds to claim first place, over three seconds ahead of their nearest rivals and just one second off the competition record the boys have desperately been chasing all season.

Under 15 Girls
There were seven girls representing AVEAC in the U15Gs competition with some excellent individual performances throughout the day, including a new club record for Freya Kirby in the Javelin. Her throw of 35.52m beat her previous best set earlier in the week by four metres and added 27 centimetres on to the Club record. Freya went on to record a ‘double’ in the Shot-Put as well with a throw of 6.96m.  Poppy Weller finished in second place in the Javelin with a throw of 20.93m and then took first place in the Long Jump as she recorded a distance of 4.39m. Isabelle Protheroe finished third behind Poppy with a PB of 4.07m.

Isla Hiscocks narrowly missed out on winning the 75m Hurdle event, recording a time of 12.77 seconds to finish in second place, with the merest of glances on the final hurdle allowing her competitor to sneak past on the line. Fortunately, there were no such drama in the 100m Sprint and Isla had daylight between her and the other competitors  with another good effort of 13.67 seconds. Other performances in the U15Gs squad included:
 
100m Sprint
Camryn Cammack – 14.50 seconds
Isabella Overy-Jones – 14.79 seconds
 
1500m
Eleanor Rigby – 5.55.02
Isobelle Protheroe – 6.17.79
 
Long Jump
Eleanor Rigby – 3.51m
 
Shot
Isla Hiscocks – 5.10m
Eleanor Rigby – 5.03m
 
4x100m Relay
With the number of girls in attendance, AVEAC were able to enter a scoring team into the U15Gs relay event for the first time this season. The team consisting of Isla, Isobelle, Eleanor Rigby & Isabella Overy-Jones finished in third place in 58.16 seconds.
 
 
Under 15s Boys
There were four athletes in the U15Bs AVEAC squad at this match;  Elliot Wood, Jack Moss, Gino Franco and Nicholas Driver.

Gino threw a distance of 32.06m in the Javelin to take first place in his only event of the day. Jack and Elliott finished in second and third places in the 80m Hurdles, with times of 15.19 seconds and 15.89 seconds.  Other performances in the U15Bs squad included:
 
100 Sprint
Jack Moss – 13.82 seconds
Nicholas Driver – 14.38 seconds
Elliott Wood – 15.44 seconds
 
Shot
Nicholas Driver – 6.40m
Elliott Wood – 5.00m
 
Javelin
Jack Moss – 19.64m
Nicholas Driver – 12.53m
 
4x100m Relay
With Alfie Ray stepping up from the U13Bs squad to join the boys, it was possible to enter a scoring team into the U15Bs relay. The team consisting of Nicholas, Jack, Elliott and Alfie registered a time of 58.62 seconds to finish in fourth place.
 
Mini-League Season Summary
Another fantastic season of competition  for AVEAC in the Track & Field Mini-League with some standout performances across all age categories, including several PBs and a well-deserved club record.  A third-place finish overall behind two very well represented clubs is nothing to be ashamed of and the increase in athlete numbers over the course of the season should be seen as positive, as the club continues to rebuild following Covid. The results show that AVEAC has a wonderfully talented pool of athletes, and it is imperative that the club ensures the continued interest and participation of all of these athletes, as they progress through the age categories. 

It has also been fantastic to see an increase in the number of parent volunteers at recent matches, something that is crucial to the succesful running of not only these events, but the club itself. AVEAC is currently looking at providing access to an England Athletics Officials course for those regularly supporting at competition, so please keep an eye out for an email landing in your inboxes with details.

Finally, with only a handful of competitions left of the summer season, attention has turned to the organising of the annual AVEAC Club Championship. This year’s competition will be held on Saturday 24th September at Rutland Sports Park and will be open to all club members in age categories U11 – U17. Further details on this, along with information on how to enter will be communicated in the coming weeks, so again keep an eye on your inboxes and the club Facebook group. 

Words and group photo - Dan Humphrey
Other photos - Chris Kirby

English School’s Championships, Manchester Arena  - 8th & 9th July

Five AVEAC athletes had the privilege of representing Derbyshire at this year’s English School’s Championships held at the Manchester Arena last Friday and Saturday.  The meeting which attracts the cream of young athletic talent in the country was favoured with good weather and the AVEAC quintet performed well in what was the biggest competition so far in their athletic careers. 

Ryan Rawlinson just missed a bronze medal in the Intermediate Boy’s Long Jump. Lying in third place right up to the fifth round with a jump of 6.45m, he was pipped in the final round by fellow Derbyshire athlete Kaiden Ramsay (Burton AC) who ended the competition with a 6.53m effort.  George Reynolds was also in action but struggled with his run up and in the first three qualifying rounds had a best of 6.09m, well below his personal best of 6.61m. Placing him 9th, he just missed the cut with the top eight getting three more jumps.  

Such is the strength in depth of Derbyshire long jumping in the Intermediate age group that both Ryan and George, along with Kaiden Ramsay have been selected to compete in the U.K. School Games in early September at Loughborough which will feature jumpers from Scotland and N.Ireland as well as the host country. They were selected based on their top six Power of 10 ranking in the U.K. 

In the Intermediate Girls 80m Hurdles Imogen Laugharne was up against the two fastest hurdlers in the England in her heat.  Although she didn’t make the final finishing fifth, with only the top two and two fastest losers from three heats going through, she was rewarded with a significant improvement in her personal best recording a time of 11.81 seconds.  Imogen was pleased with her performance and is eligible to take part in this age group again next year.

In the Senior Boys High Jump Multi-Eventer, Ben Pitts finished 11th clearing 1.82m and had three good attempts at 1.87m which would have been a personal best. 

First year Junior,  Freya Kirby, was 12th in the Girls Javelin. Her best throw was 29.38m, just below her personal best.  Freya will have gained a lot of experience from the taking part in such a high level competition knowing that  there was only one first year Junior ahead of  her on the day. 

In the Intermediate  Girl’s Triple Jump Izzy Haworth (Rushcliffe) who competes for AVEAC in the Upper YDL finished 8th with a respectable effort of 10.65m.  Like Imogen and Freya she is also eligible to take part  in this age group next year.

University of Birmingham Festival of Athletics , 9th & 10th July 
​Two of our Senior multi-eventers, Scott Ram and Alice Robinson took part in the University of Birmingham Festival of Athletics  on Saturday and Sunday at the University’s Edgbaston Track. 

Scott finished 3rd in the Senior Men’s Decathlon  scoring 6058 points.  His total was just below his recent personal best set at the National Championships and included three individual event wins in the 100m (11.54 seconds), 400m (50.57 seconds and 1500m (4 mins 36.11). He also recorded a new PB in the Pole Vault clearing 3.44m. 

Alice ended up in 6th place in the Senior Women’s Heptathlon scoring 2952 points. Highlights of her performance included a new best ever Javelin throw of 33.63m and a season’s best in the 800m with a time of 2 minutes 49.95.

Jess Turner also took part in the meeting testing her flat speed over 400m. She finished second behind fellow G.B. International Jodie Williams (Herts Phoenix) with a seasons best time of 53.12 seconds. 

Northern League East Division 1S, Newark,  10th July
Four of our U20 and Senior athletes competed for Chesterfield at the third Northern Senior League fixture on Sunday at Newark.

Ben Pitts was in action again following his stint at the English School’s the day before and won maximum points in the Long Jump with a fine effort of 6.15m. He then went on to set a new personal best in the 400m in 57.3 seconds. 

Katie Potts did well to finish second in the Women’s Long Jump and was rewarded with a season’s best of 5.07m. Charlie Yates and Henry Knighton also claimed second place finishes.  Charlie hop, stepped and jumped 10.56m in the Triple Jump while Henry cleared a season’s best in the High Jump of 1.80m.

DADA Open, Moorways Sports Village, 14th July
​Several of our younger athletes took part at the latest DADA Open meeting on Tuesday evening. 

Our U11s were in good form with Isla Douglas winning her 75m  graded sprint in 12.13 seconds. Summer Biggs returned a time of 12.73 in her race while Rosie Boyer clocked 13.61. In the Boy’s short sprint Jacob Adams sped past the finish line in 11.66 seconds.

In the U13 75m races, there were personal bests for Joe Moss, Betsy Wilton and Amelia Whittaker. Joe and Betsy placed first in their respective races with times of 10.47 seconds and 11.02 seconds; Amelia’s time was 11.57 seconds. 

The 100m sprints also witnessed some excellent returns from the AVEAC contingent.  Under 13 all rounder, Jasmine Shore ran 14.59 seconds while Betsy Wilson followed on from her 75m victory by  recording a personal best in the longer sprint, timed at 14.88 seconds. Under 15, Isla Hiscocks was in good form yet again with a time of 13.32 seconds in her 100m and Jack Moss’s time of 13.94 in his race was a new personal best. 

In the 200m sprints Isla Hiscocks broke the 28 second barrier for the first time with a superb 27.94 seconds. Jack Moss also showed good half lap form finishing his race in 28.17 seconds. 

