Team Kennet hosted their annual Nite of the Mad Miles on longest day of the year in superb conditions celebrating the 20th year of the event.
The event this year saw 5 races and 93 runners taking part.
This years event saw some very impressive times set all round.
Race 1 was the Girls u9s and u11s combined, a strong field off 22 runners saw two athletes break away Ella Larkin u11 and Praiya Foreman u9, over the last lap and half Ella pulled away and took a superb victory in 5.56, she is the first under 11 girl to break the 6 min barrier, next home was Praiya who ran a superb 6.26 to hold on to 2nd place and take u9 medal and both athletes top their own age group top 50 best times over the event. Third place was Quinn Joyce who ran exactly the same time 6.26, in what was a close race saw 4th place Ella Mcdonald 6.26 and Penelope Lyth 6.27 for 5th place.
The under 9 and u11 Boys saw 18 starters and first home was Samuel Atkins who went out to win straightaway in a solid run he clocked 6.02 to go 2nd in the top 50 leaderboard, 2nd home was Finn Sanderson 6.27 and third placed was Malik Gaye 6.35, the first u9 was Gethin Thomas 6.43.
Race 3 was the under 13 and u15 girls, only 14 starters, and again like the boys race before Isla Clare went straight out to take the win in a fast 5.40.5, 2nd home was Charlotte Bailey 5.55 with emerald Hill Sawyer just behind breaking the 6 min barrier 5.57.
Race 4 saw 20 starters in the under 13 and u15 Boys, Ethan Kuijten went straight out to lead all the way around the 4 laps in 5.10 to record a 2nd place in the top 50 leaderboard, 2nd home was Max Adams 5.27 and third place went to Harry smith 5.35.
Finally Race 5 had all the other age groups from u17 through to vets ladies and Mens, The Mens side saw a great battle with Casey Warwick just getting the better of Jonjo Stiles recording 5.19 and 5.22 with Third place going to Thomas Bailey 5.34, in the ladies section a really fast time from Gemma Jones earned herself the win and also take 2nd place in the top 50 Leaderboard, 2nd place went to Martine Stiles 6.14 and 3rd Kathryn Saunders 6.32
The most Improved award went to Penelope Lyth by knocking of one minute on last years time, very impressive difference.
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.
Team kennet saw athletes compete in two major cross country championships over the last two weekends.
Last week was the CAU Inter Counties at Wollaton Park, in the under 15 age group in the girls Charlotte Bailey ran a good race to come home 4th scorer for Berkshire in 126th place, while in the boys race
Ex member Rory Barclay-Watt due to school changes finished in an excellent 4th place representing Devon with TK club athlete Ethan Kuijten 180th
This Weekend saw the English Schools Championships at Pontefract Racecourse, with conditions really boggy, Charlotte Bailey in the Intermediate girls ran a superb race to finish 3rd Berkshire girl by only a few seconds to come home in 61st place only 1 minute behind a medal. In the Intermediate Boys Rory Barclay-Watt couldn’t master last weekends results had to finish with 21st, Ethan Kuijten ran well in 271st place.
Team Kennet were in action in the Southern Athletics League Division 3 West, this year the club had Marlborough join forces to make a composite team to push to higher divisions and sustain its officials for the future.
Travelling to Bournemouth was going to be tough match, although coming third on the day behind hosts and then Team Dorset there were some great results specially from the clubs under 17s.
Evie Lewis who is under 17 turned out to be the clubs best athlete on the day where she came 2nd in the Shot 7.61 and also matching this in the Discus 26.43 and earlier came third in the Hammer 29.68, Her Coach Cheryl Angell took part in the Hammer finishing third place, she came a place higher in the Javelin B String with 2nd place.
James Simmons who is also under 17 won his B string 200m in 24.8, achieving a new personal best, which he also got in the 100m 12.2 for 3rd and Long Jump 5.20 for 2nd place, Another under 17 Theo Nightingale cleared a disappointing 1.60 in the High Jump for 4th place in a tough competition., elsewhere for the club athletes Peter Saunders made a welcome return in the Long Jump with 5.30 and Triple Jump 11.19 he was also involved in the Discus B string throwing 20.34 for third B string.
Nick Burdett as a vet 50 tackled the 800m and 1500m clocking 2.48.5 and 5.40.8 for third places, and Club Vet 70 athlete Graham Chambers tackled the Hammer for 2nd place and Biggest Throw of the Day came in the Javelin where Luke Angell won the event with a throw of 57.04.
Several Team Kennet athletes were in action over the last week and some of the end of season track and field open meetings.
Penelope Lyth attended the Oxford Midweek open, the final round for the season competing under floodlights in the 800m and finished 2nd in the U13 girls category.
Turkay Altuntas won the shot with a throw of 12.95m at the Radley Open Meet. Theo Nightingale was 2nd in the High Jump with a new PB 1.82m. Chester Bailey entered the Quadrathlon finishing in 4th place.
