As results finally trickle in from the various county schools’ championships back at the start of June, we can finally report on our athletes’ fantastic results competing for their areas. The majority of our athletes compete in the Surrey Championships, and we expect to see many of them donning the gold vest in upcoming competitions.

On the track, there were wins for George Sudderick, taking the junior boys 300 with a PB of 35.28 to go 2nd on the UK all time lists, matched by a win for Jeslyn Agyei-Kyem in the junior girls 300 in 40.36 to go 4th on the UK all time lists. Sister Cedelle took the intermediate girls title in a PB 39.65, placing her 4th on the UK rankings for this year. Joe Hubbard won the senior boys 400 hurdles with 57.97, while Tom Cursons won the intermeiate boys 400 hurdles in 62.06, chased home by silver medalist Sam Bishop (64.44).

Other medallists on the track were Oliver Coppellotti (intermediate boys 800), Ben Marks (intermediate boys 3000) and Emma Horsey (intermediate girls 300H) with silver, and Tyler Panton (intermediate boys 100), Kate Raven (intermediate girls 300, 42.63 PB), Rachel Pharaoh (intermediate girls 800), Darby Begley-Jones (senior girls 800) and Megan Coffey (intermediate girls 1500) with bronze.

It’s not all about the medals, and those athletes who recorded PBs on the day can be satisfied in knowing they produced their best when it counted. Among those recording PBs were Charlotte Maxwell (200, 27.29), Reuben Leyland (400, 52.02), Ethan Dray (400, 53.32) and Catherine Blandford (800, 2:33.78).

The Walton throwers had a wonderful weekend. The weekend started with Eva West and Amy-Lee van der Westhuizen kicking off in the Hammer. Eva had a solid performance with 27.72m in the Intermediate Girls to secure the Bronze medal. Amy competing as a Junior Girl threw a PB of 35.00m to win the Gold Surrey Schools Champion title. Georgia Russell threw a massive PB in the Junior Girls Shot of 11.84m to smash the competition, also the Championship Best Performance for the 3kg Shot and the Gold Surrey Schools Champion title. Jasmine de la Touche had a great day winning the Intermediate Girls Gold Surrey Schools Champion title with 11.14m in the Shot. Nicola Bell threw 36.34m to secure the Silver medal in the Senior Girls Javelin.

The boys never wanting to be out thrown by the girls also had a great competition. In the Hammer Luca Soave was also on fine form and three turns throwing a PB of 33.04m in the Junior Boys to win the Gold Surrey Schools Champion title (already Surrey County Hammer Champion). Josh Cowie threw a PB of 31.85m to win the Silver Medal in the Intermediate Boys Hammer. With Sam Mace completing the age group entries as a Senior Boy in the Hammer throwing a PB of 62.82m to win the Gold Surrey Schools Champion title (also Surrey County Hammer and Shot Champion). Meanwhile over in sunny Berkshire Walton’s Enrique Villa-Abrille was winning the Junior Boys Shot Gold Berkshire Schools Champion with a PB of 11.81m.

Many congratulations to all those Walton athletes competing for various Counties who have been selected to represent their schools and County at the English Schools Track and Field Championships.

Congratulations to Sam Mace who broke the Surrey record for the U20 men’s 6kg hammer when competing in the England Athletics U20 Championships at Bedford last weekend.

The record, which had stood for 32 years, was previously held by GB junior international, Gareth Cook.

This is Sam’s first year as an U20, and his throw of 64.02m places him fourth on the national rankings for this age group. He will surely expect great things in the coming seasons.

A slightly smaller than usual but no less intrepid team arrived in a cold and windy Bournemouth on Sunday. The sun may not have been shining but the sprinters certainly did, producing some very fast times throughout the day! Indeed, despite the weather, many athletes improved their positions both on the Power of 10 and Club rankings whilst racking up points for the team. There were some big PBs during the day including a 0.7s PB for Annalise Agyei-Kyem in the 150m, a 2.2s PB for Caitlin Paul in the 200m, a 3.3s PB for Joseph Dawes-Twilley in the 800m and a 4s PB for Ollie Emment in the 1500m. Other PBs included:

U13G
Emma Fisher – 75m
Annalise Agyei-Kyem – 75m

U15G
Caitlin Paul – 100m
Sally Mammen – 100m
Olivia Mensah – LJ
Amy-Lee Van Der Westhuizen – DT and JT
Catherine Blandford – HJ

U13B
Hayden Evans – 100m and 200m

U15B
Finn Punton – 200m
Jacob Gelona – 80mH
Jack Gemmell – JT and HT
Ross Hurst – DT
Luca Soave – DT
Enrique Villa-Abrille – SP
Jon Awuah – 200m

The day ended with some very exciting relays which saw the 4x100m U13G come home in 3rd, the U15G in second whilst the U15B won as did the U13B who recorded the fastest time for a Walton U13B team in 4 years! The U15G and U15B teams dominated the 4x300m relays both bringing the baton home first.

Athlete of the match goes to two of our sprinters; Hayden Evans for his heroic sprinting and another two PBs and Annalise Agyei-Kyem for her much improved PBs.

After a very busy athletics calendar so far, the team showed great spirit and character to pull together for a well-deserved second place behind the home team (subject to verification)

A huge thank you goes to the officials, especially Jo Gelona who braved the cold as our track judge all day. Thank you, too, to Andrew, the team captains, the parents and the athletes for another successful day. Thank you, also, to all those athletes who did an event for a point, it really does make all the difference. A special thanks to those athletes who stepped in to do events at the last minute, this is what Walton AC is all about – team work!

As this is my last match as TM, I’d like to personally thank all the parents, officials, coaches and athletes for all their help and support over the last three years, you have been amazing and it has been a pleasure watching so many talented athletes achieve so many fantastic results. I wish you all the best of luck for the final match of the season and to Emma Emment who is taking over the role of TM!

Kathryn Paul