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

AVEAC athletes produced several good performances at last Wednesday’s Charnwood Open and again on Sunday at the early season event in Nuneaton.   Also on Sunday five of the club’s youngest athletes took part in a 3km Mini Marathon held in conjunction with the Derby 10km annual road race.

The Charnwood event was held in conditions that were not ideal with swirling winds hampering some of the performances especially in the longer sprints and middle distance events.  

Four of our middle distance runners took part in the graded 800m races along with their coach Geoff Lowry.  Recent newcomer to the Group,  Eden Klugman produced a good debut over the two laps recording a time of 2:35:04, Fran Howett’s time was 2:48:61, Daisy Kaye who was impeded in the early stages of the race finished in 2:56:60, Jamie-Lee Scott returned a time of 3:02:19 while Coach Geoff running in the Masters  Age 55 category crossed the finish in 2: 34:73. 

Corey Tatum finished 2nd in the Men’s 400m in 54:85; his time would have been a lot quicker had it not been for a strong headwind on the back straight, nevertheless it’s still a very good early season mark. In the 100m, the wind favoured the sprinters resulting in George Reynolds setting a new PB of 11:69 although the wind reading was over the 2 metre per second allowable limit.  Still an excellent time suggesting  that George is set to return some fast sprints this Summer. Mae Jones also contested the 100m,  achieving a time of 13:71 slightly behind her best mark from last year.

In the Long Jump five of the club’s athletes were in action. Scott Ram and George Reynolds made it a one, two in the Men’s event. Decathlete Scott’s distance was 6.16m while George produced another fine performance jumping  out to 6.05m.  Corey Tatum was also in the field and managed a distance of 5.01m. In the Women’s event both Nicole Bonser and Mae Jones with distances of 4.57m and 4.32m suffered minor leg injuries and took the sensible decision to withdraw after a couple of rounds.

​Nuneaton Open 
​At the Pingles Stadium, Nuneaton on Sunday, three AVEAC athletes were in action, Charlie Yates, Imogen Laugharne and Daisy Kaye.

Charlie was the top placed woman in the mixed Triple Jump with a best effort of 10.22m and also finished 2nd in her High Jump pool with a respectable 1.55m clearance. 

Daisy who is focusing a bit more on Javelin this year was rewarded with a new personal best  throw of 31.95m; her first time over 30 metres and in the process won her pool outright. She also cleared 1:41m in the High Jump and ran the 200m in 28:48.

Imogen also contested three events. She finished 2nd in both the Shot and 80m Hurdles. Her Shot ‘put’ was 9:05m, a new PB and her first time over 9 metres. In the hurdles despite clipping one of the barriers, she opened her account over her favourite event, with a time of 12:23. In the 200m she recorded 28:04 which had it not been for a following wind over the allowable limit would have been another personal best. 

Derby Road Race
The annual Derby 10km road race took place on Sunday and alongside the main race was a  Mini Marathon over 3km.  Five of the club’s younger athletes took part and finished in the first half of the large field. Well done to Aimee Brackenbury, Mamie Skipper, Sienna Peel, Joe Moss and Rosie Boyer . 
​
Words - Joe Mc Colgan 
Charnwood photos - Chris Kirby
Derby Road Race photo -  Kirsty McMillan

The two Javelin pools on Monday night saw AVEAC athletes produce very pleasing performances.  Under 15 thrower Freya Kirby had a  another consistent effort with the heavier 500g Javelin, throwing  28.52, not that far off her recent PB set at Nuneaton a few weeks ago; she was the highest placed U15 female athlete on the evening. In the Boy’s Under 15 category there was a PB for  Gino Franco, throwing the 600g Javelin for the first time, managing a throw of 26.18m. Second claim athlete Ewan Collier also recorded a best ever throw of 32.69m in the Under 15 category and was the highest placed athlete in that age group. Imogen Laugharne took part in her first ever Javelin competition and with only two coaching sessions behind her and off a very short run up, she threw over 11 metres.  With more coaching, she will be aiming for a 20m plus throw as she prepares for Heptathlon championships later in the year.

