Young Athletes League Match 3, 26th June, Nottingham

This was always going to be one of the toughest fixtures in this league this season, against the strong Grantham team, local rivals Derby, and a well respected Corby AC.

On the day, we had to settle for 3rd place which meant that we had to relinquish our spot at the top of the league. Alexandra Turner and Ben Conner won track Athletes of the Match, and new club records were set by the U17 mens 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay teams.

Unfortunately, at least 11 first-team athletes were not available for this match; 5 were competing in the English Schools Combined Events (see below) and the remainder were on school trips or injured. This inevitably left gaps in our full coverage of events and points went begging.

However, with 2 more matches left, and depending on our rivals performances, we are confident that we can climb a place or two overall in the league.

s always, many thanks to our team managers, officials and scoring team.

Midlands Region English Schools Combined Events Championships 5 / 26th June, Abingdon.

Seven AVAC athletes represented Derbyshire Schools. Cold and windy conditions, particularly on the first day made it difficult at times, but 3 of our athletes have now earned their places at the prestigious English Schools Finals for Combined Events in Southampton in September.

David Feeney was the highest placed AVAC athlete by finishing 2nd in the Senior Boys Decathlon. This will be David's second selection for the Finals, having won the Inter Boys title last year. Richard Szarkowski will also go through by finishing in 4th place. Ricky Kiggins also goes to Southampton as part of the victorious Derbyshire Inter Boys team.

Emma Komocki just missed out on a place at the Finals by finishing equal 6th. Chloe Smith, Charlotte and Katie Noonan also took part.

Club Records

Click here for the freshly updated club records

All-Girl Finals at English Schools

The Derbyshire team that will be taking part in this years English Schools Finals on 8 / 9th July at Alexandra Stadium, Birmingham has just been announced, and it includes 4 AVAC girls. All athletes who get selected have to have achieved, or be very close to, very tough selection times and distances. These reflect the fact that only a very small number of athletes make it to 'English Schools' and for most athletes in their teenage years, it is the ultimate goal to get there. No wonder that it's called the 'Kids Olympics'!

For Abby Wood this will be her second Finals, having qualified last year in the Junior Girls Shot. This year however, moving up to Inter Girls, she has the qualifying distance in Hammer. Abby is currently training with Derby AC due to a house move to the city, but she is still a first-claim member of AVAC and is a valuable member of our team.

Tamara Armoush has tasted success at English Schools so far this year, by finishing 7th in the cross country Finals and going on to represent England in the Home Countries International. She now makes it a double by being selected for the Junior Girls 1500m on the track.

It was no surprise that Alexandra Turner got selected for the Junior Girls 800m, having run within the qualifying time for the event at least twice this season so far.

Since moving up to 75m Hurdles this season, established hurdler Emma Komocki has responded in fine fashion to the new distance, getting faster with almost every race. Her reward, a place in the Finals!

It is significant that all 4 girls are at the lower end of their age groups, and illustrates their outstanding athletic ability. We wish them all the very best.

Weekend Round up

Over 50 young Amber Valley AC athletes took part in the second match out of 4 in the Derbyshire Mini League series, at Moorways. Aimed at the 9 to 14 year olds, the County’s major track and field clubs compete for the overall annual trophy.

AVAC took a narrow lead into the second match on Saturday, and with some fine individual efforts, increased their lead over nearest rival Chesterfield AC by 50 points. Derby AC lie in third place, Kirk Hallam AC in fourth, Buxton fifth and Heanor RC sixth.

Four athletes set new Mini League records. Olivia Pell easily won her U15 girls 1500m to get her name in the record books, as did Chris Dawe in the U13 boys race. Jessica Turner took two seconds off the League record for the U11 girls 600m, and Rory Chambers sprinted away with the U11 boys 80m record. Jessica and Rory’s times also broke club records for their events. Jessica took two seconds off the record held by Tamara Armoush since 2002, and Rory’s time means that he now has the 80m record outright. To round off an excellent morning of athletics, Chris was named male Athlete of the Match.

The U11 boys relay team also broke a club record for the 4 x 100m. The team was Daniel Roe, William Harkus, Nikolas Trifunovic and Rory Chambers.

At U13, David Boddy and Tom Boyd won their 200m and 75m hurdles races. In the U15 age group Claudia Rogers won both her 100m and 75m hurdles races, Bradley Chambers came first in the 80m hurdles, as did Yasmin Wilde in the javelin.

