News

Four club athletes travelled to Birmingham this weekend to take part in the National Age Group Championships. Aimee Taylor took silver in a tense pole vault competition and also set a PB.

Jess Astill was 4th in the under 20 400m final in a time of 55.62, she could not quite replicate her seasons best time from semi of 54.41.

Finishing 4th has give Jess a great opportunity of representing team GB in the upcoming World under 20 championships to be held in Peru, later in August.

Ed Laws was 8th in the under 23 mens 400m final in a time of 55.80. A very good run considering the competition.

Annabel Howells was 5th in the under 20 Woman’s 400m semi final in a time of 57.10. Annabel went into the competition 17th fastest on paper but ended up 10th, a great achievement considering she is still only 17 and has another year in this age group.

The third SAL match of the season saw the Club’s senior team (ably assisted be U20 and U17 athletes) finish in third place behind Dacorum, St Albans and ahead of Kent, Bexley and Harrow. This result places the team in fifth place in the 16 team league with one match to go.

First place A finishes were recorded by Nile Odejimi Riley 100m LJ and TJ, Daniel Kanu 200m, Tommy Cropley 1500m, Dylan Baines PV, Shannon Rapacchi 100H, TJ and PV and Libby Taylor DT.

First place B finishes came from Fran Hart 800m, Kachi Dike TJ, Aimie Taylor PV, Louise Hampton HT and SP and Shannon Rapacchi JT. Full results on the Club website.

U17’s supporting the seniors included Milan Snarksis HT and DT, Emily Rapley 100m, 200m and LJ, Ruby Cheshire 100 and 200m, Juliet Astill 800m, Maisie Newton 200m and Georgia Sutcliffe 800m.

The athletes were ably assisted by Sally Stevens Track, Mike Gregory and Sarah Berry Time, Dani Mainstone, Phil Laws, Bob Whitten, Julie Laws, Jane Taylor, Paul Pickard and Helen Pickard Field ensuring that the Club gained maximum official’s points

Congratulation to Phil Laws and Bob Whitten on gaining their L2 Field qualification.

SNHAC/HAWCS, London Heathside, Herts Phoenix, Harlow, Tower Hamlets with Victoria Park and Central Park contested a closely fought Southern Athletic League match at Stevenage on Saturday. The day started with light rain and a blustery wind but by mid-afternoon summer had arrived.
Highlights of the day included the 4x100m men’s Club record finally being broken. Set 42 years ago when senior sprint coach Paul Keeble was in the team, it was finally broken by Nile Odejimi Riley, Jamie Joseph, Ed Laws and Jacob Kinchin Smith. The previous record was 43.2, which was reduced to 43.0. U17 Esme Searle had a lovely run in the 1500sc to break the age group record which had stood since 2011.
A string wins for the men came from Ed Laws 400H, Nile Odejimi Riley TJ and Bobby Pitman DT. B wins came from Jamie Joseph 200m, Dylan Baines LJ, Jacob Kinchin Smith TJ and Bobby Pitman PV.
The women’s team saw A & B wins in the LJ (Emily Rapley and Shannon Rapacchi), TJ (Shannon Rapacchi and Esme Searle), Shot (Libby Taylor and Louise Hampton), DT (Shannon Rapacchi and Libby Taylor) and Hammer (Libby Taylor and Loren Ragoobar). Shannon Rapacchi won the A pole vault and Sandra Reed the B 100H.
The match ended with a win by London Heathside 249, with HPX and SNHAC/HAWCS joint second with 241. Harlow were 4th, Tower Hamlets with Victoria Park 5th and Central Park 6th.
Team manager Rhys Samuel was delighted with the result, records and team spirit.

Thirty one SNHAC runners took on the second 10k midweek league last Tuesday. A challenging course around country lanes to the south of Royston was made even more eventful by the threat from dark clouds although the worst of the rain held off until most were finished!

Leading the men to a 4th place finish was Adam Searle (8th in 37.50) with Aubrey Murray next (19th, 39.38) just one place ahead of Isaac Whitten (19th in 39.45). First woman home was Abigail Manson (10th in 46.12). She was followed home by Rebecca Pickard (25th, 49.17) and then Amelie Hobbs (50.22 for 30th).

Overall, the team came 5th of the 10 teams. The next race is in Harlow next week and we will be hoping for another record turn out!

Up against two of the biggest Clubs in the East Region, the SNHAC/HAWCS composite team finished third behind Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers and City of Norwich at Sandy on Sunday, beating Bedford Lions and Harlow to maintain 12th place after three rounds.
Wins were hard to come by. U13 Elijah Ragoobar won the A string DT and Kyle Moffat the B JT. U15 Jake Avis won the A 300m and B 100m, while Alastair Gall Gray won the B LJ. U17 Archie Blyth Grimes, in his first competition for the Club, won the LJ, Zachary Czech won the HT and Hugo MacFarlane Cushing the B TJ.
U15s Ellie Picton and Scarlett Victory won the A and B string 75H with Scarlett winning the B HJ, Karolina Wolowicz won the B 800m and Skye Barnet the B DT. Competing in the U17 age group, Sarena So and Hannah Cook won the A and B 1500m, Esme Searle the B 800m and TJ.
There were lots of personal best performances in all age groups and the athletes competing in Club colours for the first time produced excellent results.
Team Manager’s Libby and Jane Taylor were delight with the team performance and impressed with the number of athletes who volunteered to fill gaps, stepped up an age group or took on an unfamiliar event when a gap appeared.
Full results are on the website.
The last round is on the 21st July at Chelmsford. Team Managers Melissa Doran and Libby Taylor would like to see a full team to ensure a place in the Plate final on 8th September.