June

June News A number of our athletes were in track, field and road action throughout the month.

ATLETICA GENEVE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (11TH JUNE) We start in Switzerland where Jess Hunter was fresh off just dipping inside the qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games. Jess managed to improve her personal best (both wind assisted and not) to 13.12secs (wind legal) which sees her climb to 26th on the UK all-time list just ahead of Denise Lewis! Unfortunately this wasn't quite enough to satisfy the selectors for the Commonwealth Games with Jess missing out once the team was announced. Here's what Jess's coach Scott Grace has to say about her 2022 season...

"Jess Hunter – 100m Hurdles.

Jess returned to competition in 2022 after taking a break in 2021.

In her first season since finishing 2nd in the 2020 Indoor British Champs, and pre pandemic, Jess had her eyes set on the Commonwealth Games.

Her first big step towards this was coming second at the Loughborough International in May (fastest UK athlete). This competition really kick started Jess’ amazing season.

Following on from this, Jess raced in several major competitions, both in the UK and Europe. Through these competitions Jess ran multiple PBs, including two Commonwealth Games standards. Sadly, due to a very restricted Team size for the Commonwealth Games, Jess wasn’t selected for the final team, but she used this disappointment to give her even greater motivation. In late June Jess returned to her first Outdoor British Champs, since June 2019 in emphatic style, taking both a Silver medal, behind Cindy Sember (European No1) and also breaking 13.00 for the first time (albeit, slightly windy). Jess’ finished her season in style and gained a very much deserved, first senior GB call up for the European Champs in Munich. After waiting all week for her turn to race, she did not disappoint, winning her heat in one of the fastest times of the year and making the Semi-finals. All of this, including a very good interview all appearing on the BBC. Unfortunately, she hit a hurdle in the Semi-finals, which impacted her race, but this should not take away anything from an amazing season. Bring on 2023 and 2024."

LOUGHBOROUGH OUTDOOR OPEN - LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY (22ND JUNE) U23 Max Nicolle ventured to Loughborough for their midweek open meeting and came away with a seasons best in the 1500m.

PLYMOUTH HALF MARATHON - PLYMOUTH (19TH JUNE) VoAAC debutant Chelsea Baker (recently representing the Royal Navy) ran a superb race around the hilly course in Plymouth and clocked a superb 1hour 20mins 17secs on her way to a PB and 2nd female (26th overall.)

SOUTH OF ENGLAND U20/SENIOR CHAMPS - CHELMSFORD (18TH-19TH JUNE) The VoAAC had two representatives in this event with a third who is coached at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium by Scott Grace. Alastair Walls continued his impressive outdoor season with a 5th placed finish in the U20 men's 400m final just outside his PB time. Alex Byrom dipped under 60seconds in the 400m hurdles again in his heat. Here's what Alastair's coach Scott Grace has to say about his 2022 season... "Alastair Walls had the joy of competing at the 2022 English Schools National Finals for Bucks. Alastair was competing in his second English Schools and first as a Senior Boy in a very competitive field.

Alastair's call up is a credit to yet another strong season, by the clubs No.1 400m athlete.

At the champs Alastair delivered a great personal best, running 50.19, narrowly missing out on both the final and breaking the sub 50 second mark.

He also record PBs in the 100m and 200m in 2022 and continues to grow in promise." Marli Jessop (coach Scott Grace) representing Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers AC took the victory in the U20 women's 100m Hurdles and managed a PB, championship record and a qualifying time for the World U20 Championships in the process!! Here's what Marli's coach Scott Grace has to say about her 2022 season... "After narrowly missing out on the European U20s in 2021, Marli had her eyes firmly fixed on the World U20s in Cali. Marli started her season indoors in 2022, and very clearly showed she was in the shape of her life and a contender for any race. In her indoor season alone, Marli took the British University title, running 8.28 seconds over the 60m Hurdles, which ranked her number 5 in the World for U20s. She followed this up with Southern Gold and National Silver in the same event and finished her indoor season making the final of the British Champs finishing very close to a medal. Marli continued her great form into the outdoor season, racking up several new 100m Hurdles PBs, including a new South of England U20 record. This early form helped her gain her first GB call up for the Loughborough international, where Marli delivered another composed, mature performance in her race and let the senior athletes know she was in great shape. After the Loughborough International and taking the South of England title, Marli continued her great form also taking the England U20 national title and making her first outdoor British Champs final, alongside her training partner, Jess. Finally in June, Marli's hard work and great season was rewarded with a GB call up for the World Juniors in Cali, Columbia. Marli went into the champs ranked in the World Top 10 and delivered two great runs in the heats and semi-finals, narrowly missing out on the final."

