News

The Club are running a Summer Holiday Athletic Programme over three weeks during the Summer Holidays. In view of the limited capacity we have had on the track for training since returning from ‘lock down’ we are offering this to Club Members first, before sending the information out to schools and the wider community. Initially there will be 25 places available each day. This is for young people aged 8 -14years only.

Dates are below and each session will run from 9.30am – 1.30pm :-

9th August

10th August

11th August

12th August

16th August

17th August

18th August

19th August

23rd August

24th August

25th August

26th August

Cost is £20 each session or £15 each session if booking 4 or more.

The link to the application form is above (it can be found on the Membership and Application Form section of the Club Website)

Application Forms should be emailed to normajharris@hotmail.co.uk and payment made by BACS – details are on the form.

SNHAC launched their Scott's Travel 10k Midweek League Campaign with a 3rd place out of the 8 teams in Division 3. This was a virtual fixture with athletes logging a time on a course of their choosing.

Quickest, and finishing 4th overall, was Chris Westcott who ran a time of 38.39 (2nd Vet finisher). Adam Searle (44.02) and Andy Robson (44.17) finished "next to each other" in 20th and 21st. Isaac Whitten (45.39) just finished in front of Trevor Mason (45.59) who were 25th and 26th respectively. Paul Spicer was 31st in 47.13, Paul Pickard was 45th (56.10), Bob Whitten was 51st (61.27), Mark Pinney 54th (66.29) and Graham Spicer 57th (72.01).

In the ladies race Alex Gates was the first to finish with her time of 49.59 seeing her come in 7th place. Jenny Cotter and Chris Feely came in equal 11th in 52.14.

For two athletes there was more competition to come. Alex Gates and Trevor Mason both completed the Hertfordshire Half Marathon. The course from Knebworth House was hilly and challenging and the weather was hot but they finished in 1 hour 47 (37th lady) for Alex and 1 hour 44 (192nd man) for Trevor. A great achievement by both in tough conditions! There were over 1100 finishers in the race.

The next round of the Scott's Travel Midweek League is also virtual and runs from the 14th-27th June.

The first league match for two years saw 21 Stevenage and North Herts Athletes travel to Harrow on Sunday. Hot, dry with little wind, the conditions were ideal for the Club’s U20 and U17 athletes to see what shape they were in, shake off the cobwebs and enjoy a’ socially distanced’ event for the first time. Up against Shaftesbury Barnet, Thames Valley Harriers, Hillingdon, and a composite team from Harrow / Dacorum and Tring the competition was fierce but fun.

There were wins for U17’s Jessica Astill in the 200m 25.4 (entry standard for national competitions) and Oliver Humphrey in the 100m hurdles 14.95 with U20’s Georgia Shephard- Gazely winning the javelin 29m78. U20 Joel Evans was second in the 400m hurdles 56.5 (entry standard for national competitions) with Ed Laws winning the B event 58.70. Ed was in action also in the 110H finishing 3rd in 15.66 with Will Lawler winning the B event in 15.72. Also competing were U20’s Jacob Kinchin-Smith 100,400 and LJ - 11.44, 52.61 and 5m99, Bhuvanesh Ramanauth and Alex Pickard 100m -11.54 and 11.88 respectively, Joseph Felthouse 800m - 2.14.0, Clare Hudson 100m - 13.45, Delphine Lehrfeund 200m - 27.9, Amelia Hobbs 3000m -12.43.2, Emily Knight 100H - 15.84, Libby Taylor hammer -45m79 and Maddie Waite high jump -1m50.

In the U17 competition Sarah Mavromoustakis ran a 13.46 100m. Rebecca Scott jumped 4m54 in the long jump, Aimie Taylor cleared 3m in the pole vault, Jamie joseph recorded 11.42 and 23.19 in the 100 and 200m, Will Galliford ran 2.11.5 in the 100m and Tiago Pereira Garcez threw 23m46 in the discus.

All the athletes recorded personal best performances, training at home and in the parks for the most of the last year, before getting back on the track in April showing benefits.

The next Youth Development match is on the 27thJune at Perivale Park.

A wet, miserable Monday evening at Stevenage saw a return to pole vault competition for the Club’s young athletes. Gripping a wet pole difficult for all and for two youngsters their first taste of competition proved challenging. Dylan Baines (U23M) cleared 3m80 in his first competition for 18 months. Aimie Taylor (U17F) cleared 2m90 just 10cm short of her personal best in her first outing since March 2020. Alex Scott (U17M) put a Club vest on for the first time clearing 2m50. This was a good performance as Alex has not been able to attend PV sessions recently due to a clash with Climbing. Lucy Baverstock (U15G) started vaulting a fortnight ago and surprised herself with a 2m clearance and Reece Wannerton (U15G) cleared 1m50

Thanks go to Alison Barber who acted as Field Referee for the evening, Beth Harris and Jane Taylor who made the trip from Nottingham to Field Judge and Shannon Rapacchi who coaches most of the young athletes.

Like many Clubs SNHAC have found negotiating the path through COVID ‘ups and down’ tricky. Restricted numbers on the track have meant the Club subsidising sessions when track fees do not cover track hire costs.

Sharing equipment has been difficult (cleaning and quantity) and replacing coaches who have retired or moved in the last 18 months expensive at a time when income is lower than normal.

With the help of Hertfordshire Sports Partnership and Funding4Sport the Club submitted a funding bid to Sport England’s Return to Play Fund.

We heard today we have been successful and have been awarded funding to cover the cost of 2 Coach, 2 Coaching Assistant and 3 Athletics Leaders Courses, funding for additional Sportshall and Training equipment for our younger athletes and funds to cover some of the shortfall in track fees and PPE. This will make a big difference in the Club’s work moving forward.

A big thank you to Richard Sutcliffe at Funding for Sport, Shelley Woods at HSP and Norma Harris for their efforts and support.