The Club’s Senior Men’s multi-event athlete, Scott Ram picked up a bronze medal at the Northern Combined Events Championship which was held as part of the England Athletics National competition over the weekend at the EIS Arena in Sheffield.  Scott scored a new personal best total of 4528 points in the Heptathlon which placed him eighth overall in the national championship. Over two days of gruelling competition he also recorded four individual event personal bests in the 60m (7:38), Pole Vault (3.33m), Shot (11.37m) and 1000m (2:45:93). To finish eight overall out of a field of twenty seven starters was no mean achievement and suggests that the Loughborough University student is on course to record a high Decathlon score this Summer.

AVEAC had two other athletes in action at the weekend, Ben Pitts in the Men’s U20 Heptathlon and Alice Robinson in the Senior Women’s Pentathlon. Both were making their debuts in national combined events and came away with several personal bests in individual events.

Ben scored a total of 3716 points which included six PBs, the highlights of which were a 5.71m Long Jump and a 3.43m Pole Vault. His pole vaulting was a revelation and was even more remarkable as it was only his second time to vault in a competition, having  recently taken up the event in the Autumn under the watchful eye of Jono Baker, the pole vault specialist coach from Chesterfield AC.

In the Senior Women’s Pentathlon, former Ipswich AC athlete Alice, who now resides in the area, scored 1950 points, the highlights of her five events being a solid 9.01m in the Shot and a 2:50:27 recording the the final 800m discipline.

​County call up for Fran
​At the Derbyshire Cross Country Championships held at Berryhill Park, Mansfield on Saturday last, Fran Howett was AVEAC’s sole representative. Competing in the   Under 20 Women’s 5000m, she finished 6th overall which has earned her a call up for the Derbyshire team that will take part in the National Inter-Counties Championships at Loughborough on Saturday 12th March. 

Derbyshire Mini League Cross Country
​I missed reporting on the Mini League Cross Country match held at Rutland Sports Park on Saturday 18th December. 
Our young U11 Girl’s, Under 11 Boy’s and Under 13 Girl’s were well represented.

Izzy Weller finished 2nd in the U11 Girl’s race and with Sienna Peel, 4th and Lily Robshaw in 5th, she led the team to a joint first place with Derby AC on 11 points. Other AVEAC placings in the race were; Rosie Boyer (6th),  Olivia Irvine (9th), Poppy Brown (13th), Summer Briggs (14th) and Ruby Shore (19th).

In the Boy’s Under 11 race Ethan Bennett came home in 3rd place and with Lucas Sangster in 5th and Kyran McCrellis finishing 6th, the team’s  overall points score of 14 secured the victory, one point ahead of near neighbours Derby.  Taking part in the race as well was Marcus Parsons-Loades who completed the course in 9th place.

Our three U13 Girls, Jamie-Lee Scott, Amelia Whittaker and Eleanor Rigby gained another team second place behind Derby. Jamie Lee led the trio with a fifth place finished closely followed by Amelia in 6th place and Eleanor, 7th. 

This weekend a number of our U17 athletes will be in action at the Northern Indoor Athletics Championships in Sheffield. We wish them well in what will be a high quality event attracting several hundred athletes from across the north of England.

Words - J McColgan
Photos - JMcColgan, Kish Ram and Jo Howett

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The final Sports Hall Mini League match before Christmas took place at Queens Park Leisure Centre, Chesterfield on Sunday. This was the third fixture in the competition and saw a total of 22 of our AVEAC athletes take to the field, maintaining the number of competitors from the previous event. A really strong showing from all of the athletes, resulted in a solid second place finish for AVEAC, on 313 points with Chesterfield once again taking the top spot on 436 and Derby rounding out the top three with a total of 216.5.

This result means that at the halfway point of the Sports Hall season, AVEAC remain in third position in the overall league table but have moved to within a point of Derby and four points clear of fourth place High Peak.

Under 11 Girls
A focus on the events making up this Sports Hall match in recent training sessions paid dividends on Sunday, particularly in the Standing Triple Jump, where the top four positions were held by AVEAC athletes. Summer Biggs led the way in her first competition with a jump of 5.00m, closely followed by Sienna Peel and Isobel Weller, with jumps of 4.95m and 4.85m respectively. Sienna achieved a further second-place finish in the One Lap Sprint, finishing just a tenth of a second behind the winner, before rounding off her first Sports Hall competition, with a first-place finish in the Vertical High Jump, recording a leap of 36 centimetres.

With eight girls competing in this age category, we were able to enter two relay teams, with Sienna, Summer, Isobel & Oliva Irvine achieving a good second place finish, behind a very strong Chesterfield team.

Other performances in the U11Gs squad included:
 
One Lap
Olivia Irvine – 14.5
Summer Biggs – 14.8
Bethany Wardle – 15.4 
Ruby Shore – 16.5
 
Two Lap
Isobel Weller – 30.3
Rosie Boyer – 32.7
Tegan Wilkinson – 38.6
 
Vertical High Jump
Isobel Weller – 29cm
Tegan Wilkinson – 28cm
Ruby Shore – 23cm
Rosie Boyer – 22cm
 
Standing Triple Jump
Olivia Irvine – 4.55m
Bethany Wardle – 4.20m
Rosie Boyer – 3.90m
Ruby Shore – 3.15m
 
Chest Push
Summer Biggs – 4.90m
Olivia Irvine – 4.80m
Bethany Wardle – 3.50m
 
Under 11 Boys
After unfortunately missing the last match through injury, Joe Moss returned in style, finishing the day as AVEAC’s highest scoring athlete, after achieving first place finishes in all his individual events. A time of 13.4 seconds saw Joe lead his teammate Alfie Ray over the line by only four tenths of a second in the One Lap Sprint and this was followed up with victories in both the Two Lap Sprint and the Chest Push, with scores of 27.6 seconds and 6.9 metres respectively. Alfie, competing in his first Sports Hall competition, added to his second-place finish in the sprint with a first in the Standing Triple Jump, beating his nearest competitor by nearly half a metre.

As a result of a shuffle of the schedule, the team nearly missed out on competing in the U11Bs relay. However,  following discussions between the organisers and the AVEAC team manager, the team were allowed to run in a second heat, albeit by themselves. Despite the strange circumstances, the boys focused on the task at hand and brought home the victory with a time of 59.6 seconds. With five boys competing in this age category and only four places on the relay team, unfortunately someone had to miss out on participating. Special mention must be made for Oscar Ashmore, who despite wanting to take part, kindly offered to step back and allow his fellow competitors to compete. A very noble decision for such a young man.

Other performances in the U11Bs squad included:
 
One Lap
Marcus Parsons-Loades – 15.3
Oscar Ashmore – 15.4

Two Lap
Ethan Ray – 30.5

Vertical High Jump
Alfie Ray – 32cm
Ethan Ray – 21cm

Standing Triple Jump
Marcus Parsons-Loades – 4.80m
Ethan Ray – 4.25m
Oscar Ashmore – 4.00m
​
Chest Push
Marcus Parsons-Loades – 4.80m
Oscar Ashmore – 3.90m
 
Under 13 Girls
A strong performance from our U13Gs resulted in an overall win for AVEAC in that category, with the team finishing the match on 83.5 points, just ahead of a Chesterfield team who once again had a large contingent of girls taking part.

Having won both the Vertical High Jump and Standing Triple Jump in the first match of the season, Isla Hiscocks again achieved first-place in these events, with scores of 54 centimetres and 5.95 metres respectively. Isla also matched her second-place finish in the Two Lap Sprint, with a time of 26.5 seconds, two tenths better than her previous outing. Freya Kirby led an AVEAC one-two in the U13Gs Shot, with a throw of 6.63 metres clinching the victory from her teammate Ellie Travis, who threw 6.19 metres. Ellie followed this second-place up with third-place in the Standing Triple Jump,  hop, stepping and jumping 5.60 metres. Two AVEAC entries into the Eight Lap Parlauf, saw the girls finishing in both second and third places; Amelia Whittaker & Jasmine Shore achieving a time of 121.5 seconds and their teammates Ellie & Freya crossing the line in 125.5 seconds.

