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 1st and 3rd, U11 girls teams 2nd and 3rd and both U13 boys and girls teams claiming confident victories. Waveney’s youngsters also claimed 1st 2nd and 3rd in the individual U15 boys events, and 1st and 2nd 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 1st with a leap of 5.48m in the triple jump. The girls claimed two 2nd places in the relays, with Maisie Elvin-Andrews, Hazel Fairs and Farren Turner claiming 2nd 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 1st with Finn Howes in the javelin with 15m. There were 2nd 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 1st 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 2nd with 141 points, claiming four 2nd places a 3rd and a 4th. 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 2nd. Aidan won the 2 and 4 lap races and shot put with a further 2nd place and two 3rd places with Mason winning triple jump with four 2nd places and a 3rd. Leon Cousins took overall 3rd with 138 points and victory in the long jump, with Lewis Covill a very creditable 4th.