Amelia Whittaker ran a high quality 600m to won her graded race with a personal best of 2 minutes 01.97 seconds.  Joe Moss also ran a PB over the one and a half lap distance returning a time of 1 minute 51.07 seconds. Other 600m times were recorded by Jacob Adams who placed 2nd in his race  with a time of 2:13:39, Isla Douglas - 2:14:31, Rosie Boyer - 2:20:67 and Summer Biggs - 2:22:08. 

In the 1500m U17 athlete Charlie Halford finished in a time of 5 minutes 37.97 seconds . 

Over in the the field, Freya Kirby fresh from competing a few days before at the English Schools recorded a new personal best in the Javelin with an impressive 31.21m.  Our U11s also took part in the Long Jump with Jacob Adams registering a distance of 3.32m, Summer Bigg’s distance was 3.02m, Isla Douglas’s best was 2.61m and Rosie Boyer recorded 2.41m. 

​There will be one more mid week DADA meeting this season which will take place on Tuesday 9th August at Moorways Sports Village. Entries for the meeting are now open at:

http://runjumpthrowathletics.co.uk/entry

Words - Joe McColgan
Photo - Catriona Lucas

U.K. Senior Championships, Manchester - 24th to 26th June 
​Ella Rush added to her growing collection of national championship medals by taking a well deserved Silver in the U.K. Senior Championships at the Manchester Arena last weekend. 

Competing in the Heptathlon she amassed a total of 5469 points when finishing 2nd behind Jodie Smith (Windsor, Slough, Eaton & Hounslow) who scored 5929 points  and ahead of Eloise Hind (Oxford City) who took the bronze medal on 5318 points. 

Ella started Day 1 with a solid performance in the 100m Hurdles in 14:47 which was the fourth fastest of the eight athletes who started the competition.  A High Jump of 1.65m maintained her position, followed by an outright won in the Shot with distance of 11:82m which moved her into 2nd place. She  finished Day 1 clocking 24:97 in the 200m, the second fastest time of the day to hold on to her 2nd position overnight.

Day 2 began with the Long Jump and Ella soared out to you a new outdoor best of 6.10m. Next up was the Javelin and she was rewarded with a PB of 33.12m which kept her comfortably in the silver medal position going into the final 800m. Tactically she executed the 800m in a controlled manner knowing that Eloise Hind would have to run something spectacular to move into second place. In the end Ella kept ahead of her close rival finishing 3rd in the final event, a metre in front of Hind in a time  of 2:21:29 securing a coveted silver medal.

Also competing at the Championships were the club’s two other GB internationals,  Jess Turner and Alex Knibbs  and Club coach, Nisha Desai; all three contesting the 400m Hurdles.  With only the winners of the four qualifying heats in both the Women’s and Men’s events guaranteed a final place it meant that athletes couldn’t afford to sit back. Jess finished 2nd in her heat in  a time of 57 seconds flat which gained her a fastest loser spot.  In the  final she was fighting for a medal up the home straight when a stumble going over the last hurdle upset her rhythm and she ended up finishing fourth in 57:38.  Although disappointed in missing out on a medal, she nonetheless did remarkably well considering the amount of training missed this year following surgery on her foot and illness.

British Masters Champion, Nisha Desai representing her home club, Morpeth Harriers,  just failed to make the final of the women’s race with a third place in her heat in 62:97. 

Alex Knibbs also gained a fastest loser spot to the final in the Men’s long hurdles with a second place in his heat recording 50:30. Unfortunately, he did not start the final as a precautionary measure due to a tight hamstring. 

Mannheim U20 International, Germany - 2nd/3rd July
Fresh from her Heptathlon silver the weekend before, Ella Rush competed in her first U20 International for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the prestigious Mannheim Gala in Germany. She contested the individual long jump competition against some of Europe’s leading jumpers, and narrowly missed out on a bronze medal; her 6.18m (+0.9m/s) was an outdoor personal best which saw her finish fourth. 

Ella also took part in the 100m and was just shy of her PB running 12.26 seconds into a slight headwind of -0.5m/s. 

Midland Schools Combined Events Championships, Banbury - 25&26 June ​​

While their team mates were competing at the YDL match, Ben Pitts and Imogen Laugharne were representing the Derbyshire Schools Team at the Midland Combined Events Championships at Banbury, Oxfordshire. 

Ben competing in the Senior Boys Decathlon took the bronze medal overall with a very fine score of 5057 points. The highlights of his ten events over the two days were a 100m personal best of 12.3 seconds and a Javelin PB of 41.73m. He also  equalled his  Pole Vault  previous best clearing 3.70m and was just below his best in the High Jump with a height of 1.80m.

Imogen scored 3727 points in the Intermediate Heptathlon and finished fourth overall. She secured a  gold medal along with her County team mates Alicia Wells, Emma Johnson and May Mannion in the team event. Her best events were the 80m Hurdles and High Jump both of which she won outright. Her hurdles time was 12.2 while in the High Jump she cleared 1.59m, a centimetre below her best ever. 

By virtue of their performances both Ben and Imogen will now take part in the English Schools Combined Events Championships in mid September. 

Lower YDL , Sunday  3rd July, Mansfield 
As we go to publication, the results of the final fixture in the Lower YDL have just been published and fuller report will appear soon.  

English Schools 
This Friday and Saturday five AVEAV athletes will take part in the English Schools finals in Manchester.  The athletes chosen to represent Derbyshire are:

Freya Kirby - Junior Girls, Javelin
Imogen Laugharne - Intermediate Girls, 80m Hurdles
George Reynolds - Intermediate Boys, Long Jump
Ryan Rawlinson - Intermediate Boys, Long Jump
Ben Pitts - Senior Boys, High Jump

Well done to the athletes and their coaches. Enjoy the experience! 

Acknowledgements
Words - Joe McColgan
Photos:
Ella Rush - Joe McColgan
YDL - Chris Kirby
Midland Schools - Derbyshire Schools Athletics Association

Midland Senior Championships, Nuneaton - 18/19 June
Jessie Brown consolidated her place as one of the leading Under 23 Javelin throwers in the U.K. when she secured an excellent 2nd place and silver medal at last weekend’s Midland Senior Championships.  For the second time in the space of a few days she hurled the 600g Javelin over the 45m mark with a best throw of 45.07m in weather conditions that were not ideal. Jessie can now look forward to carrying this consistency into the England Under 23 Championships in a few weeks time at Bedford. 

Also competing at the Midlands was Multi-Eventer Alice Robinson who came away with a Bronze medal in the 4kg Shot recording  a personal best of 9.56m. Contesting three other events over the two day’s competition, she also set new PBs in the Javelin with 33.57m to finish in 4th place,  Long Jump with a distance of 4.33m and having her first run over the 100m Hurdles, recorded a time of 20:21. 

Mason Trophy Inter County Schools, Stoke - Saturday 18th June
​Seven AVEAC athletes competed for their counties at the prestigious Mason Trophy Championships on Saturday.  The event is the next biggest competition to the English School’s Championships, involving ten counties across the Midlands and North West. Each county was allowed to nominate two athletes per event in track and jumps and one in the throws.  A high quality contest  saw our six athletes perform well against some of the best talented runners, jumpers and throwers in the region. The weather conditions were the complete opposite to the Derbyshire Schools the week before with intermittent heavy showers and low temperatures being the pattern throughout the day.

Competing in the Intermediate Girl’s competition, Imogen Laugharne produced two medal winning performances with a Silver in the 80m Hurdles and Bronze in the High Jump. She recorded a good time in the sprint hurdles of 12:11 despite the conditions and had another consistent clearance of 1.55m in the High Jump.  

George Reynolds finished just outside the medals in the Intermediate Long Jump with a distance of 6.09m to claim 4th spot. He also finished 10th fastest overall out of the three 200m sprints with a time of 23:53. At the close of the day George teamed up with Derby athletes Kevin Masukume and Sam Coulson and Burton athlete Kaiden Ramsay to take the Gold medal in the 4 x 100m Relay; the Derbyshire quartet clocked a time of 45:61. 

Junior Javelin throwers Freya Kirby and Gino Franco both finished 5th in their events.  Freya produced an effort of 28.48m while Gino’s best throw was 32.72m.  Representing Nottinghamshire, Daisy Kaye just missed a podium position with a 4th place finish in the Intermediate Girl’s Javelin; her distance on this occasion was 30.74m. 

In the Intermediate Girl’s Long Jump, Mae Jones finished 6th on 4.87m while our youngest competitor at the championships Isla Hiscocks was 12th fastest overall in the Junior 100m in a time of 13.37.

Heart of England League, Kettering - Sunday 19th June
As we go to publication the results of the second Heart of England League fixture have not yet been published and a fuller report of AVEAC performances will appear in the next blog.  

​Another busy weekend ahead…
​Three of our GB Internationals have accepted invitations to take part in this weekend’s  U.K. Championships and World Trials in Manchester. Ella Rush will take part in the Heptathlon while Jess Turner and Alex Knibbs will line up in the 400m Hurdles. Also competing in the long hurdles will be Club Coach Nisha Desai who will be representing her home club, Morpeth Harriers.

While our Senior athletes are in Manchester our youngest members will be taking part in the third Mini League fixture at Moorways on Saturday.  