In the Senior ranks Jessie Brown produced another fine early season performance throwing 40.51m to place first while Alice Robinson’s effort of 29.04m was second. Nottingham University student Joss Foot who trains with the AVEAC squad was a comfortable winner of the Senior Men’s event with an excellent early season effort of   63.87m.  Under 20, second claim member, Charli Sampson also produced a PB of 25.46m.

While the Javelin was taking place seven of the club’s first claim athletes and three second claim members competed in two pools of the Long Jump.  In Pool A, Grace Young took the top spot and added 41 centimetres to her previous best with an excellent leap of 4.81m. There was also PBs for Ewan Collier who raced over from the Javelin to  record a jump of 4.75m and for Izzy Hays who added 34cm to her previous best with a fine effort of  4:29m.  Our final athlete in this pool, Alice Robinson equalled her PB of 4:09m set a couple of days earlier at the Gateshead Pentathlon. 

Six athletes were in Pool B with Ryan Rawlinson finishing 2nd overall on 5.91m.  Second Claim member Callum Findlay jumped 5.36m while Hugo Thomas having trouble with his run up managed 5.30m.  Under 17s, Mae Jones and Imogen Laugharne recorded distances of 4.82m and 4.65m respectively while  Second Claim, U20 multi-eventer Charli Sampson jumped 4.89m. 

Alice Robinson, Charli Sampson and Imogen Laugharne also competed in the Shot. Alice and Charli throwing the 4kg implement recorded distances of  9.05m and 8.41m while Imogen’s distance throwing the lighter 3kg Shot was 7.92m.

On Thursday second claim members Ewan Collier, Izzy Haworth and Callum Findlay contested the Open Triple Jump. The weather had turned from Monday’s  sunny conditions with temperatures dropping to just above freezing. Undeterred, the three Leapers all recorded PBs. Ewan taking part in the event for the first time jumped 9.87m. Izzy who took the bronze medal in last Summer’s  English Championships at U15 level added over 20 centimetres to her previous best jumping 10.53m. Callum left his best effort to the last round and had an excellent jump of 12.35m to take first place overall adding 34 centimetres to his best ever mark set at last year’s Nottinghamshire Championships.  Both Izzy and Callum will be welcome additions to this year’s  Upper YDL Team and will join the team for the first fixture at Derby on April 24th.

All in all it was a good couple of evenings for the athletes and allowed them to set some early season bench marks to move on from. A big thank to Burton AC and their Chair, Jaime Walker for giving our athletes the opportunity to take part which was very much appreciated by the athletes themselves, their coaches and parents.

Words - J McColgan
Top photos - Chris Kirby
Bottom photos - J McColgan

Multi-Eventers Alice Robinson and Ben Pitts made the long journey up to Gateshead on Saturday to take part in the North East Counties Open Indoor Pentathlon competition.  Both athletes finished 4th; Alice in the Senior Women’s event and Ben in the Men’s Under 20 contest. 

Alice who took up athletics again last Summer after an absence of eight years decided to take on the challenge of multi-events. Having previously focused on Javelin and Shot for her home club in Ipswich, she has had to learn the basics of new events like the Long and High Jumps plus the Hurdles. A recent spate of hard training paid off and she was rewarded with a new  PB, scoring 2175 points.  Individual PBs were recorded in four of the five individual disciplines including a time of 8:92 in the 60m flat,  12:02 seconds in the 60m Hurdles,  4.09m in the Long Jump and a throw of  9.38m in the Shot.  Her High Jump of 1.28m was just short of her previous best.

Ben Pitts recorded three personal bests in his five disciplines. A time of 9.42s in the 60m Hurdles was marginally better than his recent best set in Manchester.  He leapt 5.86m in the LJ  adding 15 centimetres to his previous mark and his 8.59m in the Shot was an improvement of 13 centimetres. He also cleared 1.76m in the High Jump and recorded 8:03 in the 60m flat to give a combined points score of 2757. 

