News

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.

The Clubs under 13 athletes were in action on Monday evening at St Albans. The U13 Challenge is a Herts Inter Club competition which encourages young athletes to compete in their best event and try their hand at something different, at the same time giving County Team Managers their first glimpse of the talent they may be selecting in future years.
There were some new U13 athletes competing in Club colours for the first time and some seasoned campaigners in the team.
In the boy’s competition there were A string wins for Theo Prinsloo in the 75H, 14.7 and Casey Wannerton in the 200m, 28.5. Fred Dilley was second in the 800m and Theo in the Javelin. Completing the team were Alastair Gall Gray and Jack Fowler. Theo, Casey, Fred and Jack won the 4x100m relay in 56.9.
In the girl’s competition there were B string wins for Edythe Oughton in the 75H 12.5 and Connie Dykes in the long jump 3m59. There were second place finishes in the A string 75H from Connie Dykes and long jump from Skye Barnet. Connie, Edythe, Eleanor Roberts and Georgia Baranowski came second in the 4x100m Relay. Completing the team were Gracie Underhill, Millie Cunningtom, Hazel Spitzer, Suzy Tongue and Evie Winder.

Club Athletes were in action at Crawley, Walton and Cambridge over the weekend.

The Clubs YDL Team were in action on Sunday. Travelling with Team Manager Libby Taylor, Officials Rhona Foster, Sally Stevens, Dani Mainstone, Paul Pickard and Helen Pickard the depleted team finished 6th. U17 Will Galliford had a great day winning both the 800 and 1500m (2.07.1 and 4.30.4) along with the B string Discus. Winning the triple jump Adam Bungay jumped a PB of 11m76 and newcomer Seth Akinyanju did a good job of stepping in to help the team in the 100m, 200m and relay. The U20 wins came from Ed Laws in the LJ (5m93) and Jake Sutton B 110H/LJ, Tyler Wannerton SP and Tiago Pereira Garcez JT. Alex Pickard bagged himself PBs in the 100/200m in what was his last YDL away match. The last YDL match of the season is a home match on the 7th August.

Competing in Cambridge at the East Region Championships there were first place finishes for Senior Shannon Rapacchi in the PV – 3m60, U20 Jessica Astill 200m 25.26, U15 Horotio De-Vyott TJ 10m33, Aubrey Murray HJ 1m50 and U13 Jack Fowler LJ 3m88. U20 Tyler Wannerton was 2nd in the 1500m and there were third place finishes for Aubrey Murray in the 1500m and U13 Casey Wannerton in the 200m

Competing for Hertfordshire Schools, U17’s Bobby Pitman, Jamie Timms and Lucy Baverstock along with U15 Lewis Price were competing in the Regional Schools Combined Events Championships.

Competing in the Pentathlon Lewis had an impressive competition on Saturday with PB performances in all five events. 80H 13.03, LJ 6m66, SP 8m95, HJ 1m59 and 800m 2.23.70 gave Lewis a total point score of 2391 finishing in second place. Second Place secured Lewis a place in the national final on the 18th September at Bedford and sixth place on the national rankings. Bobby Pitman and Jamie Timms competed in the Octathlon, finishing in 11th and 13th places overall. They had an impressive 11 PBs between them and finished with 4144 and 3950 point each. The highlight on the Sunday was seeing Bobby Pitman start his hurdles race wearing glasses and finishing with them in his hand. The juggling act when he knocked them off and caught them while hurdling was impressive! The Herts Team finished third. Lucy Baverstock finished 13th with a PB point score of 3727.