The final Heart of England meeting took place at Banbury on Saturday 5th July. A strong team was needed to try to avoid relegation from Division 1. Unfortunately this year's league proved too much and with two of the three league meetings clashing with Senior league meetings many athletes were unavailable for the crucial matches.
With relegation inevitable reflection is needed for the positives of this final league meeting. The under 11 athletes, male and female finished in 3rd place out of the 8 teams. In the under 11 age group only individual gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the top three athletes over all fixtures in all events. Max Mowforth was awarded the gold medal for his long jump, Rory Pateman was awarded the silver for his howler throw and Sophie Toseland the bronze for her howler throw.
Rory was victorious in his howler in the final meeting. PBs were gained by Millie Webb, Oliver Laskey and Sophie Toseland. Robyn Beale competed well in the 75m and howler.
In the under 13 age group the boys team finished in third place with Lewis-Morgan Barton winning his hurdles and 200m and 2nd in high jump. Brooklyn Biddle also finished first in the B 200m as well as second in the 100m and B long jump. Joshua Gray gained personal bests in all his events, hurdles, long jump and 100m. Zack Winstone was "persuaded" to take part and ran a fine 800m as well as throwing a javelin. Dylan Bowley unfortunately had to pull out of his 1500m but also threw javelin and shot for some much needed points.
The Under 13 girls finished 6th and unfortunately a few runners dropped out on the day due to injuries or otherwise. Niamh Lindsley stepped in to another's shoes and ran well in the 100m and 200m as well as her normal hurdles. Alex Beale also gained useful points in her hurdles, javelin and long jump. Harriet Drake-Lee performed consistently well in her high jump and also competed well in the long jump and in the 800m gained a pb. Millie Toseland got a pb in her 1500m and also competed in the javelin and shot. Emily Williams won her 800m convincingly, as did Erin Healy in the 100m and 200m. Over all three fixtures Erin won 6/6 in the 100m/200 sprint double!
The under 15 boys finished in 7th place with the stand out performance by Jake Trent winning his 800m and also running well for 3rd in the 400m. Also competing well for the Club were Haydn Bennett with a second in the 200 B race as well as throwing the shot and javelin, Sam Bott in the 100m and shot, newcomer Tim Hale in the hurdles and long jump, Josh Cannell in the 1500m and Jack Reed with his "dream combination" of 100m, 200m and 400m!
The Under 15 girls also finished in 7th place with Chloe Hearne gaining a pb in her 1500m and also gaining points in the hurdles and long jump. Freya Marlow also gained a pb in her hurdles race and also gained points in the high jump and long jump. Sophie Moss was in superb form with a great win in the 800m B race with a pb and also a pb in the 300m. Rebecca Hughes also competed in the 800m and 300m and also threw a shot gaining an extra point for the Club! First time competitors for the Club, Leotel Etengeneng and Esther Owesa competed well in the 100m, 200m and javelin.
In the Under 17 boys regrettably we had a very depleted team consisting of only three competitors. Mitchell Hunter rallied round and ran well in his 100m, 200m and also threw the shot. Richard Burke carrying a slight injury also threw the shot and javelin and also took part in the long jump. Edward Cannell ran well in his 1500m.
In the final category Under 17/senior women the team finished 6th with all events covered except 1500m. Daisy and Annie Gilbert performed well in the javelin and shot. Ella Palmer was busy in the high jump, hurdles and 300m as was Eleanor Izzard in the 100m, hurdles and long jump. Claudio Nevett ran well to win her 800m with Hannah Winstone also running well for 2nd in the B race. Rowena Cattell came 2nd in her 300m and came agonisingly close to her pb in the 200m. Niamh Ruffles ran well in her 200m and gained an equal pb in the 100m. Claudia Nevett also tried her legs out in the long jump and also stepped in at the last moment in the relay team!
Well done to all athletes who took part this season and to the supporting parents. Thanks also to the helpers in the field and to the track officials.
See you all next Season! Don't forget last chance for a pb at the Club Open meeting on 16th August 2014!!
Please find below an additional report from Shane
Heart of England (Banbury) Middle Distance report
There were some excellent performances from the squad, but sadly probably not enough to prevent relegation to Div 2, mainly due to being unable to fulfil all the spaces, a perpetual problem with a busy athletics calendar for such a small squad.
The 800 brought some typical quality results with Emily Williams again cruising to victory in the U13 girls race, untroubled in a time of 2:29.3, some way from her best but good enough to secure the win, with Harriett Drake-Lee also running well with a new PB finishing 5th in the B race with 2:55.6. This was followed up with a superb debut win the U15 boys race with Jake Trent leading from start to finish, securing the win with a fine 2:10.3. Jake also ran the B 400m race again a debut over the distance to finish in third with a credible 55.9. In the U15 girls 800, Sophie Moss was in inspired form as she lead from gun to tape to easily win the B 800m with a superb 3 second PB with 2:30.5, with Rebecca Hughes who was a little below her best on the day finishing 5th in the A 800m with 2:26.3.
In the U17 800m there was more success, with Claudia Nevett dropping down in distance securing a super win in the A race with 2:24.4, and Hannah Winstone finishing running well for 2nd in the B race with 2:29.1. In the U13 boys 800 there were fine performances from 2 debutants with Harry Darnell finishing a fine 4th in the A 800m with a new PB of 2:38.9, and Zac Winstone finishing in 5th in the B race with 2:53.7 in an exciting sprint to the line.
In the 1500m there were also good performances with U15 Chloe Hearne dipping below 5:30 for the first time with a fine run for 6th place with 5:27.9, and the Cannel brothers, Edward and Josh both running well with Edward finishing 5th with 4:43.1, and Josh in 6th with 5:35.6