News

On a warm Sunday morning 9 SNHAC athletes lined up amongst over 1000 local runners in the Standalone 10k race in Letchworth. First home was Adam Searle (40 mins 44 secs). He was just 3 seconds ahead of under 20 man Daniel Gill who was making his debut in SNHAC colours.

Next to finish was U20 woman Abigail Manson who followed up her impressive performances in the Midweek League with a win in her category (44.41). Senior woman Alex Gates (46.51), under 20 men Edward Turner (48.51) and Oscar Whitley (50.34), senior woman Rebecca Pickard (51.50), V40 Phil Turner (57.24) and V50 Paul Pickard (58.53) made up the rest of the SNHAC contingent.

Thanks as always to North Herts Road Runners for their excellent organisation and our own Alan Ephgrave who marshalled and offered encouragement, and Eleanor who popped up to take the photos!

The last two weekends in September traditionally end the Track and Field season with Regional and National Combined Events Championships.
The 16th / 17th September was the English Schools Combined Events Championships at Bedford. Bobby Pitman and Jamie Timms had qualified for the final when they, along with two other Hertfordshire athletes won the Inter Boy’s team competition at the regional finals in June. One of the team had to withdraw due to injury, but the remaining three started Saturday with high hopes. A successful mornings LJ and DT saw the team in third and Bobby in second. The team held onto third place after the afternoon’s two events JT and 400m where Jamie ran a PB and Bobby a SB in the 400m. None of the thirty-two athletes involved enjoyed the JT as a gusty cross wind meant distances were well down on what was expected and there were a number of ‘wide’ throws. Bobby still in second to the eventually winner.
Day two started with the hurdles where Jamie dipped below 15 seconds for the first time in an Octathlon and Bobby was just over the 15 second barrier. Bobby at this point slipped to third. The HJ isn’t a favourite event for either athlete and although Bobby jumped a 4 cm PB he slipped to 5th and the team to fourth by the end of the morning. The afternoon saw a 1m PB for Bobby in the SP throwing over 11m for the first time to maintain 5th place. The Octathlon ended with the 1500m which was a favourite event for Adam (Hertfordshire’s third team member) and where Jamie knocked 15 seconds off his PB running 4mins40. Bobby’s 5.14 saw him slip to sixth place, his highest finish at a National Combined Events Championship, record a 500 PB points score and go to ninth on the National Rankings. The Hertfordshire team finished 4th.
A dull, windy 24th September saw 10 of the Clubs young athletes take part in the Eastern and Hertfordshire Pentathlon Championships in Peterborough. A great performance in his first Pentathlon, saw U15 Tom Pymar win both the Eastern and Hertfordshire titles scoring 2,424 points and record PBs in 4 out of the 5 events. U17 Jamie Timms scored 2,578 points also winning the Eastern and Hertfordshire titles. U17 Fran Hart came 2nd in Hertfordshire competition with 2039 points. The Clubs U15 girls had a clean sweep in the Hertfordshire competition with Edythe Oughton 1st 2082 points, Emily Rapley 2nd 1877 points and Abigail Tonge 3rd 1787 points. U13 Hazel Spitzer came 3rd in the East Region Championships and 1st in Hertfordshire with Suzy Tonge 3rd in Hertfordshire competition. Also competing were U17 Edward Turner and U15 Eleanor Roberts. Full results and photos can be found in the website.

Hosting the EYAL Plate final at Stevenage on the 10th September the Club welcomed teams from City of Norwich, HPX, St Albans, Cambridge and Coleridge and Thurrock. It was a close contest, the result in doubt until the last field events were added, which saw the home team win by 85 points (587.5) from City of Norwich 502 with Thurrock in third 482.5
The result was great teamwork from the Club’s young athletes who contested every event for every point. There were early wins in the PV for U15 Edythe Oughton 2m20, Hugo McFarlane – Cushing 2m50 and U17 Bobby Pitman 3m10.
Nathanael Bullen won the U13 100m, Hugo Mafarlane- Cushing won the U15 300m and Thomas Redfern won the U17 400m. There were 1500m wins for U13 Hazel Spitzer, Serena So and Eleanor Roberts U15 A and B, Abigail Manson and Hannah Cook U17 A and B. Thomas Pymar won the U15 80H and Jamie Timms the U17 B 100H.
In the Field there were HJ wins for U13 Monty Norwood and U17 Jamie Timms and Rose Cook won the B U15 Girls LJ. Florence Fausset won the U17 B TJ. Ishar Bacharach won the U13 B SP. Jessica Nicholls won the U17 HT, Zachery Czech won the U15 HT and Edward Turner the U17.
Full results are on the website.
The Club won both U17 Boys and Girls Age Groups as well as the overall Trophy.
A huge thank you to Libby and Mel for team managing throughout the year and the many officials and volunteers who helped make the match a success. A special thank you to Norman West who has been the starter at our home matches for many years and retires this year.

Trialling a completely different method of entering SNHAC/HAWCS Club Championships using Roster, saw a record entry of over a hundred for the event on Saturday 2nd September. Parents, siblings, young athletes and volunteers all joined in to officiate the 8 Field Events on offer, act as Track Judges, Timekeepers, help with refreshments and provide photo finish. The odd glitch with WiFi didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and there were personal best performances in all events.
The highlights of my day included watching Dylan Baines pole vault 4m20 on an 8 stride run up, seeing Jacob Kinchin Smith dip below 11 secs for the 100m and seeing the competition between Bobby Pitman and Nile Odejimi Riley in the Long Jump. Nile determined not to be beaten by the younger athlete (but a specialist triple jumper) took top spot with 6m68 while Bobby added 35cm to his PB to record 6m20.
The event ended with inter squad relays (not sure who won the battle) but the last race saw a brilliant display of last leg running by Jacob Kinchin Smith (mixed U20 team) overhaul a mixed age team of jumpers to win by the thickness of a vest!
Full results and pictures (thanks to Michael Joseph) will be on the website and medals/trophies will be awarded on Thursday 21st September at 6.30pm

SNHAC made excellent use of home advantage to win the EYAL plate final at Ridlins on Sunday beating Norwich, Herts Phoenix, St Albans, Thurrock and Cambridge. Both the U17 women and U17 men also won their age group trophies. Full report to follow.