Waveney Valley Athletic Club member David Mower has continued his fine run of achieving personal best times this year with a solid performance at the first race in the Bungay 10k series at Ditchingham. He finished in a new best time of 43:57 in 52nd place from a field of 163 competitors.
With pb’s at the London Marathon in April and the Dereham ’10’ in May to his credit, David is hoping his good form lasts well into the summer road race programme.
Six other members also competed at the event. Nigel Herrod is having his best season of races for sometime. He finished 39th in a time of 42:50 with Bill Kingaby just ten seconds behind in 43rd in 43:00.
Bob Milner, in his first ever 10k, was 70th in 47:16, Joe Mayne finished 90th in 49:07, Becky Langford 110th in 52:25 and Stuart Smith 137th in 56:20.
5k parkrun results: Gorleston May 30 – 27 B. Milner 21:39 pb, 40 R. Knights 22:54, 78 A. Richardson 24:44 and 115 T. Peak 31:22 pb. June 6 – 181 T. Peak 31:47 and 216 J. Hunt 42:41. Fritton Lake May 30 – 12 W. Freeman 21:41, 14 M. Quantrill 22:06 and 29 L. Joyce 24:50. June 6 – 9 W. Freeman 21:36, 28 R. Knights 23:51, 34 B. Milner 24:25, 40 L. Joyce 24:54, 56 S. Knights 27:47 and 66 C. Goymer 29:14.

The Bungay Festival of Running took place last Sunday with eight members of Waveney Valley Athletic Club entered.
There were three distances to choose from this year, with a 10k added to the annual half and full marathon.
Traditionally, the half marathon has most entries at this meeting, but it is always the marathon that draws most admiration from the spectators as the runners have to do two laps of an energy-sapping hilly course starting at Bungay, heading towards Beccles then back to the finish at Bungay.
Waveney Valley had Lisa Joyce tackling the full marathon and she achieved a time of 4-34.18 in her debut marathon, a very good effort over the notoriously tough course. She finished in 148th place.
There were six Waveney runners in the field of more than 500 in the half marathon, four of them finishing in the top 60 places. Chris Pimlott recorded 1-27.49 for an excellent 18th place, club secretary Richard Aukland was 31st in a personal best 1-30.56 and new member Peter Rogers was 35th in 1-32.08, more than twenty minutes faster than his previous Bungay half a few years ago.
Bill Kingaby finished 60th in 1-37.41 and both Alan Richardson and Stuart Smith were very satisfied with their races. Alan finished 295th in 2-00.24 and Stuart 350th in 2-05.21.
Tim Earl competed in the 10k race and finished in 20th place, from a field of 217, in a time of 40:59.
At last Saturdays Gorleston 5k parkrun, there were personal bests for Rob Milner in 22:47, new member Cheryl Goymer in 29:21 and Donna Milner in 30:30.

Five members of Waveney Valley Athletic Club took part in the Lowestoft promenade 5 mile dash on March 29. Chris Pimlott finished 5th in a time of 29:43 and was first in the vet40 age group. Rob Knights was 24th in 37;05 with Vladimir Laptikhovsky 29th in 37:55 (first vet50), Suzi Knights 42nd in 41:45 and Claire Beraud 48th in 43:12.

On the same day, the Mad March Hare 10k was held near Coltishall in Norfolk and Jane Hunt recorded a time of 59:43 finishing in 223rd place from a field of nearly 300 runners.

At the Gorleston 5k parkrun on April 4, Rob Knights ran a personal best time of 22:06 and last Saturday at Gorleston Tracey Peak brought her best time down to 31:54.

Two of Waveney Valley Athletic Club’s senior ladies have returned from injury to post very commendable times in recent marathon and half marathon races. At the Barcelona Marathon, one of the largest and most popular annual road races in Spain, Becky Langford, raising money for Arthritis Research UK, completed her debut at the distance. Having sustained severe bruising to her hip after a fall from her cycle on ice in January, a few weeks later she managed to get her training back on track and finished the race in a time of 4-23.53. More than 20,000 runners were entered with Becky finishing 12,319th. On March 22, Rose Nicholson competed in the Stowmarket Half Marathon, her first road race since an injury caused her to miss most of last year. She finished 21st overall, and second lady, from a field of 395 athletes in a time of 1-24.35, showing a return to the form which has made her one of the top-ranked female runners in the region. At the Gorleston 5k parkrun last Saturday, Rob Milner achieved his fourth personal best this year at the distance, setting a new best time of 23.18.

Waveney Valley Athletic Club’s senior members have competed in a number of road races recently, some of them choosing long events as a build up towards marathons this spring. At the Valentine’s 10k, organised by Norfolk Gazelles, Alan Varle won a Norfolk County bronze medal in the veteran’s 65+ age group, an excellent performance as Alan has already celebrated his 70th birthday. From a field of 447 runners, he finished 250th in a time of 51:33. Also racing at this event was Louise Adamson who was placed 290th in 54:17.

