News

The Hertfordshire Indoor Championships at Lee Valley saw nine Club athletes collect medals.
Seniors Dylan Baines and Shannon Rapacchi won their events. Dylan had a rare competition in the Triple Jump with 12m62 for the win and Shannon cleared 3m40 to win the pole vault. U20’s Jacob Kinchin Smith and Jamie Joseph were in action in the sprints Jacob ran 7.23 to win the 60m with Jamie close behind in 7.26 for second. Jamie won the 200m in 24.00. U17 Isaac Whitten won the 1500m in a PB of 4.33.59 and Adam Bungay jumped an 11m28 PB to secure triple jump gold. Bobby Pitman collected bronze medals in both long jump and shot – 5m06 and 8m75. U15 Harrison Lund finished second in the 800m in 2.26.73 and Patrick Thorne won the 1500m in 5.06.17
Three Club athletes represented Hertfordshire Schools in the ESAA XC Championships at Hop Farm in Kent. Will Galliford Inter Boy, Abigail Manson Inter Girl and Esme Searle Junior Girl took part in races of 300 plus. Highest placed finisher was Abigail Manson in 138th in a race which saw 331 finishers.
Competing at High Point, NC, USA Oscar Jopp ran a 15.40 wind assisted 110H for first place and recorded a 5m90 long jump and 3m95 pole vault.

The cost of competition in terms of time, distance travelled and cost over the weekend to the Clubs Athletes, Parents and Coaches was extensive.

Five of the Clubs Endurance Squad were in action at the CAU National Inter County Championships representing Hertfordshire at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough on Saturday. Competing in Fields of over 300, the best placed finisher was U13 boy Aubrey Murray (82nd), completing his race in a time of 12.50mins, fellow club athlete Casey Wyatt finished in 14.03mins with the Hertfordshire Team finishing 6th. U13 Esme Searle finished the Girls Race in 15.08mins and the Hertfordshire team finished 25th. U15 Abigail Manson finished 137th in 18.13mins with the team placed 29th and U17 William Galliford placed 182nd with the Herts Team finishing 14th.

The Clubs poles along with coaches were also on their travels to Sheffield and Cardiff. U17 Athletes Bobby Pitman and Jamie Timms were in action at the England Athletics Combined Events Championships in Sheffield finishing in 20th and 21st places. Competing in the 60m, LJ, SP, HJ, 60H, PV and 1000m Bobby had PB performances in the shot 9m08, PV 2m63 and 1000m 2.57.91 for 3386 points, while Jamie, in his first indoor heptathlon recorded PBs in all seven events and was particularly pleased with a long jump of 5m50 and hurdles of 9.72. Final point score 3186.

In action at Vault Cardiff on Sunday Shannon Rapacchi was delighted with a Seasons Best performance of 3m41 and Second Claim member Aimie Taylor jumped a PB of 3m21.

UK Indoor Athletics Championships

Competing in his first Indoor National Championships since 2017 Dan Gardner cleared 4m81 for 9th place in the pole vault.

Patriot League Championships Lewisburg PA, USA

The Patriot League Championships saw Oscar Jopp competing in the Heptathlon. A PB in the 60m 7.59 was followed by solid performances in the other six events – 60H 8.71, HJ 1m70, LJ 6m07, SP 9m85, PV 3m78 and 1000m 2.59.95 for a season’s best points score of 5340 and 9th.

Six SNHAC athletes were in Norwich on Saturday representing Hertfordshire at the Regional Sportshall Championships.

Alaistair Gall Gray was in the U13 Boys Team of 12 taking part in two lap race - 26.6 for 8th, shot- 5m08 7th and a relay. The team finished fifth.

Edythe Oughton and Skye Barnet were in the U13 Girls Team which also finished 5th. Skye was 8th in the standing long jump with 1m88 and took part in the relays. Edythe was 5th in the vertical jump and 7th in the 6 lap race in 1.35.3. Edythe was also in a relay.

Competing in the U15 Boys team Adam Bungay and Bobby Pitman were delighted with the third place finish, particularly as Herts only had a team of four team when it should have been six. Bobby finished in overall 7th and Adam 14th. Adam was 3rd in the 4 lap race 50.7, 7th in the standing triple jump 6m88 and 10th in the shot 6m79. Bobby was 3rd in the shot 10m22, 4th in the standing triple jump 7m36 and 7th in the 2 lap race 23.4. Both boys were part of the 4x2 lap relay where Herts finished 3rd.

Lucy Baverstock was part of the depleted U15 Girls team (again only 4 members). First place in the vertical jump, third in the 2 lap race 25.1 and 5th in the speed bounce, saw Lucy finish the day in 3rd out of 25 athletes competing in the age group.

Congratulations to all representing Hertfordshire.

And then in the blink of an eye, the club cross-country season was over. This race, the final one of the league this winter, will be remembered as the wet one, coming one day after Storm Eunice. In stunning grounds at Shuttleworth College, there was an excellent turnout once again by athletes of SNHAC. It seemed that our orange and black vests were even more prominent than usual; or perhaps that is because our runners are doing even better now than at the beginning of the season.

The day itself was not without controversy. Congestion entering and exiting the College affecting surrounding public roads as well as parking problems at the venue led to the delay of the start of the Senior Mens’ race and ultimately led to cancellation of the U17 and Junior Men and Senior Women races. This was a real shame, particularly for the athletes, most of whom had been there for a long time and who had trained so hard for this. Even the rain realised the upset and finally relented at this stage!

Partly with this in mind, I am sure that we can all extend our heartfelt thanks to the coaches, marshals, and team managers. These events take an enormous amount of organisation behind the scenes as well as on the day. The Chiltern League and the clubs that host the matches should also be thanked for a brilliant season; it has been wonderful that after a break of two years it was back on. Without all of the volunteers giving up their spare time, nothing would have gone ahead.

But this is primarily about the athletes, and the results from yesterday were as follows:

U11

Girls: Hazel Spitzer – 3rd

Boys: James Cook – 30th

U13

Girls: Lauren Griffin – 7th, Esme Searle – 8th, Jane Griffin – 9th, Gracie Hall-Watts – 11th, Hannah Cook – 12th, Edythe Oughton – 13th

Boys: Aubrey Murray – 1st, Casey Wyatt – 5th, Patrick Thorne – 6th, Harry Thompson – 10th, Matthew Thompson – 12th, Henry Price – 15th

U15

Girls: Abigail Manson – 6th

Boys: Jack Thompson – 13th, Thomas Redfern – 16th, William Toffa – 19th, George Fifield – 21st, Harrison Lund – 23rd

U17

Boys – race cancelled

Senior Men

Adam Searle – 42nd, Bob Whitten – 110th

The U13 boys won our division in the league this year and the U13 girls and U17 men came third – well done to all those teams, we look forward to receiving and distributing the medals! There were also individual medals for Aubrey Murray (silver, U13 boys), Abigail Manson (silver U15 girls) and Esme Searle (bronze 13 girls)

Lastly, several SNHAC athletes have been selected to represent Hertfordshire at the National Inter-Counties or English Schools Cross-country championships in March. Well done to them, it is a fantastic achievement, and we wish them all the best of luck. I am sure that they will do the club and county proud!