These fantastic individual results were capped off by a fine team effort in the U13Gs relay, with Jasmine, Amelia, Ellie & Isla achieving second place with a time of 108.5 seconds. With only six competing athletes, AVEAC didn’t have the numbers to enter two teams in the girls’ event, however Freya & Isobelle Protheroe joined forces with the U13Bs team to make up a non-scoring team. This mixed team finished third in their race, against some very tough competition from High Peak & Chesterfield, who both entered non-scoring teams consisting of U15 athletes.
Other performances in the U13Gs squad included:
 
Two Lap
Amelia Whittaker – 28.3
Isobelle Protheroe – 28.4
 
Vertical High Jump
Isobelle Protheroe – 41cm
Jasmine Shore – 39cm
 
Standing Triple Jump
Isobelle Protheroe – 5.35m
Amelia Whittaker – 5.10m
Freya Kirby – 4.95m
 
Shot
Jasmine Shore – 4.88m
 
Under 13 Boys
With a couple of our previous competitors unfortunately missing this match, it was left to Corey Fisher and Jack Heslop to represent AVEAC in this age category, both scoring valuable team points throughout the day. Corey achieved second-place finishes in the Standing Triple Jump and the Two Lap Sprint, with scores of 5.60 metres and 26.4 seconds. Jack finished in second-place in the Vertical High Jump, with a height of 35 centimetres, and rounded off his day with a third-place finish in the Shot, ‘putting’ 5.73 metres.

​Other performances in the U13Bs squad included:
 
Two Lap
Jack Heslop – 30.6
 
Shot
Corey Fisher – 5.66m
 
Under 15s Boys
Our sole entry into the U15s categories at this match came from Luca Maniadakis, who ended the competition with second-place in the Shot, achieving a throw of 7.35 metres and a third-place finish in the Standing Triple Jump, recording a fine effort of 6.60 metres.
 
Under 9s Mixed
Having patiently watched her older sister taking part in events throughout the day, an eager Florence Protheroe entered the U9s 50m race. Up against some tough competition from the other clubs, Florence came home in first place, with a time of 17.5 seconds, three tenths ahead of her nearest challenger.
 
Next Event
The next match of the series is scheduled for Sunday 16thJanuary, again at Queens Park Leisure Centre. It’ll be a great opportunity for our athletes to blow away the cobwebs after some time off over the festive period, so let’s try and get as many AVEAC competitors at the event as possible. As with even a slight increase in participation from our older athletes, we can really build on our recent performances and challenge Chesterfield for that top spot.

Words and photo - Dan Humphrey 
Editor - @jmccolgan 

The second Sports Hall Mini League match took place at Queens Park Leisure Centre, Chesterfield on Sunday. AVEAC fielded 22 athletes, one less than the fixture last month. The squad, once again finished third of the five competing teams. Chesterfield with a large contingent of athletes dominated proceedings finishing first with  504 points with Derby second on 355 points, just 9.5 ahead of AVEAC.

Under 11 Girls
Lily Robshaw and Isobel Weller tied for first place in the Speed Bounce with identical scores of 47. Lily finished with two second places as well in the One Lap sprint running 14 seconds dead and in the Hi-Stepper  where she crossed the finish line in 15 seconds. Isobel recorded two good third place finishes in the 3 Lap Run and Hi-Stepper and was marginally close to Lily in 15.1 seconds. A third victory was achieved by Lois Driver in the Standing Long Jump with a fine effort of 1.65m.  Other performances by the Under 11 squad included:

One Lap
Lois Driver - 14.4 
Olivia Irvine - 14.7
Tegan Wilkinson - 16.2
Rosie Boyer - 16.8

Three Lap 
Ruby Shore - 50.2

Hi-Stepper
Lois Driver - 15.2
Bethany Wardle - 16.6
Ruby Shore  - 21.7

Standing Long Jump 
Olivia Irvine - 1.46m
Tegan Wilkinson - 1.12m

Speed Bounce
Olivia Irvine - 42 
Tegan Wilkinson - 32

​Boys Under 11
​Marcus Parsons-Loades was our highest points scorer in the Under 11 match placing second in the High Stepper timed at 16 seconds. He also finished fourth in the Speed Bounce with a score of 43 and sixth in the Standing Long Jump with a leap of 1.56m. Other performances included:

One Lap
Sebastian Taylor - 14.9
Oscar Ashmore - 15.9

Speed Bounce 
Sebastian Taylor - 41
Oscar Ashmore - 40

Standing Long Jump
Oscar Ashmore -  1.55m

Under 13 Girls
​There were two winning performances in the Girl’s Under 13 competition from Freya Kirby in the Shot and Madeline Turner in the Speed Bounce. Freya’s distance in the  Shot was 6.43m while Madeleine achieved a score of 78 in the Speed Bounce. Amelia Whittaker picked up second place in the Speed Bounce behind her team mate scoring 71 bounces.  Jasmine Shore had two good third place finishes in the 2 Lap run with a time of 27 seconds and in the Standing Long Jump with an 1.95m effort. Jamie Lee Scott had a fine run as well in the Three Lap race to also claim third place timed at 60.7.  Other performances recorded included:

Two Lap
Jamie Lee Scott - 28.9
Amelia Whittaker - 29.6

Four Lap
Madeleine Turner - 60.9

Standing Long Jump
Madeleine Turner - 1.92m
Freya Kirby - 1.53m
Amelia Whittaker - 1.51m

Shot
Jasmine Shore - 5.65m

Speed Bounce
Jamie Lee Scott - 67
Freya Kirby - 64

Boys Under 13
AVEAC’s sole winner in the Boys Under 13 group was Corey Fisher who  claimed victory in the Four Lap run recording a time of 60.3. Ryan Ghai was kept busy with a second  place in the Standing Long Jump with an effort of 2.03m and two third places in the Two Lap sprint in 26.7 and Speed Bounce with a score of 71. Nicholas Driver was also in good form with a fine second spot in the Shot throwing 6.19m. Other performances  by the Under 13 team included:

Two Lap
Corey Fisher - 27.2
Nicholas Driver - 27.9

Standing Long Jump
Nicholas Driver - 1.89m

Shot
Corey Fisher - 5.41m

Under 15 Girls and Boys
Only three of the Club’s Under 15’s took part in the fixture. Daisy Kaye in the Girl’s competition with Sebastian Banks and Luca Maniadakis in the Boy’s contest. Daisy scored valuable points with two second places in the Two Lap sprint and Standing Long Jump and third place in what was a very high standard Shot Put. Her time in the sprint was 26.8, the Long Jump distance was 2.12m while in the Shot her throw was measured at 9.59m. 

Sebastian Banks won the Boy’s Speed Bounce scoring 71 and he also recorded a time of 25.7 in the sprint and 7.02m in the Shot. Luca’s best event was the Standing  Long  Jump finishing third with  a distance of 2.27m; he also recorded a time of 25.9 in the sprint.

The third fixture in the series will take place on Sunday 12th December at Chesterfield.  Thanks once again is due to Team Manager, Sarah Kaye who is hoping for a bit more support from our Under 15 athletes (School Years 9 and 10).

North Midlands Cross-Country Fixture
Two of our younger athletes, Jamie Lee Scott and Eleanor Rigby along with team manager Chris Rigby made the long journey to  Wickstead Park, Kettering for the second fixture in the North Midlands League. The two girls took part in the Under 13 Girl’s 3km and put in decent performances finishing in 22nd and 23rd places in what was quite an arduous course including several energy sapping inclines. In the Senior Men’s Chris donned his spikes and completed the course in just over 56 minutes. 

The next cross-country fixture will be a more local affair when the Derbyshire Mini-League event takes place at Tupton, Chesterfield on Saturday 27th November. With a recent increase in the number of young athletes  attending middle and long distance coaching sessions, it is hoped that a few more will have a go at the next cross-country event.

Words - @jmccolgan
Photos - Sarah Kaye and Rich Woodward

The first North Midlands League cross-country fixture for eighteen months took place on a lovely sunny Autumn afternoon at Marketon Park,  Derby.  Five young club athletes were up for the challenge and all did well on their debut runs over the  country. New team manager Chris Rigby was delighted with his squad and even had sweet treats for the young ‘harriers’ at the finish. Club coaches Rich Prothero and Chris Aikman were also on hand, supporting and encouraging the athletes during their races.

Congratulations this time are due to Alfie Ray  who finished in 17th place in the U11 Boys 2km. Both Josh Bailey and Jack Heslop completed the U13 Boy’s 3.5km while  Jamie-Lee Scott and Eleanor Rigby had fine runs in the U13 Girls 3km race finishing 15th and 21st. Chris Rigby, who as well as looking after the athletes, completed the Senior Men’s 10km in a field of over 200 runners.