U20 Men

400m

Heat 4th Alastair Walls – 50.84s Final 5th Alastair Walls – 50.49s Senior Men

400m Hurdles

Heat 8th Alex Byrom – 59.84secs U20 Women

100m Hurdles

Heat 1st Marli Jessop* – 13.61s (+1.5) Final 1st Marli Jessop* – 13.38s (+1) (PB)

*Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers coached by Scott Grace at VoAAC

BUCKS COUNTY SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS The county schools championships took place in a sun drenched Milton Keynes in June, where athletes were representing their secondary schools from all over the county. The event is split into school year groups based on the English Schools Championship system with U13's being year 7, U15's (Juniors) covering years 8 and 9 and U17's (Inters) being from years 10 and 11. The VoAAC had numerous athletes competing with nine coming away with personal bests and two taking home two gold medals each. In the Year 7 boys category, James Hawkins finished 7th with personal bests in both of his events (100m and Long Jump) while Zoe Prescott managed a 5th (800m), 6th (Javelin) and 8th (Long Jump) from her three events with the latter two providing her with personal bests. Up into the Junior age category Elliot Corke finished 2nd in the boys 300m. On the girls side, Danielle Roberts finished joint 2nd in the High Jump with VoAAC team mate Beatrice Peel in 5th, Natasha Bradley ran well for a personal best in her 300m heat and Seren Young picked up a PB in the 1500m. In the final age category, the Inters, there were personal bests for Luca Toth (2nd in 200m and Triple Jump), Adam Ankers (4th in 200m) and Ethan Perry (6th in 200m.) The Inter Girls gave the VoAAC their victories on the day with Olivia London winning both the 80m hurdles and 300m hurdles while Ffion Mabey continued her fine start to the summer season with victories in the Shot Put (PB and first time over 10m) and Discus. Lucy Cuthbert battled well in her three events with two 3rd's (3000m and 1500m steeplechase) and a 6th place (Javelin.) Well done to all of the competitors and a big thank you especially goes to the officials from the VoAAC who gave up their Saturday to helping the event to run smoothly!

Full VoAAC results: Year 7 Boys (U13)

100m

7th (3rd in race) James Hawkins – 14.3s (PB)

Long Jump

7th James Hawkins – 3.68m (PB) Junior Boys (U15)

300m

2nd Elliot Corke – 42.3s Inter Boys (U17)

200m

2nd Luca Toth – 22.9s (PB) 4th Adam Ankers – 24.3s (PB) 6th Ethan Perry – 25.1s (PB)

400m

3rd Ethan Perry – 66.4s

Triple Jump

2nd Luca Toth – 13.09m (PB) Year 7 Girls (U13)

800m

5th Zoe Prescott – 2mins 51.5s

Long Jump

8th Zoe Prescott – 3.52m (PB)

Javelin

6th Zoe Prescott – 7.62m (PB) Junior Girls (U15)

300m

Heat – 3rd Natasha Bradley – 48.0s (PB) Final - 6th Natasha Bradley – 48.5s

1500m

11th Seren Young – 5mins 35.9s (PB)

High Jump

2nd Danielle Roberts – 1.35m 5th Beatrice Peel – 1.30m Inter Girls (U17)

3000m

3rd Lucy Cuthbert – 12m 56.5s

80m Hurdles

1st Olivia London – 12.6secs (PB)

300m Hurdles

1st Olivia London – 48.7secs

1500m Steeplechase

3rd Lucy Cuthbert – 6mins 38.1secs

Shot Put

1st Ffion Mabey – 10.09m (PB)

Discus

1st Ffion Mabey – 27.46m

Javelin

6th Lucy Cuthbert – 20.01m

CPM THAME 10K (26TH JUNE) U20 athlete Thomas Fell took 8th place in the race taking over two minutes off his previous best set in the same race last year! Veteran Tim Jones blew away the competition by dipping under 40 minutes and beating the next nearest in his age group by over five and a half minutes! The final Vale athlete was Sharon Maisey who, in her first road race since 2016 ran well to finish within a minute of her PB and finish 3rd in her age category.