On Sunday our U17 & 20 athletes will take part in the final Upper YDL fixture at Burton. 

On Saturday and Sunday as well Imogen Laugharne and Ben Pitts will represent Derbyshire at the Midland  Schools Combined Events Championships in Oxford.

We wish all the athletes well! 

Words - J. McColgan
Photos acknowledgement
Midland Championships - Scott Knighton
Mason Trophy - Dave Laugharne and Roy Reynolds

Ella Rush received the welcome news on Tuesday that she has been selected for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland  Under 20 team to take part in the prestigious Mannheim Gala in Germany on the 2nd & 3rd of July. Ella will line up in the 100m and Long Jump against some of Europe’s top athletes. The meeting is one of the biggest gatherings of U20 athletes outside of the World and European Championships. The selection  is Ella’s fourth international appearance having competed last year for the GB Under 18 team at the Manchester International in the Long Jump and twice previously for the England School’s team in Combined Events Indoor Internationals.

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Schools Championships, June 11th at Burton and Newark 

Many of our athletes swapped their club vests for their school ones as they took part in  county schools championships on Saturday.

One of the best ever Intermediate Boy’s Long Jump contests in the history of the county schools event was witnessed at the Derbyshire meeting with both George Reynolds and Ryan Rawlinson recording distances of 6.61m and 6.60m to take silver and bronze medals. The winner Kaiden Ramsay jumped 6.69m and all three athletes were well ahead of the 6.40m qualifying standard for the English School’s finals next month.  George and Ryan filled the same positions in the 200m sprinting to more personal bests with times of 23:09 and 23:25.

In the Intermediate Girl's Long Jump, Mae Jones took the Gold medal returning to something like her best form with a season’s best of 5.15m.   Imogen Laugharne produced double winning performances in the Inter Girl’s High Jump and 80m hurdles.  She cleared 1.50m in the jump and recorded 12.16 in the  sprint hurdles.  In the 200m Jasmine Ellis picked up a Bronze medal and there was a Bronze as well in the 100m for Katie Fitzpatrick. 

Isla Hiscocks sped her way to victory in the Junior Girl’s 100m knocking over two tenths off her previous best with an excellent 13:01 clocking. Later in the afternoon she added a Bronze medal to her collection in the 200m with another good time of 28:75. Freya Kirby continued her recent spate of good form in the Javelin getting over 30m for the first time, throwing 30:05m.  Not to be outdone Gino Franco also produced a PB in the Boy’s Javelin with an excellent effort of  34.70m.  In the Junior Girl's Long Jump, Poppy Weller picked up a Bronze medal recording a distance of 4.27m.

In the Senior Events, High Jump golds were the order of the day for Ben Pitts with a new personal best of 1.84m in the Boy’s event and for Charlie Yates in the Girl’s section who cleared 1.55m. Ben also picked up a Bronze in the Pole Vault getting over a height of 3.40m Katie Potts won the Senior Long Jump while Izzy Hays finished with a Bronze medal in the same event.

Our sole representative at the Nottinghamshire School’s was Daisy Kaye. Competing in the 300m and Javelin, she put in two sterling performances to take the Gold medal in both events. Battling a headwind in the final straight in the 300m, her winning time was 46 seconds flat. A good series of throws in the Javelin resulted in a best effort of 33.24m. 

Athletes finishing 1st and 2nd in their events at Junior and Intermediate level will now represent their respective counties at the Mason Trophy event at Stoke on Saturday 18th June.  Next to the English School’s finals the Mason event is one of the biggest events in England for young athletes involving ten counties across the Midlands and North West England.  Gaining their county vests are: 

Juniors - Isla Hiscocks , Freya Kirby and Gino Franco 
Intermediates - Daisy Kaye,  Mae Jones, Imogen Laugharne & George Reynolds  

British Masters, Moorways June 11th/12th - Gold for Nisha

Club coach Nisha Desai, representing her home club, Morpeth Harriers, won the Gold medal at the British Masters Championships in the 400m Hurdles. Competing in the W35 category Nisha crossed the finish line in 61:20.  Her winning time has gained her entry to the U.K. Senior Championships in Manchester  on 25/26 June. 

BMC Gold Standard Meeting, University of Birmingham - 8th June

Tamsin McGraw continued her return to form  with a another 800m season’s best of 2:10:86 at the British Miler’s Club Gold standard meeting at the University of Birmingham on Wednesday 8th June.

World Athletics Meetings,  Switzerland, 11th June and 14th June - Good openers from Alex Knibbs

Another one of our GB internationals, Alex Knibbs had his first outings of the season over the 400m Hurdles during the past week at competitions in the Swiss cities of Geneva and Bern.  At the Geneva meeting on Saturday he finished 2nd in a time of 50:46 while on Tuesday at the Bern event, in a higher quality field, he was a few tenths quicker on 50:10 to finish 5th.  Jess Turner also took part in the Geneva meeting finishing 8th in the Women’s 400m hurdles in 57:93.

Northern League , Doncaster, 12th June

Charlie Yates and Henry Knighton competed for Chesterfield at the second Northern League match on Sunday. Henry won the Men’s High Jump with a 1.75m clearance. Charlie finished 2nd in both the High and Triple Jumps, clearing 1.50m in the High Jump and then went on to hop, step and jump 10.58m.

DADA Open Meeting, Moorways, Tuesday 14th June - Big Javelin PB for Jessie Brown 

​Senior Javelin thrower Jessie Brown broke new ground in her speciality at the mid week DADA meeting in Derby. Throwing consistently around the 40 metre mark in earlier season competitions she unleashed the 600g spear to a new best of 45.20m. The distance moves her up to 12th in the U.K. Senior rankings and 3rd in the Under 23 category.  Jessie’s training partner Nickie Bell (University of Nottingham) was also in fine form with a seasons best of 40.57m. Younger throwers Freya Kirby, Gino Franco and Jasmine Shore performed with distinction on the evening as well. Freya added a few more centimetres to her PB set at the school’s championship recording a throw of 30.13m.  Gino Franco produced another solid performance of 33.46m while Jasmine throwing the 400 gram spear threw 18.84m to win the U13 Girls event.  She also was the fastest sprinter out of seven graded 75m races returning a time of 11:01. Other younger athletes who performed well were Summer Biggs in the  75m (12:42),  600m (2:28:90) and Long Jump (3.14m); Rosie Boyer also in the 75m (13:64), 600m (2:25:01) and Long Jump (2.43m); Joe Moss in the 100m (13.91) and 200m (28:80), Riley Jones in the 75m (12:20) and Shot (6.34m) and Charlie Halford in the 800m (2:44:34).  
​
Words - Joe McColgan
Photos - Joe McColgan, Sarah Kaye and Antoinette Franco
Thanks to Sarah Kaye for providing the update  of the Notts Schools 

Six AVEAC U15 and U17 athletes were selected for Derbyshire at the Northern Inter Counties match at York on Jubilee Thursday. The match involved ten different counties from across the north of England and our young athletes performed well overall in a highly competitive event. 

Javelin specialists Gino Franco and Joe Bennett produced personal best performances. Joe finished 8th in the U17 Men’s event adding 38 centimetres to his previous best with a fine throw of 34.53m. Gino bettered his previous mark by almost a metre . His throw of 31.71m placed him 5th in a field of fifteen competitors.  

Freya Kirby was also in good Javelin form with another consistent throw of 27.03m placing 7th overall and was the best placed Year 1 U15 in the field. She also gained good points competing in the Shot throwing 6.39m a few centimetres behind her previous best.

The sprints and hurdles were hampered by a continual head wind throughout the day affecting  performances overall. Isla Hiscocks finished 6th in both her 100m and 75m Hurdle races recording times of 13:71 and 14:99 respectively. Isla also ran an excellent leg in the 4 x 100m relay; the Derbyshire team finished 2nd in their heat and were 4th fastest overall. 

In the Under 17 Women’s group Imogen Laugharne had mixed fortunes in her two events, the 80m Hurdles and High Jump. She was unfortunately disqualified in the sprint hurdles for a very marginal false start and had to sit out the final which was won in 12:26 considerably less than her PB. Dusting herself down from the disappointment, she went on to take 2nd place in the High Jump clearing 1:55m.

Nicole Bonser also competing the U17 age group had a busy afternoon, finishing 3rd in her 100m heat with a time of 13:54 and went on to throw 8 metres exactly in the Shot gaining more valuable points for the County. Nicole finished the day running a blistering 200m leg in the not often run Medley Relay - two 200m legs followed by a 400m leg and finishing with an 800m leg.  The Derbyshire team won their race in 4:12:56 and were the second fastest overall from the two heats.

Derbyshire finished in 5th place out of the ten competing counties and the AVEAC contingent are to be congratulated on the contribution made to the overall team performance. 

Jess’s return to form continues 
Jess Turner continues to improve following her return to the track following surgery on her leg last Autumn.  On Tuesday she competed at a World Athletics Continental tour meeting in Prague over the 400m Hurdles, securing a good victory in a time of 55:63 ahead of Czech athlete Nicoleta Jichova.  Jess is running into good form at the right time in the season and will be hoping to improve further at the British Championships and World Trials in Manchester in two weeks time. 