The club would like to encourage more young athletes who are training regularly to have a go at cross-country running.  The benefits of cross-county are well established. It is excellent for developing strength. The terrain forces you to run with your whole body. Ankle, leg, stomach and overall core strength will improve massively. Mental strength and determination are also developed which will lead to athletes racing better on the track during the Summer season. 

If interested in taking part in cross-country contact Chris Rigby at the track on Saturday mornings or Geoff Lowry on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Words - @jmccolgan
Thanks to Sarah McGraw for the photos and summary of the races.
More photos have been posted on the Club’s Facebook Page by Chris Kirby

It was great to see the Derbyshire Sports Hall Mini League for young athletes take place again at Queen’s Park Leisure Centre, Chesterfield on Sunday, having been cancelled last year due to the Pandemic. Twenty three AVEAC athletes took part in the fixture across the three age groups - Under 11, Under 13 and Under 15.  The Under 13 Girls narrowly won their age category scoring 90 points ahead of Chesterfield on 88.5.  As was the case in 2019 Chesterfield were convincing winners overall on  498 points, with Derby second on 369 and AVEAC on 343.  High Peak AC and new club Cannon Events finished 4th and 5th.

Under 11s
Lois Driver was the Club's highest scorer in the Girl's match contributing 24.5 points. Lois won the Chest Push Throw, finished 2nd in the Standing Triple Jump and completed a busy afternoon as 5th  fastest out of twenty two competitors the One Lap sprint.  Isobel Weller was also in good form scoring 21 points with a  3rd place in the 2 Lap Sprint, a 4th place in the Standing Triple Jump and 5th in the Vertical Jump. Lily Robshaw placed 4th in both the One and Two Lap sprints while Emily Bamford ended up 5th in the Shot. Other fine performances were recorded by Mamie Skipper in the sprints and Standing Triple Jump and Ruby Shore in the Chest Push Throw.

In the Boy's match Joe Moss excelled in his three events scoring 27 points with victories in the 2 Lap sprint and Chest Push Throw and a 4th place in the Vertical Jump. Our only other Under 11 Boy in action was Marcus Parsons-Loades who did well ending up in 4th place in the Chest Push Throw and 6th in the short sprint.

An excellent turn out of nine Under 13 Girls reaped rewards with the team winning overall in their age group. Isla Hiscocks was top scorer with two winning performances in the Standing Triple Jump and Vertical Jump and a second place in the sprint. Ellie Travis,  Freya Kirby and Jasmine Shore made it a one, two and three in the Shot while Isobelle Prothero and Madeleine Turner finished in 2nd and 3rd places behind Isla in the Triple Jump. Jamie-Lee Scott showed her endurance capabilities with a solid run and second place in the 6 Lap Run,  Jasmine Shore was also 2nd in the Vertical Jump and Amelia Whittaker put together two pleasing performances in the Sprint and Triple Jump finishing just outside a top three position in both.  

Corey Fisher was the Club's best placed athlete in the Boy's Under 13 contest finishing 2nd in the sprint and also gained 3rd spot in the 6 Lap Run. Nicholas Driver did well with two 3rd places in the Standing Triple Jump and Sprint while Jack Heslop competing in his first competition placed 6th in the Shot. 

AVEAC had three Under 15 Boys in action with all of them contributing points to an overall second place behind Derby. Newcomer Archie Bamford had a fine debut with a second place finish in the 4 Lap Sprint just ahead of Sebastian Banks in 3rd.  Archie placed 4th in the 2 Lap Sprint and 5th in the Triple Jump. Sebastian also took 4th place in the Triple Jump and 5th in the Shot. Kian Whittaker, the final member of the team, did well in the 2 Lap, 4 Lap and Shot with 6th places in all three.

​Daisy Kaye was our only U15 Girl in action and feeling slightly under the weather limited her participation to the Shot  where she finished 3rd.   With a few more Under 15 Girls taking part in future fixtures, the team would add substantially to their overall points total and, although it seems already that Chesterfield will take some catching in the overall standings, AVEAC could certainly be pushing for 2nd place.  The next fixture will take place on Sunday 14th November at Queens's Park Leisure Centre, Chesterfield from 1pm. Thanks are due to Team Managers Sarah Kaye and Rich Woodward. 

This Saturday 16th October, the first cross country fixture of the year will take place at Markeaton Park, Derby.  The event is part of the North Midlands Cross Country League and caters for all age groups from Under 11 to Senior and Masters runners. The first race for Under 11 Girls will start at 12:30. 

Words and collages - @jmccolgan
Thanks to Sarah and Daisy Kaye for the individual photos and Rich Woodward for the Team photo.

The AVEAC Club Championships returned to Rutland Track after an absence of two years and provided a fitting finale to the season. Blessed with glorious sunny weather, the community ethos of the club was there to be seen through the huge amount of voluntary effort from parents, coaches and club officials, ensuring that the event ran smoothly and successfully.  Our first ever Olympic athlete Jess Turner was on hand to present the winners with their prizes, as well handing over a perpetual cup in her name to the athlete producing the outstanding performance of the championship.

​Fifty one competitors took part in the competition which catered for athletes from nine years old up to Under 17. The younger athletes in the Club’s Recreation group took part in a four event Quadkids contest comprising of a 75m sprint, a Long Jump, a Howler Javelin throw and a 600m run. Older athletes in the Under 13 to 17 age groups participated in a ‘Run, Jump, Throw’ competition, choosing one event from each of these categories, gaining points along the way, based on their performances, with the highest points scorer in each age group being crowned club champion. 

In a very close and high standard Under 17 Men’s competition, Ryan Rawlinson emerged as the winner by a mere two points from George Reynolds; Ryan scored 279 points to George’s 277. Ryan scored the maximum number of 100 points for his 6.57m Long Jump, an exceptional effort for a fifteen year old. The distance would have propelled him to top of the rankings  in the U.K. as a Year 1 Under 17 had the meeting been officially licensed. George  Reynolds was also in good form in the Long Jump and exceeded the 6m mark for the second time this year, leaping 6.03m.  Both athletes produced excellent efforts in their Sprint and Shot Put events with George returning a PB of 11.7 in the 100m. In third place was Ben Pitts who opted for the High Jump, Javelin and 800m as his three scoring events. Ben finished on 258 points with the High Jump being the highlight of the three disciplines where he equaled his personal best of 1.80m.  In fourth place was Archie Protheroe on 241 points, Corey Tatum was fifth on 227 points and Joe Bennett scored 162 points in 6th despite not registering a distance in the Long Jump.

By virtue of his performance in the Long Jump, Ryan Rawlinson became the first holder of the Jessica Turner Perpetual Cup for the outstanding performance of the Championship. 

In the Under 17 Women’s competition Nicole Bonser was the victor scoring 226 points. Her best scoring event on the day was the 100m clocking a personal best time of 13.6. Having trouble with her Long Jump run up she still managed to register a distance of 4.37m despite taking off half a metre behind the board. In second place was Grace Young while Isabelle Hays and Maddie Fahey finished third and fourth.

There were only two athletes competing in the Under 15 Boy’s event and the title went to  Kian Whittaker who scored 156 points ahead of Freddie Haddock on 148. Both boys are relatively new to athletics competition and did well across their three events. Competing as a guest in this age group was Ewan Collier from Rushcliffe AC who is a second claim member of AVEAC. Ewan scored an impressive 236 points with his highest scoring event of the three, being the 800m where he recorded a time of 2:27:5.

With several of the club's U15 Girls taking a well earned rest after a lengthy season, there were only two athletes participating on the day.  The title went to Imogen Laugharne, who despite having competed in the English School’s Pentathlon, the previous Sunday, still managed to put together three pleasing performances in the 75m Hurdles, High Jump and Shot. Her final score was 233 points and her best scoring event was the sprint hurdles with a time of 12:1. In second place was first year U15, Poppy Weller, on 194 points. Poppy’s best event was her 18.07 Javelin throw.

Ellie Travis lifted the Under 13 Girl's title on 188 points. The event provided the biggest field  of the day with eleven athletes taking part. Ellie put together consistent performances across her three events with the highlight being a 4.13m Long Jump. The silver medalist was Madeleine Turner on 156 points and not far behind in third place was Jasmine Shore with a final score of 151.  The highest scoring individual event performance came from Freya Kirby in the Javelin with another excellent throw of 27.51m which earned her 75 points.  As well as Ellie, Madeleine, Jasmine and Freya, the other competitors taking part were; Naiya Starbucks, Amelia Whittaker, Lucy Rowcroft, Jaime-Lee Scott, Eleanor Rigby, Isobel Protheroe and Phoebe Manning.