In preparation for the Bungay Marathon on April 19, Lisa Joyce took part in the Tarpley 20-mile event near Bury St. Edmunds on February 22. She completed her longest race to date in a time of 3-13.08, in 276th place. Also competing was Becky Langford, whose training towards the Barcelona Marathon this weekend received a setback in January following a cycle accident. After attaining a satisfactory performance at the very tough Stamford 30k the week earlier, at the Tarpley 20m she was pleased to finish in a time of 3-33.39 in 319th.

The Tarpley 10-mile race was also held, which started 15 minutes after the 20m. Bill Kingaby finished 74th in this event from a field of 353 in 1-11.54. He was third in his age group but first Suffolk UKA athlete. Both races were the first in this years Suffolk Grand Prix series. At the prize presentation, the awards were also given out for last years Grand Prix series, with Kingaby the mens 60-64 age group winner.

At the Gorleston 5k parkruns, members continue to achieve personal best times. On February 14, Rob Knights recorded 23:12, February 21, David Mower 21:07, Suzy Knights 26:20, Jane Hunt 26:57. Making a habit of improving his best times in each of the last three weeks is Rober Milner with times of 24:53,24:10 and 23:36.

Brian Boardley’s history of the club is available as a series of pdf files to view here:

Parts 1-4 1958-1968, before Brian moved to Lowestoft.
Parts 5-8 1969-1975 including the formation of Lowestoft AC and its junior section.
Parts 9-11 1975-1977
Parts 12-14 1978-1981
Parts 15-16 1982-1983
Tables 1983 fixture list
Continuation of part 16 1983
Part 17 1984
Part 18 1985
Part 19 1986
Parts 20-21 1987-1988
Parts 22-23 1989-1990
Part 24 1991
Part 25 1992 until the formation of Waveney Valley AC in 1996

Nearly 40 athletes aged 8 to 15 from Waveney Valley Athletic Club travelled down the A12 to Ipswich on Saturday to compete in round two of the Suffolk Athletics County Sportshall League. Waveney’s young athletes competed amongst around 150 including those from JAFFA, Northgate and Ipswich Tri/Coastal/Trotters, with Bungay Black Dog and Framlingham Flyers set to compete in round three.

With a far stronger squad travelling than in round one, Waveney’s young athletes excelled with the U11 boys teams placed 1^st and 3^rd, U11 girls teams 2^nd and 3^rd and both U13 boys and girls teams claiming confident victories. Waveney’s youngsters also claimed 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd in the individual U15 boys events, and 1^st and 2^nd in the U15 girls events.

The U11 girls events saw Brooke Oram break the Club record in the indoor javelin with a throw of 15m which also saw her win the event in a field of 12. Shamara Hammonds also claimed victory in the 1 lap in 12.5s, with Abeni beck ham taking 1^st with a leap of 5.48m in the triple jump. The girls claimed two 2^nd places in the relays, with Maisie Elvin-Andrews, Hazel Fairs and Farren Turner claiming 2^nd places in the Speedbounce, 2 lap and chest push respectively.

Two Club records fell in the U11 boys events with Benjamin Cone claiming victory in the Speedbounce with 52 jumps, and Theo Hudson in the standing long jump with a leap of 1.83m, just 1cm short of victory, but he did claim victory in the chest push with a throw of 6.5m, and joint 1^st with Finn Howes in the javelin with 15m. There were 2^nd places for Tom Spurgeon in the 1 lap, Ethan Hodds in the chest push and Joel Burgess in both the vertical jump, triple jump and paarlauf where he was partnered by Jordan Smethurst.

Another Club record fell in the U13 girls event with Harriet Gooch managing 83 jumps in 30 seconds to win the speedbounce. She also won the shot put with a throw of 6.10m, and claimed joint 1^st in the 2 lap with Mia Hopson with a time of 24.3s, with Mia and Harriet also winning the 8 lap paarlauf by 1 second. The girls saw more individual success with Ciera Henwood winning the 4 lap in 53.8s, Naomi Boots winning the 6 lap in 88.1s. Megan Gow continued to compete well.

It was a similar story in the U13 boys, with Callum Hopson also breaking the Club speedbounce record with 76 jumps to claim victory, as he did in the 2 lap with a time of 23.3s and long jump with 1.85m. Tai Elvin-Andrews strolled to victory in the 4 lap in 50.3s, and jumped to a triple jump with 6.24m. Jamie Besford comfortably won the 6 lap in 83.1s and Tai and Callum won the 8 lap paarlauf by nearly 10 seconds with the boys (including Thomas Flynn making his debut, and Leo Joscelyne) winning both relays.

