Team Kennet Cross country team made the trip to Cirencester on Sunday for round 2 of the Oxford Cross Country league After icy conditions in the week leading up to the event, runners were faced with persistent drizzle/rain and lots of mud Cirencester is a tough course but it was great to see over 700 athletes take part in the days races. For TK in preliminary results Ella Parson 23rd in the U11 girls Emerald Hill-Sawyer 9th in the under 13 girls. Harry Smith 14th in the U13 boys Great effort by the juniors in some horrible weather.
In the Senior Mens race Andy Colling continued his fine form finishing 92nd and 1st in the Male 60 category Mitch Poustie was next in 178th, Tim Smith 208th, Simon Hockaday 235th and Simon Gale 245th.
The ladies faced a tricky race as the course was really cut up for their run. Katie Reynolds was first home for TK in 80th and 6th in her age catergory. Georgina McCabe was just behind in 93rd and Anna Riggall next in 129th.
Big thanks to all for making the journey and supporting TK cross country Big thanks also to Joe Gale for “volunteering” to marshal and standing in the rain for a few hour hours.
On Friday 7th April Harriet and Matilda Saunders competed in the Bristol Track Club 3km Road Race hosted at Odd Down Sports Ground, Bath. With no Under 9 race offered Matilda had to join her elder sister in the Under 11s. After a fast start by the entire field Harriet pushed on in the middle kilometre to establish a lead and eventually finish in 12 min 13 sec, almost a minute and a half clear of her nearest rival. Matilda worked hard throughout and with a strong final 500 m managed to move up into third place in a time of 13 min 48 sec. Both girls were delighted with their performances and enjoyed having the opportunity to watch some extremely quick runners in the elite races.
Team Kennet under 17 & senior cross country runners headed to Henley for the final round of this seasons cross country. Henley is probably the toughest course of the season but the runners were helped by good under foot conditions.
Isaac Mitcham came 22nd in the under 17 boys race to finish the season in a credible 18th overall. Credit to Isaac for running 4 out of the 5 races and showing up well in an excellent field of runners.
Senior men were led by Andy Colling who finished 95th and an excellent 5th in the V2 category for the season. Mitch Poustie came 155th and 40th for the season in the V1 event. 174th was Rich Bickerton, 204th Simon Hockaday (161st V2 season overall) Simon Gale 208th (165th V2 overall).
2 ladies ran the 7.25k course with Katie Reynolds 63rd and Charlotte Aitken 102nd. Katie was 15th lady in the V2 category overall.
Team Kennet had several athletes compete in the New Year Games at Lee Valley Indoor Athletics Arena last weekend.
It was a family affair for the Stiles Family as they had four members take part, they all took part in the 800m races, Jonjo Stiles a Vet 45 was the fastest as he won his heat in 2.30.25 breaking the clubs vet 45 800m indoor record, Amber was 3rd in her race clocking 2.46.39 as under 15,, Brother Luke Stiles u13 broke the under 13 boys indoor club record setting 2.48.78 and finally Martine Stiles broke the vet 40 women’s club record in 2.53.30.
Also in the 800m races was Emerald Hill – Swayer coming 3rd in her heat in 2.50.12 in the under 13 girls.
The 200m races saw under 17 Zoe Allen clock 30.0 and Emerald clocking 31.02.
Zoe Allen also took part in the 60m sprint clocking 8.72.
Seb Simpson competed at the 92nd English Schools Championship in Birmingham where he achieved silver medal in Intermediate Boys hammer throw with distance 55.52m, only 51cm behind the winner. He was the only one who threw consistently over 50m mark. This led him to qualify to represent England in the upcoming Home Countries Schools Internationals which will take place in Scotland next weekend.
Team Kennet Quad kids were back out in action in Abingdon on Sunday for the 3rd and final match of the Oxford League. With a full Squad of 32 athletes, they aimed to not disappoint in the sunshine!
Team Kennet Youngsters secured Team League Champions in under 9 Girls and U11 Girls and also U9 Boys
First up were the U9 boys, with 8 athletes in this group in the sprints 75m Sebastian Lauder-Clarke was quickest for TK with 13.4s closely followed by Gethin Thomas 13.6s and Alexander Cameron and Jacob Williams both clocking 13.7s. The long jump saw newcomer Toby Hartley leap 2.75m to score the best jump for the U9 TK boys. In the 600m Thomas was quickest for TK clocking 2:15:8. All boys threw well in the vortex with Thomas shining again throwing 24.17m. Thomas finished 4th overall on the day for the U9 boys. Other boys taking part Max Burt, Alexander Browning and Eoin Fussell. The U9 boys finished 2nd on the day scoring 575 points to secure the league win.
Also with 8 athletes taking part, the U11 boys group. In the 75m sprint Malik Gaye was fastest for TK clocking 11.9s followed by Connor O’Riordan, Samuel Atkins and Flynn Sanderson all clocking 12.4s. It was close in the long jump with Gaye leaping furthest for TK with 3.43m with Gaye, Atkins 3.13m and O’Riordan close behind with 2.96m. With the heat increasing the 600m heats were going to be tough but Gaye managed a quick time of 1:59:2 to be quickest for TK followed by Atkins 2:02:4. In the vortex throw Gaye was strong again with a throw of 27.95m, Joshua Kuijten 26m and Josh Bailey 23.89m. Gaye was top scorer for the U11 boys resulting in a 7th place overall on the day. Also taking part JJ Mercer and Brodie Sanderson. The U11 boys finished 5th on the day with a combined score of 778 points.