Gino Franco took the gold in the Boy's Under 13 Championship with a score of 194 points. His best event was the Javelin, throwing 25.70m to earn 73 points. In second place was Nicholas Driver on 155 points with third place going to Corey Fisher on 153.

Twenty two of our under 11's lined up for the Quadkids competition; 13 in the Girl's event and 9 in the Boy's. Isobel Weller took the Girl's title on 178 points with Silver and Bronze going to Lily Robshaw who scored 178 points and Summer Biggs with a total of 158.

The Boy's  Gold medalist was Alfie Ray with an excellent overall tally of 205 points, followed in second and third positions by Joe Moss with 191 points and Finlay Bacon on 175. The other competitors in the Girl's and Boy's competition, many of them competing for the first time, are to be congratulated on their efforts. They included; Sienna Peel, Mamie Skipper, Lois Driver, Olivia Irvine, Lily Romans, Ruby Shore, Rosie Boyer, Bethany Wardle, Neve Sturt, Teagan Wilkinson, Harvey Glover, Seb Taylor, Kyran McCrellis, Alfie Stevens, Marcus Parsons-Loades and Ethan Ray. 

At the conclusion of the event, Bob Boyd, Club Chair congratulated all the athletes on their fine performances and thanked all the volunteers for their sterling workload. Bob commented:

"Your positive attitude and cheerful demeanour, not to mention professional way of working, went a long way to make everything run smoothly, which was, I am certain the main reason why the youngsters got so much out of the day"

Bob went on to thank Jess Turner for presenting the prizes and reminded all the young athletes present, that in the early days of the Club, Jess had started off competing in the Club Championships and Mini League and through hard work and dedication to training had got to the highest level in the sport.  

The club is now looking forward to as many youngsters as possible turning out for the Sports Hall and Cross Country fixtures starting in October.

Words and pictures - @jmccolgan
For a fantastic array of pictures of the day's action taken by Chris Kirby, visit the clubs Facebook Page

An end of season 'Field Fest' at Burton on Monday evening organised by Derby Athletics Development Association (DADA) saw some outstanding Javelin throws by  the club’s athletes including two new club records. 

Jessie Brown who has been throwing consistently over the 40m mark of late and was edging closer to breaking her own Senior Women’s club record, finally managed to unleash a mighty throw of 43.49m. The distance beat her previous record that stood at 42.02m, set at the Midland Senior Championships earlier in the season.  Jessie has now moved  up to  eighth position in the U.K. Under 23 rankings and will be looking to edge closer to the head of the rankings next season after a good Winter’s training behind her. Her final competitive throw of this season was a fitting reward for all her hard work under the watchful eye of Javelin coach Scott Knighton. 

The second club record was set by 12 year old Freya Kirby who managed to launch the 400 gram Javelin out to 29.13m, breaking the existing mark of 28.74m set by Daisy Kaye in 2019. Freya has thrown consistently this year and in all her seven Javelin competitions that she has competed in, she has set AAA Grade 1 performances in each of them. She now is ranked 6th in the U.K. at Under 13 level.

Three of the club’s other ‘spear chuckers’ were also in action. Joe Bennett threw 33.37m in the 700 gram class, a throw not far behind his  34.05m personal best. Older sibling Grace in only her second competition this year, following a foot injury, had a best of 26.82m in the Women’s category while another younger member of the Javelin group, Gino Franco’s best effort on the night was 29.69m just under a metre behind his recent PB set at the Charnwood Open a few weeks ago. All in all a good nights work for the throwers.

On Tuesday, the final DADA Track meeting was held at Moorways. Only two AVEAC athletes were in action with Lucy Fitzpatrick winning her graded 200m race in 29:13 and Isla Hiscocks finishing 3rd in the 75m U13 sprint in a time of 10:69. 

Words - @jmccolgan
Photos - @chriskirby Athletic Photography

Ella Rush created her own piece of athletics history on Sunday when she became the youngest athlete to won the 'Triple Crown' of English School's Combined Events titles in the thirty three year running of the Championship. Seventeen year old Ella  comfortably carried off the Senior Heptathlon title to add to her previous two gold medals when winning the Junior Girl's Pentathlon in 2018 and the Intermediate Girl's 'seven eventer' in 2019. Only Meghan Beesley, the Olympic 400m hurdler, who in her earlier career concentrated on combined events, has won all three titles in the past, her third one coming as an eighteen year old back in 2008. Ella's overall winning score of 5370 points  consolidated her  position as the top Under 18 year old in the U.K. and elevated her to eleventh in the U.K. Senior rankings.

She couldn't have asked for a better start to the competition on Saturday morning knocking an impressive four-tenths of a second off her previous best in the 100m Hurdles recording 14:36, the fastest time of the five heats. Going into the High Jump in a buoyant mood, Ella was hoping to clear at least 1.70m when an unfortunate collision with the upright at 1.65m dazed her slightly and she was unable to go any higher. Nevertheless a clearance at 1.62m kept her in front of the thirty seven strong chasing pack and a throw of 11.37m in the Shot extended her lead even further. Going into the 200m, the last event of the first day, she soon put the disappointment of the High Jump behind her to run another personal best of 25:15. Finishing the first day with a score of 3179 points, she had a commanding lead of 251 points going into final three events on Day 2.

A very strong Long Jump of 5.91m on Sunday morning was forty five centimetres in front of the second best placed jump and set the tone for her final two events. Ella’s Javelin throwing has been steadily improving of late and she was delighted with another best ever performance of 32.49m in her final effort. Looking for a finishing time of around her previous best of 2:23 in the 800m, she not only achieved that but in the process simply annihilated it, with a exceptional run of 2:18:42. The quick 800m run boosted her final tally to 5370, a new personal best by 204 points.  At the end of the competition Ella had a winning margin of over seven hundred points from Kate Chapman (Devon), the runner up and Rhiana Burrell (West Midlands) who finished third.

She was delighted with her performance and reflecting on the two days competition she said: 

“I am really happy to finish the season on such a high and want to thank everyone who has helped me achieve this milestone of three Championship titles”

”I will now take a few weeks rest before starting Winter training in preparation for what I hope will be another good season next year”

AVEAC had two other athletes, Imogen Laugharne and Mae Jones in action representing Derbyshire in the Junior Girl’s Pentathlon.  Forty two athletes took part in the competition and Imogen finished a highly respectable 11th scoring 2745 points, beating her previous best score by 104 points. Personal bests came in the 75m Hurdles where she sped to a time of 11:76 and in the Long Jump with a distance of 4.85m. Her 7.94m Shot Put and 1.56m clearance in the  High Jump were marginally behind her previous bests and she finished a lengthy competitive  day running the 800m  in 2:47:35.

Mae finished in 36th position overall on 2288 points, just over twenty points behind her previous Pentathlon outing in June. She too, started the day very well, reducing her 75m Hurdles time from 12.53 to 12:22 and added a centimetre to her Shot PB with a throw of 7.63m.  Disappointed with her High and Long Jump performances, Mae finished the day with a solid 800m run in 2:56:82.

Words and photos - @jmccolgan 

Our September issue is out now - trackupdate_september

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 Harvey Hadden Sports Village, our athletes bagged a total of 53 championship medals including 21 Gold, 18 Silver and 14 Bronze. Medals were  won in each of the age groups from Under 13 to Senior level and it was also good to see some of our very youngest athletes in the the Under 11 age group contest, the four event, Quadrathlon.  The Championships which normally take place in May were delayed this year due to COVID and several months of planning by officials at Derbyshire Athletics and Nottinghamshire Athletics Association ensured that the event ran smoothly and successfully.  All the officials and volunteers who were involved in the championships are to be congratulated on their sterling efforts.

In the Derbyshire Championships,  the Club had four County Champions at Under 13 level with Isla Hiscocks taking the 70m Hurdles title, Ellie Travis won the Shot while Freya Kirby was ahead of the field in the Javelin. In the Boy's section Gino Franco also took the Javelin title.  Imogen Laugharne lifted the High Jump and 75m Hurdles titles in the Under 15 age group while Mae Jones was best in the Long Jump. 

In the Under 17 age group, Ryan Rawlinson produced three gold medal winning performances in the 100m Hurdles, Long Jump and Triple Jump. Ben Pitts became the High Jump and Discus Champion and Nicole Bonser won the 200m title.  At Under 20 Level Charlie Yates produced double winning performances with victories in the High and Triple Jumps and there was a High Jump first place as well for Henry Knighton in the Under 20 Men's championship.

