Walton Athletics’ Club second Upper Age Group match saw the team travel to Guildford with a team of ten athletes. Unfortunately, Charlotte Maxwell could not make the meeting due to illness, and we all wish her a speedy recovery. Numbers were hampered by trips abroad, a fairly hectic DofE weekend, and of course, continued cramming for forthcoming GCSEs. Weather was a bit of mixed bag for racing with strong headwinds and changeable conditions.
Despite the Great British summer (well, nearly) and a small team, all athletes in attendance competed solidly with a number of well earned PBs.
Opening proceedings for Walton was Jacob Thomas in the Long Jump who jumped an impressive 5.16, nudging towards his PB. Jacob later turned his focus on his U17 100m PB which he crashed through with a speedy 12.06.
Meanwhile out in the field was the club’s inveterate multi-eventer Oluwatobi Aderoju impressing in the shot with a hefty 6.74 throw. She later added to Walton’s points total with a great 100m run of 14.92, and a wonderful 17.66 throw at discus. An all round excellent effort!
There was some interest around the U17 men’s 1500m with the first outing for George (800m) Pittwood in the event as a non-scorer, along side the more established Christian Boyd and Callum Campbell-Curd. George took control of the race winning the 1500m by digging deeply for an impressive 4.21. Well done to Callum who matched his PB from Match One by grinding out another 4.57. Christian’s equal gritty performance was matched with a very respectable 4.44. Overall, it was a fantastic showing by Walton in this event.
Sean Salter was another busy athlete competing in both the 100 and 200m. In both events, he also kept the track judges busy in deciding whether he crossed the line in first place or not. With matters undecided, both disciplines went to a photo finish, and unfortunately the camera did not find in Sean’s favour for both races. He subsequently blamed his mum for an enforced haircut that trimmed his fringe and costed him two first places. The decisions were somewhat sugared by a 12:24 in the 100m and a PB in the 200m of 24.07.
The ladies events were later on in the day, and not to be overshadowed, they notched up some fantastic results both in terms of race positions and PBs. Jess Maxwell earned a well deserved second place in the 200m with a PB of 27.36. Frida Blackwood did not leave any regrets on the 300m track with an impressive PB of 45.72. With a similar effort by Hannah Giblin in the 800m, she matched or beat her current PB with 2.34.
Lastly, but by no means least of all, a huge thanks to my parent helpers:
Jonelle Salter, Jamie Thomas, Matthew Maxwell and Martin Norman.
for offering up the day to help officiate the ladies Pole Vault, Triple Jump and Discus events.
Our next YDL meet is the big one: Walton on Sunday 26 June.
Hopefully, we will be the other side of DofE and half-term holidays meaning a much bigger team with a host of PBs. The club will need a lot of help on the day to host the meeting. Comms will be going out soon, please be as generous with any time you can offer to facilitate the event.
Clint Marks,
Team Manager