A long journey for Waveney Valley AC’s young athletes was made for Round 3 of the Norfolk Sportshall League, which took place on Saturday 30 November at Lynnsport in Kings Lynn. Waveney took a squad of 23 junior athletes to compete against other athletes from several City of Norwich AC (CoNAC) teams, Bungay Black Dog AC (BBD), a combined Ryson AC/W Norfolk AC team, Gt Yarmouth & District AC (GYDAC), Dereham and a combined Diss/Thetford team. Track and field events both took place in one sports hall making for a noisy afternoon of athletics.

 

The U11 boys team consisted of Joel Burgess, Benjamin Cone, Reuben Harvey, Finn Howes and Vaughan Beckham. The boys finished 3^rd out of the 8 teams with 309 points – another improvement over rounds 1 and 2. Joel finished 3^rd out of 13 in the 4 lap with a time of 54.2s, and the boys finished 3^rd in the Obstacle relay.

 

The U11 girls team included Abeni Beckham, Shamara Hammonds, Libby Mayall, Maisie Elvin-Andrews and Grace Forster who finished the day a fantastic 3rd out of 13 teams with 277 points, an improvement of 3 places over round 2. There were several notable performances with Shamara finishing 4^th of 22 athletes in the 2 lap with a time of 25.7, 5^th of 24 in the seated ball throw and Grace 4^th of 24 in the 4 lap with a time of 56.1s, and 3^rd out of 24 in the vertical jump. Shamara and Grace also finished 3^rd in the Paarlaaf and the girls team finished 3^rd of 11 in the obstacle relay.

 

The U13 boys team equalled round two’s 2^nd place, with another 2^nd place finish from 7 teams with 399 points – a further 12 point improvement over round 2. Tai Elvin-Andrews, Jamie Besford, Dylan Davies, Leon Cousins, Callum and Dylan Harvey formed the team. Leon performed well in both jumps – winning the triple jump with 6.30, and 2^nd in the long jump with 2.12m. Dylan Davies, victorious in the shot in rounds 1 and 2 was beaten into 2^nd this time around with a throw of 7.69m. Callum and Tai gained a 2^nd place finish in the paarlauf, with the boys gaining a 2^nd in the 4x 2 lap relay.

 

The U13 girls team again consisted of Hannah Mayne, Harriet Lyman, Harriet Gooch, Lily Collins and Mia and improved over round 2 with a 3^rd place of 7 teams with 387 points, just 5 points off the 2^nd placed team from CoNAC. Hannah again won the 2 lap (from 13) with a time of 23.7s, the long jump (from 13) with 2.08m, and the vertical jump (from 10). Harriet Lyman achieved a 3^rd place finish in the 6 lap with a time of 84.7s, and 4^th in the triple jump with 5.69m. The girls also gained a 2^nd place in the 4x 2 lap.

 

Two U15 boys competed for the club – Jake Block and Lewis Covill who built on their previous performances in round 2.

 

To round off the day and competition was the trophy presentation for the winners over the 3 rounds. Waveney’s U11 girls team just missed out on a trophy with an overall 4^th place finish, but both the U11 boys and the U13 girls collected trophies for their respective 3^rd place finish’s. The U13 boys were rewarded for their efforts by collecting 2^nd place trophies.

 

As an added bonus, 9 of the clubs athletes have now been selected for County training with Norfolk with a view to represent the County in the Regional Sportshall competition in Hertfordshire in February. From the U11s Joel Burgess, Shamara Hammonds and Theo Hudson were selected, from the U13s Dylan Davies, Hannah Mayne, Callum and Leon Cousins were selected and from the U15s Jake Block and Kieran Covill were selected.

 

The next Sportshall competition is the Norfolk Champs 11 January 2013 at the UEA Sportspark.