Decathlete Scott Ram had a busy weekend contesting seven events over the two days in the Senior Men's Derbyshire championship.  He ended his gruelling schedule  lifting four titles in the 400m, 110m Hurdles, Long Jump and Pole Vault. Jessie Brown took the Nottinghamshire Senior Women's Javelin title.

In the Derbyshire Under 11 Quadkids,  Elodie Flanaghan finished 4th on 197 points in the Girls contest closely followed by Sienna Peel in 6th with 192 points and Mamie Skipper, 7th with a total of 178 . Marcus Parson - Loades was 8th in the Boy's competition scoring 165 points. In the Nottinghamshire event, Lily Robshaw completed two of the four events and scored 67 points.

Roll of Honour - 2021 County Medalists

Derbyshire 

Under 13 Girls
🥇Isla Hiscocks - 70m H - 12.93
🥇Freya Kirby - Javelin- 25.12m
🥇Ellie Travis - Shot - 7.34m
🥈Ellie Travis - Long Jump - 4.07m
🥈Ellie Travis - High Jump - 1.20m
🥈Jasmine Shore - Shot - 6.00m
🥉Isla Hiscocks - 100m - 13.95
🥉Isla Hiscocks - Long Jump - 3.70m
🥉Jasmine Shore - Javelin - 17.07m

Under 13 Boys
🥇Gino Franco - Javelin - 30.39m

Under 15 Girls
🥇Imogen Laugharne - 75m Hurdles - 11.83
🥇Imogen Laugharne - High Jump - 1.55
🥇Mae Jones - Long Jump - 4.93m
🥈Alexa Gordon - Long Jump - 4.91m
🥈Mae Jones - High Jump - 1.35m
🥉Imogen Laugharne - 100m - 13.80
🥉Mae Jones - 75m Hurdles - 12.55
🥉Imogen Laugharne - Long Jump - 4.63m
🥉Imogen Laugharne - Shot - 7.60m

Under 15 Boys
🥈Hugo Thomas - Long Jump - 5.73m

Under 17 Women 
🥇Nicole Bonser - 200m - 28.70
🥈Katie Potts - Long Jump - 4.97m
🥈Nicole Bonser - 100m - 13.93
🥉Isabelle Hays - 80m Hurdles - 18.84
🥉Nicole Bonser - Long Jump - 4.82m
🥉Nicole Bonser - Shot - 8.40m

Under 17 Men
🥇Ryan Rawlinson - 100m Hurdles - 16.13
🥇Ryan Rawlinson - Long Jump - 5.94m
🥇Ryan Rawlinson - Triple Jump - 11.84m
🥇Ben Pitts - High Jump - 1.80m
🥇Ben Pitts - Discus - 29.06m
🥈Ryan Rawlinson - 200m - 23.71
🥈Ben Pitts -  Javelin - 36.42m
🥉Ryan Rawlinson - 100m - 11.84
🥉Joe Bennett - Javelin - 30.38m

Under 20 Women
🥇Charlie Yates - High Jump - 1.55m
🥇Charlie Yates - Triple Jump - 10.60m
🥈Charlie Yates - 100m - 13.61
🥈Fran Howett - 1500m - 5.55.92
🥉Grace Bennett - Javelin - 26.72m

Under 20 Men
🥇Henry Knighton - High Jump - 1.80m

Senior Men
🥇Scott Ram - 400m - 51.49
🥇Scott Ram - 110m Hurdles - 15.90
​🥇Scott Ram - Long Jump - 6.27m
🥇Scott Ram - Pole Vault - 3.30m
🥈Scott Ram -  200m - 23.46
🥉Scott Ram - 100m - 11.71

Nottinghamshire 

Under 15 Girls
🥈Daisy Kaye - 300m - 44.30
🥈Daisy Kaye - High Jump - 1.45m
🥈Daisy Kaye - Shot - 9.07m

Under 17 Women
🥈Lucy Fitzpatrick - Triple Jump - 9.74m
🥈Millie Walster - Javelin - 30.23m

Senior Women
🥇Jessie Brown - Javelin - 41.01m

Words - @jmccolgan
Photos of the championships will be available at: www.athletic.photography courtesy of Chris Kirby in the next few days.

The final Upper Youth Development League Match at the Harvey Hadden Stadium on Sunday 5th September resulted in a fine third place finish overall for our Under 17 and 20 athletes.  Notts AC and Charnwood finished first and second and AVEAC managed to hold on to third place ahead of Derby and Burton,  clinched by a victory in one of the final events of the day, the Under 20 Women's 4 x 100m Relay.  Ella Rush and Charlie Yates were joined by Under 17 athletes Nicole Bonser and Katie Potts, with the quartet completing the one lap circuit in 51:6, ahead of Notts who were half a second behind. 

Henry Knighton was our sole Under 20 male athlete in action and like the previous fixtures he  scored valuable points placing second in the Triple Jump, edging his PB by one centimeter with a 11.91m performance. He also finished 2nd in the Javelin and 3rd in the High Jump. 

As well as winning the 4 x 100m Relay there were some excellent individual performances by the Under 20 Women athletes.  Ella Rush ran a commanding race in the 400m winning in 57:8 and in the process improved her previous best run over the one lap distance  by just over a second.  Charlie Yates, as she has done in the earlier matches, won the Triple Jump with a best effort of 10.56m. Alex Arbon clinched victory in the Javelin with a fine throw of 37.08m while Fran Howett ran 2:40.3 in the 800m, a season's best, which placed her 2nd in the two lap race. Katie Potts moved up an age group and ended up in third place in the Under 20 Long Jump; her best effort was 4.74m. 

In the Under 17 Men's match George Reynolds had a busy afternoon winning the Long Jump on 5.94m, finishing 2nd in the Shot with a 'put' of 9:40m and breaking 12 seconds for the first time in the 'A' 100m in 2nd place with a 11:9 clocking. Ryan Rawlinson also sprinted to a new best ever 100m; his time of 11:6 ensured maximum points in the 'B' race. He also was runner up in the Triple Jump with a best of 11.41m. Corey Tatum was 2nd in the 'B' Long Jump edging his previous best by one centimetre with a fine effort of 5.39m. In the 400m he also recorded 56:4 in 4th place; another marginal PB by one tenth of a second. Corey also took maximum points in the 'B' Shot. In the Javelin, Ben Pitts continued his recent spate of 40 metre plus throws with another PB of 41.32m to take the 'A' event. Ben was backed up by Joe Bennett in the 'B' contest who also placed 1st with a distance of 32.83m.

In the Under 17 Women's contest, Millie Walster threw 30.45m to won the Javelin by almost three metres. Nicole Bonser was a valuable points scorer across three events with a second place in the Long Jump and two third paces in the Shot and 200m. Her Shot Put distance of 9.25m and 200m time of 28:1 were both personal bests. Isabelle Hayes equaled her PB of 16 seconds dead in the 80m Hurdles to place 2nd and finished in the same position in the 'B' Long Jump. In the longer 300m Hurdles Maddie Fahey was 3rd with a time of 58:6 while in the Triple Jump Lucy Fitzpatrick claimed another 2nd place, similar to her previous league outing, with a jump of 9.83m.  In the non-scoring Long Jump, it was good to see Elizabeth Collings competing for the first this year and recording a distance of 4.06m.

Finally, congratulations is due to all the athletes who competed this year for their sterling efforts and on their behalf the Club would like to extend a big thank you to Jayesh Dave and Karen Yates for managing the teams at the four fixtures. 

Words and photos - @jmccolgan
Editor’s note: the final results of this fixture are not yet published on the Power of Ten so the blog was written from a draft of the results on the YDL website. Any performances not included or amendments will be added later. 

The final Lower Youth Development League fixture took place on Saturday 4th September at Moorways Stadium, Derby and although the team was low in numbers due to holidays, there were nonetheless some exceptional performances by our  younger athletes. Pride of place must go to Hugo Thomas and Freya Kirby who both recorded England Athletics Grade One performances when winning their respective events. 14 year old Hugo, moved himself up to seventh in the U.K. rankings in the Boy's Under 15 Long Jump with an exceptional leap of 6.02m.  In the Girls's Under 13 Javelin, Freya Kirby's winning throw of 26.65m was also a Grade One and was the fifth time this season that the youngster has achieved this milestone.