Championships held in Birmingham saw Luke Angell and Best East in the Javelin. Angell came 7th overall (4th Senior) throwing 58.59m and East finishing 1st 74.46m.
Team Kennet Zoe Allen competed in the under 15 age group in the South of England Indoor Championships at the Weekend at Lee Valley. Congratulations to Zoe who earned herself a Silver medal in the Shot Putt throwing 10.11.
Zoe Allen also took part in the Track 200m heat to finish 6th 30.42.
Also at the Championships, Claire McGonnell (under 15) came 7th in the Shot with 7.46 and she came 11th overall in the Long Jump with 4.22m.
Elsewhere Under 17 George Down came 7th in the Long Jump with a New club record of 6m 10cm!
Team Kennet were in action in their first Wessex League match of the Season at Swindon, in a thrilling match that saw a much depleted squad due to Easter Break come fourth place with adjusted Officials score moving them up to third place
The Match score on the day was
Swindon 479
Waverley 413.5
Slough 359.5
Team Kennet 320
Portsmouth 277
Dorchester 76
The under 15 girls defending their own age group title from last year started of this season wit ha good 2nd place, Claire McGonnell and Bethany Maclean teamed up in the Javelin for a Double victory McGonnell throwing a UK Grade 1 throw of 26.53. Zoe Allen added another win in the Shot with a 9.92m throw with Suki Humphreys taking 3rd B 6.18, and in the Discus Two 2nd places came from Humphreys 20.37 and Maclean 15m. The High Jump saw another Double win from Neve Wright and Mia Wright both clearing 1.40m in the Long Jump Neve Wright came 3rd A with 4.28 and Emelia Lunn taking 2nd B 4.26
On the Track Allen came 3rd in the 75 m hurdles 14.1, the 800m Maclean was 3rd A with 2.42 and Leilah Gaye came in 2nd in the B string 2.55. the 300m Allen had to settle for 4th A 46.6 and a great run by McGonnell in the B string saw her come home wit ha win in 46.9, the shorter sprints in the 200m Lunn came 4th A 29.9 and McGonnell 2nd B 28.55 and the 100m both Lunn 14.9 and Gaye 15.7 came 4th places, the 4 x 100m relay team came home in 2nd place 56.0 which were Lunn, Allen, Maclean and McGonnell.
The Under 17 men also came 2nd on the day most of the points were picked up in the Field events, George Down lept his way to 6.35cm in the long jump for a good win. Brandon Carter won his Javelin with a throw of 43.15, Seb Simpson won the Discus with a throw of 30.93, he came 2nd in the A string Shot 10.34 by just a few centimeters and Carter winning the B string 8.27. Simpson came 2nd B string in the Javelin, while in the High Jump another win came from Euan Avery with 1.63.
The 100m saw another Double win from George Down clocking 11.6 and Euan Avery 12.2
The 4 x100m quartet of Down, Simpson, Avery and Carter came home in 2nd place 51.4.
Elsewhere in the other age groups the under 13 boys took 3rd place Harry Fenner taking a win in the Discus 17m with Ben Daley 2nd B string, a superb Double win came in the Javelin Will McDonald 31.42 and Fenner 28.27, Fenner also 3rd in the Long Jump 4.23 and Aiden Fleming winning the B string in 4.12.
On the track in the longer distance races 800m Fleming came 3rd in 2.55.4 and Mcdonald came 4th in B string 2.58.9, in the 1500m Noah Lauder-Clarke 4th 5.31 and Frank Edwards 5.59 was also 4th in his string. In the sprints again 4thplaces came in the 100m Fleming and Lauder-Clarke, the 200m Joshua Ladds came 5th A and Lauder-Clarke 4th b.
The Relay Quartet Fleming, Fenner, McDonald and Ladds took 3rd place in 60.8
The under 15 Boys were 5th overall James Fenner winning the Javelin 39.49, William Appleby taking 3rd in the Discus 17.16, on the track Fenner was best placed with 13.9 in the 100m B string taking 2nd place, James Simmons also took place in the 100m and 200m clocking 13.7 and 29.1
The under 17 women came 5th place Eve Brown just being pipped on the line in the 800m for 2nd2.30.7 and Alanna Smith taking the B 800m in 2.55.4, both teamed up in the 300m Brown in 4th47.3 and Smith 3rd B 51.7 and again they teamed up in the Javelin Both coming 2nd places Brown 29.79 and Smith 25.99. Kirsten Fraser threw the shot to gain 4th place.
Team Kennet were in action in the 2nd match the Oxford League on Sunday held at Banbury.
Finishing in the 2rd overall the under 13 boys Aiden Fleming, A String and Rueben Kuijten, B String took part in the 100m and the 800m. For the 800m Aiden came in 2nd with a time of 2:37:1 and Kuijten 3rd in his race with 3:24:2. For the 1500m Noah Lauder-Clark came in 5th with a time of 5:40:9.
