Up against Peterborough & Nene Valley, Harlow, Cambridge & Coleridge, Huntingdonshire A.C. and Ryston Runners at Stevenage, the SNHAC/HAWCS composite team won the match by 23 points from Peterborough. This was Huntingdonshire A.C’s home match as their pole vault and hammer cage needed repair.
There was a great team spirit, athletes stepped in to fill gaps and a good shift was put in by the U17s and Vets, to support the Seniors, which got good points. It was pleasing to dominate the men’s sprints, women’s hurdles and pole vault. Nile Odejimi-Riley and Bobby Pitman won the A 100 11.2 and 200m 23.0 respectively. The B strings were won by Bobby Pitman 11.6 and Hugo MacFarlane-Cushing 23.4. Shannon Rapacchi and Sandra Reed won the A and B 110H and Fran Hart and Sandra Reed won the A and B 400H. Shannon Rapacchi and Aimee Taylor won the A and B pole vault, both clearing 3m30. Tommy Cropley won the 800m in a new PB of 1.58.7, Ed Laws the 400H 55.3, Henry Bennet the JT 42m94, Annabel Howells the 400m 57.8 and Shannon Rapacchi the TJ 10m04. There were B string wins for Hugo MacFarlane-Cushing in his first TJ 11m46 and Aimee Taylor in the HJ 1m40.
The next match is the Club’s home match on the 15th June.
The first YDL, in the new division, was a home match for the SNHAC youngsters on Sunday. Having gained promotion in 2023 the Club finds itself in a 7 team league against much stronger competition and larger Clubs.
The 35 youngsters in action acquitted themselves well, but gaps on the team sheet meant they couldn’t hold onto the second place they held until the last hour. Reading came out winners by 250 points with Wycombe and Chiltern 2nd, Bournemouth 3rd, Stevenage 4th, Team West London 5th, Vales of Aylesbury 6th and Kingston 7th.
There were A string wins for U17 Emily Rapley LJ (over 5m for the first time) and Ben Lewis TJ and B string wins from Abigail Tonge 300H and LJ. In the U20 age group there were A string wins for Annabelle Howells 200m, Jessica Astill 400m, Aimie Taylor PV, Will Galliford 800m and Jamie Timms JT. B string wins came from Imogen Rose 800m, Daniel Kanu 100m and Bobby Pitman 200m. The U20 women won the 4x100 and the mixed U20 team won the last event of the day - 4x400m.
Team Manager Tallulah Taylor was delighted with the performances from all the athletes and is looking forward to the next match at Bournemouth on the 26thMay.
Full result and photos on the website
The London Marathon saw great performances from two club athletes, Chris Westcott ran a pb of 2 hours 47 minutes 10 seconds. Running her first ever marathon Rebecca Pickard saw her training pay dividends as she completed the race in 4 hours 10 minutes 27 seconds.
Thanks to Sharon Crowley for the photo of Chris.
The first Eastern Young Athletes League Match of the season took place at Ridlins Stadium on Sunday. Up against full teams from Dacorum, Cambridge and Bedford, SNHAC youngsters fought hard for every point, but gaps in the team sheets saw the team finish fourth, 15 points behind Bedford, Cambridge were second with Dacorum winning by 128 points. Watford were fifth and Peterborough sixth.
There were some lovely performances from all the U13, U15 and U17 athletes competing, with lots of Personal Best performances. Team managers Libby Taylor and Melissa Doran were impressed by the number of athletes who stepped up to fill gaps and competed in the maximum number of events.
In the U13 age group there were A and B string wins in the Javelin for Kyle Moffet and Elijah Ragoobar and there were good debut performances from Isaac Bull 100m, Zachary Olabode 1500m, Ralph Dormer 800m, Emilia Henley 200m, Ivy Amofa 75H, Harriet Newstead 800m and Naomi Akingogun LJ.
In the U15 age group there were A string win for James Branch 1500m and Thomas Chivers HJ, along with a B string wins for Charlie Walker 300m, Maya Kihogo 100m, Sarena So 1500m and Scarlet Victory HJ. Good debut performances came from Oluwagbemisola Majiyabe SP and Lara McLoed HT.
U17 A wins came from Ben Lewis TJ, Edward Turner HT and Enid Whitten SP and HT. Edward Turner also won the B string SP and Charlotte Dormer the B string JT. There were good debut performances from uNathi Vokwana, Owen, Chidavenzi, Amber Bakobaki, Bethan Ward and Lucia Lam Chapman.
The non scoring athletes produced some good times, distances and heights which will see them climb the Club rankings for 2024.
Full Club results are on the Club website. Full league results will appear on the Power of 10 once they have checked and amended.
The next EYAL is Sunday 5th April. There will be a coach (free to athletes and parents). Libby and Melissa will be sending out details at the beginning of next week.
154 entries were received for the Open Event at Stevenage on Sunday. Not deterred by gusty winds and the threatened showers, competing athletes gave the Club the opportunity to test the new Electronic Gun, Kyle Spitzer to undertake his first event as starter, the new cabin to be christened and Norma to enjoy her first sitting down role, registering athletes.
Installed on Tuesday, electrics on Wednesday, the new cabin proved to be a success, easy to link to photo finish and set up WiFi, with plenty of space for registering athletes using Roster. The event gave the Club the opportunity to fine tune arrangements ready for a ‘run’ of home league matches starting next weekend with an Eastern Young Athletes League Match.
In spite of a head wind for the 100m there were nineteen personal best performances in the five races. Although the sprinters didn’t enjoy the head wind it gave the pole vaulters a tail wind resulting in two PBs and a season’s best. Many more PBs were recorded in the 200, 300, 400, 800 and 1500m along with the U11 events (80 and 600m).
The first Peter Lee Memorial Trophy was awarded to the athlete who had made the most progress in a Field Event since 2023. This went to U17 Edward Turner who recorded a 4m PB in the hammer. The award was presented by Janet Lee. The Club presented Janet with a photo book featuring Peter in his many roles as a Field Judge.
SNHAC results are on the results page of the website.