English Schools medals for Stevenage and North Herts Athletics Club

Nathan Gardner. Photo by Mick Shortland (Image: Archant)

Ten Stevenage and North Herts Athletics Club (SNHAC) athletes were part of the 60-strong team from Hertfordshire who travelled to Birmingham for the the English Schools Championships.

Competing on Friday George Marvell clinched the silver medal in the intermediate boys’ hammer competition with a throw of 63.52m. The throw has gained George a place in the England team for the Schools International in Cardiff this weekend and his first representative vest.

Nathan Gardner also competed on the Friday and vaulted well to gain bronze in the intermediate pole vault, clearing 4.30m.

Senior girl Page Fairclough ran 12.14s in her heat of the 100m and followed it with a run of 12.2s for fifth place in the final.

Page was also part of the senior girls’ relay team who came fourth.

Michael Stocker gained sixth place in the junior boys’ pole vault clearing 3.20m.

Kim Sobotie ran 51.50secs in his heat of the senior boys’ 400m, Max Price ran 13.73s in his heat of the intermediate boys’ 100m hurdles. Lauren Aldridge threw 43.27m in her pool of the intermediate girls’ hammer and 41m in the final, Louis Lomas cleared 1.64m in the junior boys’ high jump, Peter Keefe threw 11.71m in the junior boysm shot put and Alisha Levy threw 33.96m in her pool of the junior girls’ javelin and 34.20m in the final.

Stevenage and North Herts Senior team scrap for third place finish

The team from SNHAC travelled to Basingstoke on Saturday for the fourth match of the season in the top division of the Southern Athletic League.

Walton won the match with a points total of 212.5 with the other three clubs battling away for the runners up sport.

Basingstoke eventually pulled away for second with 190, SNHAC were third with 177 and Havering Mayesbrook fourth with 164.5.

The men had A string wins from Peter De’Ath in the 200m (23.2s) and Max Schopp in the 400m hurdles (56.9s) plus B string wins from Paul Spicer in the 110m hurdles and high jump (20.0s and 1.75m), Alfie Florence in 400m hurdles (1:07.7) and Billy Vernon Hamilton in the long jump (5.90m).

Lauren Rule won the A 400m for the women (57.6s), Janet Browne won both the 100m hurdles and high jump (17.2s and 1.63m) and Shannon Rapacchi the A pole vault, B 100m hurdles and high jump (2.90m, 19.0s and 1.40m).

Other B string wins came from Sandra Reed in the 400m hurdles (1:15.9), Rebecca Beddall pole vault (2.20m), Laura Feely in the hammer (29.66m) and Kirsty Bateman Foley the javelin (31.28m).

With one home match to go in early August, team managers Lee Grint and Norma Harris are looking forward to another good team performance.

Another runaway success for Stevenage and North Herts young athletes

Stevenage and North Herts faced a top of the table clash in their latest Eastern Young Athletes League match at Ridlins on Sunday.

Up against the clubs in fourth, fifth and sixth the league leaders stormed to an emphatic win by over 100 points.

They amassed 811 points to finish ahead of Norwich (687.5), Dacorum and Tring (660.5) and Barnet and Shaftsbury (635).

Leading scorer for the girls was U15 Annamarie Uzokwe who won the A string 100m (12.9 secs) and 200m (26.7 secs).

To add to this she stepped in at the last minute to run her first ever 300m, winning the A race in 41.9s.

Uzokwe was then joined by Rhema Sijuwade, Keira Hicks (who had earlier won the A string pole vault with 2.80m) and Amba Gooden (who had won the A string hammer with 24.68m) to win the 4x100m relay.

In the 1500m Zoe Thompson comfortably won the A string (5mins 11secs). Her nearest challenger was team-mate Katie Saunders who won the B string in 5:21.

Not to be outdone by those on the track the throwers put in some good performances with Alisha Levy winning the A string javelin (38.38 m) and coming second in the A string shot put (9.11m).

In the same shot competition Shona Pybus won the B string with 8.37m while debutee Jasmine Charlton was second in the A string discus (19.33m).

For the U13s there were plenty of points won in the throws. Georgia Shepherd-Gazely and Esme Wase won the A and B string javelin (26.67m and 18.03), while there was more double success in the shot where Libby Taylor (A string, 9.33m) and Ellie Stone (B string, 5.84m) both took maximum points.

