News: May 2022

Lovely weather at Thurrock greeted the team of 14 who travelled for the first Southern Athletic League match of the season on Sunday. Rhona Foster (Track), Alan Ephgrave, Paul Pickard, Helen Pickard and Julia Toffa (Field Team) along with Norma Harris (Team Manager) supported throughout the day and enjoyed some fine performances from Club Athletes.

Performance of the day came in the 2K steeplechase where U17 Athletes Will Galliford and Isaac Whitten both broke the Club Age Group record running 6.48.6 and 7.03.9 to win both A and B stream races. Tom Malone 400m 55.1, William Toffa 400m/800m, Tyler Wannerton 1500m and Adam Searle 5000m/1500m made up the men’s track team. Vet Athlete Barry Mainstone paired up with fellow Vet Steve Mayfield to cover the LJ, SP, DT, HT and JT.

In the women’s events wins came from Shannon Rapacchi HJ 1m45, PV 3m20 and B string Javelin 24m64, Kerry Murch won the SP 10m71, JT 37m16 and B string HT 33m46. Libby Taylor won the HT 48m42 and the B shot 9m62. Kerry and Libby were second in the A and B Discus. On the track there were second place finishes for Isobel Geere and Corazon Da’silva in the 200m 27.6 and 27.8 respectively. Isobel also competed in the 400m and Chris Feely 800m made up the women’s track team. Isobel, Corazan, Chris and Shannon made up the 4x100m relay team who finished 3rd 55.3.

Thurrock won the match with 227.5 points from Victoria Park and Tower Hamlets 123, Ashford 108.5 with SNHAC in fourth 108.

Running at the Loughborough International Jess Astill came fourth in her guest 400m.

After a gap of nearly 3 years since the last race due to Covid the Midweek 10k League finally returned for Divisions 2 and 3 on Wednesday evening. 10 SNHAC athletes were in the field of over 500 which set off from RIdlins for the 10k out and back route.

First home for the club was Chris Westcott who was 8th in a time of 36.20 . Next in was Isaac Whitten, second under 20 in his first midweek league race in a time of 39.39 (21st overall in the division). Third through the line, just 3 places behind was Adam Searle (39.57). Also representing the club in the men’s race were Paul Spicer (44.16, 52nd), Andy Robson (44.21, 54th), Tom Galliford (45.37, 68th), Trevor Mason (who had run an ultra just 4 days before!)(47.58, 83rd) and Graham Spicer (63.19, 127th).

In the women’s race Alex Gates (46.52, 9th) led the way with Jenny Cotter 22nd (51.14)

Overall the team came 8th. The next race is in Harlow in 10 days time, all members 15 and over are welcome to join us!

Full results can be found at http://www.runherts.com/mwrrr.htm .

The first day of the Hertfordshire County Championships took place in superb weather at Bedford while day 2 was cloudy and wet in the afternoon. U20 Jessica Astill ran another PB in the final of the 400m and the 55.02 run broke the Championship Best Performance which had stood for 28 years. Club members claimed 17 wins, 11 silver and 7 bronze medals in the Hertfordshire Championship, 2 gold and a bronze in the Bedfordshire Champs and a gold in the Nottinghamshire Championships. In the Hertfordshire Championships there were double wins for U15 Horatio De-Voytt in the 200m and triple jump – 26.68 and 9m71, U17 Lucy Baverstock 80H and pole vault – 13.32 and 2m60 and U20 Jamie Joseph 100 and 200m 11.75 and 24.24 Ed Laws – 400m and 400H – 51.65 and 56.42. Individual wins came from U13 Edythe Oughton 70H – 12.94, U15 Grace Hart 800m – 2.36.26, Callum Brown 100m – 12.9, Harrison Lund HJ – 1m45, U17 Rebecca Scott LJ – 4m34, Bobby Pitman DT – 38m54, U20 Tyler Wannerton 5000m – 19.26.74 and Master’s Athlete Tim Saunders Mullins HT – 25m17. In the Bedfordshire Championships U15 Georgia Sutcliffe won the 300m – 44.04 and U17 Annabel Howells the 400m – 60.1. Senior Libby Taylor won the Nottinghamshire hammer competition with a throw of 49m55. Also competing were U13 Jenson Norris, Oliver Rose, Casey Wannerton, Casey Wyatt and Jack Fowler, U15 Lauren Griffin, Esme Searle, Abigail Tongue, Lily Cotter, Enid Whitten, Patrick Lund, Aubrey Murray, U17 Akousa Burgyei-Kyiv, Abigail Manson, Imogen Rose, Jamie Timms and Senior Adam Searle.

Eight SNHAC Veteran Athletes travelled to Lee Valley to compete against 8 other teams in the first Match of the season. There were wins for Jenny Cotter 100m 14.8, Sandra Reed 100m 15.3 and Chris Feely 400m 75.5 in their age group races and the women’s 4x100m Relay, where Jenny, Sandra and Chris were joined by Joylyn Saunders Mullins – running 62.5. Jenny also competed in the 1500m, Sandra in the LJ and SP and Joylyn in the SP. The men’s team finished in 9th Place. Chris Westcott finished 2nd in the 1500m 4.34.5, Tim Saunders Mullins and Steve Feely were 2nd in their Hammer competitions with 30m91 and 27m56 respectively. Jamedean Aitkins, competing in a Club Vest for the first time in 20 years, came fourth his M35 100m in 12.8

Four Club Members were competing as Higher Claim Athletes in the Championship Division of the National Athletic League at Chelmsford on Saturday. Performance of the day came from U20 Jess Astill who broke the Club U20 record for the 400m with a run of 55.30 when winning the A string race. Senior Libby Taylor was third in the hammer with a throw of 47m72 and threw a PB 28m75 for fourth in the discus. Dylan Baines competed in the long jump 5m98, high jump 1m70, triple jump 11m36 and 4x100m relay and Peter Keefe threw 31m69 in the discus.