Team Kennet presented the Road Running League Awards at CCAT on a club night that saw over 60 road runners compete for the club in its 5 divisions which covers distances of 5km up to Marathon Distance.
Mens Div 1 Winner Mitch Poustie, Runner up Simon Gale, third place Simon Whatson
Mens Div 2 Winner Casey Warwick Runner Up Andy Colling, third place Phil Cowhig
Mens Div 3 Winner Nick Burdett Runner Up, Runner Up Phil Murphy
Ladies Div 1 Winner Cheryl Angell runner up Katie Reynolds, Third place Jennie Drake
Team Kennet saw several athletes represent their schools in the Berkshire Schools Cross Country held at Newbury Showground.
In perfect conditions for the event after the wet then cold spell, it was a lovely day for running, Team Kennets best result came in the under 15 girls race where Charlotte Bailey(Kennet) led till the last 400m to be overtaken and still working hard she kept herself in 2nd place to automatically selected for the Berkshire team at the English Schools.
Oskar Larkin (Park House) ran a superb race to finish 6th in the under 13 boys and Harry Smith (St. Andrews) wasn’t far behind in 9th.
Harriet Saunders (St. Gabriels) also had a fine run in 6th place and Eleanor Wilkinson(St. Gabriels) 41st saw St. Gabriels win the team event in the under 13 Girls.
In the Under 17 Boys Ethan Kuijten (Kennet) came home in 10th place, Max Adams (P.house) 19th and Oliver Carroll (the Downs) 30th
TK saw a large group of boys in the Under 15 races. Arthur Patterson (Trinity) came in 29th, Frank Edwards (Trinity) 31st, Noah Lauder Clarke (Kennet) 56th, Josh Brian (P.House) 61st, Ben Daley (The downs) 75th and Rueben Kuijten (Kennet) 78th, in the Under 15 girls more TK athletes who ran were Emerald Hill Sawyer (john O’Gaunt) 35th , Anna Hall (St. Barts) 44th, Chloe O’Riordan (Kennet) 49th, Ella Cronk (The Downs) 54th and Amelie Tayton (Kennet) 74th.
In the under 17 girls, Clare McGonnell (St. Gabriels) was 21st and Leilah Gaye (Kennet) 24th
Sunday 14th January Team Kennet Juniors participated in their first Berkshire Indoor Sports hall Championship since pre COVID at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre. SPORTSHALL ATHLETICS is an indoor form of track and field for children between the ages of 4 and 16 and it allows the young athletes to train during the cold and dark winter months. A superbly organised event with the girl age groups participating in the field events first, and the boys the track, That Saw Team Kennets under 11 Girls Blue Team Crowned Champions of Berkshire.
We had teams representing U11 and U13 age groups and following their huge success in track and field finishing on top of the Wessex and Oxford leagues, the U11 girls were able to provide two teams.
In the U11 boys we had a team of 7 and the team achieved 6th place with 266 points. In the field events Malik Gaye managed 2nd place in the Vertical jump, and the chest push and Samuel Atkins 1st place in the balance test. On the track Jenson Nichols and Joe Mercer secured a 3rd place in the 1+1 lap event. Other boys taking part Gethin Thomas, Sebastian Lauder-Clarke and Sebastian Lane.
For the U13 group the girls had a smaller team of 5 also finishing in 6th place with 226 points. In the field Ella Cronk secured 2nd place in the standing long jump. Jessie McCurtin 3rd place in the speed bounce. The girls were consistent with their track events finishing 5th in the 4 events. Other girls taking part Anna Hall, Emerald Hill-Sawyer and Harriet Saunders, if they had one more team member they would have been able to finish in the top 3.
In the U13 boys we had a full team of 8 securing a 5th place with 270 points. Euan Jones and Noah Lauder-Clarke had success in the 3+3 Lap event finishing in 1st place . In the Paarlauf Lauder-Clarke teamed up with John Brian to finish in 3rd place. Other boys taking part Ben Daley, Harry Smith, Josh Brian, Oscar Larkin, Henry Bell and Elliot Bell.
With two teams entered it was sure to be a busy day for the U11 girls. In the red team Sophia Mahoney secured a 4th place in the balance test and on the track in the 1+1 Millie Barlow and Gracie Cooke finished 4th. Also in the red team Alice and Orlagh Stratford and Ella Parsons. With 268 points the red team secured 6th place.
For the blue team there were some strong field performances, a 1st place for Matilda Clare in the standing long jump, 3rd place in the vertical jump for Ella McDonald, 2nd for Penelope Lyth in Speed Bounce and 1st and 3rd place for Isla Ladds and Penelope Lyth in the Hi Stepper. In the field 2nd place for Isla Ladds and Penelope Lyth in the 1+1 race. Also, success for the team with 3rd places in the 2+2, 3+3, Paarlauf, 4×2 relay and 4th place in the 4×1 relay. Completing the team were Maisie McCurtin, Affra Bailey and Matilda Pedersen. These performances secured the girls 1st place with 318 points.
