Wessex Young Athletes T & F league – Swindon 28th June

Report from Emma Carter:

Newbury AC fielded a depleted under 11s squad but came away with some great individual results that they should be very proud of. Two of the three girls battled it out together in the track events with Amelie Lafford just piping Lily Jeger but taking it to the wire Lily edged out in front of the pair in the vortex. Josie Robertson continued her dominance however in the Quadkids events and ended her day with a fantastic vortex throw of 32.89m finishing the day in overall third place. The quartet of boys also battled it out amongst themselves with Hayden Beal throwing the furthest in the vortex with 25.15m and James Davies and Danny Wilson battled it out in the 75m with times of 12.5s and 12.6s respectively. James also then battled it out with Nathan Delavere in the 600m both determined to dip under the 2minute mark which they both succeeded in with 1.5850m and 1.5950 respectively. The under 11 team finished unfortunately in 6th place which is a shame as individually they did really well but let down by a lack of numbers in the team.

For the third time this season we have struggled to field enough athletes to make an impression on the overall team result. Despite this, we continued to show many good individual performances especially with many of them competing for the first year in their new age groups. Even with a wet start and a good breeze all day, all of our athletes performed near their best or better and many opted to do the maximum number of events to gain all important and valuable points for the club.

For the U13 Boys, Marcus Chitty managed 3rd place in the 1500m with a Grade 4 time of 5m11.9s. This was followed by another good 3rd place for Hugh Beattie in the B stream. He immediately followed that with 2nd in the B stream High Jump. Eric Battye gained a valuable third place in the B string 75m hurdles with Lawrence Baker also a third place in the A string long jump.

U15 Boys, on his first appearance this year Josh Douglas jumped a great 4.79m for 3rd place. The middle distance success then continued with Rhys Ainsworth reaching 3rd in the 800m with a near PB time of 2m 30.3s. Cammy Bull also took on the 200m and the long jump again gaining great points for the club.

U17 Boys, Dion Sankoh smashed his PB, with 2m 13.5s for 2nd in the 800m. He earlier took 3rd in the 200m in 25.2s and also smashed his Long Jump PB, getting 2nd place and Grade 4 with 5.7m. Ewan Ainsworth also boosted his PB to 5.41m for 2nd in the Long Jump, B stream. Joshua Reeves also made a strong middle distance run for 2nd in the 1500m.

Overall a good set of results for a small team.

U13 Girls – Despite the rain and wind, Scarlet O’Connor got the group off to a great start finishing 2nd in her hurdles heat and running a new PB.  Alice Brader continued her steady performance and placed 2nd in her Long Jump group while Luci Robertson ran an impressive 1200m to finish a strong 2nd in a competitive field.  Charlotte Wilcock came out for the first time this year adding more points in the 200m, and 800m, and Martha Crane competed for the first time and gained valuable points in the Shot Put!  Sophie Cunningham blasted her way to a close 3rd in the 100M A string, but the performance of the day had to go to Maisie Jeger who broke the club 800m record for the second time this week, jumped a massive 4.61M for 1st in the Long Jump and won the 70m Hurdles.  Unlike the team GB of old, the quartet of Robertson, Cunningham, O’Connor and Jeger flawlessly moved the baton around the track to finish an impressive 3rd in the 4x100m relay.

 U15 Girls – Back to her winning ways, Trinity O’Connor won the High Jump with a jump of 1.58m and a new PB.  Abi Livingstone added many valuable points as she performed very well in the Javelin for the first time throwing over 15M to finish an impressive 4th.  Lilly Gohara came from behind to win a dramatic 75m Hurdles while Emma Downie continues to improve having competed in the 100m, 200m, and relay.  We had a trio of middle distance competitors with Harriet Atherton, Grace Twyford and Freya Williams all chasing better times on the clock while Maddy Mitton gave it her all in the Shot Put, 200 and 4×100 relay with her best finish in Discuss with 3rd.

 U17 Girls – Karis Cheung got the young ladies off to another good start with a win in the High Jump at 1.55m and then another win in Javelin.  After a mix-up with the Sat Nav, Hannah Rudland made it just in time to run a PB 31.0s in the 200m while fellow passenger Helena Reay ran the A String 100m also in a PB time of 14.4.  Chloe Stockwell continued to add valuable points for the team in her second meet competing in the Long Jump and 100m while the Chitty twins, Annie and Jessica, ran in a fierce 200M and 300M sprint field, but placed well and added more valuable points for the team.   It’s starting to sound like Groundhog Day, but Izzy Fry had another great 1500m.  Leaping out of the gate, Izzy was chasing the league record as she left the entire pack behind before the first turn.  Despite no competition to pace her and a stiff wind, Izzy came in a good 200m clear of the rest of the field and within .10 of a second of the league record!  She has one more shot this year to get it.

Newbury finished the day in 6th place with 225 points, the winner was Basingstoke with 533 points.

The next and final league match of the year is on July 19th at Aldershot

Photographs from the day can be seen here