News: July 2022

No shade, wall to wall sunshine, copious water intake and constant applications of suntan cream saw SNHACs young athletes enjoy an emphatic win at Cambridge on Sunday. The Club scored 638 points with Bedford and County in second with 376, Cambridge & Coleridge finished third. Full results on the website. Special thanks to the Club’s Officials Rhona Foster Track, Mike Gregory Timekeeper, Steve Feely and Dani Mainstone Field who spent 5 hours officiating in the heat, assisted by Paul and Caroline Keeble and those parents who volunteered to help. Orange and Black vests dominated with athletes recording 20 A string wins, 25 B string wins and winning 4 out of the 6 relays. Success followed success with personal best performances coming in nearly every event. U15 athletes Francesca Hart – 200m, 80H, LJ and Lily Cotter – SP, DT, HT moved up to U17 to support their team-mates (both recording PB’s in their chosen events) while Abigail Manson and Imogen Rose decided to run both the 800 & 1500m, gaining 11 points for the Club out of a possible 12. U17 athletes Bobby Pitman and Will Galliford returned from the ESAA Championships in Manchester Saturday to support the Club at Cambridge Sunday, with Bobby being rewarded with PB performances in both the 100 and 200m (11.4 and 23.2) along with a win in the DT. Will’s win in the 1500m being equally impressive. Team managers Libby Taylor and Shannon Rapacchi were delighted with everyone’s efforts. It looks increasingly likely that we will make the Top 8 final at Chelmsford on the 11th September. Please save the date. The last match is Sunday 14th August at Bedford.

Eight SNHAC athletes were in action at the English Schools Championships in Manchester on Thursday and Friday and a further 4 were representing Hertfordshire at the SEAA Senior/U20 Inter County at Oxford on Saturday.

Representing Cambridgeshire in Manchester, Jacob Kinchin-Smith ran a PB of 11.04 in his heat of the Senior Boys 100m and recorded 11.41 in the semi-final. Junior Boy Lewis Price (Hertfordshire) jumped a 5m75 PB in the long jump for 6th place. Also competing for Hertfordshire were Senior Ed Laws 400H, Inters Will Galliford 1500SC, Bobby Pitman DT, Lucy Baverstock TJ and Junior Tom Redfern 300m. Inter Annabel Howells was in action for Bedfordshire in the 300m.

Dylan Baines jumped a 6m46 PB for the senior men’s team in Oxford finishing fourth. U20 Jamie Joseph was 4th in the 100m 11.32 and 3rd in the 200m with 23.01 (both wind assisted PB’s), Jake Sutton ran a 16.37 PB in the 110H and U17 Isaac Whitten ran 11.00.07 in the U20 3000m Steeple Chase which is a Club U20 record.

The club's road runners faced two 10k Scott's Travel Midweek League races within a week to bring the season to an end.

On Thurday (30th June) the venue was the rolling hills and villages between Buntingford and Royston. To add to what was already a course to challenge the best the early evening saw thunder, lightning and torrential rain across Hertfordshire. Thankfully, the weather relented with minutes to spare and the race took place in the evening sunshine.

Alex Gates was the first SNHAC lady home in 16th and a time of 48.03. Jenny Cotter was 28th in 50.18. This result saw Jenny secure the trophy for being 3rd in her age group across the 4 scoring races this season. In the men's race Trevor Mason was 71st in 47.57. He was followed home by Paul Pickard (118th, 58.59) and Graham Spicer (123rd, 62.19).

Just 6 days later the team were in action again for the end of season mob match at Welwyn Garden City where all 3 divisions race at the same time. This time the weather was a lot threatening! Alex Gates again led home the ladies to come 47th in 48.35. She was followed home by Rebecca Pickard who was 110th in 60.12. Isaac Whitten was first SNHAC man home in 61st place (40.13). Second back was Trevor Mason (173rd, 48.16), then it was Tom Galliford (185th, 49.25), Paul Pickard (270th, 61.45), Bob Whitten (284th, 67.07) and Graham Spicer (285th, 67.21). Actual times taken by the runners in this race were actually quicker than shown due to a staggered start!

The road runners now move on to the popular 3k relays in just under 2 weeks time where the club hope to have a good number of teams. We would always welcome more road runners to join us, just get in touch!

Congratulations to Jess Astill – part of the GB Medley Relay team at the European Youth Championships in Jerusalem - Jess’s split time of 53.5 for the 400m leg helped the team qualify quickest in a GB record, world lead and 3rd fastest time on record.