A clutch of second and third places across the board helped us to win the U11 boys, U13 boys and U15 girls sections.

For many athletes this was their first time competing for the club and it gives them an opportunity to show coaches and parents alike just what they can do. All times and distances achieved by U13 and U15 athletes are logged, whether competing as a match scorer or a guest, from which the County team is selected for the annual Inter-Counties match later in the summer. Therefore, to be in with a chance of selection, athletes must try to compete at the next two Mini League matches.

Many thanks also to our officials and helpers who officiated on the day.

Full results are on www.dcaa.org.uk

On the same day, some of our higher-performing athletes traveled to Cudworth near Barnsley to represent Derbyshire Schools in the annual Schools Inter-Counties.

Full results are not known but we can report that Emma Komocki had a fine victory in the Junior Girls 75m hurdles, Alexandra Turner again lowered her 800m PB in a close tussle with her Derbyshire team-mate Abby Glover to finish second. Andrew Szarkowski also finished second in the Inter Boys 400m, and Louise Feeney and Tamara Armoush took third places in the Inter Girls 80m hurdles and Jnr Girls 1500m respectively.

Selections for the Derbyshire team to go to this years English Schools Finals in July are being made this week. Details of selected AVAC athletes will be announced when known.

Weekend Round Up

There were further successes for club athletes at the weekend. At Moorways, the annual County Schools Championships pits club athletes with good standard school athletes, with places in the Derbyshire Schools team up for grabs, and provides an opportunity to impress county selectors.

Gold medals (and a County place) went to 3 athletes, Louise Feeney in the Inter Girls 80m hurdles, (her 3rd successive title at this event), Richard Szarkowski in the Senior Boys javelin, and Andrew Szarkowski in the Inter Boys 400m. Andrews time of 51.8 was a huge personal best, smashed the club record, and is only half a second outside the qualifying standard time for English Schools Finals.

Tamara Armoush (Junior Girls 1500m) achieved the English Schools qualifying time but had to be content with a silver medal. Likewise, Alexandra Turner (junior Girls 800m) also took silver but has the qualifying time already under her belt from a previous competition. Also taking silvers, were Emma Komocki (Jnr Girls 75m hurdles), Chloe Smith (Jnr Girls 200m), Abby Wood (Inter Girls Hammer), Paul Caldbeck (Inter Boys 100m), and Tom Mayer (Jnr boys 800m)

Further north, David Feeney competed in the joint AAA's / North of England Combined Events Championships at Hexham. Competing as a first year U20 he took a bronze medal in the Decathlon in the North of England Championships, and finished 10th overall in the AAA's title. After a 2 month lay-off from training due to injury, David found it hard going against the best young men in the country, but managed PB's in high jump, discus and pole vault.

Officials Course

Mini League reminder

"Young Athletes League match 2 Telford 5th June 05

AVAC Behaviour Policy

Amber Valley Athletic Club's new behaviour policy has now been published to document the standards of behaviour and conduct expected of all Members to ensure everybody can enjoy the club and learn and develop to the best of their ability. A full copy of the Policy can be downloaded here.

Heart of England League Division 1, Match 1, Dudley 29th May

It was definitely the turn of the middle distance runners this match, to turn in some outstanding performances. Helped by almost ideal conditions and some good competition, PBs were shattered across most age groups. The final match scores are not currently known (could be a couple of days) but these will be posted on this site when known. Early indications are that the club has held it's own from a team perspective, and that we have 4 new club records, 1 equal club record and the first English Schools qualifying time achieved this year so far.

Perhaps the performance of the day came from Alexandra Turner who in the U15 girls 800m took 4 seconds of her best time to record 2m 19.5. This is Alex's qualifying time for this years English Schools Final, smashed her own club record, and she still has a further year in this age group!

No-one could stay with Tamara Armoush's furious pace in the U15 girls 1500m which she easily won and smashed her PB and existing club record by 5 seconds.

At U13 Leanne Cartledge took an incredible 18 seconds off her 1500m time to take 2nd place, whilst Ben Conner and Chris Dawe both broke Bens existing 1500m club record to take 1st place A and B string, Ben taking 5 seconds off his PB and Chris a whopping 15 seconds!

Andrew Szarkowski and Ricky Kiggins also destroyed their PBs in the U17 mens 800m by taking 2nd A and 1st B respectively.

Emma Komocki recorded another PB in the U15 girls 75m hurdles. Her time of 12.3 now gives her the club record outright. Tom Boyd, in his first hurdles competition for the club came 1st and equaled the long-standing club record for the U13 boys 80m hurdles event, held since 2001 by Joe Eyre.