County Schools Championships
This Saturday many AVEAC athletes will be wearing their school vests as they compete in both the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Schools Championships. The Derbyshire event will take place at Burton on Trent while our athletes attending Nottinghamshire schools will travel to Newark. The school championships are always highly competitive with those athletes finishing 1st and 2nd in individual events at Junior and Intermediate level being selected for the prestigious Inter County Mason Trophy Event the following Saturday at Stoke. Good luck to all our athletes who will be taking part.
​
Acknowledgements
Words - Joe McColgan
Inter County Photos - Chris Kirby, Janine Bonser and Antoinette Franco
Jess Turner Photo - @jessicaturner95 on Instagram 

English  Athletics Combined Events Championships, Bedford, 28/29 May

The club’s senior Decathlete, Scott Ram put together a great series of performances at last weekend’s English Combined Events Championships at Bedford resulting in a new personal best and in the process broke the 6000 points barrier for the first time. His final tally after the ten run, jump and throw disciplines was 6144 which added over 400 points to his previous PB set last Summer.  Overall he finished in 8th place out of a field of twenty four starters.

In the individual events, he recorded personal bests in the 100m and 400m with times of 11:31 and 50:40. Field event PBs came in the High Jump and Pole Vault with clearances of 1.77m and 3.40m.  A fifth best ever mark in the Discus resulted in a throw of 29.97m while in the Javelin he was a mere 3 centimetres behind his previous best with a fine effort of 38.22m. Performances in the remaining disciplines were; Shot - 11.11m, Long Jump - 6.40m, 110m Hurdles - 15:90 and 1500m - 4:45:83.

Overall this was a great achievement by Scott who has improved consistently over the last few years and no doubt will continue to do so as the season progresses.

Ben Pitts also took part in the Under 20 Decathlon at Bedford and unfortunately had to withdraw after four events with an injury which flared up during  the High Jump. 

​Come back races for Jess Turner and Tamsin McGraw

It was great to see Jessica Turner return to 400m Hurdles track duty at the recent Diamond League fixture in Birmingham.  Jess who had suffered a leg injury while competing at last year’s Olympics underwent surgery last Autumn and has had to undergo months of rehabilitation to get her fit to compete again. At the Diamond League she finished in 8th  place in time of 57:43. Last weekend she bettered that performance when finishing 5th at the IFAM Europe Meeting in Oordegem, Belgium; her time on this occasion was 56:72.  Jess is slowly returning to her old form which last year saw her go under the 55 second barrier four times. 

Another senior athlete on the comeback trail is 800m specialist, Tamsin McGraw.  The England Indoor international from 2019 had also been out of action with an injury. Over the past month she has resumed competitive racing at meetings in Sheffield and Manchester. At an Sheffield Open event on 25th May she clocked 58:41 in the 400m and followed that up a few days later finishing 2nd in the 800m at a British Milers Club event in Manchester. Her time of 2:12:54 was a decent opener for the season and suggests that she will be pushing on to better her PB which stands at 2:08:43.

Upper Youth Development League, Sunday  29th May

Our U17 and U20 athletes were at Banbury, for the second YDL match of the season. We were modest in numbers with only 9 athletes across the age groups, but strong in spirit. 

U17 team
The U17 women had two new athletes joining their team. Scarlett Beddoe and Neve Watson collected valuable points for the team in the 100m. Scarlett ran 13.8, finishing 2nd place in the A string, Neve battled the nerves and finished 4th in the B string. Both girls competed in the long jump, jumping 4.22m and 3.54m respectively. Scarlett then stepped up to join the U20 women relay team and ran a great 4th leg.

Nicole Bonser was the only other athlete for the U17 women; putting in three solid performances in the 200m, long jump and shot. Running into a slight head wind, she secured 3rd place in the 200m with a personal best of 28.4. Her long jump of 4.72m was just shy of her best ever and gave her another 3rd place finish. In the Shot she went one better finishing 2nd with a throw of 8.30m. Nicole completed the day running the 3rd leg of the relay for the U20 women.
 
The U17 men consisted of two athletes, George Reynolds and Corey Tatum, both athletes put in great performances. George was A string for all events, gaining valuable points for the team. He won the Shot with 9.93m, placed 3rd in 100m with a time of 12 seconds dead and was 3rd as well in a highly competitive  Long  Jump with 6.22m. Corey ran a time of 54.3 in the 400m placing him 2nd, he placed 3rd in both 200m and  B string Long Jump.

U20 team
The U20 women had four athletes in action. Three athletes picked up extra events to gain valuable points for the team. Madeleine Fahey put herself forward for several events, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She was the only athlete in the 400mH and ran with the men. This really pulled her along, rewarded with a PB in a time of 87.8. She then went on to complete a 200m, long jump and threw a javelin for the first time in a competition! She finished the day off by running the second leg in the relay. Grace Young travelled all the way to Banbury for the Long Jump.   She jumped 4.63m finishing 4th in the A string whilst Isabelle Hays finished 2nd in the B competition. Isabelle also stepped in for the 200m and ran a personal best time, finishing 4th in the B string. She also threw the shot for the U20 women. Charlie Yates started the day off with 100m, running into stiff headwind of -2.2, she placed 4th. Jumping 1.55m in the high jump placed her 2nd, whilst her jump of 10.62m also placed her 2nd in the triple jump. Charlie ended the day by running 1st leg of the 100m relay. 
 
A big thank you to all athletes and parents who made the journey to Banbury, especially those parents helping on the day. There were a fair few athletes missing from the team due to holidays, GCSEs and clashes with other events. Our team placed 7th overall on the day, which is understandable considering the number of athletes attending. This has moved us down the league table now from 4th overall to 6th. The next match at Burton on 26th June, being local will hopefully see a much better turnout. AVEAC are co-hosting the next match, so will need parents to volunteer to help on the day. 

Northern U15/17 Inter Counties - 2nd June at York.

As we go to publication congratulations are due to seven of our athletes who competed for Derbyshire at the Northern Inter Counties yesterday.  Well done to Isla Hiscocks, Freya Kirby, Imogen Laugharne, Nicole Bonser,  Joe Bennett and Gino Franco. A fuller report on their performances will be published next week when the official results are released. 

Words 
English Combined Events and Jess Turner comeback, Inter Counties - Joe McColgan
YDL Match - Karen Yates 

Photo - Joe McColgan

​On Saturday 28th May, AVEAC younger athletes returned to Moorways Sports Village for the second match of the Track & Field Mini-League season. With schools having broken up for half term the day before, it was inevitable that some athletes would be missing from the match because of holidays. However, even with several of our regular attendees unable to attend, a selection of new faces in the AVEAC ranks saw the club record our highest number of athletes at a mini-league competition this season.
​
A fantastic effort from the team saw the club achieve a total of 389 points on the way to a third-place finish behind Derby and Chesterfield, who finished the match on 542 and 474 points, respectively.

Our Under 13 and 15 athletes were back at Moorways Sports Village again for the second fixture in this year’s Youth Development League. There was a good turn out with 10 athletes representing our Under 15s and 9 in the Under 13 age group. 

Elliott Wood and Gino Franco represented AVEAC U15 boys in the 100m event with Elliott recording a time of 15.17 in the A race while Gino crossed  over the finish line in 14.44 in the  B race.  In the U15 boys 300m,  Kian Whittaker ran a respectable 48.93 and went on to  record  a PB of 2:44.83 in the 800m.

In the field events, Gino threw a distance of 24.47 in the Javelin in  fourth place. In the Long Jump, both Kian and Elliott achieved PBs of 3.93m and 3.80m respectively.

Our Under 15 girls were well-represented in both track and field events with several well-deserved PBs recorded. In the 100m Isla Hiscocks placed fourth with a time of 14 seconds whilst Camryn Cammack achieved a new PB, in the B sprint with a time of 14.17.  In the non-scoring 100m, Bella Overy-Jones came in third with a time of 15.39.

​Isla also took part in the U15 girls 200m, posting a time of 28.24, taking second position in a field of six competitors.  Eleanor Rigby and Naiya Starbuck stepped up to compete in the 300m which neither had previously raced. Eleanor recorded a time of 51.69 while Naiya came through the finish  in 50.07.  Eleanor also achieved a new PB in the 800m with a time of 2:49.01.

In the field events, the Long Jump saw Portia Gordon gain a new PB with a jump of 3.99m with Isla jumping a few centimetres more on 4.01m.  Eleanor achieved another PB by clearing 1.20m in the High Jump.

Another PB came in the U15 girls Shot with Bella throwing a distance of 5.30m. Freya Kirby placed second in the discus with a throw of 14.15m and went one better in the javelin, throwing an impressive 26.42m.

The Under 13 contingent did their club proud with fantastic efforts in the field and in the track.

The Boy's 75m sprint  was very close with only four tenths of a second separating the first four athletes over the finish line!  AVEAC’s Joe Moss was one of them; placing third with a time of 10.54, achieving a new PB in the process.  In the B race, Ryan Ghai romped home in first place with a PB of 10.52.

