Last Sunday saw athletes from the Club compete in the final East Anglian League fixture of the season in Bury St Edmunds. Cool windy conditions saw the Clubs athletes compete against those from West Suffolk AC who hosted the event, along with CoNAC, Southend, Braintree and Colchester & Tendring AC. With the fixture being scheduled two weeks earlier than previous seasons, Waveney had a much smaller squad travelling than the other larger Clubs, but still managed to be competitive, with the boys U15 team the pick from the Club on the day.
Usually with around ten U13 boys competing for Waveney, Callum Hopson was the sole Waveney boy available competing in the 200m, 800m, and long jump. Callum recorded 29.1s in the 200m, 4.16m in the LJ, and 2:41.4s in the 800m for a fantastic 2nd place.
The U15 boys saw Mason Hodds making his debut for Waveney alongside James Russell, Leon Cousins and Aidan Hewitt. In the 100m, Aidan recorded a new PB of 12.5s, with Mason just a tenth behind with 12.6s, The 200m saw both boys record times of 25.9s for 2nd places in their respective heats, with Aidan recording 43.7s in the 300m to Mason’s 44.2s. James and Leon competed in the high jump, with bests of 1.40m and 1.30m respectively – a new PB for Leon. They both competed in the long jump with leaps of 4.59m and 3.97 respectively, with Leon also in action in the triple jump with 9.27m. James recorded a throw of 7.69m in the shot put to round his individual events off. The boys performed well in the relay, despite some time lost in the changeovers for a 2nd place finish in 53.2s and a new Club record.
Gary Elvin, Simon Bunting and Alan Fairs made up the senior mens team, with PBs aplenty for Gary with 12.5s in the 100m, 1.45m in the high jump despite very difficult conditions, 8.29m in the shot put (2nd place), 24.92 discus (3rd), 15.57m in the hammer and 32.58m in the javelin. Alan recorded 13:55.3 in the 3000m, 3.28m long jump, 21.16m javelin and 11.43 in the hammer, with Simon recording throws of 7.20m shot put (2nd place in ‘B’ comp) and 13.48 in the discus.
The U13 girls, saw Harriet Gooch, Ellysia Bendall and Mia Hopson in action with the latter two competing well in the 100m despite the strong winds, with times of 14.9s and 17.7s, with Mia also running the 200m in 29.9s and the 70mh, the first race of the day, in 13.6s. Harriet and Elly recorded throws of 5.94m and 4.58m respectively in the shot put with Harriet also registering 11.45m in the discus and 15.67 in the javelin for a new PB.
Just Emily Archbold and Harriet Lyman were available for the U15 girls, with Emily recording 14.3s in the 100m, a PB equalling 1.35m in the high jump for 2nd place, and 4.00m in the long jump. Harriet registered 53.2s in the 300m, 2:53.6 in the 800m and a PB of 1.25m in the high jump.
The senior ladies saw mother and daughter Vicki and Frances Fairs competing, along with Tracy Cone in the field events. The long jump saw Frances jump 3.29m with Tracy 3.13m with Frances also recording 7.71m in the shot put just missing out on 3rd place to Vicki’s 5.45m. Frances recorded a throw of 20.24m in the discus to Vicki’s 11.62m, with Frances also throwing 12.19m in the hammer, and Tracy 11.00m in the javelin.
There was a bigger U11 squad, with Shamara Hammonds, Maddie Archbold, Libby Mayall and Hazel Fairs for the girls, and Finn Howes, Joel Burgess, Jacob Bendall, Benjamin Cone and Tom Spurgeon (in his club debut) for the boys. Shamara’s 12.2s in the 80m to Joel’s 12.6s were the Club’s best, with Shamara also recording 2:17.9s in the 600m to Joel’s 1:59.1s. The long jump saw Shamara jump 3.22m to Joel’s 3.10m and the shot put saw Hazel throw 4.21m to Tom’s 3.73m. The windy conditions meant it was not a day for PB’s in the 600m U11 category, but all the youngsters performed very well.