NATIONAL SPORTSHALL FINALS REPORT

A number of the club’s athletes were in action for Derbyshire at Sportcity in Manchester over the weekend of 13/14^th April. The county’s u15 boys just missed out on a podium spot as a team by 1 point, Warwickshire pipping them to the Bronze medals. There were, however, a couple of medals for the club’s athletes with Luke Ambrosioni taking 2^nd in the Standing Triple Jump & Nathan Gavaghan 3^rd in the 4 Lap. James Douglas just missed out on a top 3 position in the 2 Lap when finishing =4^th. Each of the boys took part in 3 individual events, in turn scoring points for the overall category in which Luke finished 9^th of the 64 Competitors. In the u13 girls event the Derbyshire team finished in 11^th place with Lottie Hall, Charlotte Staniland and Missy Briddon all in action in both individual & relay events. Results can be seen at http://www.sportshall.org/resultsfixtures/results/results-uk-final-results

TOM PINK RELAYS

The club won a cluster of medals at the Tom Pink Relays held at the EIS in Sheffield on 9th March with us competing against clubs from all over the north of England. All of our relay teams made it to their finals with the u11 girls & u13 boys scooping medals. In addition to relays there were also a number of field events held with medals won by Seth Lowe, Megan Nichols, Thomas Bettney, Gracjan Mazurek, Melissa Humphreys & Leah Solley.

REGIONAL SPORTSHALL FINALS

There were impressive team performances from Derbyshire at the Regional Sportshall Finals with the county excelling themselves by winning 3 of the 6 age groups. The u15 boys dominated from start to finish. James Douglas won the 2 lap race, whilst Nathan Gavaghan finished joint first in the 4 lap race with Luke Ambrosioni a close 3^rd. James then teamed up with Derby athlete Eddie Fenton to win the 8 lap paarlauf and the 4 x 2 lap relay, containing Nathan & Luke was again won by Derbyshire making it a clean sweep in the track events. Luke jumped to a second place finish in the standing triple jump with Nathan finishing 2^nd in the speed bounce.

The under 13 girls, which included Chesterfield athletes Missy Briddon, Lottie Hall and Charlotte Staniland, also put in a great team performance to clinch top spot. Charlotte ran a fine 6 lap race to record a third place finish. Missy was part of the 4 x1 lap relay team that secured another relay win for Derbyshire whilst she also finished second in the standing long jump. Lottie finished 6^th in both the shot put and 4 lap race showing her versatility as an athlete.

The u11 girls team produced a superb all round performance to record another overall victory for Derbyshire. Alice Hall was equal first in the balance test and won the Standing Triple Jump. Megan Nichols won the vertical high jump, whilst Gracie Pell finished second in the speed bounce. Faye Hailey finished second in the target throw. Lydia Griffin & Ellie Oscroft combined to win the 2 x 1 lap relay and later Lydia teamed up with Gracie Pell to win the 6 lap paarlauf. Alice Hall, Gracie Pell and Isla Gratton then teamed up with Amber Valley athlete Isla Hiscocks to record in impressive win in the under/over relay and a team of Alice Hall, Isla Gratton and Megan Nichols once again teamed up with Isla Hiscocks to record an exciting victory in the Grand Prix. The final relay of the day was the 4 x 1 lap relay and a team of Ellie Oscroft, Megan Nichols, Lydia Griffin combined with Amber Valley athlete Esme Aikman to register yet another win.

