YDL Upper Age Group at Dartford 28th June

Sunday was the team’s penultimate league match, away to Dartford. With examinations out of the way, we took our strongest team to date and this showed with the points scored and events won.

Kicking off were our men in the field, with Mathew Wettach winning the U20 mens A string Hammer, recording a PB of 15.89m, Callum Carlile came 1st in the B string with a throw of 14.28m, also a PB. Fraser McAllister completed the clean sweep, winning the U17 mens hammer with a big PB of 25.11m.

Over in the mens Long Jump; Andrew Lomax came 3rd in the U20 mens competition, hitting a 5.74m, a big improvement from when he last jumped as an U13! Charlie Feinson picked up 4th in the U17 competition, further improving his best to 4.37m.

Sophie Mace rounded off the morning’s field events by winning the shot with 12.38m.

On track we maintained our dominance in the leagues U17 400m Hurdles race, albeit this time with a completely different athlete! Euan Traynor won the race in a time of 64.2, slightly down on his season’s best, however it was only his 3rd race over hurdles this year.

Onto the 1500m mens race – Adam Watts (A) and Matthew Pharaoh (B) picked up 3rd and 2nd respectively in the U20’s, with Matthew knocking 2 seconds off his PB in the process. Walton’s U17’s put in a fine display, with Charlie Feinson and Lewis Mann winning the A and B race. Charlie took 8 seconds off his best, running 4:34.9. Lewis was .3 away from his best time this year, running 4:37.6.

Back in the field, Sophie Mace scored another maximum for the women’s hammer, throwing 51.63m.

On track next for Walton were the 100m runners. Up first was Jasper Lee and Mathew Wettach for the U20’s. Jasper clocked 12.1 in the A string and Mathew 13.1 in the B string, they came 4th and 3rd respectively. Up for the U17’s were Joe O’Connor and Liam Bushell. Joe won the A string comfortably in a time of 11.9 and Liam came 2nd with 12.6. Conditions were less than ideal with wind and rain hindering all athletes on the start line.

Back to the field, we had a seasons’ debut for Emma Heapes in the U20 womens Long Jump, securing 3rd place with 4.33m. In the Men’s Javelin, Callum Carlile threw a PB of 20.38m to come 4th and Joe O’Connor threw 17.60m coming 5th.

Next up were our 400m runners. Andrew Lomax picked up max points with a fine display over the A string U20 race with 51.4. Callum Carlile, his first race on track in a year, ran a fine opening 200m leading the B race, but fatigue and lactic acid hit hard and he came through the line tying for 2nd place with 57.3. Our U17’s enjoyed similar success, with Fraser McAllister coming 2nd in the A string race with a PB of 55.7 and Cameron Chisholm also coming 2nd with 58.1.

The Mens Shot came next, with Jasper Lee and Mathew Wettach representing the U20’s and Liam Bushell for the U17’s. Jasper came 3rd in the A string with a PB of 7.77m and Mathew picked up 2nd Place in the B string with 6.96m. Liam came 4th in the U17 with 8.00m.

Up in the field, Euan Traynor picked up 2nd place in the Triple Jump with 11.13m. Over in the Womens High Jump, Emma Heapes also came 2nd with  1.40m

Andrew Lomax, Jasper Lee, Joe O’Connor, and Liam Bushell all raced in the 200m next, Andy taking 3rd in the U20 A, Jasper 2nd in the B, Joe 1st in the A, and Liam 1st in the B. Liam ran a new PB, breaking 25 seconds for the first time with 24.9.

After the 200m races, on track came the 800m. The U20’s saw PB’s for Adam Watts (2:14.4) and Isaac Mammen (2:18.6) – Isaac competed in the older age group as opposed to the U17 race. Calum Beauchamp won the U17 race, leading from the front and taking the A string in 2:04.0, a PB. Lewis Mann won the B string, shy of his PB, with 2:13.9.

Sophie Mace rounded off her day winning the womens discus, with a throw of 43.18m.

Finishing the day with the relays, Walton’s 100m quartet of O’Connor, Bushell, McAllister, and Beauchamp continued our unbeaten streak with a best of 47.5. The U20’s weren’t as fortunate, being disqualified for not getting the baton round.

Finishing the field events were Mathew Wettach and Calum Beauchamp in the U20 and U17 Discus, both throwing PB’s (Wettach 4th and Beauchamp 3rd).

Finishing the day was the 400m relays. Only putting out an U17 team; Feinson, Mann, Beauchamp, and McAllister won the event with a best of 3:49.0 – beating one of the U20 mens teams in the process!

With the addition of superb officiating and time keeping (special thanks to our officials for coaching Athletes mid-event!) we recorded our highest point’s total this year – taking 345 points and coming 3rd place in the match.

This puts us 3rd in the league, overtaking Bexley, who have dropped down a position.

Fantastic work to all involved, next and final match is (again) at Dartford on July 26th, let us hope for a repeat (minus the rain!!)