The U17 mens 4 x 100m relay team of Josh Cartledge, Andrew Szarkowski, Paul Caldbeck and James Dennis set a new club record and finished in 2nd place to round off an excellent days competition.
This league also gives our youngest athletes chance to shine. Competing at U11, some for the first time, included Rory Chambers, Daniel Roe, Joe Noonan, Jessica Turner, Rosie Blount, Jennie Lockwood and Kelly-Jay Payling.

Well done to everyone who took part. Your team spirit and enthusiasm was first class as usual, and thank you also to our team managers, officials and field event helpers.

Mini League Match 2

The next Mini League is on Saturday 18th June. Entry forms / details are now available from training (bright yellow sheet) so make sure you pick yours up soon.

Please note that there is no training on this day due to the Mini League and also to a large football tournament taking place at Charles Hill.

Entry forms must be returned to training by June 16th at the latest. All members aged 9 up to school year 9 can take part.

This event is scheduled to take place at Moorways but we are still waiting to hear that the stadium refurbishment is complete. Please check this website or www.dcaa.org.uk for up-to-date information.

Combined Event Success

Seven AVAC athletes won places to represent Derbyshire Schools in the Midlands Schools Combined Events Championships on 25 / 26th June in Abingdon. The Derbyshire Championships took place at Berry Hill Stadium this week over two evenings after school and attracted a large entry from schools across the County.

In the Intermediate age group Ricky Kiggins and Louise Feeney competed over both days and secured a well-deserved 4th place each and a team spot.

In the Junior Girls Emma Komocki came 1st, Charlotte Noonan 3rd and Chloe Smith 4th, and all make the Derbyshire team too. Richard Szarkowski and David Feeney also go through to the Midlands final on merit.

Perhaps the best performance of the 2 days came from Charlotte Noonan, who despite being under the weather for a few days, set a new club record of 1m 42 in the high jump.

Top of the Tree!

At long last all the results are in for the first round of the Young Athletes League!

Take a look at www.natyal.co.uk to see AVAC TOP of the Midlands 1 East division!

There are some very good clubs below us and we will find it a challenge to stay there but what a start! To all those athletes involved who went to Telford, 'Well Done' and let's do it all again (at Telford again) on 5th June.

Club Records

The Club Records section has now been updated - click here to see if you're in there!

County Championships Day 2

What an excellent Championships this years has been. Near perfect weather (at least on Sunday!), excellent organisation from the joint Notts / Derbys officiating and results teams, and some outstanding performances from the 40 or so AVAC athletes who took part.

Those athletes between them amassed around 70 medals and set countless PB's. Space doesn't allow for a detailed report but some athletes deserve a mention.

The most successful age group for the club in terms of medal gains were the U13's. William Dennis and Charlie Waterhouse enjoyed their first Championships picking up a glut of silvers and bronzes between them, whilst Amber Wilde and Jessica Riley were kept busy going up for one medal presentation after another.

It was Ben Conner, however, who kept up his stunning form from day 1 when he demonstrated another piece of determined front running against the clock in the 800m. His time broke the club record which had stood since 2001. He also added the U13 High Jump gold to add to his collection.

At U15 Alex Turner had yet another good day and equaled the existing 200m club record. This brings her total of club records broken so far this season to 5. Despite this effort she could only take bronze in this sprint which illustrates the depth of talent in this age group across the County. With 5 AVAC athletes making this final it did, like the announcer comment 'look like an Amber Valley club final!' .

Another athlete to equal a club record was Emma Komocki who smashed her PB to record 12.4 in the 75m hurdles in a sizzling final full of local hurdling talent. 30 minutes later she produced a long jump of 4m.78 to set a new club record and take the silver medal.

Club newcomer, Paul Caldbeck, in only his third competition for the club, won an unexpected gold in the U17 mens 100m. His surging final effort at the line gave him an excellent time of 11.6 sec against a quality field.

Finally, Jim Feeney dusted off his fast-twitch fibres again to add the Veteran Mens 400m title to the 100m he won on day 1, in a keenly contested Notts / Derbys combined race.

County Championships Day 1

36 medals have been won by AVAC athletes so at this years County Championships at Berry Hill Park.

Star performer of the day must be Charlotte Hobbs. The U13 broke one of the longest standing club records when she stormed to victory in the 100m, breaking the existing record held by Laura Baxter since 2000. Her time of 13.4 also equaled the Championship Best Performance. She also took a silver medal in the shot.