Corey Fisher ran the 800m in 2:55.34 and achieved a new PB in the 150m with a time of 20.51 which placed him  second.
Our Under 13 boys dominated in the field events with first place positions and PBs for both Joe and Ryan in the Long Jump; Joe’s distance was 4.12m and Ryan leapt 4.03m.  Riley Jones and Corey Fisher also took first place across both strings in the Shot event with Riley throwing 6.16m and Corey 4.93m.  Joe’s Javelin debut saw him throw a distance of 17.37m, securing him second place, while Riley also took second in the B String with a throw of 14.80m.

Finally, there were stellar performances from AVEAC’s U13 girls with several PBs across the events.  In the first of the 75m races, Jasmine Shore sprinted home in an exciting and closely run race.   With less than two tenths of a second separating the first four athletes over the finish line and only six hundredths of a second separating second, third and fourth position, Jasmine achieved a new PB of 10.89!  Sienna Peel placed third  in the B race with a time of 11.60. Amelia Whittaker placed first in the non-scoring race in a new PB  with a time of 11.58.

In the remaining track events, Ailsa McMillan achieved a time of 22.75 and placed fourth in the 150m.  Amelia and Sienna both picked up PBs in the 800m; Amelia with a time of 2:49.82 and Sienna crossing the finish line in 2:58.12. Phoebe Manning made her 800m debut with a time of 3:17.52.

Further PBs were picked up on the Long Jump with Ailsa jumping 3.91m and placing second in the A event and Amelia jumped 3.66m, achieving her third PB of the day.

The High Jump event saw our U13 girls securing first position in both strings with Ailsa debuting with a height of 1.25m and Jasmine jumping 1.15m.  Phoebe also competed in the Shot for the first time, throwing 2.97m.

In the Javelin, Jasmine took first position with a distance of 20.35m while Sienna debuted with a distance of 8.77m in the B event.  Finally, our U13 girls were the only AVEAC athletes to compete in a relay and they did not disappoint!  Ailsa McMillan, Sienna Peel, Amelia Whittaker and Jasmine Shore demonstrated amazing team spirit as they sprinted into first place once again in a time of 59.13, beating the time they recorded in the first fixture by over a second.

The second Lower YDL was a great success and wouldn’t be possible without the enthusiasm and competitiveness of our young athletes, not to mention the fantastic support of our parents who turned out to support AVEAC.  The team now look forward to the third fixture which will take place at the Berryhill Track,  Mansfield on 3rd July 2022.

Silver for Imogen at Derbyshire Schools Combined Events 

Imogen Laugharne was the only AVEAC athlete in action at the Derbyshire Schools Combined Events Championships at Mount St Mary’s College, Spinkhill on Wednesday afternoon.

Representing her school, Queen Elizabeth Grammar, Ashbourne, in the Intermediate Girls event, Imogen completed a six event Hexathlon in just over four hours and was rewarded with a Silver medal recording 2996 points.

Performances in a few of the events were marred by swirling headwinds particularly affecting  the 80m Hurdles and Long Jump. Imogen’s hurdles time of 13 seconds dead was over a second slower than her PB while her 4.54m Long Jump was well behind her 4.90m personal best. The wind wasn’t as bad in the High Jump and she cleared 1.56m and had several good attempts at a new PB of 1.61m.  In the Shot, she had a solid throw  of 8.86m; her Javelin distance was over 14 metres  and in the final event of the gruelling afternoon, the 800m, she ran a new PB of 2:41 seconds securing the runner up position,  only 40 points behind the gold medalist Alicia Wells. 

By virtue of her performance Imogen will now go on to represent Derbyshire Schools at the Midland Combined Events Championship in the Heptathlon over two days on 25th and 26th June.

Acknowledgements:

Lower YDL Report - Sarah-Jane Whittaker 
Lower YDL photos - Chris Kirby
Derbyshire Schools Combined Events - Joe McColgan

Last weekend's Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Athletics Championships resulted in a huge medal haul for AVEAC athletes. Over the course of the two day event held at Moorways Sports Village, our athletes bagged a total of 61 championship medals including 27 Gold,  16 Silver and 18 Bronze.  Medals were  won in each of the age groups from Under 13 to Senior level and it was also good to see a few of our very youngest Under 11 athletes taking part in the Quadkids competition. 

​In the U13  age group two young athletes to emerge as rising stars, Jasmine Shore and Joe Moss won seven championship titles between them. Jasmine was on the top of the podium on four occasions winning the 100m, Long and High Jumps plus the Javelin. Joe lifted three titles in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump.  Three other Under 13 titles were also secured by Madeleine Turner in the 800m, Ethan Barnett in the 75m Hurdles and Corey Fisher in the Shot. 

At Under 15 and 17 Level eight  titles went to AVEAC.  Imogen Laugharne was in top form securing three Gold medals in the High Jump, Long Jump and 80m Hurdles, Nicole Bonser took the Under 17 100m title and Ryan Rawlinson did likewise in the Men’s 200m.  Three Javelin titles went to AVEAC athletes with Joseph  Bennet and Gino Franco winning the U17 and U15 Derbyshire titles while in the Nottinghamshire Championships, Daisy Kaye was the top thrower in that field.

In the Under 20 and Senior ranks, multi-eventer, Ben Pitts gave an excellent display of athleticism  with  treble Gold in the High Jump, Long Jump and 110m Hurdles. In the Women’s U20 championship, Charlie Yates retained her titles in the High and Triple Jumps while Maddie Fahey took the 400m Hurdles gold. Senior athlete Henry Knighton also secured a double in the  High and Triple Jumps while in the Nottinghamshire event, Jessie Brown showed that there was no one to match her in the Javelin, securing the title for the second year in a row.  

2022 Roll of Honour
​Individual Medalists and Finalists

Derbyshire 

Under 13 Girls 
🥇Jasmine Shore - 100m - 14.36
🥇Jasmine Shore - Long Jump - 3.56m
🥇Jasmine Shore - High Jump - 1.20m
🥇Jasmine Shore - Javelin - 19.75m
🥇Madeleine Turner - 800m - 2.38.96
🥈Jasmine Shore - 200m - 29.99
🥈Madeleine Turner -Long Jump - 3.43m
🥉Madeleine Turner - 200m - 31.37
🥉Jasmine Shore - Shot - 6.15m

Finalists:
🎗Sienna Peel: 100m - 15.38, 200m - 31.52; 800m - 3.01.88 and Long Jump - 2.95
🎗Jamie Lee Scott - 800m - 2.53.13
🎗Amelia Whittaker - 800m - 2.54.16
🎗Olivia Irvine - Long Jump - 2.76m

​Under 13 Boys
🥇Joe Moss - 100m - 13.72
🥇Joe Moss - 200m - 28.24
🥇Joe Moss - Long Jump - 4.10m
🥇Ethan Barnett - 75m Hurdles - 15.13
🥇Corey Fisher - Shot - 5.00m
🥈Corey Fisher - 100m - 13.99
🥈Corey Fisher - 200m - 28.40
🥈Harry Glover - 75m Hurdles - 18.44
🥈Harry Glover - Javelin - 11.95m
🥈4 x 100m Relay -  60.73
🥉Joe Moss - 800m - 2.37.40
🥉Corey Fisher - Javelin - 8.75m

Finalists:
🎗Ethan Barnett - 100m - 14.54
🎗Harry Glover - 800m - 2.58.03;  1500m - 5.51.65; Long Jump - 2.86m
🎗Corey Fisher - Long Jump- 3.81m

​Under 15 Girls
​🥈Freya Kirby - Shot - 6.43m
🥈Poppy Weller - Javelin - 22.48m
🥉Isla Hiscocks - 100m - 13.23
🥉Isla Hiscocks - 75m Hurdles - 13.39
🥉Isla Hiscocks - Long Jump - 4.39

Finalists:
🎗Ellie Travis - 100m - 14.03; Shot - 5.80m
🎗Isla Hiscocks - 200m - 28.31; Shot - 5.82m
🎗Eleanor Rigby - 800m - 2.51.78; Long Jump -  3.41m

Under 15 Boys 
🥇Gino Franco - Javelin - 30.31m

Under 17 Women 
🥇Nicole Bonser - 100m - 13.29
🥇Imogen Laugharne - 80m Hurdles - 11.94
🥇Imogen Laugharne - High Jump - 1.55m
🥇Imogen Laugharne - Long Jump - 4.90m
🥉Nicole Bonser - 200m - 27.74
🥉Mae Jones - Long Jump - 4.73m

Finalists:
🎗Imogen Laugharne - Shot - 8.69m; Javelin - 16.40m
🎗Nicole Bonser - Long Jump - 4.43m; Shot - 8.29m

Under 17 Men
🥇Ryan Rawlinson - 200m - 23.57
🥇Joe Bennett  - Javelin - 33.44m
🥈George Reynolds - 200m - 23.67
🥉George Reynolds - 100m - 11.52
🥉George Reynolds - Long Jump - 6.01m
🥉Charlie Halford - 1500m - 5.53.33