Elsewhere, Leah Cairns won the B string high jump (1.30m) and Molly Gardner took second place in the A string with a jump of 1.35m.

On the track there was a win in the A string 200m for Petra Sijuwade (28.3s). Earlier in the afternoon she had also taken second place in the A string 100m (13.8s).

Also coming second on the track were Lisamarie Uzokwe (B string 100m in 14.1s and 200m 29.6s). In the distance races, Lucy Hembury Gunn won the B string in 2:43 and Lizzie Raymont was second in the A string 1500m (5:19).

In the U17 age group Emily Saunders and Alessandra Stevens took first place in both the A and B string 300m (43.6s and 45.8s). Emily also won the B string 200m (27.7s).

Other successes on the track came from Bethany Harley (B string 100m, 13.6s), Leah Littlechild (A string 100m in 13.5s) and Lisa Barber and Georgia Reed who were both second in the A and B string 1500s (6mins and 6:11).

For Bethany Harley there was also success in the B string high jump where she won with a jump of 1.45m. There was also a win for Martha Huggins in the A string pole vault (2.70m).

For the throwers Lauren Aldridge was victorious in the A string hammer (46.24m). In the discus Melissa Doran was second in the A string with a throw of 23.46m and Siobhan Rapacchi took the B string win with 19.87m. Siobhan also came second in the B string shot (7.65m).

The U13 boys saw Semba Bwalya win both the 100 and 200m A races (13.2s and 27.5s), Jason List and Haydn Williams win A and B string javelin (29.88m and 25.66m), Haydn was also second in the A 800m race (2:31.5) and Jason was second in the B race 1500m race and A discus (5:26.8 and 18.52m).

Finlay Collins was second in the B 100m race (14.6s) and Ralph Williams was second in the B discus (13.85m).

In the U15 boys age group there were wins from Peter Keefe in the A shot and discus (12.86m and 37.71m) with Will Rodway coming second in the B shot and winning the B discus (9.28m and 26.20m).

Kit Kerr won the B 80m hurdles (13.1s), Louis Lomas and Adam Mason were second in the A and B 800m races (2:15.4 and 2:23.3), Tomas Liversey was second in the B 1500m (5:12.30), newcomer to the team Oscar Jopp was second in the B high jump (1.50m), Michael Stocker was second in the A pole vault (3.40m), Matthew Cook was second in the A hammer competition (34.12m) and Sam Bellinger was second in the B javelin (25.27m).

Results of the day came from the U17 boys who recorded six A and seven B wins plus five second place finishes.

A string wins came from Josh Breaker Rolfe in the pole vault (2.80m), Gawsul Alam in the high jump (1.65m), Max Price in the long jump (6.73m PB and club record), Nathan Gardner triple jump (12.57m) and George Marvell hammer (59.32m).

B wins came from Charlee Yearwood in the 200m (23.70s), Jack Davidson in the 400m and triple jump (59.6s and 9.51m), Luca Wells in the 800m (2:21.1), Robert Bolton in the 1500m (4:35.1)and Alfie Florence in the 100m hurdles and high jump (16.2s and 1.45m).

Charlee Yearwood and Antoine Oget were second in A and B 100m (11.5s and 12.5s respectively), Conrad Bobb was second in the A 200m (24.0s), Tyler Gray was second in the A 400m (54.0s) and Junior Klutse was second in the A shot (11.99m).

Team managers Paul Pickard and Sharon Larman were delighted with the win which leaves the club top of the league with just one match to go in early August.

SNHAC senior athletes represent Hertfordshire at the Inter County Match

Eight athletes from the club travelled to Mile End on Sunday to represent Hertfordshire.

The blustery wind led to challenging conditions as highest placed athlete Dan Gardner discovered to his cost in the pole vault.

A freak gust from the cross wind took Gardner out in mid-air and caused a crash landing on the ground not the bed.

Fortunately no bones were broken but severe bruising will keep Gardner out of training for some days.

The SNHAC athlete managed to clear 4.60m for second in the A string and fellow team-mate Matthius Winter cleared 3.40m for fourth in the B string.

Elior Harris cleared 1.80m in the A string high jump and recorded 5.73m in the long jump.

Peter De’Ath ran 11.73s for the 100m, Paul Spicer cleared 1.75m in the B high jump, Moe Sasegbon was third in the A shot put (11.50m), Frances Gross threw 32.57m in the a hammer and Kirsty Bateman Foley threw 29.26m in the B javelin.