Overall it was a good outing for the AVEAC duo who now look forward to the outdoor season where they will compete in a number of open and league events building up to taking part in Heptathlon and Decathlon competitions later in the year. 

Words - jmccolgan
Photo acknowledgment  - Alice Robinson

Imogen Laugharne gave an excellent display of her all round athleticism by finishing a highly creditable twelfth position in the Under 17 Women’s Indoor Pentathlon Championship at the EIS Arena, Sheffield last Saturday.  Imogen scored 2977 points overall in a field that included thirty five athletes and had the satisfaction of being the fourth best first year U17 on the day. 

The event got underway with the 60m Hurdles with Imogen recording 9:24 just a tenth behind her all time best. In the High Jump she had the second highest clearance of the day  topping 1.56m; again just marginally down on her previous best of 1.59m.  Moving on to event three, the Shot, she threw a personal best of 8:60m beating her recent best mark set at Loughborough in early February.  In the penultimate event the Long Jump, she had another good effort of 4.80m before finishing the day with a 2:48:05 time in the 800m. 

Imogen is now looking forward to the outdoor season where she will take part in the seven event Heptathlon,  getting to grips with the Javelin for the first time as well adding the 200m to the other five events she covered indoors.

​PBs for Ben at Manchester Open 
The Club’s Under 20 multi-eventer, Ben Pitts recently recorded personal bests in the 60m Hurdles and High Jump at the Sale Harriers Open Meetings in Manchester. He scaled new heights clearing 1:83m in the High Jump  while in the sprint hurdles he recorded 9:49, knocking a considerable chunk off his 9:80 previous best.  Next up for Ben will be the North East Counties Open Pentathlon in Gateshead at the end of the month.

Isla Hiscocks also took part at the Sale Meeting and had two good performances in the Under 15 60 metres recording a time of 8:50 and Long Jump where she had a best effort of 4:10m. 

Three of the Club’s Javelin throwers  had their first outing of the season at the Nuneaton Throws Meeting held at the Pingles Stadium on Sunday. 

​Jessie Brown (U23) along with Daisy Kaye (U17) and Freya Kirby (U15) competed in a mixed age competition in a big field of twenty two competitors. The event took place in quite cold conditions and a low sun, not ideal for Javelin throwing. Despite this and the long wait between rounds our three athletes performed well in their first outing of 2022.

Jessie recorded the furthest distance by a Senior Woman in the competition throwing 40.69m, over two metres further than her first competition  last year. Jessie’s PB is 43.49m and her opening throw at Nuneaton would suggest that she is well on track to better that this coming season.

Freya Kirby throwing the 500g Javelin for the first time was rewarded  with a excellent PB of 29.10m to take the honours as the top U15 athlete on the day. Although it is early days the throw places her first in the U15 age group on the Power of 10 rankings. Freya who has another year in this age group should be well pleased with her performance and it won’t be long until she breaks through the 30 metre barrier.

First year Under 17 athlete, Daisy Kaye also set a PB with a best effort of 27. 97m finishing second in her age group. The talented all rounder also took part in the Shot and went one place better among her peers with a winning throw of 8.96m. 

University of Nottingham students Joss Foot and Nikki Bell who train at Rutland under the watchful eye of Coach Scott Knighton also produced pleasing performances at the meeting. Joss won the Senior Men’s event throwing 59.24m while Nikki’s best throw of 38.10m placed third behind Jessie Brown in the Senior Women’s category.

Next up for the AVEAC Javelin group will be the Burton AC Club Championships where they will compete as guests on Monday 28th March.

Derbyshire Cross Country Mini League

On Saturday last the club had two representatives taking part in the final Derbyshire Mini League Cross Country fixture at Moorways. 

