It was a determined and competitive team that arrived at Xcel Sports Hub for not only the first match of the season, but our first junior home match, too. Many athletes were making their debut for the Club and they performed with focus and enthusiasm. There were numerous great performances and PB’s to kick off the season across both age groups with several athletes breaking into the Top 10 All Time Club Rankings.

For the girls there were a number of great performances including Jeslyn Agyei-Kyem who broke the thirteen year old under 15 Girls 100 metres club record by running a blistering 12.4s which takes her to the top of the UK rankings. Caitlin Paul recorded a huge new pb over hurdles, running 12:1. In the under 13 girls Emma Fisher showed she’s in great early season form with two new pbs in the 75 metres 10:2 & 150 metres 20:0 and third position in the UK rankings in both events. Sian Popham showed her class and was rewarded with two new pbs in the 75 metres 10:5 and 800 metres 2:32.

Not to be outdone, the boys also shone. George Sudderick was in awesome form for his first outdoor competition of the season and tore up the track with a sprint double running 100 metres 11:2 & 200 metres 22:9. Boys Team Captain Jack Gemmell showed he’s wintered well with a new pb over 800 metres 2:13:6 and Ross Hurst ran a 5 second pb over 1500metres 4:37. In the under 13 boys Hayden Evans dominated the sprints with two new pbs 100 metres 12:7 & 200 metres 26:3 taking him into 3rd place on the UK rankings list. Alex Histon-Allvey in his first competitive outdoor race for the club ran a massive pb over 800 2:28 to move him to 8th place on club all time rankings.

On the field all the throwers performed admirably with Girls Team Captain Georgia Russell throwing a pb in the Hammer and Ricky Villa-Abrille and new comer Jakob Howe gaining good points for the club with solid early season performances.

With so many outstanding performances it was hard to choose but performances of the day go to Jeslyn Agyei-Kyem and George Sudderick for their 100 metre victories and a place at the top of the UK rankings list.

The relays brought the day to an exciting close with the U13G and U13B’s 4x100m teams coming a close second. The U15B 4×100 also came second with the U15G going 1 better to win. The 4x300m U15G team also won in emphatic style 14 seconds ahead of the next team with the U15B following suit winning with a four second margin.

The match was very close all day with Walton and Camberley vying for the lead. Tremendous thanks to all those athletes who agreed to do an event to gain crucial points for the team showing true team spirit – we await the official results – it will be a very close outcome!

A huge thank you goes to all the officials for giving up their time so that our athletes can compete, and to Jack and Georgia making their successful debuts as Team Captains. Huge thanks also go to all the volunteers who kept the match running smoothly – we couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you also to all the club coaches for coaching and to the parents for their unwavering support! It has been lovely to receive so many complimentary comments from the other teams about the day – well done to everyone involved. Finally, a huge thanks to Amanda Sudderick for running the tombola stall to raise money for club.

The team would like to wish Ben Shepherd a speedy recovery and hope to see him at the next match.

The full results will be available on the Power of 10 website later in the week. In the meantime, the provisional results, to be ratified by the YDL, are attached here

Kathryn Paul