Ben Conner also ran a new club record in the U13 boys 1500m, and took almost 10 seconds off the time, winning the gold medal (and club record) from Chris Dawe.

Alexandra Turner shattered her PB, running 13.2 in the U15 girls 100m, breaking the existing club record jointly shared by sprint queens Laura Baxter, Stephanie Smith and Cara Peplow, by point 3 of a second.

Finally, to prove that age is no barrier to improvement, Jim Feeney won the Veteran Mens 100m title and broke the existing Championship Best Performance.

School Athletics Reminder

All athletes in school years 8 to 13 need to be aware that school trials should be happening in your district very soon. These are to select competitors to represent your district at the County Schools Championships on 11th June.

Also, those multi-talented athletes who want to do Combined Events need to know that the schools championship for this in on 25th and 26th May at Berry Hill Stadium, Mansfield, 4.30 - 8pm approximately.

The top 4 in each age group go through to represent Derbyshire Schools in a Midlands competition later on. Junior boys and girls (year 8 and 9) do a pentathlon (hurdles, LH, HJ, shot, 800m), Inter girls (year 10 and 11) and Senior girls (year 12 and 13) do a heptathlon (javelin and 200m added), Inter boys do an Octathlon (javelin, discus and 400m added), Senior boys do a Decathlon.

You must see your PE teacher for details and to get them to enter you. Club coaches cannot do this for you.

Derbyshire County Championships

All those athletes who have entered this coming weekend's Championships need to make sure that they:

• Arrive at Berry Hill in plenty of time before their event.

• Register in the club house at least 30minutes before their first event. Club coaches do not do this for you.

• Inform registration if they do not intend taking part in any event.

• On reaching a track Final from a Heat, athletes must inform registration if they do not intend competing in the Final. Failure to do so could mean disqualification from their further events.

Although competing as AVAC, athletes and parents should be aware that the Championships is not a club / team event.

Club coaches / team managers present will, of course, give assistance but it is the responsibility of each athlete and parent to ensure that they get to their event at the correct time and to check on qualification for Finals etc.

Young Athletes League, Match 1 Telford, 8th May

What a good start the club has made in this league! We dominated the majority of events and came away convincing winners of this 4 - team match.

The blustery conditions kept some times down, but an initial summary of performances shows countless PB's and a handful of new club records for the 40 or so athletes selected for this competition.

Disappointingly, the clubs we were up against failed to provide anywhere near complete teams, which meant that in many cases our athletes were the only ones in the race or the standard of competitor was not high enough to provide challenging races.

A very positive aspect, however, was that it gave some of our new recruits a chance to get their first taste of track and field, and for others to try unfamiliar events, with a pleasing level of success.

Well done to everyone who competed and also thanks to all our team managers, officials and field event helpers.

Rotherham Open Meeting Monday 2nd May

Sadly this Open has been cancelled by the organisers, due to a delay in the promised refurbishment of their track.

An alternative for those looking for a competition on May Day is the Open at the Birmingham University track.

See www.birminghamrowheath.co.uk (click on fixtures) for details.

North of England Championships, 28 /29th May, Cudworth, Barnsley

Entry forms for these Championships are available from training or online here. Full programme of events at U15, U17 and U20.

No entry standards but athletes should be of at least a good County to Regional standard to consider entering.

 Closing date is 4th May.

Please note that there is also a Heart of England League match on the Sunday where many of our squad athletes would be expected to take part.

Derbyshire Mini League Saturday 23rd April, Mansfield

AVAC made an excellent start in their quest to win back the Mini League trophy from Chesterfield this season. Almost 50 young athletes made their way to Berry Hill Stadium for the first fixture in this league.

For many, this was their first experience on a track and their first competition for the club. AVAC emerged as overall winners, holding off a strong challenge from Chesterfield AC. From experience we know that it is essential to make a good start in this league, and that we have done, and it was also good to see the majority of Derbyshire clubs with junior sections taking part.

There were many pleasing early season performances but particular mentions should go to Jessica Turner who easily won the U11 600m and 150m, Ben Conner who won the U13 high jump and 800m, and Shaun Rathbone who won the U15 100m and 200m.

The next Mini League match is at Moorways on Saturday 18th June and is open to all 9 - 15 year old members.