In the girls U11 race, Rosie Boyer put in a gallant effort to finish third, bettering her previous best position of 6th place at the first fixture earlier in the season. Under 13 runner, Eleanor Rigby also had a fine race with a 4th place finish in the U13 event.  At the conclusion of this year’s  three league fixtures Rosie was the 4th best Under 11 girl overall out of 28 athletes who took part. Eleanor was the 5th best overall out of 18 athletes in the Under 13 age group. 

Words - @jmccolgan
Photo credits 
Javelin throwers - Chris Kirby
Cross Country - Chris Rigby

Ella Rush ended a fantastic indoor season by winning the U.K. Senior Pentathlon title on Sunday at the Utilita Arena, Birmingham. The seventeen year old competed magnificently across the five disciplines  and her final points tally of 4365 points propelled her to the top of the World Athletics rankings at Under 20 level. 

The day started tentatively with an 8:89, 60m Hurdles clocking, a couple of tenths slower than her personal best set earlier in the month at Loughborough.  The time gained her 933 points, 77 behind Jodie Smith (Windsor, Slough, Eaton and Houslow) who recorded 8:43. Cardiff athlete Lauren Evans filled second place on 967 points. 

​Moving on to the High Jump, Smith and Evans were favoured on paper to increase the points gap with both athletes having PBs  of 1.80m, twelve centimetres higher than  Ella’s previous indoor best. Ella knew that she would have to pull out all the stops, so as to not let her two rivals pull further away.  Battle she did, eventually clearing a magnificent 1.76m adding  eight centimetres to her previous best indoor mark.  With Evan’s clearing the same height, the gap between second and third remained the same with Smith who cleared 1.79m moving ahead by 115 points.

Things were to change dramatically over the next two events, the Shot and Long Jump.  An outstanding PB Shot Put of 12.88m meant that Ella overtook her Welsh rival and narrowed the gap on Smith to 49 points.  A huge first round effort  in the Long Jump of 6.34m against Smith’s 6.17m meant that moving into the final event things couldn’t be much closer; the AVEAC athlete gaining a marginal lead with a slender five points advantage. It would all come down to the final 800m!

Tension was high as the athletes toed the line for the final four laps. The advice to Ella was to run her own race. Not one to sit back and play a tactical game,  she front run the race from start to finish crossing the line in a time of 2:19:60.  There was sheer joy and elation on her face as she finished, knowing that the Gold medal was secure. 

In an interview with British Athletics TV after the race, Ella described how she felt:

”I am really pleased, I wasn’t expecting it, I was only expecting to get over my own personal best and getting a score I was happy with”

”I’m really happy and pleased and looking forward to the year ahead”

To put her performances in context, her final score of 4365 points as well as being the World Under 20 lead was also a Championship Best Performance and the best ever score by a seventeen year old in the U.K. It is the third best score all time, Under 20  behind Katrina Johnson Thompson and Morgan Lake and the performance ranks eighth all time amongst senior athletes. When you consider that above her are three world champions and and an Olympic Champion, that is no mean achievement! 

Her 6.34m Long Jump was also a U.K. age 17 best  and is the second furthest U20 Indoor distance ever, five centimetres behind Katrina Johnson-Thompson’s 6.39m. It currently ranks her 3rd in the World U20  as well.

Next up for Ella will be a spot of warm weather training over Easter in California where she will compete in an Heptathlon event hoping to secure the UKA qualifying standard of 5,400 points for the World U20 Championships in Cali, Columbia in early August.

Ella has been inundated with messages of congratulations throughout the week and she posted her appreciation on Instagram, thanking her family and friends, coaches and support team for the hard work put in to achieve this latest accolade. Hopefully winning the U.K. Senior title will provide the launchpad for further success in the months and years to come and certainly followers of athletics will be watching closely at how she progresses. 

Words - @jmccolgan
Photo credit - @britathketics on Twitter 

Senior AVEAC sprinter and Loughborough University student Emily Coope bagged herself a Relay Gold Medal at the British Universities and Colleges Championships last weekend at the EIS Arena, Sheffield.