Prior to the Championship there were three trial events and Team Kennet have 9 athletes which have been selected to represent Berkshire at the Intercounty competition in February. These athletes are Emerald Hill-Sawyer, Ella Larkin, Ella McDonald, Isla Ladds, Matilda Clare, Jenson Nichols, Joe Mercer, Malik Gaye and Samuel Atkins.
Thank you to all the Athletes who took part in the Santa Mile after the last training session of the season on Wednesday 20th December. Special thanks to the Coaches and Helpers who ensured the event ran smoothly.
Team Kennet AGM will take place on Monday 22nd January 2024 at 7.30pm at CCAT. All coaches and members are invited to attend. Any committee resignations or proposals need to be sent to Lisa Holmes, club secretary, by January 8th please.
Team Kennet secured another huge amount of success in the second round of the Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League held at Basingstoke and hosted by Team Kennet, Four Individual wins and 3 team wins that saw over 60 athletes turned out for the club the Conditions under foot were superb over the undulating course.
First up was the under 9 girls looking to build on their last match results, another battle developed up front between Team Kennets Matilda Saunders and Praiya Foreman, it was the last hill that Saunders broke away to snatch the victory over team mate Foreman coming home in second, Third home was new comer Maddie Cooper in 9th place and with Matilda Hogg in 12th place the team secured another win, Evelyn Barker was next home in 18th and Evelyn Pedersen 23rd in a large field.
The under 9 Boys were next off on the same course, Chester Bailey and Gethin Thomas were well up in the field most the way round, Bailey came home in third place with Thomas 5th, a great run from Idris Gaye in 9th place and Seb Lauder-Clarke 15th secured second team on the day, Max Burt was 19th and Jacob Williams 20th
The under 11 Girls were also leading the way and wanted another team win, Ella Larkin made sure she was going to lead the field with a huge burst of pace which she maintained all the way round to come home in 1st place, The Battle behind was two TK girls who worked hard together all the way round to see a team kennet 1-2-3 Tilly Clare coming home in 2nd place and Penelope Lyth taking third and with Ella McDonald 7th, this secured the team win again, The B team was led by Maisie McCurtin 9th, Elodie Burdett 13th, Orlagh Stratford 14th, Isla Ladds 16th which was good enough for 2nd team on the day and the C Team was led by Alice Stratford 18th was good Sophia Mahoney 19th,Ella Parsons 32nd,Sophia Barnett 36th and the D Team Penelope Gorbold 44th, Matilda Pedersen 45th Gracie Cooke 46th and Grace Hogg 47th that saw 16 TK u11 girls take part, which was the biggest turn out ever by a junior age group in a cross country.
The under 11 Boys saw another two TK Boys up the front, deciding to let the front runner go Malik Gaye timed it well to take second place, Samuel Atkins held in well to finish 4th with Thomas Williams 13th and Toby Clay fast improving 21st the boys had to settle for 3rd team, the B team was led by JJ Mercer 25th Joshua Bailey 30th, Joshua Kuijten 31st and Miles Pheonix 43rd.
The under 13 Girls needed to get back in to winning ways as a team, they secured this with all 6 club runners coming home in top 12, Harriet Saunders this time slowly strided away to take another individual win, Anna Hall getting back to how she was pre-injury was next home in 5th and Emerald Hill-Sawyer 6th and Jessie McCurtin 7th saw the A team win, Ella Cronk was next home in 9th and Elena Wilkinson 12th made her debut of the cross country.
The under 13 Boys saw another huge club turnout of 15, Harry Smith led the way getting stronger as the race went on in 5th place, Oskar Larkin was next home in 9th place with Arthur Patterson 12th this secured a good 2nd place in the team. The B team was led by William Devall 14th, Liam Neil 16th, Ben Daley 17th, Noah Lauder-Clarke 19th which was 4th placed team, The C team Josh Ladds 21st, Josh Brain 23rd, Charlie Adams 26th Elliot Bell 27th, Harry Barnett 28th saw them home in 5th place team, the D team was led by Henry Bell 29th , Rueben Kuijten 34th and Ben Doherty 37th
The under 15 girls race again had Charlotte Bailey under pressure as all the girls won their races, she did not let that distract her by setting of at a hard pace to win by a margin of 150m, with Lola Mitcham 15th the girls would get a penalty score for the team,
in the under 15 Boys race last match winner Ethan Kuijten this time had to settle for runners up spot and another great run from Max Adams in 5th place, again saw another penalty score for both teams to finish in 3rd place.