For the under 9 girls, we had 4 athletes taking part. Praiya Foreman was quickest for TK in the 75m sprint clocking 12.8s and Matilda Saunders close behind with 13.4s. Saunders leaped 2.94m in the long jump to record the longest U9 girls jump on the day. Foreman was close behind with 2.56m. It was close again in the 600m between Foreman and Saunders just Saunders was quickest for TK clocking 2:08:9 breaking the Club record and League record previously broken in the last match by Foreman. Darcy Scaplehorn threw furthest for TK with 20.31m in the vortex, Foreman 19.44m, Saunders 17.05m and Evelyn Barker 10.06m. Saunders secured 1st overall on the day and Foreman 2nd overall. The U9 girls finished 1st on the day scoring a combined score of 478 points.
Last up the Under 11 girls and it was close in the 75m sprint with Matilda Clare clocking the fastest U11 Girl sprint 11.3s, followed by Ella Larkin 11.8 and Penelope Lyth 11.9s. In the long jump Isla Ladds leaped furthest for TK with 3.53m, Clare 3.51m and Lyth 3.46m. The 600m saw some quick times for the girls with Ella Larkin breaking her club record to clock a time of 1:54:9 in the warm temperatures, Clare 2:01:9 and Lyth 2:06:1. Clare threw furthest for TK 34.69m to record a personal best, Alice Stratford 27.39m and Lyth 25.01m. Sophia Mahoney, Ella McDonald, Isla Ladds and Ella Larkin all also throwing over 20m. Also taking part Izzy Fagan, Affra Bailey, Orlagh Stratford, ~Jasmin Hemmings and Matilda Pedersen. Clare finished 1st over all on the day, Larkin 2nd and Lyth 4th. The U11 girls finished 1st on the day with a score of 883 to secure the league win and ending the season with a double league win in Oxford and Wessex leagues.
Team Kennett U11 Girls broke the 4x100m record, which they set in the first match of the season, running 63.0. Well done to Ella Larkin, Matilda Clare, Isla Ladds and Penelope Lyth.
Team Kennet Juniors were in action in Force in the third round of the Destination Cross Country League at a new venue in Hartney Witney, over a fast, twisting and slight inclines with glorious sun shine for all.
The Under 9 Girls went first with 9 Team Kennet girls setting of, Ella Larkin led from the gun to take full control of the race to win by 100m, she now tops the individual points, another great run from Maisie McCurtin came in 2nd place to put her second overall, then some fantastic packing from Matilda Saunders 6th and Orlagh Stratford 7th saw the A team home in 1st place and are now guaranteed overall Team Victory retaining their own title, the B team was led by Alice Stratford 8th, not far behind was Elodie Burdett 10th then a gap to Evie Kearney 20th and Evelyn Barker 21st bringing the team home in 3rd place, Sophie Barnett was 23rd
Next race was u9 boys Gethin Thomas was first home in 12th place, with Joshua Kuijten 15th, Max Burt 17th and Seb Lauder-Clarke 19th bringing team home in 4th place, Alex Cameron was 23rd and Jacob Williams 27th
The Under 11 Girls took a fantastic Team Win, Quinn Joyce ran her socks of to finish in 2nd place, a Good pack of TK Girls then followed led by Harriet Saunders 5th, Ella McDonald 6th and Matilda Clare 7th for the scoring Team, Penelope Lyth led the second team home in 8th place with Penelope Gorbold 23rd.
The under 11 Boys saw 13 TK runners, they managed 3rd team on the day, Oskar Larkin put in an impressive race to come home in 3rd place, with Euan Jones not far behind in 6th, Harry Smith was next home in 13th and new comer Liam Neil 16th. The clutch of other TK boys were Elliot Bell 19th, Luke Stiles 20th, Malik Gaye 22nd, Henry Bell 23rd, Samuel Atkins 24th, Ben Doherty 27th, Joshua Bailey 44th, Lestyn Thomas 53rd and Alfie Cronk 58th.
The under 13 girls team also took the team win. Amber Stiles and Charlotte Bailey led the race for three quarters the way round to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively on a tight finish only 10 metres separating the girls, Emerald Hill-Sawyer 11th and Chloe O’Reardon 12th for the scoring team, Ella Cronk came 14th.
The under 13 Boys team were 4th, Aaron Carter was clubs first runner home in 13th closely followed by Ben Daley 14th and Marlowe Barber 16th and Charlie Adams 21st making up the team, Harry Barnett 22nd led the second team home with Frank Edwards 23rd and Rueben Kuijten 34th making up the team.
The under 15 boys was a great race, Ethan Kuijten battled with top two to keep in contention but had to settle for 3rd place, Max Adams worked his way through the field for 4th place and Elliot Murphy came 5th to help the team home in 2nd place.