Emily who is studying a four year degree in Sports Science ran in both the Heat and Final. Running the more difficult first leg she returned a split of 25:6 in the final giving her teammates Natasha Harrison, Rachel Crorken and Zoe Pollock a solid start which ensured victory in a time of 1:39:60 ahead of Birmingham University on 1:39:97  and Cardiff Metropolitan University, 1:40:61.

She also contested the 60m flat and in a field of fifty eight starters, she reached the semi final stage recording a season’s best of 7:82 in her heat and was marginally slower in the semi’s on 7.89. 

Emily will now concentrate on a hard block of  training including some warm weather conditioning in early April. She is looking forward to a successful outdoor campaign and her recent indoor 60m times would suggest that she will be pushing hard to break the 12 second barrier in the 100m this Summer.

AVEAC’s only other competitor at the BUCS Championships was Derby University student Henry Knighton who took part in the High Jump.  Henry recorded 1:80m in the qualifying stages which unfortunately was not enough to get him a final berth, but nevertheless a solid start to his 2022 season.

​Meanwhile on Sunday at the City of Birmingham Indoor Games, Multi-Eventer, Ben Pitts, tackled three events in preparation for a forthcoming indoor Pentathlon at Gateshead next month. Ben recorded 5.70m in the Long Jump, a centimetre off his PB while in the Shot a ‘put’ of 8.38m was also marginally behind his 8.46m best ever. In his final event of the day, the 400m, he was rewarded with a new best performance of 57:81, knocking over two seconds off his previous best. 

This weekend the U.K. Senior Indoor Championships will also take place in Birmingham. Ella Rush will be the Club’s sole representative. The national Under 20 Long Jump champion will contest the Pentathlon on Sunday and will be looking to score highly across the five disciplines.  The event will be live from 10am on the BBC Red Button and website.
​
Words - @jmccolgan
Photo credit - @sakuracreativemedia

Ella Rush’s mission to one day compete on the world stage took a huge step forward at the weekend when she added another national title to her growing collection.  Competing at the two day England Athletics Indoor Championships at Sheffield, she lifted the Gold Medal in the Under 20  Women’s Long Jump with an outstanding leap of 6.22m. Her achievement set quite a unique record of  English Indoor titles in the same event, with Ella  having already lifted the Under 15 Long Jump championship in 2018 and the Under 17  one  in 2020.

The battle for the Long Jump on Saturday  was an exciting affair with Silver Medalist Ruby Jerges (Crawley) also breaking new ground with an effort of 6.09m. Indeed Jerges went into pole position early in the 3rd round topping Ella’s second round effort of exactly 6 metres.  The Crawley athlete’s  lead lasted a mere few minutes, with Ella responding with her massive 6.22m leap. The distance was too much for the rest of the field to handle and although Jerges managed another jump of 6:09m,  Ella’s distance was too far in front to be challenged.  Third place went to Leeds athlete Kiki Brown who had a best distance of 5.70m.

On Sunday she pulled out two more notable performances in the Shot and 60m Hurdles. Competing against individual specialists in both events, she threw a huge 12.57m in the 4kg Shot to take fourth place, adding almost a metre to her previous best; a mere 12 centimetres off the Bronze medal. In the Hurdles final a time of 8.70 was good enough for fifth, three one hundredths slower than her PB, achieved at Loughborough the previous weekend.

All three performances would suggest that Ella should do well in the Pentathlon at the forthcoming British Senior Indoor Championships which she has been invited to take part  at the end of the month in Birmingham. 

Also qualifying to take part in the championships over the weekend were Isla Hiscocks, Imogen Laugharne and Ryan Rawlinson. On Saturday morning in the heats of the U15 Girl’s 60m, first year in this age group Isla,  got a blistering start finishing 3rd and qualifying for the Semi Finals. Her heat time of 8:29 improved her previous  best performance which stood at 8:43.  Isla was pleased with her run and decided not to line up for the Semi Final, in order to save herself for Sunday’s  regional Sports Hall final in Grantham.