Nathaniel Gaskin, Seth Lowe, Ezra Adetunji, Tyler Booth and Mackenzie Crowther provided the backbone of the u13 boys relay teams that culminated in a dramatic final 4 x 1 relay where Nathaniel ran a storming last leg to snatch equal first place on the line. Ezra Adetunji won the vertical high jump whilst Seth Lowe finished 2^nd in the Javelin. Nathaniel Gaskin finished 2^nd in the standing triple jump and then went one better by winning the speed bounce. The u13 boys were once again well represented by Chesterfield, with Ollie Gratton, Reuben Sas, Gracjen Mazurek and Thomas Bettney making the team. Great individual performances saw Reuben win the speed bounce with Thomas coming 4^th. Ollie threw the shot 9.49m to finish second with Grajcen finishing 5^th. The u15 girls, had Hannah Moody, Madi Crowther and Georgia Millington teaming up with 3 Amber Valley girls. Hannah teamed up with Amber Valley athlete Charlie Yates to secure an impressive equal 1^st in the 8 lap paarlauf and Hannah also secured a 3^rd place in the 4 lap race, where Georgia Millington finished 8^th just over a second behind. Madi Crowther finished equal 3^rd in the standing long jump.

ENGLISH SCHOOLS XC RESULTS

Alex Ediker excelled at the English Schools in Leeds on 16th March with an 8th place finish in the Senior boys race. In the same race Will Tighe was 59th, Ewan Spencer 126th and Elliott Meylan 179th, leading the Derbyshire team to 15th. Tom Spencer was in the Derbyshire team which finished 3rd in the Inter boys event, finishing in 34th place, along with Oscar Cousins in 112th. Also in the Inters race were Sam Allen & Finlay Grant who were 134th & 203rd respectively. Jasmin Greveson was 212th in the Inter girls race where Derbyshire were 38th.

INTER COUNTIES CROSS COUNTRY

The club had a number of athletes selected to compete for Derbyshire at the UK Inter Counties at Loughborough on 9th March. Will Tighe continued his excellent recent form to finish 31st in the u17 men's race with Tom Spencer 92nd, Oscar Cousins 150th & Ewan Spencer 208th. In the u15 race Finlay Grant was an excellent 79th with Joe Currie coming home 138th and Jasmin Greveson was 201st in the u15 girls event.

SPORTSHALL CHAMPIONS

An amazing campaign saw the club win every match and be crowned champions of the Derbyshire Sportshall League. In our final league match, we won three of the six age groups and took three second places, which was enough to take the overall title for the first time since 2013. It has been an immensely successful season, featuring many event winners during the matches, and the club had a record number of 26 athletes selected across the age groups to represent Derbyshire at the regional Sportshall finals in March.

The final match saw wins for Lydia Griffin in the u11 girls 1 & 2 Lap events, Megan Nicholls the Vertical High Jump (VHJ) and Alice Hall the Standing Long Jump (SLJ). For the u11 boys Ezra Adetunji took the 1 Lap & VHJ and Nathanael Gaskin was victorious in the 2 Lap & STJ. Both u11 teams won their relays. In the u13 age groups there were Shot wins for Lottie Hall and Ollie Gratton. Beth Falconer was a winner for the u15 girls in the VHJ, Hannah Moody took the 2 Lap then teamed up with Georgia Millington to win the 8 Lap Parlauf. Both the u15 boys & girls won their relays.

ENGLISH NATIONAL XC

Will Tighe finished an excellent 17th in the u17's men's race at the National cross country champs in Leeds on 23rd Feb with Oscar Cousins coming home 134th. There was another top 20 finish for Alex Ediker in the u20 men's race, finishing in 19th with Elliot Meylan 171st. Our u15 boys team finished a creditable 28th with Joe Currie 130th, Isaac Helps 154th, Harry Cocking 282nd & Thomas Marriott 297th.

NORTHERN U13/15 INDOOR CHAMPS

Congratulations to Hannah Moody who took u15 pole vault Bronze at the EIS on Sunday 3rd Feb. Hannah's jumped 2.50m, losing out on silver on countback. Lottie Hall also vaulted, finishing in 6th place with a height of 2.10m.

NORTHERN XC CHAMPS

12 of the club's athletes tackled the Northern Champs at Pontefract racecourse on 26th Jan. In the u17 men's race our team finished 8th led home by Tom Spencer in 26th with Will Tighe 31st, Oscar Cousins 47th & Ewan Spencer 72nd. Michael Brown also ran in the u17 race finishing 106th. Finlay Grant was first home for the club in 30th place for the u15 boys team which finished 10th. Joe Currie was 57th, Isaac Helps 86th and Harry Cocking 152nd to complete the team scoring, Thomas Marriott finished in 160th. Jasmin Greveson was 81st in the u15 girls race and Macy Helps was 151st in the u13 girls event.