There was success on the field for the Under 13 boys with Fleming finishing 1st in the long jump leaping 4.29m and Lauder-Clark for B string jumping 3.35m for the B string. Lauder-Clark also came 2nd in the javelin with a throw of 25.56m. Also in the field on his debut Turkay Altuntas dominated the shot and discuss coming 1st with throws of 9.03m in the shot and 20.06m in the discus.
The under 15 boys Ivan Checkamoz, A String and Ethan Kuijten B String took part in the 30om with Checkamoz taking 2nd spot and Kuijten 3rd.
Checkamoz also came 2nd in the 800 clocking 2:17:4 and Kuijten taking 4th for the 1500m with 5:05:2. On the field Kuijten took 3rd in the shot with 5.61m. The under 15 boys took 5th overall.
On the field for the under 17 men Seb Simpson took 2nd for the shot and 1st spot for the discuss with Brandon Carter taking 1st for the javelin throwing 37.31m. The under 17 men were ranked 5th overall.
For the under 13 girls there was success for Emerald Hill-Sayer coming 3rd in her A string 100m with 15.1s and 1st in the 800m A string with 2:48:2. In the B string 800m Ella Cronk came 1st with 3:10:4. For the 1500m Anna Hall came 3rd with a time of 6:04:2. In the field Cronk and Hall both competed in the long jump. Cronk A string with a jump of 3.47m and Hall B String 3.23m. Hall also took part in the javelin coming 2nd with 16.72m. Cronk came 4th in the A string High jump with 1.20m. There was double success for Eliska Simpson with the shot and discuss coming 1st in both events. The under 13 girls squad finished 3rd overall on the day.
On the track the under 15 girls competed in the 300m with Emelia Lunn coming in 3rdclocking 47s for the A string and Leilah Gaye 54.8s for the B string. Lunn also took part in the 800m coming in 1st with a time of 2.27.6 for the A string and Bethany MacLean 2nd for B String. In the field for the long jump Lunn came in 3rd with a jump of 4.35m and Maclean for B string 4.13m taking 1st. In the high jump Gaye came 3rd with 1.25m. MacLean too 1st spot in the javelin with 22.78m.
For the under 17 women Annabel MacLean took 3rd in the 300m clocking 46.9s and 1st in the shot throwing 9.63m. Also, in the field MacLean took 2nd spot for the discuss with 21.65m.
Both the under 15 girls and under 17 women finished 5th overall.
Team Kennet were in action in the second round of the Destination Basingstoke Junior Cross Country League held at Rushmoor in Aldershot over a muddy course in woodland on a damp winters day but mild for the Athletes.
The under 9 Girls were first off and they produced another winning team performance, not quite like last match but took the first three places, Maisie McCurtin won her first ever cross country by over 11 seconds from the Stratford Twins, Alice coming home in 2nd place and Orlagh taking third place, Matilda Saunders was 5th place making up the A team, The B team were second on the day, Elodie Burdett leading them in with 7th, Evie Kearney 8th, Megan Jones 9th and Sophia Barnett 13th, Jasmine Hemmings also took part coming 17th.
This win for the girls almost secures now a league overall win to retain their own title.
The under 9 boys did well too, they finished 2nd team on the day to keep them in contention of league title, Joshua Kuijten was clubs first runner home in 5th place, followed by Gethin Thomas 10th then Seb Lauder-Clarke 16th and Jacob Williams 23rd. other runners were Max Burt 24th, Alex Cameron 27th.
The under 11 Girls came 3rd team on the day, Quinn Joyce had a battle to get in to the top 3, but had to settle for 4th place by just one second, with Harriet Saunders 6th, Penelope Lyth 9th and Matilda Clare 11th only 4 points separated top 3 teams. Penelope Gorbold was 30th, Rose Bell 33rd and Ella McDonald 37th other club runners.
The under 11 Boys also had to settle for 3rd place, Harry Smith just got the better of Euan Jones for 10th and 11th places, Luke Stiles was 13th and William Devall 14th for a good packing team, Elliot Bell led the B team home in 15th, Henry Bell 17th, Ben Doherty 28th and Samuel Atkins 38th , the C team was led by Josh Bailey 39th, Lestyn Thomas 45th and Alfie Cronk 50th.
The under 13 Girls managed to claim 2nd place team this match, Amber Stiles was first home for the club in 6th place followed closely by Charlotte Bailey 7th, Emerald Hill-Sawyer was 13th and Chloe O’Reardon 15th, other runners were Iris Bloomfield 16th, Ella Cronk 17th, Lola Mitcham 18th and Mia Kearney 19th for the B team.
The under 13 Boys were placed 4th team led by Aaron Carter 13th, Ben Daley 15th, Noah luader-Clarke 19th and Marlowe Barber 21st, Frank Edward led the B team in 26th, Harry Barnett 29th and Reuben Kuijten 35th.
Alanna Smith came home as 2nd under 17 women and in the under 15 boys Ethan Kuijten was placed 6th.