Finalists:
🎗Ryan Rawlinson - Long Jump - 5.95m
🎗Hugo Thomas - Long Jump - 5.07m

Under 20 Women 
🥇Charlie Yates - High Jump - 1.60m
🥇Charlie Yates - Triple Jump -  10.63m
🥇Maddie Fahey - 400m Hurdles - 89.67
🥈Katie Potts - Long Jump - 4.79m
🥈Grace Bennett - Javelin - 28.89m
🥉Fran Howett - 800m - 2:47:74
🥉Grace Young - Long Jump - 4.71m

Finalist:
Isabelle Hayes - Long Jump - 4.35m

Under 20 Men
🥇Ben Pitts - 110m Hurdles - 16.77
🥇Ben Pitts - Long Jump - 6.20m
🥇Ben Pitts - High Jump - 1.80m
🥈Ben Pitts - Discus - 31.46m
🥉Ben Pitts - Javelin - 39.31m

Senior Women
🥉Alice Robinson - Shot - 9.25m
🥉Alice Robinson - Javelin - 28.84m

Senior Men
🥇Henry Knighton - High Jump - 1.75m
🥇Henry Knighton - Triple Jump - 11.51m

​Nottinghamshire

Under 17 Women
🥇Daisy Kaye - Javelin - 33.37m
🥈Daisy Kaye - 300m - 44.33
🥈Daisy Kaye - Shot - 9.07m
🥈Millie Walster - Javelin - 28.91m

Finalist:
🎗Daisy Kaye - 200m - 27.27
🎗Daisy Kaye - High Jump - 1.40m

Under 17 Men
🥉Corey Tatum - 400m - 53.50

Senior Women 
🥇Jessie Brown - Javelin - 39.97m 

Quadkids
Three Under 11 Girls took part in the Derbyshire Quadkids where they had to complete a 75m Sprint, Long Jump, Howler Javelin and 600m run gaining points along the way with their performances in each event.  Isabelle Weller took the Silver medal overall with a total of 204 points, Summer Biggs placed 6th on 184 points and Ruby Shore finished 14th on 115 points.  In the Nottinghamshire event, Marcus Parsons- Loades did well and placed 5th overall on 207 points. 

Words - J McColgan
For photographs of the championships visit Chris Kirby’s excellent website: 

https:/www.athletic.photography/
​

Sunday 8th May saw the first ‘Lower Youth Development League’ match of the season, at Shobnall Athletics Track in Burton. AVEAC are in North East Midlands Division A and a group of 15 selected athletes from the under 13’s and 15’s competed against five other teams. Although numbers were low due to injuries and unavailability, spirits and performance levels were high with 3 season’s best and no fewer than 24 personal bests recorded.

Heart of England League - Saturday 30th April at Coventry 

The first match in the Heart of England League took place on Saturday April 30th in Coventry.  AVEAC are in Division 1, and selected athletes from the U11 to U20 age groups competed against 7 other teams from across the Midlands. Conditions were ideal – warm, dry and with barely any wind - and the excitement, good spirits and teamwork from athletes and parents were lovely to see after 2 years without this type of competition. ​

​The U11s compete in their own discrete scoring match at Heart of England and our boys and girls certainly rose to the occasion, with both teams finishing the day in second place overall behind the Solihull team, with the girls only one point behind the leaders. 

The boys got off to a fantastic start in the first event of the day, with Jacob Adams and Marcus Parson-Loades winning the A and B string howler Javelin with throws of 32.00m and 22.65m respectively.  Jacob went on to score well in the 75m, finishing third in the A string race with a time of 11.6 and then stepping out of his comfort zone to run the 600m in a respectable 2.16.97, earning extra points for the team. Marcus was 6th in the A long jump with 2.81m and ran a non-scoring 75m in 12.85 to gain valuable experience competing at this level. AVEAC’s other two U11 boys also contributed well, with Elliott Barnett gaining 4th place in the A 600m with a time of 2.07.91 and 3rd place in the B 75m with 11.8. Ethan Ray was 5th in the long jump with 2.60m and ran the non-scoring 75m in a time of 12:99.
​
There was more success in the Howler for the U11 girls, where Isobel Weller and Summer Biggs took the second place spots in the A and B string throwing 21.73m and 12.44m. Izzy went on to finish 3rd in the A String 600m with 2.08.35 and completed her day with another 3rd place in the A  Long Jumo with 3.27m. Summer ran an excellent 75m to finish 2nd in the B string in 12.3 and ran a gutsy 600m in 2.21.15 for 6th place in the B race. The third member of the team, Aimee Brackenbury, was 5th in both the B long jump with 2.75m and the A 75m with 12.6. 

​The U13s were slightly low in numbers due to injuries and lack of availability but there were some excellent performances against strong competition. Joe Moss scored almost half of the total points for the U13 boys coming second in the A 800m with a time of 2.36.38, 7th in the A long jump with 3.53m and 3rd in the A 200m with a PB time of 29.5. Joe was the only AVEAC athlete who ran in the 200m across all age groups – lengthy delays on the track resulted in many parents and athletes deciding to leave before the later events took place.

Alfie Ray took part in the Javelin despite his wrist being strapped up following an injury that morning and recorded a throw of 12.28m for 7th place in the A string whilst Ethan Barnett took 5th place in B  Long Jump with 3.42m. In the 100m, Alfie and Ethan recorded almost identical times of 15.10 and 15.12 for 7th and 5th places in the A and B string races respectively. 
​
The U13 girls had 3 athletes running in the 800m race, finishing in 5th, 7th and 8th places overall in a field of 13 runners. In terms of scoring, Madeleine Turner was 4th in the A string with a time of 2.44.76, Jaimie-Lee Scott came 2nd in the B string with 2.50.65 and Amelia Whittaker with 2.52.95 was a non-scorer on this occasion. In the Long j Jump, Madeleine’s best jump of 3.57m was 6th in the A string and a PB for Amelia of 3.36m was good enough for 2nd place in the B string. Jasmine Shore recorded two PBs on the day – she came 6th in the A 100m with 14.72 and 3rd in the Shot where she added 14cm to her previous best with a put of 6.14m. She finished off a successful day with 3rd place in the Javelin with a best throw of 18.18m. 

The three U15 athletes who travelled to Coventry will be hoping for more teammates to join them at the remaining 2 matches to help with the points scoring. They nonetheless did themselves proud with their individual performances on the day. Eden Klugman, in his first competitive 1500m, finished 7th in a time of 5.20.5, well inside the target of 5.30 set by his coach before the race. Poppy Weller was 7th in the A long jump with 4.03 and won the B string Javelin with a best throw of 19.56m. Freya Kirby added 40cm to her previous best in the Shot to come fifth with 6.34m and continued with her consistent Javelin this season with a throw of 25.56 for 2nd place in the A string. She also recorded a best of 2.39 in the B long jump for 7th place. 

For the U17 men, George Reynolds had an excellent day, scoring maximum points with 3 first place finishes and 3 PBs. He took the A string Shot with a best of 10.37m, the A string Long Jump with 6.38m and the B string 100m with a time of 11.63. Luca Manadiakis was also in PB form in the 800m where he finished 7th in a time of 2.24.64 – Luca also competed in the Javelin finishing in 3rd place with a best throw of 26.62. Ryan Rawlinson took 2nd spot in the A string 100m with a time of 11.66 and Corey Tatum was third in the 400m with 53:9. 

The U17 Women got the day off to a great start with Javelin throwers Daisy Kaye and Millie Walster continuing their excellent recent form to win the A and B string competitions. Daisy, who is now consistently throwing over 30 metres, achieved 32.42 whilst Millie’s best on the day was 29.02.  Daisy also competed in the B string High Jump where she finished joint first with 1.45m.

Multi-eventer Imogen Laugharne had a very successful day. In the high jump, she was delighted to achieve 1.60m for the first time, something she has been working towards this season  and which earned her a well-deserved 2nd place on count back. She also won the 80m hurdles in a time of 12.24 and a PB of 9.13m in the Shot put placed her 2nd in the A string. Nicole Bonser won the B string Shot with 9.03m and produced some excellent long jumping to finish 3rd in the A string with a best of 4.74, not far off her PB. The U17s were ably assisted by U20 athlete, Grace Young who came 7th in the 100m in a PB time of 14.4 and was 2nd in the B string long jump with a best performance of 4.57m. U20s can be called on to support the U17 teams in running and jumping events, as long as priority is given to available U17 athletes, something which the Team Managers will aim to make more use of in the remaining matches this season. 

Overall, AVEAC finished in 7th place with only Radley beneath them on the scoring table. This is certainly not a reflection of the excellent efforts of all the athletes who took part, but a result of the low numbers of selected athletes who were available on the day. The team managers and club coaches will be working hard to encourage a better turn out for the next fixture on 19th June in Kettering. Well done to the athletes and thank you to the many volunteers who stepped up on the day to assist with team managing and officiating duties. 

British Universities and Colleges Championships - Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May at Chelmsford 

AVEAC Senior athlete Jessie Brown made the long journey to Chelmsford, Essex last weekend to compete for Nottingham University at the BUCS Championships in the Women’s Javelin. In a highly competitive event which attracted most of the top British throwers, Jessie finished  5th in qualification with a throw of 41.03m to make the final group of twelve out of the two qualification pools.  In the final her distance was marginally better with a best effort of 41.46m and she ended up 7th overall.  Jessie’s training partner  at AVEAC Nicky Bell representing Nottingham Trent University finished 8th in the final with a throw of 39.89m. 