NORTH MIDS SUCCESSES

Saturday 13^th January also saw the final match of the North Midlands cross country league with a number of the club’s athletes having excellent runs and securing overall titles. In the u17 men’s race Will Tighe won, however, behind him filling places 2 to 5 were Oscar Cousins, Sam Allen, Tom Spencer and Ewan Spencer meaning that the club easily took the team title with the first 3 to score. Finlay Grant was 2^nd in the u15 boys race and with Joe Currie 6^th & Harry Cocking 18^th the team were 2^nd on the day. Jasmin Greveson was 7^th in the u15 girls race and in the senior men’s race Dan Cresswell was 46^th. Lyz Evans was 118^th in the senior women’s race, however, this did secure her the overall title for the over 60’s. Also in the overall standings our u17 men’s team were clear winners and individually Oscar Cousins, Sam Allen & Ewan Spencer were 1-2-3 with Tom Spencer in 4^th. For the u15 boys Finlay Grant was 2^nd overall. All results can be found at http://northmidsxcleague.co.uk/

NORTHERN U17, 20 & SENIOR INDOOR CHAMPS

Will Foot claimed the Northern Indoor u17 pole vault title at the EIS in Sheffield on Sunday 13^th Jan. Will jumped 2 personal bests to end up with a height of 3.90m and adds to the two u15 titles he claimed in 2017 and 2018. Also in gold medal winning form was Alicia Barrett who stormed to the senior women’s 200m title which followed a bronze medal for Louise Cocking in the u20 women’s 3000m. The previous day had seen Oliver Dakin take 3^rd place in the u20 men’s 60m Hurdles, in a new club record time, and Lois Green also taking bronze in the u17 women’s pole vault. The busiest club athlete of the weekend was Leah Proctor who contested both the 60m & 300m events on the Saturday making the semi finals of both events.

COUNTY XC RESULTS

Will Tighe led a clean sweep of the medals for the club in the u17 men's race in the Derbyshire Champs in Nottingham on 5th Jan. Will took gold ahead of Ewan Spencer & Sam Allen with the team gold also secured. Also in the u17 race were Tom Spencer in 6th & Oscar Cousins in 7th. Alex Ediker took the u20 men's title by over half a minute and our u11 girls team won silver led by Lydia Griffin in 2nd with Gracie Pell 6th & Darcy Knight 9th.

Another team gold was won by our u15 boys with Finlay Grant taking the individual bronze, Joe Currie in 4th & Isaac Helps 10th. Other u15's competing were Harry Cocking in 12th & Thomas Marriott who was 15th. Bronze medals were secured by Jasmin Greveson in the u15 girls race & by Lyz Evans in the women's over 55 category. Louise Cocking was 5th in the u17 women's race, Macy Helps 14th in the u13 girls & Thomas Bettney was 15th in the u13 boys event. A full set of results will be published on the County website.

MINI XC LEAGUE FINALE

Congratulations to Finlay Grant who won the u15 boys overall title in the Derbyshire Mini XC league following the third match at Derby on 15th December. Finlay finished 2nd on the day but his consistency, having finished 2nd at the first 2 matches too, paid dividends. The u15 boys team were 2nd on the day, with Joe Currie in 4th & Harry Cocking in 7th, & overall at the end of the season. Also in the race were Isaac Helps in 11th & Thomas Marriott in 13th.

There were also excellent 2nd places overall for Jasmin Greveson, who finished 3rd on the day, in the u15 girls & Lydia Griffin in the u11 girls. Lydia was 2nd at Derby with Gracie Pell in 8th & Annie Price 12th, the girls taking 2nd place on the day and overall. In the u13 girls race Macy Helps was 13th and Daniel Bennett raced for the u13 boys finishing 17th. Congratulations to Derby AC who won the league with us finishing in 3rd place.