In the Under 17 60m Hurdles, Imogen Laugharne reached the semi finals as well. Finishing 3rd in her heat she knocked two tenths off her previous best performance, dipping through the finishing line in 9:14. In the Semi, she finished 5th and was marginally slower clocking 9:20.  Imogen will now look forward to contesting the English Combined Events Championships next month at the EIS arena.

Things didn’t go to plan for Ryan Rawlinson in the Under 17 Men’s Long Jump. Ryan who is the current Northern Champion returned three marginal fouls in the qualifying stages and unfortunately was eliminated from the competition.  Distance wise his jumps looked good and on another day he would have been pushing for a medal spot with bronze being won at 6.45m equivalent to Ryan’s indoor PB.  Ryan is a resilient young athlete and no doubt will bounce back, looking to achieve greater distances in the outdoor season.

Ella Rush started her 2022 season where she had left off in 2021. The GB international and English School’s Heptathlon Champion set four individual event personal bests at the Loughborough University Open held over the weekend.  Six other AVEAC athletes also took part at the meeting with several recording indoor bests in the process.

On Saturday the programme consisted of 60m flat sprints and 60m Hurdles. Ella who has been concentrating a lot on developing her speed over the Winter knocked considerable chunks off her previous bests in both sprint disciplines. Her Hurdles time of 8:67 eclipsed three-tenths off Niamh Emerson’s Under 20 Club Record while in the 60m flat, she  produced another blistering run, crossing the finish line in 7:62, to break Emily Coope’s  7:74 mark which had stood since 2018. 

Sundays competition produced two more PBs in the 4kg Shot and Long Jump. A throw of 11:60m in the Shot added 5 centimetres to her previous best set last Summer at a Charnwood Open Meering. She completed the busy schedule focusing on her favourite event, the Long Jump and sailed out to her fourth PB of the weekend. Competing against GB Olympian Abigail Irozuru and European U23 Bronze medalist Lucy Hadaway,  Ella broke the  6 metre barrier for the first time  with a distance of 6.05m; a performance that puts her in top place in the U.K. at Under 20 level.

On Saturday Isabelle Hays ran two 60m Hurdles races and ended up with a PB in the second  one with a time of 11:81. 

​Four of the club’s athletes took part in the other Long Jump competition on the Sunday morning programme producing very pleasing results.  Indoor personal bests were recorded by Mae Jones who got out to 5.09m, Imogen Laugharne had a best effort of 4.84m while Grace Young also broke new ground with a PB of 4.40m. Katie Potts was our fourth athlete in the Long Jump and recorded 4.67m. Imogen Laugharne also went on to compete in the Shot and added 45 centimetres to her previous best from last year with a ‘putt’ of 8.40m 

Our final athlete in action was Decathlete, Scott Ram who took the opportunity to focus on the Pole Vault and was rewarded with a new best jump of 3.35m.

While our older athletes were at Loughborough, first year Under 15, Isla Hiscocks was the club’s sole representative at the Northern U13 and 15 Championships. Isla did well to reach the Semi Final of the 60m flat, recording a time of 8:56 to finish 6th having got through to that stage with a second place heat time of 8:52. She also recorded an indoor PB in the Long Jump of 4.08m to finish fifth in Pool B out of sixteen competitors. 

This weekend will see the English U17 and 20 Championships taking place at Sheffield with three of our athletes meeting the entry qualification standards. Ryan Rawlinson will  take part in the Men’s U17 Long Jump, Imogen Laugharne will line up for the U17 Sprint Hurdles while Ella Rush will contest three events over the two days, the Long Jump, Shot and Hurdles at Under 20 level.

​Acknowledgements
Words and group photo - @jmccolgan
Photo of Ella Rush - @carolinerush 

The North of England Indoor Championships for Under 17, 20 and Senior Athletes took place at the EIS Arena, Sheffield at the weekend. The meeting attracted hundreds of athletes from all areas of the north, providing two days of high quality competition. Three of the Club’s athletes, Ryan Rawlinson, George Reynolds and Imogen Laugharne  gained podium positions with Ryan and George taking Gold and Silver in the Under 17 Men’s Long Jump on Saturday and Imogen gaining a Bronze in the Under 17 Women’s High Jump on Sunday. 