8th Thomas Fell (U20) – 35m 33s (PB) 35th Tim Jones (V60) – 39m 41s (1st in age category) 116th Sharon Maisey (V45) – 46m 46s (3rd in age category)

SOUTHERN ATHLETICS LEAGUE - LUTON (12TH JUNE) After a low turnout at the match last month, the team managed a better one this time round with some great performances and victories on the track and in the field. Donelle Arulanandam completed a jumping treble victory with wins in the Long, High and Triple Jump events. Alex Byrom won the 400m hurdles a-string and Annabel Ralston took the b-string in the womens Hammer. There was a 2nd place for LeAnn Carroll in the a-string Hammer and a 5th in the a-string Discus. Woody Day was 3rd in the 1500m a-string for the men.

Men

1500m

A 3rd Woody Day – 4m 55.3s

400m Hurdles

A 1st Alex Byrom – 61.6s Women

High Jump

A 1st Donelle Arulanandam – 1.60m

Long Jump

A 1st Donelle Arulanandam – 5.12m

Triple Jump

A 1st Donelle Arulanandam – 11.37m (SB)

Discus

A 5th LeAnn Carroll – 22.17m (SB)

Hammer

A 2nd LeAnn Carroll – 34.82m (SB) B 1st Annabel Ralston – 33.72m (SB)

Upper Age Group YDL - Match 3

CAN YOU HELP ON THE DAY?

MATCH 3 - 26TH JUNE – WALTON-ON-THAMES With the team sitting in 3rd position in the league standings, they travelled to Walton for the third match of the season.

The team performed brilliantly with no less than 17 wins across the two age groups on the day. In the U20 men there were victories for Adam Ankers (200m b-string), Alastair Walls (400m a-string), George Whincup (400m b-string and Shot Put a-string) and the 4x100m relay quartet including Alastair, George, Christian Choy and Luca Toth. In his actual age group of the U17’s, Luca won the 200m a-string and the Long Jump a-string both with PB’s in the process. Also in the age group, Thomas Young won the b-string 1500m, there was a double victory in the Shot Put strings for Nathaniel Arulanandam (a-string) and Leo Tottle (b-string.) Leo also won the a-string Discus and b-string Javelin, both with PB throws.

In the U17 women age group, Lucy Cuthbert showed her versatility by winning both the 1500m steeplechase (a-string) and the Discus (b-string.) The throws served the club’s athletes well as Ffion Mabey (a-string) and Harriet Squire (b-string) took a duo of wins in the Shot Put and Iona Esslemont won the b-string Javelin with a personal best. With the team finishing 2nd in the match, they also sat in 2nd in the team standings. With the top two gaining promotion, they were positioned within striking distance of going up.

TURN THE PAGE FOR FULL VOAAC RESULTS

Third Upper YDL Match at Walton-On-Thames Full results from the day.

U20 MEN

100m

A 4th Christian Choy – 11.5s (PB) B 3rd Adam Ankers (U17) – 11.6s (PB)

200m

A 3rd George Whincup – 23.2s (PB) B 1st Adam Ankers (U17) – 24.0s (PB)

400m

A 1st Alastair Walls – 51.6s B 1st George Whincup – 51.8s

Long Jump

A 2nd Christian Choy – 4.95m (PB)

Shot Put

A 1st George Whincup – 7.98m (PB)

Javelin

A 2nd Ben Wellman (U17) – 27.42m (PB)

4x100m

1st Alastair Walls, Christian Choy, George Whincup, Luca Toth (U17) – 45.7s U17 MEN

100m

A 2nd Luca Toth – 11.1s (PB) B 3rd Thomas Babb – 11.7s (PB) NS Nathaniel Arulanandam – 12.9s (PB) NS Ben Wellman – 13.8s (PB)