There were many other fine performances as well across the run, jump and throw disciplines. The Carter brothers, Ellis and Lewis recorded PBs in the 100m; Ellis returned a time of 12:72 to finish third in the Under15 'B' race while Lewis's winning time in the non-scoring sprint was 13:29. Hugo Thomas followed up his excellent Long Jump with a fourth place finish in a very close 'A' 100m recording a time of 12:32. The team's two other Under 15 scoring competitors were  Charlie Halford, 5th in the 1500m and Owen Siddall, 2nd in the ‘B’ Long Jump and 4th in the 80m Hurdles.  The 4 x 100m relay team made up of the Carter brothers, Owen Siddall and Hugo Thomas completed the afternoon with a good third place  finish behind  Charnwood and Derby. 

Mae Jones and Poppy Weller were our only athletes taking part in the Girls Under 15 match and both scored valuable points in the six events they contested between them. Mae won the ‘A’ Long Jump, placed second in the ‘A’ High Jump and recorded a personal best in the ‘A’ Shot to finish 3rd adding over 60 centimetres to her previous best with a good effort of 7.62m. Poppy won the ‘B’ Shot, placed 5th in the ‘A’ 200m and finished the day with a throw of 21.72m to claim third place in the ‘A’ Javelin. 

At Under 13 Level, as well as Freya Kirby's victory in the Javelin, there was also a first place finish for Ellie Travis in the 'A' Shot with an excellent winning throw of 7.11m with Freya also adding maximum points in the 'B' event 'putting' 5.46m.  Eleanor Rigby jumped 1.10m to won the 'B' High Jump while in the 'A' event Ellie Travis taking part for the first time in this event cleared 1.20m to claim third place. In the 'B' Javelin Jasmine Shore threw 16.46m to add another maximum score for the team. Isla Hiscocks scored valuable points with second place finishes in the 70m Hurdles recording 12:73 and Long Jump with a fine effort of 3.96m.  In the 800m Jamie Lee Scott recorded a time 2:55:63 to take third spot while the final member of the Girl's squad, Lucy Rowcroft's distance of 3.20m in the 'B' Long Jump was a personal best and gained her fourth place.

In the Under 13 Boy's match, Nicholas Driver and Corey Fisher were first in the 'A' and 'B' Shot.  Nicholas's  best throw was 5.92m while Corey managed 4.30m. Gino Franco finished 3rd in the Javelin on 24.44m while Joshua Bailey's best performance on the day was in the Long Jump placing second with a leap of  3.34m.

Overall the team finished 5th in the six team contest and thanks is due to Nigel Hiscocks who managed both age groups on the day.

Photos and words - @jmccolgan
For more photos of the day’s action, visit the club’s Facebook page for Chris Kirby’s excellent images. 

The club champs organisation is coming along well - we have lined up a number of stands, and are currently producing our publicity material - in the meantime, the entry form is available below, or the eagle eyed among you would also have noticed it in the header info! - please download and return with payment!

​The club has put together a quick online shop to purchase some club kit which will be going live shortly:
http://shop.aveac.club/
Once the site is live you will be able to view the items on offer and order accordingly - at the moment we are asking that any orders you make are to be paid for on collection (cash or cheque) from the admin desk on Saturdays, beginning 18th September (after County Champs weekend!) Eventually we will offer a full electronic order/payment facility.

Hugo Thomas earned his first regional medal when he secured third place in the Boy's Under 15 Long Jump at last weekend's Midland Championships held at the Pingles Stadium, Nuneaton.  In not too favourable conditions, Hugo's best effort was 5.42m,  just seven centimetres behind the silver medalist Ramadan Noah (Coventry). The gold medalist Harry Carrott (Charnwood) jumped 5.59m.  This was a great achievement by Hugo who only joined the club earlier this year and adds to his fifth placing in the English School's finals in July.

The club had two other long jumpers in action, both of whom were unlucky not to get on the podium. Mae Jones finished fourth in the Girl's Under 15 event in a large field of 14 competitors; jumping 4.87m she was a mere two centimetres off the bronze medalist.  In the Women's Under 17 competition, Katie Potts finished fifth, leaping 4.98m, just one centimetre behind the fourth placed athlete and only ten behind the bronze medalist.

This Saturday a number of our athletes will be in action at the Charnwood 'Stars of the Future' meeting in Loughborough although for a few of them it was disappointing to learn on Tuesday that both the Triple Jump and Javelin events were cancelled due to lack of officials. The following weekend both Lower and Upper YDL teams will take part in their final fixtures of this year's campaign. The Under 13 and 15 team will be in action on Saturday 4th September at Moorways while on Sunday 5th, the Under 17 and 20 team will complete their last fixture at the Harvey Hadden Stadium.

Words - @jmccolgan
Photo - Peter Thomas 

It was a successful day for Ella Rush on her GB debut at the Manchester International last Wednesday. Competing in the Long Jump for the GB Under 18 team she finished second in a five way match against Under 20 teams from England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland.

The match took place in fairly gloomy conditions  but that didn't stop Ella from putting together an excellent series of jumps with three of her six efforts over 5.90m. Her best of 5.93m was an outdoor personal best and was only four centimetres behind Abigail Pawlett (England U20). Ella finished ahead of Wales's Jessica Lee who had a best effort of 5.86m; Scottish jumper Molly Reville was 4th on 5.67m and N. Ireland's Lauren Callaghan finished fifth with a best of 5.35m.

The Long Jump competition also included athletes taking part in the  International Senior match and it was a great experience for Ella to  jump alongside GB Olympian and 2019 World Championship finalist Abigail Irozuru and European Under 23 bronze medalist Lucy Hadaway. 

Speaking after the competition Ella said: "I am delighted with the consistency of my jumps today and was pleased to get an outdoor PB. It was a great honour to compete for GB and to give of my best on the day."

She is now looking forward to her final competition of the year, the English School's Heptathlon on the 18th and 19th September. Ella is in good form at the moment  having recently set personal bests in the Shot and Javelin at competitions in Loughborough as well as the Long Jump in Manchester and will be looking to improve on her Heptathlon best score of 5166 points.

Words and photo - @jmccolgan 

AVEAC Under 17 athletes, Ryan Rawlison and Millie Walster came away with silver medals at two prestigious athletics meetings at the weekend. Ryan travelled to Hull to take part in the Northern under-age championships on Saturday and Sunday and finished runner up in the Boys's Under 17 Triple Jump. He jumped 11.76m, his second furthest ever and was delighted to get on the podium. He will be in the same age group next year and will be looking to  improve even further. On Sunday Ryan took part in the Long Jump and finished a respectable 6th jumping 5.60m.

On Sunday the Loughborough Javelin Festival took place at the Paula Radcliffe track and Millie Walster produced a throw of 30.24m to finish in second place in the Under 17 age group. This was another consistent performance by the AVEAC  thrower who only joined the club this year. Like Ryan, Millie is also a first year Under 17 and no doubt will be adding longer distances to her throwing repertoire next year following a good winter's training. 

Competing in the under 13 age group at the Northern Championships, Isla Hiscocks qualified for the final of the 100m after finishing second in her heat in a  time of 14:11. In the final she was involved in a blanket finish and ended up in sixth place, just missing the bronze medal by one-tenth of a second. Despite sprinting  into a 2.2 metre head wind Isla was rewarded with a new personal best of 14:06. 

Back at the Loughborough Throws Festival, Jessie Brown finished sixth in a very high quality field in the senior competition. A throw of 41.17m was just under a metre behind her lifetime best. Ella Rush, got some Javelin throwing practice in for the English School's Heptathlon Championships next month and recorded a PB of 30.32m in the Under 20 event. University of Nottingham student Joss Foot who regularly trains with the AVEAC squad finished fourth in the Senior Men's competition  with an excellent  63.18m throw.

Virtual Award for Daisy
On Saturday there was a nice surprise in the post for Daisy Kaye. The Under 15 multi-eventer received the good news that during Lockdown she had won a virtual Quadrathlon organised by Stockport Track and Field. The event included a 10 x 10m Shuttle Run, a Ball Throw, a 3 minute run and a Standing Long Jump.  Daisy scored 286 points and her individual performances in the novel event were; 22.5 for the Shuttle Run,  33.70m in the Ball Throw, a Standing Long Jump of 2.19m and a distance of 810m for the three minute run. 

This weekend a small number of  AVEAC athletes will be heading to the Pringles Stadium, Nuneaton for the Midland Under 15 and 17 Championships. 