Another Javelin specialist out of the Scott Knighton camp, Joss Foot (Nottingham Trent) picked up a Bronze Medal in the Men’s final with a excellent throw of 61.58m. 

Northern League March - Saturday 30th April at Moorways

Four of our U20 and Senior athletes, Ben Pitts, Charlie Yates, Henry Knighton and Katie Potts competed for Chesterfield in the Northern Senior League East on Saturday last against seven other clubs from across the region.

​Multi-eventer, Ben recorded two personal bests in the Pole Vault and Long Jump. He cleared 3.70m in the vault to won the competition outright and finished 4th in the Long Jump, reaching the 6 metre mark exactly for the first time. 

Charlie Yates held off Boston athlete Louise Hirst to won the Women’s Triple Jump by two centimetres. Charlie’s best effort was 10.72m. Earlier in the afternoon she finished 2nd in the High Jump clearing  1.55m, the same height as the winner, Susie Palmer (Derby). 

Henry Knighton won the Men’s High Jump with a height of 1.80m and then went on to finish 2nd in the Triple Jump and 3rd in the Javelin.  In a closely fought Women’s Long Jump, our final representative,  Katie Potts finished 3rd with a best of 4.96m, eight centimetres behind the winner Sophia Danielle (Grantham). 

DADA Open - Tuesday 3rd May at Moorways

​Quite a few AVEAC athletes from U11s to Seniors took part in the second Derby Athletics Development Association (DADA) Open at Moorways on Tuesday evening .

Five  U11s lined up for the graded heats of the 75m. Jacob Adams was the fastest of the quintet retuning a time of 11.86. Olivia Irvine almost equalled Jacobs time on 11.88, Summer Bigg’s crossed the finish in  12.50,  Rosie Boyer recorded 13.85 and Rupert Turner finished in 13.72.

The Under 11s also long jumped. In the Boy’s pool Jacob Adams and Rupert Turner finished 2nd and 3rd with distances of 3.69m and 3.20m., In the Girl’s Long Jump, Summer Biggs topped the proceedings with a 3.36m effort. Rosie Boyer finished 6th with 2.76m. 

A few of the U11s then took part in a 600m run and recorded the following times;  Rupert Turner (2.31.84),  Olivia Irvine (2.22.67), Jacob Adams (2.20.53),  Rosie Boyer (2.24.11) and Sunmer Biggs (2.31.56). 

Joe Moss was our only U13 in action and he came away with two personal bests winning the 75m sprint in 10.89 and then later in the evening running a fine 600m race with his second PB of  1.52.08. 

In the graded sprints over 100 and 200 metres, U15 sprinter Isla Hiscocks was in top form.  Isla won her 100m race with a new PB of 13.64 and later in the evening broke 29 seconds for the first time in the 200m finishing 2nd in 28.75. 

Three AVEAC athletes, Katie Potts, Daisy Kaye and Imogen Laugharne  lined up together for Heat 3 in the 100m and it was a closed run affair between the trio. Under 20  Katie just edged it between the three running 13.51 with her Unde 17 teammates finishing almost identically on 13.64 and 13.65. 

Senior multi-eventer Alice Robison returned  PB times of 14 04 in the 100m and  29.65 in the 200m.  Daisy Kaye also  doubled up and ran a seasons best of 28.44 in the  half lap..

Under 17, Ryan Rawlinson continued his good early season sprint form with an electronic best time in the 100m of 11.64 and a new PB of 23.53 in the 200m.  In the 1500m, first year U17 Charlie Halford returned   a season’s best of 5.33..91. 

Acknowlegments:
Heart of England report  - Sarah Kaye
Heart of England photos - Chris Kirby
BUCS, Northern League and DADA - Joe McColgan

The opening Upper Youth Development League match for Under 20 and 17 athletes took place at Moorways Stadium on Sunday last.  AVEAC are competing in Division 1 North East with seven other clubs from across the Midlands.  At the end of the daytime  the club were in fourth place behind Marshall Milton Keynes, Northampton and Derby. Near neighbours Burton lie fifth with Leicester, Banbury and Daventry below them. 

A good overall team performance was capped with four of the group achieving the qualification standard for the English Schools Championships.  In one of the first field events of the morning U17 athlete Ryan Rawlinson won the Under 20 Long Jump with his last round effort of 6.48m, getting over the 6.40m ESAA qualifying mark.  In a very high quality Under 17 80m Hurdles, Imogen Laugharne finished 3rd but had the satisfaction of marginally getting under the schools qualifying time of 12 seconds dead finishing in 11:99. During the final event of the afternoon in yet another high quality field, Javelin throwers Millie Walster and Daisy Kaye both threw over the ESAA mark of 35 metres. Millie finished 2nd in the ‘A’ event throwing 36.30m while Daisy’s effort of 35.06m added almost four metres to her previous best and ensured first place in the ‘B’ competition. 

In the Under 20 age group, as well as Ryan’s victory in the Long Jump,  there were winning performances as well from Callum Findlay in the Men’s High Jump clearing 1.63, Charlie Yates in the Women’s Triple Jump with a hop, step and jump of 10.51m and Grace Young in the ‘B’ Long Jump with a best of 4.69m.

Runner up spots were gained by Maddie Fahey in the 400m Hurdles (90:07)  Katie Potts in the A Long Jump (4.85m) and Fran Howett in the 800m (2:46:20). Charlie Yates jumped 1.55m, the same height as the winner, in the High Jump but ended up  second on court back. In the Men’s Triple Jump, Callum Findlay claimed yet another second place with a jump of 11.18m. 

In a non-scoring Long Jump Mae Jones jumped 4.55m, Izzy Hay’s distance was 4.18m and Maddie Fahey’s best was 3.52m. 

In the U17 Women’s match Imogen Laugharne followed up her good hurdles time by winning the High Jump, getting over 1.55m.  She also finished finished 2nd in the B Shot with a throw of 8.67m. Daisy Kaye did likewise in the A Shot on 8.96m and took another second place in the 300m recording a time of 44.61. Nicole Bonser also claimed a second place finish in the A Long Jump with a fine effort of 4.79m.  Rushcliffe athlete Izzy Haworth who used her second claim membership to compete for AVEAC had a good debut in the yellow vest winning both the A Triple Jump with a solid distance of 10.37m and B High Jump clearing 1.40m. 

In the U17 Men’s Match, Ryan Rawlinson showed more excellent form by taking second spot in the 200m with a new PB of 23:58.  Corey Tatum just narrowly missed winning the 400m but was rewarded with a best ever run of 53:30. George Reynolds placed third in three events.  In a high class A Long Jump field  he got over the 6 metre mark yet again with a best of 6.07m. In the 100m he ran a new personal best of 11:68 while in the 5kg Shot his ‘put’ was a respectable 9.33m.  In the B Long Jump Hugo Thomas was runner up on 5.51m and also finished 3rd in the B 100m in a time of 12:51. 

A big thank you to Team Managers, Coaches and parents for their support to the team. The next fixture will take place on Sunday 29th May in Banbury, Oxfordshire. 

Words - J McColgan 
Photos - Chris Kirby

The first outdoor track and field Mini League match took place at Moorways on Saturday last.  Out of the six competing clubs AVEAC found themselves lying third overall behind Derby and Chesterfield after all the scores had been tallied up.  AVEAC scored 347 points quite a bit behind their two rivals with Chesterfield continuing where that had left off after the Sports Hall season heading the table on 511.5 points with Derby not that far behind on 481.5 points.

Under 11s
​Jacob Adams had a great start to his first ever outdoor competition winning the Long Jump with a fine effort of 3.37m and he also placed 1st in the Howler Javelin throwing 33.61m. Rupert Turner finished 3rd behind Jacob in the Howler on 25.14m. Other performances outside the top three by the Boy’s team included:

600m
Kyran McCrellis - 2:24:96
Lucas Sangster - 2:27:35
Jack Ewart - 2:44:06

Long Jump
Rupert Turner - 3.06m
Kyran McCrellis - 2.76m
Marcus Parsons-Loades - 2.64m
Jack Ewart - 2.06m

​Summer Biggs was the highest placed performer in the U11 Girl’s section with two 3rd places in the 150m run and Howler Javelin. Her race time was 25:66 while in the Howler her best throw was 15.64m.