200m

A 1st Luca Toth – 23.0s B 2nd Thomas Babb – 24.2s (PB)

800m

A 4th Thomas Young – 2m 23.2s (PB)

1500m

A 2nd Woody Day – 4m 36.7s B 1st Thomas Young – 4m 51.3s

Long Jump

A 1st Luca Toth – 6.41m (PB) B 2nd Saravanan Kannian – 3.07m (PB)

Shot Put

A 1st Nathaniel Arulanandam – 9.39m B 1st Leo Tottle – 8.73m

Discus

A 1st Leo Tottle – 20.81m (PB) B 2nd Thomas Young – 11.16m (PB)

Javelin

A 2nd Nathaniel Arulanandam – 43.59m (PB) B 1st Leo Tottle – 35.29m (PB)

4x100m

4th Thomas Babb, Nathaniel Arulanandam, Saravanan Kannian, Adam Ankers – 53.3s U17 WOMEN

100m

A 4th Kianna De Mesa – 14.1s (PB)

200m

A 6th Ffion Mabey – 29.9s B 4th Kianna De Mesa – 28.9s (PB)

800m

A 3rd Iona Esslemont – 3m 12.7s

1500m

A 4th Iona Esslemont – 6m 26.6s

1500m S/C

A 1st Lucy Cuthbert – 6m 22.2s

Long Jump

A 2nd Lucy Cuthbert – 4.04m (PB) B 2nd Harriet Squire – 3.29m (PB)

Shot Put

A 1st Ffion Mabey – 9.76m B 1st Harriet Squire – 8.20m (PB)

Discus

A 2nd Ffion Mabey – 28.51m B 1st Lucy Cuthbert – 13.66m (PB)

Javelin

A 3rd Harriet Squire – 19.07m B 1st Iona Esslemont – 10.32m (PB)

4x100m

2nd Lucy Cuthbert, Ffion Mabey, Kianna De Mesa, Iona Esslemont – 59.0s

WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS, TAMPERE (FINLAND) One of our long serving athletes, Alan Roberts, took part in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Tampere (Finland) at the end of June and early July. In the two weeks or so that Alan was out there, he certainly made use of the time! He took part in no less than six championship races across various terrain and also had time to fit in a parkrun in the city for good measure! Competing in the Vet 55 category, Alan started his campaign with an 800m, coming home in 7th place in his semi-final with a time of 2mins 52.24secs. The next day he made it round the Cross Country Championships course to finish 23rd. After a day’s rest he was back on track to finish 12th in the B Final of the 5000m and followed this up three days later with a 13th place finish in his 1500m semi-final. That was his last race on the track in Tampere as his final three events consisted of a 10k road race in which he was 14th V55 finisher, a parkrun the day after and then finishing with a Half Marathon where he finished 18th in 1hour 46mins 13seconds.

Alan’s full results: 29th JUNE

800m (Semi-final)

7th – 2mins 52.24secs 30th JUNE

Cross Country Championships (8km)

23rd – 34mins 34secs 2nd JULY

5000m (B Final)

12th – 22mins 26.49secs 5th JULY

1500m (Semi-final)

13th – 5mins 58.13secs 8th JULY

10k Road Race (Final)

104th – (14th V55) 46mins 23secs 10th JULY

Half Marathon

18th – 1hour 46mins 13secs

Ridgeway Relay 2022

RIDGEWAY RELAY (26TH JUNE) The Ridgeway Relay is a team relay organised by Marlborough Running Club. It is run over ten legs, the legs varying in length from 5.4 miles to 11.0 miles. The route starts at Ivinghoe Beacon and finishes in Marlborough. At least two of the legs must be run by a female runner. Teams compete for a team trophy on the basis of shortest total time taken to complete the course. Competitors may run more than one leg, but must run complete legs and all changeovers must take place at the designated locations. This year the VoAAC had one team entered and managed a fantastic 4th place out of 37 teams entered completing the gruelling course in 10hours 46mins 02secs.