The Saturday morning session started really well for the AVEAC duo who claimed the top spots in the Long Jump out of a field of 16 competitors. Ryan posted an effort of 6.34m in the first round to lead throughout while George who started more tentatively leapt 6:15m in the fifth round to over take  James Ince (Preston AC) on 6.04m.  Ryan’s distance passed the 6.30m qualifying standard for  the English National Championships which will take place in mid February, an event he is now looking forward to. A piece of history was created in that this was the first time AVEAC athletes had taken Gold and Silver at a major championship in the same event.

​Later on Saturday morning Corey Tatum taking part in the heats of the Under 17 400m knocked over two seconds off his personal best with an excellent clocking of 53:73, qualifying for the final in 2nd place. Just over an hour later he lined up for the final running an almost identical time of 53:75 to finish just outside the medals in 4th place. This was an excellent performance by Corey whose training this Winter  has focused a lot more on longer sprints. Earlier in the morning he also had taken part in the Long Jump finishing in twelfth place overall.

First year Under 17 Imogen Laugharne had a busy two days contesting the 60m Hurdles and Long Jump on Saturday and High Jump on Sunday.  Having to run a heat and semi final in the sprint hurdles on Day 1, she qualified for the final to finish fifth overall in a time of 9:45 which was marginally slower than her 9:32 personal best in the semi.  Not long after the Hurdles she competed in the Long Jump and finished in 7th place recording a new indoor PB of 4.77m. On Sunday morning, Imogen’s 1.55m clearance in the High Jump earned her a well deserved Bronze medal, losing the Silver on count back to City of York athlete, Grace Gannon.  To finish in the top eight in three events at regional level was a tremendous effort by Imogen and augurs well for the English Indoor Pentathlon which she will take part in in early March.

In the Senior Women’s 60m, it was good to see Emily Coope begin to recapture some of the form she displayed a few years ago. Emily just failed to reach the final, finishing third in her heat with a time of 7:93.  In a further 60m race for non finalists, Emily went even quicker returning  7:86 to take first place and had the satisfaction of breaking  the AVEAC Club record of 8:09 which had stood since 2013. 

In the Senior Women’s 800m Club Coach,  Nisha Desai representing her home club,  Morpeth Harriers, picked up a bronze medal crossing the finish line in 2:14:53; the race was won by Derby AC’s Molly Hudson in 2:12:58. On Saturday Nisha also reached the final of the 400m where she finished 6th in 59:24.

Hugo Thomas competing for the first time indoors finished 4th in his heat of the 60m  Under 17, setting a PB of 7:72.  Hugo’s Long Jump didn’t go to plan and with a distance of 5.08m, he was almost a metre down on his outdoor best finishing in 13th place.

On Sunday George Reynolds and Nicole Bonser took part in the heats of the U17 Men and Women’s 200m . Both finished 3rd and were unlucky not to progress through to the next round.  Nicole also competed in the Shot where she ended up in 11th place recording a season’s best of 8:93m while in the Long Jump, finding difficulty with her run up, an effort of 4.26m was well behind her outdoor best and didn’t get her through to the final eight. 

North Midlands Cross Country League 
​The final fixture in the North Midlands league took place at Berryhill Park, Mansfield on Saturday with three AVEAC athletes taking part.

Eleanor Rigby running in the U13 Girls 3km  finished  14th overall.  Eleanor has contested all four U13 races during this years season and has improved her position in each race. She ended up 10th best overall  in the U13 age category when all aggregate finishes where taken into account.

In the Senior Women’s race Fran Howett came home in 79th place out of a field  of 126 starters and was the fifth best Under 20 athlete in the field. 

Club coach Chris Rigby ran in the Senior Men’s 10km where he finished in 176th place in a large field which saw 215 athletes complete the race.

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