Waveney’s athletes dominated the U15 individual competition with Emily Archbold winning all six of the girls events to score 150 points, and setting a new Club record in the speedbounce with 73 jumps. Lauren Oram claimed an overall 2^nd with 141 points, claiming four 2^nd places a 3^rd and a 4^th. It was an altogether closer affair with the boys with Aidan Hewiit claiming victory with 145 points, just 1 point clear of Mason Hodds in 2^nd. Aidan won the 2 and 4 lap races and shot put with a further 2^nd place and two 3^rd places with Mason winning triple jump with four 2^nd places and a 3^rd. Leon Cousins took overall 3^rd with 138 points and victory in the long jump, with Lewis Covill a very creditable 4^th.

Saturday saw athletes from Waveney Valley Athletics Club travel over to Taverham, Norwich to compete in round one of the Norfolk County Sportshall League. Having already competed in Suffolk’s first Sportshall event two weeks earlier, almost 40 athletes from Waveney competed amongst almost 200 including those from City of Norwich AC, Gt Yarmouth & District AC, Bungay Black Dog RC, West Norfolk AC and Dereham.

This is Waveney’s second full competitive winter season following their Junior section re-starting, and some very fine athletes are starting to emerge, with some fantastic performances in the competition including a number of debuts from Waveney’s newer athletes who pulled on the black yellow and red shirt for the first time.

Waveney had two U11 girls competing, with the best performing Waveney team on the day finishing in 2^nd place out of the 11 teams. Notable performances came from Shamara Hammonds who won the standing long jump with a leap of 1.94m, beating 18 others in the process and also beat 19 other girls in the 2 lap race with a time of 25.0s. She also claimed 3^rd from 19 in the 2 lap hurdles. Abeni Beckham came 3^rd out of 17 in the 4 lap with 57.3s and also took 3^rd in the vertical jump. Waveney claimed 3^rd and 5^th in the Speedbounce with Maisie Elvin-Andrews (48) and Libby Mayall (46).

There were three U11 boys teams from Waveney competing in a field of eight, with Waveney’s best again second to a team from the much larger CoNAC. Making his debut, Jordan Smethurst claimed a fantastic 2^nd from 16 in the 2 lap with Joel Burgess taking victory from a field of 15 in the 4 lap. Joel and Isaac Phillips claimed victory in the Paarlauf, with Isaac also taking 2^nd in the chest push.

Waveney had one U13 girls and boys team, although both were again not at full strength, and therefore struggled in the team competition, although the boys still managed 5^th out of 7 and just 29 points off victory, with the girls 6^th out of 9 teams. For the boys, Callum Hopson sprinted to 3^rd from 12 in the 2 lap and 2^nd from 12 in the 4 lap, with Jamie Besford also taking 2^nd (from 10) in the 6 lap. Callum Hopson and Tai Elvin-Andrews also claimed 3^rd and 4^th in the standing triple jumps with leaps of 6.30m and 6.26m. For the girls, Mia Hopson ran to 3^rd (from 16) in the 2 lap, 2^nd (from 15) in the 4 lap, with Ciera Henwood making her debut in the 6 lap with a great 2^nd place from 12.

With the U15s competing as individuals, Waveney’s 4 male and female athletes were up against some of the best in the Country with Norfolk’s athletes winning the National Sportshall finals last year. Undeterred, Mason Hodds was the leading U15 Waveney boy finishing 6^th out of 13 very strong athletes with 115 points, 14 points behind 3^rd place. He managed three 5^th place finishes in the 2 lap, 4 lap and shot put. Emily Archbold was the top Waveney girl with another 6^th place with 119 points, just 14 points off the winner, this time from 20 other girls. Emily managed a 3^rd in the long jump, 4^th in the 4 lap and 5^th in the shot.

Saturday saw athletes from Waveney Valley Athletics Club travel down the A12 to Ipswich to compete in round one of the Suffolk County Sportshall League. Almost 30 athletes from Waveney competed amongst 100 including those from JAFFA, Northgate and Ipswich CIT, with more Clubs set to compete in round two.

Sportshall athletics provides winter competition in various running, relays, throwing and jumping events for young athletes between 8 and 15. It is a Club and league based system, with the top performing athletes chosen to represent their County at the close of the season.

Saturday saw some fantastic performances including a number of debuts from Waveney’s newer athletes who pulled on the black yellow and red shirt for the first time.

