UPPER AGE YDL
On Sunday 24th May our Upper Age YDL team hosted the league’s second match of the season at Jarman Park in Hemel Hempstead. Despite the sweltering conditions, the team managed to post 3 personal bests on the day from Annabel in the 1500m steeplechase, Jafar in the Shot Put and Dele in the Long Jump. The team finished on 209pts for 4th position on the day.
A big thank you to all of the helpers on the day, be that with officiating, doing the results, running the refreshments or being the field referee!
Full results can be found here: https://www.ukydl.org.uk/page103.html (once on the link, click on Division 1C results for 24th May)
BRITISH MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
On Saturday 30th May, Vale athlete Mark Fallaize travelled to Horspath Athletics Track in Oxford for the British Masters Championships. It was a worthwhile journey as Mark came away with a PB in the 1500m (4mins 40.22secs) and a silver medal in the M35 category, finishing less than a second behind the winner!
LOWER AGE YDL
Exactly week on from the Upper Age YDL teams exploits, it was the turn of our Lower Age YDL team to continue their league season at the same venue. The team managed a whopping 41 PB’s on the day as there were PB’s for Austin (100m & Shot Put), Emma (100m & Long Jump), Lukas (100m & 200m), Poppy (100m & High Jump), William (100m & Discus), Arthur M (200m & Long Jump), Dexter (200m & Long Jump), Edie (200m), Samuel (200m & Javelin), Shannon (200m), Gabriella (300m & 1500m), Zachary (300m), Sophie (800m), Freya (1500m & Discus), Shona (1500m), Arthur S (High Jump), Georgia (High Jump), Ella (Long Jump), Oscar (Long Jump), Annalise (Shot Put), Ayethra (Shot Put), George (Shot Put), Isabella (Shot Put), James (Shot Put), Svetlana (Shot Put, Discus & Javelin), Joshua (Discus), Ryan (Discus & Javelin) and Theo (Javelin.)
The team finished in 4th place with 364 points just behind Wycombe and Chiltern.
Full results can be found here: https://www.ukydl.org.uk/page203.html (once on the link, click on Division 1D results for 31st May)
SOUTH OF ENGLAND U20 & SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
On Saturday 6th June, Nathan Jones competed in the 5000m at the South of England Championships in Bedford. He ran extremely well and was rewarded with a PB of 15mins 29.00secs and a bronze medal!
ENDURE 24
At the start of June, several of our senior athletes travelled to Reading to compete in Endure24. All of our athletes ran super legs and managed to come home in 6th overall and 2nd in their category. They covered over 300km in a total of 39 laps between.
Also a massive well done to Ben Riley who decided to tackle the event solo. Unfortunately, he was nursing an injury and after pushing through it for seven laps, had to pull out of the event.
A massive well done to all of our athletes who competed and we hope for another podium finish next year.
COUNTY SCHOOLS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The second weekend in June played host to the Bucks Schools Track and Field Championships at Stantonbury Athletics Track in Milton Keynes.
A number of our athletes set personal bests and finished in the top 3 in their event. Luca (1500m) and Gabriella (800m) achieved English Schools qualification standards in their respective events and there were wins for Ronen (Inter Boys 800m), Clara (Junior Girls 200m) and Penny (Junior Girls 300m.) Full results can be seen below.
INTER GIRLS
Gabriella – 800m 2nd 2mins 12.2secs
INTER BOYS
Ronen – 800m 1st 2mins 03.7secs
James R – 800m 6th 2mins 23.2secs
James C – 1500m 6th 4mins 28.5secs
Joshua – 3000m 1st 10mins 09.7secs
JUNIOR GIRLS
Clara – 200m 1st in heat 27.1secs PB
1st in final 27.2secs
– Long Jump 9th 3.86m
Penny – 300m 1st in final 45.3secs PB
– 800m 5th (time trial) 2mins 29.5secs PB
Freya – 800m 10th (time trial) 2mins 37.8secs PB
Matilda – 1500m 3rd 5mins 08.4secs
JUNIOR BOYS
Oscar – 800m 7th (time trial) 2mins 26.0secs
Luca – 1500m 2nd 4mins 16.5secs PB
– High Jump 2nd 1.60m
Arthur – 1500m 6th 4mins 34.8secs PB
MINOR GIRLS
Shona – 800m 9th (time trial) 2mins 47.8secs
MINOR BOYS
Harvey – 800m 3rd (time trial) 2mins 26.1secs PB
At the Oxfordshire Schools Championships, Zachary won the 800m in 2mins 03.15secs and came 3rd in the 400m (54.30secs.) Annalise came away with two PB’s in the 100m (14.95secs) and the 200m (31.57secs.)
GREENSAND RIDGE RELAY
The Masters and The Apprentice, the team name chosen by the Vale athletes who competed in the Greensands Ridge Relay on Saturday 13th June.