Photos
Ryan Rawlinson - @CatrionaLucas
Millie Walster - @ChrisKirby
Isla Hiscocks - @JMcColgan
Daisy Kaye - @SarahKaye

On Wednesday next, Ella Rush will gain her first GB vest when she competes in the Manchester International.  A five way match will see the GB Under 18 team take on Under 20 teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  Ella will compete in the Long Jump and her selection is a fitting reward for the talented athlete who as well as being outstanding in the Heptathlon, has also been the most consistent long jumper in her age group nationally since 2018. 

Delighted with her GB call up, Ella who twice previously competed for the English School’s team, in the Pentathlon,  in 2018 and 2019 commented:

”I am so pleased to have been selected and would like to thank everyone who has helped me on the way. I am in really good condition at the moment and want to be competitive on my GB debut and put in a strong performance”

”I have jumped in Manchester on several occasions and like the long jump facilities there, so hopefully I’ll jump well”

Her personal best in the Long Jump is 5.97m and she will be hoping to push over the 6 metre mark for the first time on Wednesday. It should be an excellent competition and will also include several older and more experienced jumpers competing in a Home Countries senior match  taking place alongside the Under 18 and Under 20  one. 

The Manchester International will give Ella the opportunity to gain experience in pursuit of further international age group competition in 2022. After the announcement of the team selection, GB Team Leader, Sharon Morris said, "we have a very strong U18 team and Under 20 team and I look forward to seeing them perform. I'd like to acknowledge the hard work coaches have put in supporting these young athletes to achieve their goals."

The action kicks off around 1pm on Wednesday with Ella's  Long Jump scheduled for 6:05pm. Tickets for the international are available on line at Eventbrite and cost only five pounds for adults and are free for Under 16s and Over 65s. 

A flare up of an achilles tendon injury severely affected Jess Turner's progress over the 400m hurdles at the Olympics.  Jess reached the semi-final, where she finished seventh after qualifying in fourth place in the Round 1 heats. 

Jess who has had a remarkable season leading up to the games, recording personal best performances on four occasions and winning the British title, ran 56:83  in one of the faster opening qualifying races, holding off Australian hurdler, Sarah Carli to gain automatic progression to the semi-final. In an interview with British Athletics after the heat, it became apparent that Jess's training had been curtailed during her final preparations  for Tokyo.

"I've had a tough run-up to this race, so I've not been able to train properly due to injury but I'm just happy to get round in one piece and to get the automatic spot."

In Monday's semi-final, it was clear to see that Jess was struggling from the start. To make matters worse the race took place during  torrential rain and she ended up in seventh place in a time of 60:36.

Jess was naturally gutted and in her post race interview with British Athletics media she said:

“I am proud to be here and happy I made the semi-finals but sad it had to end this way,” 

“I genuinely thought I had a shot at the final if I had run like I have been running all season.”

“I went to plan B and it was going OK but then my achilles massively flared up and it never usually does.”

“I’ve had such a dream season running fast times all throughout then when it mattered the most, I couldn’t manage it.”

Everyone at AVEAC is extremely proud of Jess’s achievement.  She is an Olympian and history maker and that can’t be taken away from her.  She will now focus on getting her Achilles injury sorted out and come back even stronger. Next year is another big one in the athletics calendar with the Commonwealth, European and World Championships taking place and Jess’s mind will now be focused towards those major events.  We wish you well Jess!

Picture: @jessturner Instagram
​Words: @jmccolgan

George Reynolds showed his athletic versatility at the third Upper YDL fixture held at Burton last Sunday recording three personal bests in the Long Jump, 200m and Shot.  He added 24 centimetres to his previous Long Jump best with a magnificent effort of 6.19m. The mark now ranks him just inside the top 30 in the UK in the Under 17 rankings and tenth best as a first year in this age group. His two other personal bests came in the 200m where he won  the 'B' race in 24:1, an improvement of 0:7 seconds and in the Shot, where he ‘put’ the 5kg metal ball 9.80m to finish second. 

George was not the only AVEAC athlete on PB form with several members of the team breaking new ground across a variety of events.  Ben Pitts, another talented all rounder, equaled his previous best in the Under 17  'A' High Jump clearing 1.75m and then went on to exceed all expectations by launching the Javelin 40.79m to record a fantastic double victory.  With limited Javelin coaching behind him, Ben who had previously only competed in the event once before, over two years ago, certainly showed that the potential is there to go a lot further. 

Ryan Rawlinson and Corey Tatum also returned PBs. Ryan stepped up to the Under 20 age group in the Long Jump and  went over six metres as well, jumping 6.01m to won the 'A' competition. Later in the afternoon he turned his attention to the Triple Jump winning the 'A' event with a second PB of 11.97m moving him up to fourteenth in the UK as a first year Under 17.  Corey Tatum was also in good form with a personal best of 5.34m to won the 'B' Long Jump and secured a second all time best performance of  24.7 in the 200m to finish third. Joe Bennett claimed maximum points winning the 'B' Javelin throwing 28.26m. 

In the Under 20 match Henry Knighton scored valuable points with top three finishes in the High Jump , Triple Jump and Javelin including PBs of 11.91m in the Hop, Step and Jump and 31.62m in the throw.  In the Women's match Amelia Banks finished second in the 'A' 100m timed at 13.1 seconds, a fraction behind her previous best. She also finished 2nd in the Javelin and 4th in the Discus. Charlie Yates bounded out to a season's best of 10.73m to won the Triple Jump; she also won the 'B' 100m in 13.6. Ella Rush was untroubled in the Long Jump winning the 'A' competition with a 5.72m leap, Fran Howett had another fine run in the 800m finishing 3rd in 2:43:0 and Sienna Grant stepped up to tackle the 400m to finish 3rd in 71 seconds dead.

In the Under 17 Women's contest, Isabelle Hays won the 80m Hurdles in 16.1 and recorded a new best  of 3.94m in the non-scoring Long Jump. Millie Walster took maximum points in the 'A' Javelin with another consistent throw of 30.52m,  Katie Potts jumped 4.93m in the 'A' Long Jump to finish 2nd, while Maddy Fahey finished 2nd as well in the 300m Hurdles and 3rd in the 'B' Long Jump. In the Triple Jump, Lucy Fitzpatrick was 2nd with a distance of 9.74m. 

The fourth and final Upper YDL fixture will take place at Nottingham on Sunday 5th September.  Team Managers, Karen Yates and Jyesh Dave will  be contacting athletes about their availability later in August.  

Acknowledgements
Photos: Roy Reynolds and Joe McColgan

There was a good turn out of our younger athletes at the second Mini League fixture on Saturday last with several of them gaining their first experience of competitive athletics.   The weather was a lot better than the first match, three weeks ago, ensuring that many fine performances were recorded with several  personal bests being the order of the day. The team spirit was excellent and was no more evident than in the final ‘mixed’ relays which saw our U11 and U13 combined team winning and the U13 and U15 joint team finishing a close second.

In the Girl’s Under 15 age group, Mae Jones was in terrific form recording a treble. She started off the morning winning the 75m Hurdles ahead of team team mate Alexa Gordon, recording a new best of 12:53. Both girls finished in the same positions in the 100m (Race 2) with just a metre separating them at the finish with times of 13:74 and 13:80.  Mae then went on to won the Long Jump; jumping into a slight head wind, her best effort was 4.69m.

Esme Aikman, running her first ever 300m produced a storming finish to cross the finish line in 49:47 to take first place. She also had another fine Shot  performance placing second, throwing 7.87m. In 100m (Race 1), Katie Fitzpatrick was runner up in 14:24 and in the same sprint there was a personal best for Cam Cammack, recording a time of 14:80.  Imogen Laugharne produced decent performances in the Long Jump and Shot finishing second behind Mae Jones in the former jumping 4.40m and then claimed the third spot in the throw  with a ‘put’ of 7.33m. Poppy Weller continued her recent improvement in the Javelin to finish third with a PB of 21.75m, adding almost half a metre to her previous best set at last weekend’s YDL fixture.

Hugo Thomas continued to impress with two second places in the U15 Boy’s 100m (Race1) and 80m Hurdles. His 100m time was 12:30 while debuting at the short hurdles he recorded 14:87. Recent new recruit to the club, Ellis Carter had a successful first appearance winning the 100m (Race 2) in 13:21 and placing third in the 300m in 44:61. In the 100m Race 3, Sebastian Banks placed third in 14:54 and finished in the same position in the High Jump. 