Waveney had two U11 girls and boys teams competing, with notable performances from Benjamin Cone in the Speedbounce, who took victory and also broke the Club record with 49 jumps in 20 seconds, Vaughan Beckham was 2^nd with 45 jumps, and Theo Hudson who won the chest push with 6.65m, and also the 2 lap race, with Isaac Phillips 2^nd for Waveney. The girls saw similar success with Abeni Beckham claiming 1^st place in the standing triple jump with 5.50m, smashing her previous club record, and Brooke Oram with 1^st place and 13.30m in the soft javelin, and also 1^st, jointly with Farren Turner, with 5.0m in the chest push. Maisie Elvin-Andrews took 2^nd place with 52 jumps in the speedbounce, breaking the previous club record by 1 in the process.

Waveney had an U13 girls and boys team, although both were a member short, and therefore couldn’t compete in the relays which hampered their overall score. In the individual events though, Mia Hopson won the 2 lap,with Harriet Gooch 2^nd who also won the Speedbounce breaking the Club record in the process with 80 jumps in 30 seconds. Mia also won the standing long and triple jumps with leaps of 1.88m 5.30m. The boys saw Alec Wilson winning the 2 lap, Callum Hopson the 4 lap, and Jamie Besford the 6 lap races. Callum also won the standling long jump with 2.02m with Jamie the standing triple jump with 5.50m.

U15 athletes compete as individuals, with Lauren Oram the highest female points scorer on the day on 144 with her nearest rival achieving 118. Lauren won 2 of her events, with a further two 2^nd and 3^rd places taking her to victory. Waveney achieved more success with the top 3 boys. Mason Hodds led the way with 147 points, winning 5 of the 6 events, closely followed by Aidan Hewitt with 141 points and James Russell with 138 and Tom Russell also performing well in his first outing in Club colours.

Waveney athletes saw late summer results success from the Norfolk Quadkids league with Joel Burgess placed 3^rd in the boys year 4-6 over the series, Abeni Beckham 4^th in the girls year 4-6 (with Brooke Oram 5^th, Grace Forster 6^th) and a fantastic 1^st place for Aidan Hewitt in the boys year 7-8 who also won each of the events.

Waveney Valley A.C. members results:- 49 Lee Cousens 34:16, 72 James Cousins 35:51, 75 David Mower 36:03, 115 Kate Bryson 38:39, 125 Duncan Carter 39:01, 127 Paul Harrod 39:04, 184 Alice Blower 43:38, 218 Jane Hunt 50:03. Junior Girls 9-12 Grace Forster 9:39, Abeni Beckham 10:10, Mia Hopson 10:28, Maisie Elvin-Andrews 12:01, Amy Catchpole 14:35. Junior Girls 13-15 Harriet Lyman 9:40, Mia Williams-Mathers 10:12, Lily Collins 10:38. Junior Boys 9-12 Jamie Besford 8:14, Tai Elvin-Andrews 8:32, Callum Hopson 9:18, Joel Burgess 9:32, Samuel Stevens 9:37, Leo Joscelyne 9:44, Alec Wilson 10:03, Thomas Spurgeon 10:21, Chase Hodds 10:29, Oscar Taylor 10:46, Ethan Lee 11:17, Vaughn Beckham 11:31, Ethan Hodds 12:02, Daniel Allen 12:49. Junior Boys 13-15 Michael Cross 8:39, Leon Cousins 10:02, Mason Hodds 10:10.

5k Parkrun results Gorleston, September 20: 120 Jane Hunt 28:07 PB, 174 Taela Hodds 37:19. September 27: 37 Steve Gibbs 22:53, 97 Jane Hunt 27:43 PB. Fritton Lake September 6: 10 David Mower 21:53 PB, 19 Wayne Freeman 23:55. September 13: 12 Wayne Freeman 22:38, 29 Chris Simons 26:12. September 20: 37 Anna Sharp 27:40. September 27: 11 Wayne Freeman 22:28.

At the Ipswich Half Marathon on September 21, Alan Richardson finished 920th from a field of 1244 in a time of 2-14.38.

Bill Kingaby of Waveney Valley A.C. won first prize in his age category at last Sunday’s 30th staging of the Framlingham 10k. This popular annual race was blessed with mild, early autumn weather and, out of 279 finishers, Kingaby was placed 53rd overall in a time of 43:18. Also running for Waveney Valley were Vladimir Laptikhovsky, his first race at the 10k distance, who finished 133rd in 50:19. Alan Varle was 155th in 51:38 and Louise Adamson 194th in 54:57.
At the recent East Coast Half Marathon, Tim Earl was placed 27th from a total of 191 runners, in a time of 1-31:08 and David Mower 82nd in 1-47:55.
5k parkrun results: Gorleston Aug 23 Jane Hunt 29:49; Aug 30 Steve Gibbs 23:06, Joe Mayne 26:01, Jane Hunt 29:10. Fritton Lake Aug 9 Wayne Freeman 24:45, Aug 23 Wayne Freeman 25:31, Aug 30 Wayne Freeman 23:44.