Congratulations to Javelin Coach, Luke Angell who scooped the England Athletics Southeast Volunteer Coach of the Year runner up award last week at a recent presentation held at TVAC in Eton.
The annual awards are celebrated regionally, for volunteers and their achievements. The southeast region covers Folkestone to Newbury and Milton Keynes to the south coast including London.
Luke has been, and still is, a very successful athlete at Team Kennet and has several accolades to his name including achieving his England vest in 2014 and is a former Southeast champion. Luke has Coached and produced some fine javelin athletes for Team Kennet and continues to do so.
Team Kennet started the Junior Cross Country Season of with awesome individual and team performances in the first round of the Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League held at Wellesey Park in Aldershot, over a undulating park course with a wooded finish, that saw 5 individual victories from 8 races and 3 team wins, the best ever in team kennet at a cross country event.
The conditions on the day were perfect and also underfoot, Team Kennet had registered over 80 athletes in the league, and a strong turnout would set good results early on in the season, first up was the under 9 girls who hold the team title, Praiya Forman meant business from the gun as she set of to take the lead, Matilda Saunders followed in pursuit, these two led the field in to the woods where Foreman was just the slightly stronger to come out and take the win, with Saunders second, Matilda Hogg made a good debut coming home in 9th and with Evelyn Pedersen 10th this brought the A team home as team winners, Evelyn Barker was 11th and Isla Cooke 12th
The under 9 Boys were out in force, and made sure they also won their team race, Chester Bailey was the first clubs runner home in 3rd place pushing himself through the woods , William Moloney ran a good race for 5th place with Toby Hartley 7th and Idris Gaye 8th they were certain to take the win on the day, Seb Lauder-Clarke was next home in 13th, Jacob Williams 14th and Max Burt 17th the other club runners.
The under 11 Girls just had the clubs biggest turnout of 13 runners, last years team winners, the girls wanted to retain this, after the summer season, Ella Larkin made sure she was going to win as she stormed off to take the lead, a big clutch of team kennet girls followed in the second pack of a field of well over 40, Larkin came out of the woods with a 20 second gap to win the race, with Penelope Lyth charging down the home straight to take a brilliant 3rd place, Maisie McCurtin was next in 6th working hard through the woods to gain several places, with Matilda Clare in 11th the girls took team victory.
The B team was led by Alice Stratford 12th, Affra Bailey 13th, Ella Parsons 26th and Gracie Cooke 27th secured a top 5 team placing, The C team was led by Penelope Gorbold 29th, Matilda Pedersen 31st, Grace Hogg 35th and Orlagh Stratford 37th.
The under 11 Boys race is always tough with Aldershot and Basingstoke in the league, Malik Gaye ran a superb race taking over 6 athletes in the hilly woods section to come out to finish in 2nd place, another surprise was Samuel Atkins who ran his best race ever to take 3rd place in a field of over 50, Flynn Sanderson was 21st and Joshua Bailey 31st saw the team finish in 4th place, Joshua Kuijten came home in 34th, Connor O’Riordan 38th, Miles Phoenix 41st and Toby Clay 43rd saw a top 12 team finish for the B team.
The under 13 Girls were also last years team winners, getting stronger as the season went on, this looks like it will be same again, as team came 2nd on the day missing a few key runners, this didn’t stop Harriet Saunders as she settled in the race in third place and as the race went on she moved through to storm through the woods to come out in the lead and take another girls race victory, Anna Hall had a great run to finish 5th and with Ella Cronk in 7th secured that team second.
The under 13 Boys saw the biggest field of the day with well over 50 runners, 12 coming from Team Kennet, Oskar Larkin was the clubs first in, with 12th place, hot on his hills was Harry smith 13th, Elliot Bell 17th and good debut run from Arthur Patterson 18th saw the team home in 3rd place. The B team were led by Charlie Adams 24th, Henry Bell 25th, Josh Brian 27th and Ben Doherty 28th for top 6 team finish, the C team Frank Edwards 29th, Harry Barnett 33rd, Noah Lauder-Clarke 34th and Rueben Kuijten 38th saw their team home in top 12
The under 15 Girls race saw Charlotte Bailey have no pressure with all TK girls winning, so she set of with a fast pace taking the lead to pull further away over the 3 lap course, ensuring all the TK girls won all four races, Chloe O’Riordan came home in 14th and Lola Mitcham 15th for 2nd placed team.
The under 15 Boys saw only two runners from TK, Ethan Kuijten ran a complete mature race, as he stalked two runners who took the early lead, on the second lap he pulled up with them, and halfway around the last lap, one of the athletes tried to pull away with a change of pace, Ethan stayed within 5 metres until he changed his pace going in to the woods where his strength showed and pulled clear to win the race and team kennets 5th victory of the day, Max Adams also ran well in 7th place.
