On Sunday 14 July 2013, Waveney Valley Athletic Club travelled to Ipswich Harriers home, at the Northgate Sports Centre for the third round match of the East Anglian Athletics League. On a hot and sunny summer day, Waveney, who train at East Point Academy in Lowestoft, took a compact squad of 19 ‘scoring’ athletes, and a further 5 under 11 ‘non-scoring’ athletes, to compete against West Suffolk, Colchester and Tendring, Breckland, Ryston, Southend and Ipswich Harriers.
Waveney amassed a total of 202 points over the day, a slight dip on round 2, to finish the day in a 5th place. With several athletes unavailable on the day, and 3 athletes making their league debut, this proved a very good result for a fledgling Waveney team competing in the league this year for the first time in many years. Waveney’s most successful team on the day in terms of points score, were the under 13 boys who scored 46 points, with the highest scoring junior, Dylan Davies scoring 17 points. Alan Fairs was the highest scoring senior with 21 points after competing in 7 events.
Grace Forster, Hazel Fairs, Abeni Beckham, Maisie Elvin-Andrews and Rio Clements competed for the under 11’s in the events of 80 metres, 600 metres, shot put and long jump. Grace finished 4th in the 600 metres in a time of 2.18. Abeni, making her U11 girls league debut ran the 80m in a time of 14.0 to finish 3rd out of a field of 10 with Rio, another debutant for the U11 boys, running the 80m in 13.2 to finish 5th out of 11. Hazel continued to perform well in her events, as did Maisie, making her league debut, and reaching the minimum age to compete with a birthday just a few days before.
In the girls under 13 category, Hannah Mayne, Mia and Harriet Lyman competed in the 100, 200 and 800m, 75m hurdles and long jump. Hannah ran a PB of 14.5 in the 100m to finish 4th, Harriet ran a PB of 3.00 in the 800m which was notable in very hot conditions, and Mia ran a PB of 14.7 in the 75m hurdles.
The under 15 girls were represented by Emily Turner, Georgia Fairs, Imogen Lyman and Charlotte Gooch competing in the 100 metres, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus, javelin and the relay. Emily Turner equalled her PB of 1.30m in the high jump, narrowly failing to clear 1.35m and Imogen making her league debut, performed well finishing 3rd in the ‘B’ discus. The girls also successfully managed to get the relay baton round in a time of 1.03.
The under 13 boys were represented by Dylan Davies, Jamie Besford, Ethan Lee, Tai Elvin-Andrews and Callum competing in the 100, 200 and 800 metres, long jump and the three throws – shot put, discus and javelin along with the relay. Dylan followed up his previous good performances in the league by winning the discus with a strong throw of 20.28m, coming 2nd in the shot and 4th in the javelin. The 4 boys, without Dylan, successfully finished the relay in a time of 103.6.
The under 15 boys were represented by just Jake Block and Isaac Fickling in the 100 and 800m, long jump and shot put. Jake jumped 4.05 to finish 5th out of 9, and Isaac performed well in the heat to run 3.01 in the 800m.
5 seniors competed for the club in this fixture, an improvement over the previous meetings. Tracy Mayne registered another PB in the 1500 metres and also competed in the shot put. Michaela Gooch recorded 12.70m in the javelin to finish 5th out of 8 also finishing 4th in the hammer with a throw of 14.55m – the first time she has competed in this event. Vicky Fairs, making her league debut entered the 3 throwing events, finishing 5th in the discus out of a field of 10 with a throw of 15.51m and also performed well in the javelin and shot put. Alan Fairs was Waveney’s busiest athlete on the day entering seven events, and finishing a creditable 3rd in the ‘A’ 3000m in a time of 13.09 and Joe Mayne, making his league debut also ran the 3000m in a time of 13.29.
The final round will be at Bury St Edmunds on 1st September 2013. The juniors are next in action on Saturday in the final Quadkids event in Norwich.