RESULTS (Leg placing first followed by team place after leg conclusion in brackets) Leg 1 2nd (2nd) Mark Baines – 1hour 10mins 42secs Leg 2 2nd (2nd) Jodie Digby – 47mins 27secs Leg 3 11th (7th) Robin Barrett – 1hour 11mins 17secs Leg 4 17th (7th) Vicky Sheldon – 48mins 01sec Leg 5 6th (6th) Scott Ramsell – 1hour 8mins 21secs Leg 6 5th (4th) James Davis – 1hour 12mins 42secs Leg 7 2nd (3rd) Charlie May – 58mins 05secs Leg 8 13th (3rd) Adam Johnson – 59mins 21secs Leg 9 24th (6th) Alan Roberts – 1hour 32mins 40secs Leg 10 3rd (4th) William Ralston – 57mins 26secs

Ridgeway Relay 2022

CAPTAIN’S WRITE UP by Robin Barrett "For those of you who don’t know, the Ridgeway Relay is an annual ten-legged relay race which covers almost the entire length of the Ridgeway National Trail path (around 89 miles) starting at Ivinghoe Beacon and finishing in the town of Marlborough. The Vale have been taking part in this event for many years, normally entering an A and a B team, where our A team usually finish in the top of 3 out of around 40 teams, but have successfully won the event on four previous occasions. This year we entered just the one team which was a mix of A and B team runners, so the aim was to enjoy ourselves, stay competitive and hopefully finish in the top 10. The race started bright and early at 7.30am on the top of Ivinghoe Beacon and Mark Baines got us off to a flying start finishing the first leg (11 miles) in 1 hour 11 minutes in 2nd place. Next up was Jodie Digby who ran an excellent second leg (6 miles) with a couple of tough hill climbs in 47 minutes and still keeping us in 2nd place. Team Captain Robin Barrett was on leg 3 (9.4 miles) conquering Lodge Hill but dropping the team back a little as some faster runners started to come through, finishing in 1 hour 11 minutes and handing over to Vicky Sheldon for leg 4 in 7th. Vicky only found out she was running leg 4 (5.4 miles) a few days before the event after another team member tested positive for COVID, so hats off to Vicky for stepping up at the last minute and running a solid leg in 48 minutes and keeping the team in 7th overall. Ridgeway Relay debutant Scott Ramsell was up next for leg 5 (10.1 miles) and successfully managed to run his leg faster than he cycled it earlier in the week in a time 1 hour 8 minutes whilst gaining us one place up to 6th. James Davis made a rapid start to leg 6 (10.4 miles) picking up not one, but two places early on in his leg and battled the heat and the hills to finish in 1 hour 12 minutes leaving us in 4th. Charlie May only just made it in time for the start of leg 7 (9.1 miles) arriving at the changeover with James fast approaching, he had about 20 seconds to get his race number on and get running. Once Charlie did get under way, he ran a superb seventh leg in a time of 58 minutes taking the Vale up to the dizzy heights of 3rd place! The top three finishing teams overall receive a bottle of wine at the end for each team member, so with that winning bottle of Chardonnay on his mind Adam Johnson set off on leg 8 (7.8 miles) and finished strongly in a time of 59 minutes keeping the Vale in 3rd. Alan Roberts set off on leg 9 (10.7 miles) arguably the toughest leg of the race with a couple of big hills including an exposed final couple of miles on a windy day (which it was!). Alan raced hard and conquered those hills finishing his leg in 1 hour 32 minutes handing over to Will Ralston for the final leg of the race with the Vale in 6th. Leg 10 (9.4 miles) requires a little more navigation than the other legs as the race route comes off the Ridgeway path towards the end to finish in Marlborough, but Will had done his homework and ran a fantastic final leg without getting lost and gaining two places in the process, finishing his leg in a time of 57 minutes and casually bringing the Vale home in 4th position overall. So, no free bottle of wine this year (sorry Adam!) but I think it’s fair to say the team exceeded their own expectations finishing easily inside the top 10 and instead earning a top 5 finish and having a great time along the way. Thanks to all the runners for taking part and performing so brilliantly and also to those who supported the team and helped with lifts, logistics, and generally cheered us on! We’d really like to try and enter two teams again for the Ridgeway Relay next year, so if you’ll be 17 years old or older by June 2023 and fancy taking part in this fantastic race, watch out for e-mails and notices about the Ridgeway Relay in early Spring 2023."

The Prize!