Other performances included:

80m 
Ruby Arnold - 14:93

150m
Poppy Brown - 27:14
Ruby Arnold - 28.98

600m
Rosie Boyer - 2:22:03
Poppy Brown - 2:28:23

High Jump
Rosie Boyer - 0.85m

Howler Javelin 
Ruby Arnold - 11.48m

4x100m Relay - 3rd - 75:76

Under 13s
In the Under 13 Boy’s match, Joe Moss scored a double victory winning the 200m in 29:91 and then went on to place 1st as well in the Discus throwing 13.01m. There was also a first place in the 4x100m relay, the team comprising of Joe Moss, Ryan Ghai, Corey Fisher and Alfie Ray. Corey and Ryan finished 2nd and 3rd in the 100m returning times of 14:07 and 14:12. Corey also finished 2nd behind Joe in the 200 in 30:10 while Alfie Ray was runner up in the Discus with an effort of 10.62m.  Other marks included:

100m 
Joe Moss - 14:21
Alfie Ray - 15:32
Sebastian Taylor - 17:36

200m 
Ryan Ghai - 32:77
Alfie Ray - 33:21

800m 
Corey Fisher - 2:58:98

High Jump
Sebastian Taylor - 0.90m

Shot 
Sebastian Taylor - 4:54m

​A really good turn out of U13 Girls led to some pleasing performances in this age group. Olivia Irvine started the ball rolling crossing the finish line in the 70m Hurdles in 1st place recording a time of 15:42. Ailsa McMillan and Madeleine Turner made it a one, two in the 200m  with times of 31:96 and 32:06.  Madeleine then went on to won the 800m in a very respectable 2:43:60 while Ailsa placed 3rd in the 100m.  In the Long Jump, Madeline showed that she could leap as well and her 3.71m effort resulted in her second victory of the day. AVEAC girls dominated the Long Jump with the next three places being filled by Lucy Rowcroft (3.61m), Lily Robshaw (3.54m) and Ailsa McMillan (3.49m). Other performances were:

100m
Lucy Rowcroft - 15:37
Lily Robshaw - 15:59
Jamie-Lee Scott - 15:70
Olivia Irvine - 16:06
Mamie Skipper - 16:55

200m
Lucy Rowcroft - 32:78
Sienna Peel - 33:54
Mamie Skipper - 34:37
Lois Driver - 35:49

800m
Jamie-Lee Scott - 2:55:57
Sienna Peel - 3:05:63
Lily Robshaw - 3:18:22
Lois Driver - 3:22:03

Long Jump
Jamie-Lee Scott - 3.05m
Mamie Skipper - 3.01m
Sienna Peel - 2.89m
Olivia Irvine - 2.84m

Shot
Lois Driver - 4.51m

​4x100m Relay - 2nd - 62:70

Under 15
Elliot Wood was our only athlete in action in the Boy’s U15 age group. He finished 3rd in the Long Jump with a distance of 3.76m and recorded 15:21 in the 100m. 

Three U15 girls turned out in this age group with Freya Kirby turning her attention to the Discus and Shot. Freya who is better known for her Javelin exploits won the Discus with an effort of 14.54m and finished runner up in the Shot recording 5.94m.  Isla Hiscocks finished 2nd in the 75m Hurdles with a time of 14:80, broke the 30 second mark for the first time in the 200m with a new PB of 29:80 and finished 4th in the 100m with another best ever time of 13:75. Our third athlete in action in this age group was Isabella Overy-Jones  who was timed at 15:25 in the 100m.

Congratulations to all the athletes who took part, many of them having their first taste of outdoor competitive athletics.  

Ella Rush  stated her 2022 outdoor campaign  in fine style by achieving the qualifying standard in the Heptathlon for the World Under 20 Championships which will be held in Cali, Columbia in early August.  Ella scored 5491 points surpassing the tough mark set by U.K. Athletics by ninety one points. 

The two day competition took place on  the 13th and 14th April  at the Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, California. The meeting was designated as a World Athletics Gold Event, one step down from the Diamond League, and was  part of the  62nd Annual Mount Sac Relays. 

Sixteen highly ranked heptathletes took part in the seven disciplines. Overall the competition for Ella had several high points as well as some events that did not go exactly to plan.  Day One started with a solid 100m Hurdles time of 14:48 just over a tenth of a second behind her lifetime best of 14:35 gaining her 912 points and putting her in 12th position. In the High Jump expecting to get close to her indoor best of 1.76m,  she struggled with her run up and ended up  clearing 1.69m to finish joint 7th in that discipline.  She ended Day 1 on a high with a 12.73m Shot Put, the 3rd best throw in the competition,  and then went on to run a blistering 24.65 in the 200m beating her previous lifetime best by exactly half a second.  At the end of Day One she was lying 4th overall but knew that some of the field had their best individual events still to come on Day 2. 

Conditions on Day 2 were not as favourable as Day 1 with unpredictable gusts of wind playing havoc with Long Jump run ups during the first event of the morning. A measure of how the wind affected the athletes was evidenced by the fact that almost half the jumps by all the competitors were fouls. Ella managed one legal jump out of three with a 5.98m effort in the second round. The distance was the second furthest of the morning, two centimetres behind the leading jump. 

The wind continued to play havoc in the Javelin. With only three throws allowed, Ella’s first two attempts were deemed to be ‘no throws’, the tip of the Javelin not striking the ground first, putting pressure on her to produce a legal effort in the final effort. She threw safely and managed a throw of 25.29m almost  seven metres behind her personal best. With a lower than expected points score it meant that  she would need to run around 2:22 in the final 800m if she was going to achieve the 5,400 points qualification standard. 

With all the field of 15 lining up for the final event, it meant that she would have to run smartly and avoid any pushing and barging that could happen with such large numbers in the race.  She ran tactically well, stayed out of trouble,  and produced a lifetime best run of 2:16:08,  to finish 5th in the race. Her time gained her 878 points and meant that her final score had surpassed the UKA standard for the World Championships.

Ella finished 7th overall and had it not been for a mediocre High Jump and disappointing Javelin throw, she could well have been pushing for a top three spot.  Seldom do all seven events go to plan in a Heptathlon and on reflection,  she can be justly proud of her achievement. Her final tally of 5491 points beat her previous PB by 121 points set last September when winning the Senior English School’s title.  Ella who has also achieved the U.K. World Standard in the Long Jump will now be hoping that the G.B. Selectors will look favourably on her performances and select  her for the global championships in August.

Words and photo - J McColgan

The first Derbyshire Athletics Development Association  (DADA) Open flat track and throws meeting took place last Tuesday evening at Moorways Stadium, Derby with several AVEAC athletes in action.. 

The evening kicked off with  seven U13  graded 75m sprints with AVEAC represented in five of them. Joe Moss finished 3rd in Race 1 in 11 seconds dead, Jasmine Shore won Race 2 in 11.1, Olivia Irvine did likewise in Race 3; her time was 12.2.  In Race 4,  Ruby Shore was 2nd in  13.8 while in Race 6, Summer Biggs finished 3rd in 12.5.

Our sole representative in the 100m races was Camryn Cammack who recorded a time of 14.85 to finish 3rd. In the Senior Men’s 200m, Scott Ram broke the 23 second barrier for the first time with a  22.83 clocking.  

In the Under 13 600m races, Joe Moss followed up his 75m 3rd place by  finishing 2nd  in a field of ten with an excellent time of  1:55:29.  Summer Biggs finished 4th in her race recording a time of  2:37:23 while Ruby Shore was timed at 2:55:14 in 8th place.

Meanwhile over at the throws, four of our athletes were in action.  Jasmine Shore followed up her victory in the 75m by winning the U13 Javelin. Her effort of 19.59m was a new personal best with the 400 gram implement.  There was a PB as well for Under15 thrower, Gino Franco  in his pool with a distance of 27.59m.  Another U15 thrower, Freya Kirby continued her good early season form  with a  fine throw of 27.66m to finish 2nd; she also shot ‘putted’ 5.71m to place 4th in the U17 age group. In the Senior Men’s event Scott Ram got some good practice in, in his preparation for Decathlon’ championships later in the season. He finished 2nd throwing 34.02. 

Next up for AVEAC athletes will be the first Derbyshire Mini League fixture at Moorways on Saturday 23rd April.  On  Sunday 24th, our U17 and U20 athletes will contest their first Youth Development League fixture also at Moorways. 

Words - J McColgan
Photos  Chris Kirby

​Hi Everyone,

As some of you may already know, we received some tragic news this month when we found out that our treasurer Damian Banks' partner Jeanette Lord, and the family dog, were killed in a collision with a motorcyclist in Ashbourne. The news shook the club to the core and our thoughts have naturally been with Damian and his family.

Damian has let me know details for the service to commemorate Jeanette’s life and I repeat them verbatim below. I appreciate that many of you may not have known Damian but, if you did, and you are able to attend, I am sure you would be more than welcome. If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact me and I will endeavour to help.

"Service to celebrate Jeanette’s life will be held on Tuesday 19th April at 11.00 am at Osmaston Park Venue, Quilow Lane, Osmaston, Ashbourne, DE6 1LW. This will be followed by a private cremation. No flowers please but donations welcome to Breast Cancer Research or The Ark (Ashbourne Animal Welfare). Please wear something brightly coloured for Jeanette. Enquiries to W Jones & Son, Funeral Directors. Telephone – 01335 360319.

Please arrive at Osmaston by 10.30 a.m. Following the cremation, the wake will be held at Osmaston where a bar, teas and coffees and food will be available.

A SPECIAL REQUEST

For Sebastian, Amelia, Lianne, myself and the family, we would really appreciate it if you could bring along a memory, a story, a funny moment or a shared time with Jeanette that will help us remember her. Please write this down before you come and drop it in the box that will be placed in the marquee. Thank you."

Kind regards

Rich