Mini League at Berry Hill

Details for this for this match have been changing almost daily but we can now confirm that it on Saturday 23rd April, at Berry Hill Park Stadium, Mansfield. First events start at 10.30am. All athletes who wish to take part need to complete a yellow entry slip (no charge) which are available from training. These must be returned to Julie Feeney by Thursday 21st.

Athletes should meet up with team managers on the day by 10am. Mini League is open to all members aged from 9 to U15's.

Further details can be found on www.dcaa.org.uk. Due to the Mini League there is no training at Charles Hill on Saturday 23rd. 

Cross Country Success for Young Athletes

The 4 races, held in warm spring sunshine, attracted 25 Amber Valley schools, totaling over 580 runners.

In the Year 5 and 6 girls race the Top 20 looked like an AVAC membership list! Top of the pile was Jessica Turner (Denby Free) who ran a determined race and lead from the start. Still only a Year 5 she is clearly a distance running talent. The Breadsall pairing of Tara Ward and Rosie Blount finished in 3rd and 4th respectively. Other AVAC athletes to finish in the Top 20 were Jocelyn Beevers 5th, Sasha Wisdish 7th, Melissa Grant 8th, Louise Hobbs 10th, Katie Vaughan 15th, and Lorna Glenn 19th.

The race organiser would like to thank Dave, Nigel, Judy, Jim, Paul, David, Michael, Jessica and Amber for course constructing, marshalling and scoring, and to Rob Love for being the course 'hare', and Tamara Armoush for doing the presentations.

Middle Distance Running Group – April 05 update.

Thursday evening training for middle distance runners will continue throughout the spring and summer but we will change to the much more pleasant surroundings of Shipley Park, Heanor as from 7th April (not that there is anything wrong with Belper).

Times will be as normal 7 – 8pm. Please meet in the main Visitor Centre car park.

Parents are welcome to run with us or you can take advantage of the parkland to walk the dog or take an evening stroll!

Click here to download the full details of the training changes.

There are two training plans that can be downloaded: Training plan 2 and Training plan 3.

Any questions? Please see Jim or Julie or email us here.

Tamara Armoush in Home Countries Schools International - Saturday 2nd April, Mold , North Wales.

Tamara had an excellent run over the hilly 3.4 km x-country international representing England against teams from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland finishing in 7th overall position (from a total field of 32 runners).

As the 5th England girl home, Tamara improved upon her excellent 7th in the English Schools championships a few weeks ago finishing only 3 seconds behind Kate Avery - the U13 girl national x-country champion. The England teams won across all age groups so Tamara comes away with a well deserved team gold medal.

Its great to see a local Amber Valley athlete running in England colours - see attached photo. (note that Tamara was one of the youngest in this year 8/9 event).

Young Athletes Road Relay Championships - Sutton Park, Birmingham Sunday 3rd April.

All races were 3 legs of 3.86km on the roads within the boundary of Sutton Park.

Our U13 Girls team were without Tamara but Alex Turner got the girls off to a good start to finish in 20th position. Leanne Cartledge and Jessica Riley (both bottom end U13) both had solid runs and the team finished 41st overall but it was good experience for the younger girls.

In the U13 boys event Ben Connor ran an excellent time of 13mins 48secs which was only 2 seconds off the top 10 fastest times of the day for his age group to finish the first leg in 7th place. This was followed by a superb run from Chris Dawe who improved to 3rd place to give us hope for a medal position.

Rory Dickenson on the anchor leg initially ran well and kept in a medal position for much of the course but a recurring groin injury hampered him in the later stages but he bravely continued on and finished in 10th position.

The U15 girls team finished 50th Overall (Olivia Pell, Leila Armoush and Katie Noonan).

In the U15 boys event Rob Love ran the first leg coming home in 36th position followed by Matt Selfe (finishing 44th). Nathan Ahlfors now looking like he is back to full fitness powered through the field to pull the team back to a creditable 26th overall position out of 71 teams.

Southampton, Northampton or Hexham? Mansfield, Bedford or Cudworth?

Click here to see the newly updated Fixture List - where will you be this summer?

Members Members Members!

Membership Renewals are due now. Membership forms are available from membership secretary Nigel at the desk at training.

 Make sure that you get yours and return it promptly. Those not renewed after May 1^st will be considered lapsed and will not be able to compete for the club, and training fees will revert to those of a non-member.

Download your 2005 membership form here.

Summer Training Times

The different age and ability groups will be as normal, working with your usual coach. All event groups / coaching will be outside as much as possible, weather permitting, so remember warm clothing! 

Latest Newsletter

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