The race is a handicap relay race for teams of six people starting in Leighton Buzzard and finishing in Northill (near Biggleswade.) The six athletes competing for the Vale were Adam Johnson, Vicky Sheldon, Richard Day, Alan Roberts, John Appleby and Andy Stephenson.
The team competed well and finished in 12th position in the race but due to the handicap nature of the relay, the team came 2nd overall in a time of 4hours 38mins 10secs!
SOUTHERN ATHLETICS LEAGUE
On Sunday 21st June, the team comprised of two stalwart athletes for the club in Mark Fallaize and William Smith. Mark managed two seasons bests in the 800m (2mins 01.1secs) and the 1500m (4mins 24.1secs), while William cleared the 10m barrier in the Shot Put for the first time with a throw of 10.11m.
We hope to have a better turnout at the next match in Sandy on Sunday 19th July.
SOUTH OF ENGLAND OUTDOOR U14/U16/U18 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Gabriella had a fabulous weekend on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June in Chelmsford. She competed in the U16 800m and won her heat on the first day in 2mins 14.86secs. She returned for the final on the Sunday and charged round the two laps to achieve a PB of 2mins 10.49secs and also a fantastic bronze medal in the process! Her new time currently puts her 11th in the UK for her age group in that event.
Luca competed in the 1500m and came away with a 4mins 18.80secs clocking for 5th place in his heat.
RIDGEWAY RELAYS
On Sunday 28th June a team of 10 took on the Ridgeway Relays. The race starts at Ivinghoe Beacon and takes in the sights along the Ridgeway over 10 legs of varying lengths with the race finishing near Marlborough in Wiltshire. The team comprised of Mark Baines, Sarah Pearse, Andy Byerley, Charlotte Steptoe, Conor Richardson, Richard Day, Adam Johnson, Vicky Sheldon, Alan Roberts and Peter Huck.
The team managed a fantastic 9th place overall and completed the course in 11hours 24mins 28seconds.
OPEN MEETINGS
Gabriella and Ronen raced in two British Milers Club (BMC) races in Loughborough in the space of a week, with Gabriella setting a PB in each. On Saturday 6th June she ran 2mins 12.68secs and she returned on Wednesday 10th June to lower her PB to 2mins 12.14secs. Ronen had a storming race on the Saturday, running a PB of 1min 58.48secs taking almost 1.5 seconds off his previous best! He returned on the Wednesday and ran 2mins 01.53secs.
The ever popular Watford Harriers Open Graded Meetings have continued this season and (NUMBER) Vale athletes made the journey down the A41 on Wednesday 10th June. Zachary ran a superb PB of 2mins 01.67secs in the 800m. Luca also clocked a PB in the 800m, lowering his best by almost two seconds to 2mins 05.92secs. A third 800m PB on the night came from James C as he ran 2mins 06.58secs. The PB haul for Vale athletes did not end there as Tom clocked 2mins 20.33secs to take over 25seconds off his previous best from 2024(!) Alessia also ran in the 800m and she came away with a 2mins 35.92secs clocking. Joshua set a PB in the 3000m, clocking 9mins 47.02secs. Matilda also raced in the 3000m, clocking 10mins 50.63secs.
Freya competed in the Watford Minors Meeting on Sunday 14th June and was awarded with PB’s in the 800m (2mins 38.6secs) and the Long Jump (3.24m.) On the same day, Tom followed up his huge 800m PB from Watford a few days before with a 2mins 20.47secs time in the 800m at the Milton Keynes Open Meeting.
On Wednesday 17th June the club had (NUMBER) athletes compete in the Oxford City Midweek Open Meeting. Zachary charged to a superb PB in the 400m, clocking 52.39secs. Sophie also ran brilliantly in the 400m to achieve a PB of 62.13secs in her debut at the distance. A quadruple of Vale PB’s was completed by James R and Oscar in the 1500m as they ran 4mins 37.05secs and 4mins 49.63secs respectively. Isabelle leapt out to 4.16m in the long jump.
On Saturday 20th June, Clara travelled to the Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Open meeting in Hendon and came away with a 200m PB in the process (27.91secs) whilst also long jumping 4.23m.
James C returned to Watford on 24th June to set a PB in the 3000m of 9mins 45.94secs. The 1500m proved popular and fruitful for Vale athletes on the night. Joshua was rewarded with a 4mins 32.39secs PB, Arthur also lowered his best to 4mins 35.03secs, Joe ran a PB of 4mins 49.73secs and Charlie clocked a PB of 5mins 11.47secs.
Joshua saw out the month of June with a visit to the MK Sprint Series meeting in Milton Keynes on Saturday 27th June, running a PB of 2mins 16.72secs in the 800m. Freya also attended the meeting, running 2mins 39.90secs in the 800m.
