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European Masters Champs Round Up

2019 European Masters Athletics Championships, Venice ITALY
with thanks to Jonty Mitchell for the photos

Several first and second claim senior members of Walton AC, competed in the 2019 edition of the European Masters Athletics Championships.  These were held in Venice, Italy over the period of 5-15th September.

In the W35 category, Fiona de Mauny, the reigning W35 800m World Champion, had a challenging task of competing in the 400m, 800m and the 1500m events.  Her first event of the championship was the 1500m where she qualified comfortably in the heats before finishing in a very respectable 5th in the Final.  Entering her next 2 events Fiona had the tough task of competing against pre-race favourite, Aneta Lemiesz of Poland, who has been a regular pacemaker on the Diamond League circuit in 2019.   In the 400m final Fiona ran a season’s best time to secure the silver medal behind Aneta.  In the 800m final, Fiona ran a gutsy race taking the lead from the start and giving the Pole a stern challenge.  Fiona was rewarded with a second silver medal and a season’s best time of 2:12.78 and finished well clear of the bronze medallist.

In the W40 category, Susie McLoughlin looked strong in the qualifying rounds of the 100m and 200m to secure good lanes in both the finals. The 100m final, which took place in torrential conditions, had a strong British presence, and Susie won the Silver medal, in a season best of 12.72secs behind World Indoor 200m Champion, Malgozata Gasowska, from Poland. Susie picked up her second silver medal, in the 200m, this time in sunny conditions albeit into a slight headwind. Susie struck gold in the 4x100m relay with a strong British quartet who smashed the W40 UK Record, in a time of 49.65secs, finishing well ahead of the other teams. Susie, the current World W40 400m Champion, added another silver medal to her tally by running a fast anchor leg for the British women’s W40 4x400m relay team to win her 4th medal of the championships

The 10km Road Championship Race was a mass event mixed in with an Open Road Race which took place in extremely hot temperatures on the streets of Jesselo. In a festival atmosphere, Jamie McLoughlin, ran a modest race to finish 90th overall and 12th in M40 age category.

Louise Wood competed in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump in the W55 category. In a week where the weather conditions varied from torrential rain to hot and sunny, Louise drew the short straw and saw her Triple Jump final take place in horrendously wet conditions. Despite this, she won the bronze medal with a jump of 9.86m, just 20cm behind the silver medallist from Sweden. She followed this up with a respectable 7th place finish in the W50 Long Jump competition several days later.

In the W55 category, hot favourite Virginia Mitchell came away with three Gold medals. Virginia, who is the reigning W55 400m & 800m World Champion, won the 400m comfortably, before stepping up to the 800m where she was up against former World Record holder and multiple European Champion, Clare Elms. In the 800m final, Vi put on a superb tactical display, controlling the race and covering any moves Clare made. In the final 150m, Virginia pulled away to win recording a new Championship Best time in the process. Virginia’s third gold medal came in the W55 4x400m where there was no doubt that Britain would win, but what wasn’t expected was the ladies put in a superb performance to set a new W55 World Record.

Tony Mitchell had mixed fortunes. After pulling up with a minor injury in the M60 300 hurdles heats, he bounced back the following week with a storming second leg run in the 4 x 100m relay to win a bronze medal in the M60 category. The following day, Tony ran a courageous 3rd leg for the men’s M60 4x400m relay team, where Britain finished in the silver medal position, only to be disqualified in the aftermath due to there being judged a technical infringement.
The next major Masters event is the 2020 European Indoor Championships which take place in Braga, Portugal in March. This will be followed by the 2020 edition of the World Masters Championship will be held in Toronto, Canada in July. We hope there will be a strong Walton presence at these future events.

Cross Country Season 2019-20

The cross country season is beginning with all senior and junior athletes encouraged to take part in the teams for the Surrey League and other events.

The League fixtures are as follows, with further details available from https://surreyleague.org/

Saturday 12 October
Women and girls, Reigate Priory;
Men (inc U20s), Richmond Park;
Boys (U17 and below), Effingham Common
Saturday 9 November
Women and girls, Mitcham Common;
Men (inc U20s), Epsom Downs;
Boys (U17 and below), Wimbledon Common
Saturday 11 January
Women and girls, Wimbledon Common;
Men (inc U20s), Oxshott Woods;
Boys (U17 and below), Beckenham
Saturday 8 February
Women and girls, Richmond Park;
Men (inc U20s), Lloyd Park;
Boys (U17 and below), Lloyd Park

Time are subject to change but generally:
Senior women (inc U20s) will usually be at 1pm but may be at 11am for some matches.
Junior girls will be at 12 noon (U17 & U15) and 12:30 (U13).
Senior men (inc U20s) will usually be at 3pm, last match at 2pm.
Junior boys will be at 2:30pm.

Teams will also be put forward for other events including the Southern Relays on Saturday 19 October (Wormwood Scubs Common) and the Surrey Championships on Sunday 5 January (Denbies).

All athletes should have received details already from their team manager. If you have not received details, please contact the relevant team manager:

Senior Men (inc U20s for the league matches): Chris de Mauny
Junior boys (inc U20s for championship competitions): Andrew Kennard
Senior women and junior girls: Lizzie Williams

If you need contact details, please email info@waltonac.co.uk

South of England Age Group Championships

Cedelle Agyei-Kyem continues her outstanding season on the track with gold over 400metres at the South of England Champs in Ashford, Kent.

Running from lane 3 in blustery conditions, Cedelle ran a very controlled race and timed her victory to perfection, clocking 57:41 and in the process successfully defended her title.

Sister Jeslyn was also in the race, and came agonisingly close to a medal, but finished just outside in 4th place, but was rewarded for her efforts with a new pb of 58:43.

In the under 17 men’s 1500 steeplechase Ross Hurst, having his first season over the barriers took a well deserved silver medal. Having to do the majority of the work Ross just got over taken in the last 200 metres, but he has another year in the age group.

The under 15 girls 300 saw Walton with two representatives in the final, both first year in the age group and both competed admiringly against tough opposition. Annalise Agyei-Kyem came 4th (42:84) and Emma Fisher 5th (43:42).

Other to make the trip down to Ashford, Hayden Evans 39:61 and Jacob Gelona 43:5 U15 300, Chris Vaughan 2:14:90 U15 800, Jack Gemmell 2:07:03 U17 800, Joseph Daws-Twilley 4:29:22 U17 1500 and Rueben Leyland 63:20 U17 400H.

Congratulations to all the Walton athletes on their amazing performances and good luck to those competing in the forthcoming National Champs in Bedford.

International Results

Philip Kastner U20 men was selected to represent England in the Home Countries Combined Events International at Manchester on 3-4th August.

Philip came second with 6361 points in the U20 men’s decathlon with PBs in both the 110m hurdles 14.62 sec and Pole Vault 3.57m.

Well done Philip!

Sam Mace competing at the International Throws Meet in Leiria, Portugal, wore his England vest with pride to take the Silver medal, in his second U20 International competition (adding to the medals he won at the UK School Games and the SIAB Schools International whilst an U17).

Sam threw the Senior weight on his first day coming a creditable 10th in the Elite mens competition with the UK ranked 2nd and 3rd Senior Athletes also competing in the Hammer.

The second day Sam threw his own age group weight to come 2nd and earned the Silver medal in a field of 10 international athletes.