The Hertfordshire U13 Inter-Club Challenge has seen considerable success for the club in the past and as the defending champions, this year’s junior squad faced a stiff challenge from the other competing clubs most notably the hosts, St Albans.
The format of the event is a little different from the EYAL with a reduced number of events and with individual athletes being limited to one track and one field event each. Under the guidance of Zoe and Amber Carroll, our athletes were faced with a busy evening of competition with some having to take on relatively unfamiliar events in an effort to maximize the number of points scored by filling all the events in both A & B strings.
On the night the athletes produced a number of great performances and the competition proved to be as close as expected. The girls finished in 2nd with 99 points just 3 points behind St Albans. However with the boys winning their category by a six point margin with 103 points, this was sufficient to ensure that the combined total of 202 points secured yet another victory in this competition.
The track events kicked off with the 70m hurdles where both girls ran new PB’s and secured 3rd places. Clara Upjohn (A) overcame any nerves from a fall in a previous race to run smoothly in 15.4. Selima Head (B) continued her development in this event and also improved her PB to 15.1. Violet Stokes also took the opportunity to have another run over the hurdles narrowly missing out on a new PB finishing in 16.2. The boys continued this steady opening event with Jack Grogan (A) improving his PB to 15.7 for 3rd place and Max McGuinn (B) producing his consistent performance with his run of 17.1 for 2nd place.
The 100m then followed where many athletes enjoyed the conditions to produce new PB’s. Zoe Carling (A), ran in a very competitive race and was rewarded with a 4th place finish and a new PB of 14.9. Wanda Ripper (B) switched to the shorter sprint and won her race with her new PB of 15.7. Alannah Hamilton and Violet Ripper also took the opportunity to test themselves over this distance and both achieved PB’s with 16.3 and 17.1 respectively.
The boys races were just as competitive and saw both boys victorious adding maximum points to the team total. Debutant Gabriele Centracchio (A) stormed to victory with his new PB time of 13.9. Jack Lamming (B) continued to show his consistency with a time of 15.1.
The 800m was always likely to see some stiff competition from the other clubs and so it porved. Scarlet Walker (A) improved her PB to 2.53.4 for her 4th place finish. Olivia Cannon (B) dropping down from 1500m for the first time also finished in 4th place with a new PB of 2.56.1.
In the boys events Oliver McDonald (A) built on his previous experience and found himself in a real battle for the line which he was edged out to 3rd place by 0.4 with his time of 2.31.4 which was a new PB whilst Francis Thiruchelvam, making his debut in the B String race, improved his PB set at the County Schools Championship to 2.50.6 for 2nd place.
The 200m was the last individual track event and did not disappoint with PB’s all round for our athletes. Emily Young (A) improved her PB to 29.0 for a fantastic win whilst Millie Farndon (B), running this event for the first time this season, continued the dominance of Dacorum girls finishing with another great win in 31.7.
The boys also rose to the occasion with Zach Abbotts (A) maintaining his consistency in this event with a 3rd place in 29.3 and Ceri Hartshorne (B) making his debut for the club, was victorious with his time of 31.4. Max McGuinn continued to test himself over track events and also produced a PB run of 31.8.
The field events saw top 3 finishes for a number of athletes. The shot saw some outstanding results with both girls finishing in 2nd place. Millie Farndon (A) threw 5.74m and Scarlett Walker (B) stepping in for this event throwing 4.93m.
The boys saw wins for both. Gabriele Centracchio (A) in his preferred event, produced a throw of 9.43m and Jack Lamming (B) achieving a distance of 5.60m.
Sonny McKeich proved to be consistent in this event with his best throw of 6.14m. James English kindly acted as our reserve for many events in the boys team and his shot competition saw him improve his PB to 5.83m.
The javelin competition was no less competitive and proved very successful for the club with the girls continuing with their improvement, producing PB’s and winning their events. Violet Stokes (A) and Alannah Hamilton (B) continue to push each other, throwing 11.53m and 11.03m respectively.
The boys faced some very tough competitors and they both competed well. Sonny McKeich (A) threw 20.02m for a 3rd place finish and Reece Wall (B) finishing one better for 2nd with a distance of 14.05m.
The long jump saw a notable performance from Zach Abbott (A) when he leapt over the elusive 4m mark for the first time. His distance of 4.01m was enough for 3rd and was a new PB. Ceri Hartshorne (B) competing in this event for the first time this season saw him put some of the training into practice to achieve a 4th place finish with his PB distance of 3.48m. Also competing in this event for the first time Francis Thiruchelvam achieved a distance of 3.15m.
The girls faced some strong jumpers and saw Zoe Carling (A) finish in 4th place with her distance of 3.59m and Evelyn Cook (B) just behind with her distance of 3.56m for a 2nd place finish. Clara Upjohn and Violet Ripper took the opportunity to compete in this event and achieved distances of 2.82m and 2.87m respectively.
The evening finished with the 4x100m relay with the girls (Wanda, Emily, Zoe and Scarlett) coming in 3rd place in 59.5 and the boys (Jack G, Zach, Jack L and Gabriele) just losing out on the line to finish 2nd in 57.8. Both of the relay teams have improved their times significantly so lets hope this continues.
Zoe and Amber said that the atmosphere amongst the team and their supporters was great with 100% being given by all.
AAA standards were achieved by:-
Emily Young 200m Grade 4
Gabriele Centracchio 100m Grade 4
Oliver McDonald 800m Grade 4
Zoe and Amber’s awards proved to be a very difficult decision.
Debutant of the Match Francis Thiruchelvam
Team Spirit Scarlett Walker and James English
Athletes of the Match Gabriele Centracchio and Millie Farndon.
Petra Carroll, who oversees the Junior Group, said ‘Once again, we would like to thank the athletes, parents and families for their encouragement and support. We are extremely grateful for all of the club and County officials for making sure that this event ran smoothly for the athletes and for ST. Albans for hosting the event.
Thank you to Elaine and her club officials as the event would not be able to run without them. We are looking forward to being able to award the athletes with the County shield rewarding this performance.’
Many congratulations to all those who took part in the competition and contributed to the teams triumph. Hopefully everyone will continue to reap the rewards from all the hard work they put into training over the rest of the season.