In the Under 13 age category, Isla Hiscocks sped to a time of 14:09 in the 100m in second place after starting the morning finishing second as well in the 70m hurdles. Portia Gordon finished half a second behind Isla placing third in the 100m and had it not been for an unfortunate slip around the 60m mark, she may have been even closer to the top two at the finish. Eleanor Rigby improved her High Jump best again clearing 1.18m to claim another third spot. In a mixed Under 13 and 15 Boy's and Girl's 1500m, Jamie Lee Scott was the fourth best placed Under 13 Girl, Eleanor Rigby was sixth best placed and Charlie Halford was the fourth best placed Under 15 Boy.

In the Under 13 Boy’s match, Gino Franco produced another fine effort in the Javelin with a 28.09m throw to finish first. Joshua Bailey’s best performance of the day was in the Long Jump where he finished second with a good effort of 3.56m. Corey Fisher sprinted well to take second place in the 200m in 31:34 following his third place in the 100m earlier in the day where his time of 14:85  was a new PB.  
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In the Under 11 match, Lily Robshaw competing for the first time recorded two victories in the 80m (Race 1) and Long Jump. Her time in the sprint was 13:29 and a long jump of 3.07m was also good enough for first place. Another newcomer, Sienna Peel finished second in the 150m and was the  top placed  Girl in a mixed Boy's and Girl's 600m. A third new debutant, Elodie Flannaghan finished second behind Lily in the Long Jump leaping 2.92m and then went on to place third in the Howler Javelin.

Alfie Ray, also recorded a double in the Boy's Under 11 events winning the 150m in 23:93 and the Mixed Boy's and Girls 600m with a fine display of front running in 2:03:2.  Isobel Weller came second in the 80m less than half a metre behind Lily crossing the finish in 13:35 and was the third best placed Under 11 girl in the mixed 600m. Other fine efforts were achieved by Ethan Ray, Alfie's younger brother, in the 80m and 150m sprints and by Jack Heslop in the 150m and mixed 600m. 

This was the final Mini League match this season. The normal four match programme was reduced to two due to Covid restrictions. A big thank you is due to the hard working Derbyshire Athletics officials who pulled out all the stops to ensure that the counties younger athletes, especially Under 11s, could engage in some competitive athletics this year. A big thank you as well on behalf of athletes and parents to AVEAC Mini League Team Manager Anna Fitzpatrick for her sterling work over the two matches.  

The next Derbyshire Athletics promotion will be the County Championships in conjunction with Nottinghamshire Athletics at the Harvey Haddon Stadium on   Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September. The event caters for all ages from Under 13 to Masters and includes a Quadkids, four event competition,  for Under 11s.  Entry details are on the Club’s Facebook Page and the Derbyshire Athletics Facebook page. 

Words and photos - J McColgan 

The second Lower YDL fixture took place on Saturday last at the Harvey Hadden Stadium, Nottingham. The hottest day of the year so far, did not deter our younger athletes from producing some excellent performances with twelve first place finishes and several personal bests recorded. AVEAC finished fifth overall out of the six competing teams scoring 265 points and were only 12 points behind Mansfield Harriers in 3rd. Derby AC finished fourth on 268 points while the home team scored 382 points and managed to hold on to overall victory, ten points ahead of Charnwood.

Under 13 Boys
Gino Franco produced his second furthest throw so far in the Javelin with a fine effort of 28.50m securing maximum points with a first place finish. This was another excellent performance by Gino who has a PB of 29.75m set recently at the Moorways DADA competition. His distance on Saturday was almost 9 meters ahead of the second placed athlete. Gino also took part in the ' A' 150m and recorded a time of 23 seconds dead to finish fifth.

Joshua Bailey had a busy afternoon scoring valuable points in the 75m sprint, 800m and Long Jump.  A time of 11:7 placed him fifth in the short sprint, a new PB of 2:49:50 in the 800m was good enough for  fourth while  his 3.73m Long Jump ensured third place. Corey Fisher had two fourth place finishes in the 'B' string 150m and 800m and took third as well in the Shot.  Nicholas Driver, in his first ever competition on the track, had an excellent debut with two third places in the 'B' 75m in 11:3 and Long Jump with a distance of 3.65m. In the 1200m Max Houlton was 5th in a time of 4:44:8. To finish the day the 4 x 100m relay team of Joshua, Nicholas, Gino and Corey placed third behind Mansfield and Charnwood.

Under 13 Girls
Freya Kirby continued her excellent progress in the Javelin and like Gino Franco in the Boy's event won her competition by a considerable margin of almost eight metres. Freya's distance of 26.74m was just short of her recent 28:67m personal best also set at the DADA meeting earlier in the month. Both marks are English Athletics Grade 1 standards and rank her fifth  in the UK at Under 13 level. For good measure Freya took second spot in the Shot as well with a new best of 6:08m.

In the sprints, Isla Hiscocks was third in the 'A'  75 in 10:5 and repeated the same placing in 70m Hurdles with a time of 14:4, Naiya Starbuck was fourth in the 'B' 75 in 11.5 and 6th in the 'A'  150m in 23.4.  Ellie Travis won the 'B'  150m recording an excellent time of 21:4 and also won the non-scoring 75m in 10:80.

Eleanor Rigby placed 5th in the 800m; her time of 2:55:90 improved her personal best set at the first fixture by almost four seconds.  She also recorded PBs and scored valuable points in the  'A' High Jump  clearing 1.15m and 'B' Long Jump, with a leap of 3.32m. In the 'A' Long Jump, Ellie Travis added another PB to her 75m and 150m with a fine distance of 3:65m improving  by nineteen centimetres on her previous distance at the first Mini League match.

In the 4 x 100m Relay, Naiya, Eleanor, Ellie and Isla ran 58:3 to finish second behind a very fast Notts team.

Under 15 Boys
Hugo Thomas showed excellent form  in the Boy's 100m, 200m and Long Jump where the standard in all three events was exceptionally high.  Personal bests of 11:9 in the 100m and 24:8 in the 200m earned him second places while a distance of 5:57m in the Long Jump placed him third.  Our only other Under 15 Boy was Charlie Halford who finished fifth in both the 'A' 800m and 'B' 200m returning times of 2:46:0 in the two lap event and 31:2 in the shorter race.

Under 15 Girls
Our Under 15 Girl's squad is exceptionally strong and this was reflected with ten victories in total across the 'A' and 'B' events. Imogen Laugharne, Poppy Weller, Mae Jones and Daisy Kaye ended a great afternoon for the team winning the 4 x 100m Relay in 54:4.  Individually there were nine other first place finishes.  Daisy Kaye set her second personal best in the 200m in a week winning the 'A' event in 27:2 and also took maximum points in the Shot with a solid throw of 8.63m. Mae Jones won the 'A' Long Jump with another consistent jump of 4.96m. Alexa Gordon, returning to competition after injury made a welcome comeback and jumped the exact same distance as Mae to won the 'B' event.

Imogen Laugharne won the 75m Hurdles in 12:3 while Mae Jones did likewise in the 'B' event with a PB of 12:8. Other first places in the 'B' events were recorded by Katie Fitzpartick in the High Jump with a 1.40m clearance, Esme Aikman in the ‘B’ Shot throwing 7.51m  and Daisy Kaye in the Javelin on 21.05m.

Poppy Weller taking part in only her second Javelin competition improved by over four metres on her previous outing throwing 21:34m to finish third in the 'A' competition. She claimed third as well in the 'B' 200m with another best performance of 30:4. There were more PBs in the 100m for Katie Fitzpatrick and Mae Jones; both were timed at 13:7 with Katie finishing third in the 'A' race and Mae taking second in the 'B' sprint. Esme Aikman threw the Discus 15.04m to finish second in the 'A' event while Imogen Laugharne  cleared 1:50m in the 'A' High Jump to also take the runner up spot.

All in all it was a fine afternoon's athletics for the AVEAC team and had it not been for a few athletes missing the event due to Covid self isolation, they would have pushed for a third place finish in the overall standings. Thanks are due again to Sarah Kaye who looked after the Under 15 team and Nigel Hiscocks who team managed the Under 13s. The final Lower YDL fixture will take place at Derby on  Saturday 4th September. This weekend the Under 13s and Under 15s will be joined by our Under 11s at the final Mini League match of the season at Moorways on Saturday while our older Under 17 and 20 athletes will be in action at the third Upper YDL fixture on Sunday at Burton.

Photo acknowledgement: 
Chris Kirby - Athletic Photography 
For more of Chris’s images of the fixture, visit the Club’s Facebook Page.