Woking’s young athletes were back in action at the weekend in their 2^nd Wessex League match at Aldershot and there were many fine performances with over 20 personal bests across the age groups and events.

In the under 13 boys age group Desimi Akinyaniu continued his fine form this season with a comfortable win in both the 100 metres and 200 metres. There were double wins in both events with Cadyn Snijman winning the B race of the 100 metres and Lucas Pearman winning the B race of the 200 metres.  In the 1500 metres Jacob Bowyer had a superb run to record a new personal best time of 4 minutes 51.26 to finish 3^rd, just half a second behind the winner. Jacob also won the high jump with a leap of 1.40 metres. In the field events Nathan Capindale threw a new personal best in the discus with 21.28 metres with Cadyn again in action winning the B competition. 

In the girls under 13 girls events Evie Wiltshire was 2^nd just 1 100^th of a second behind the winner in a time of 13.69 seconds just shy of her personal best. In the B race Sara Louise Fordjour comfortably won the B race in a new best tie of 13.80 seconds. These two along with Mia Mosko and Eva Mongford then dominated the 4×100 metres winning by over 5 seconds. In the long jump mia and Evie filled the first two positions with Mia winning in a new personal best of 4.14 metres.

In the under 15 age group Liam Trinidad, in his first races for the club, was narrowly beaten into first place the 100 metres recording a time of 12.19 seconds. He was then involved in a very exciting finish in the 200 metres winning in 24.64 seconds just 3100^ths ahead of 2^nd place.  In the 800 metres Luca Lupi finished 2^nd in the 800 metres A race with Caden Rogers Everitt finishing 2^nd in the B race.  In the field Jack Harel finished 2^nd in a new personal best of 4.98 metres whilst also finishing 2^nd in the Shot Putt. Jack Dormer continued his fine form in the Javelin with another win with a throw of 36.94 metres.

In the Under 15 girls events Eleanor Buckle ran a new personal best in the 200 metres to finish in 3^rd place In the 800 metre Lola Roake ran a new personal best to finish a narrow 2^nd in a very impressive time just inside 2 minute 20 seconds with Sophie Price winning the B race in just under 2 minutes 30. Imogen Freeman was 2^nd in the 1500 metres and the 4×100 team of Eleanor Buckle, Alice Clark, Mia Reeves and Izzy Wright finished a narrow 2^nd just a tenth of a second behind the winners. In the field Alice Clark won the long with a leap of 4.63 metres.

In the Under 17 age group Nerys Tullett won the 80 metre hurdles in a hew personal best time of 13.13 seconds, knocking nearly a whole second off her previous best whilst in the under 17 men Drew Grayling comfortably won the 1500 metres in a new personal best time of 4 minutes 31.18 seconds.

The previous day Woking had a number of athletes in action for Surrey Schools at an Inter Counties match in Kingston. The highlight of the performances came from Laura Kersley in the Under 17 women’s long jump with a new personal best 5.20 metres, adding 11cm to her previous best from previous week at the Surrey Schools Championships. Other athletes selected were Lola Roake, Jack Dormer, Jack Hurel, Matthew Smith, Alice Clark, Emelia Wazydrag and Zavi Zinman.

A team of 7 Men and 1 Woman from Woking AC were in action in Dorking last Sunday (12th June) competing in the Surrey County Road Running Championships. On a hot day and on a tough hilly course Woking’s athletes were up against the best club runners Surrey have to offer on this difficult10 mile course.

The competition was fierce but Woking’s runners finished strong with the men’s team finishing just outside the medals in 4th place in the County Championship Race with the Scoring Team of Ben Goddard 6th, David Brighton 15th, James Gamble 32nd and also finishing 4th in the Surrey Road League with King Diggins 35th adding to the overall team finishing position.

Ben Goddard, ran an impressive time of 55:52, finished in 6th overall in the league results and David Brighton finished in 58:05 taking in a 3rd place in the men’s 40-49 age category for the Surrey Championships, a fantastic achievement:

Woking’s young athletes were back in action over the weekend at the Surrey Schools Championships in Stratford whilst another, Tyler Panton, was in action at a high standard open meeting in Stratford. In addition to these meetings the Senior Men and Women were also in action in their 2^nd Southern Athletics League in Harrow. There were many fine performances with 10 medals won at the Surrey Schools Championships and Tyler achieving a new personal best in the 100 metres.

Currently ranked 4^th in the UK for Under 20 men in the 100 metres Tyler moved up to 3^rd in the UK with a new personal best time of 10.54 seconds. He had earlier ran a quicker time of 10.49 seconds but the wind was slightly over the limit at 2.2 metres per second, the legal limit being 2.0. Both were fine runs and he is now running consistently fast times which has led to Tyler being selected for the Great Britain Junior team for the Bauhaus Junior Gala held in Manheim Germany where top junior athletes from across Europe will be competing. This is a terrific achievement and hopefully there will be many National call ups in the future.

Another athlete competing on the international stage, James Hanson, reduced his own club record time in the 200 metres to 20.80 seconds at a meeting in Espoo Finland to maintain his UK ranking of 12.

At the Surrey Schools Championships there were three gold medal winners with Emelia Wazydrag winning the Junior (Under 15) girls Hammer adding over two metres to her old personal best launching it to 23.28 metres. The other throwers on show were also on fine form. Matthew Smith produced arguably the best performance from a Woking athlete in the Inter (Under 17) Boys Discus to win the silver medal with a new personal best throw of 40.22 metres moving him up to 12^th in the UK and just 3 centimetres shy of a National Grade 1 performance. There was another silver medallist in the Junior Boys Shot Putt with Jack Harel adding nearly 1 and half metres to his previous best putting a very impressive 11.49 metres. The fourth thrower picking up a medal was Jack Dormer in the Junior Boys Javelin throwing 35.59 metres which was also good enough for silver.

The 2 other gold medallists came in the 800 metres. In his first track races of the season Zavier Zinman eased through the heats of the Junior Boys 800 metres before going on to win the final in time just outside of 2 minutes 10 seconds winning by just under second in a exciting race. The other gold medal winner was Theo Cheshire in the Senior (Under 20) Boys 800 metres winning in a season’s best time of 2 minutes 01 seconds.  There was also bronze medal for Lola Roake in the Junior Girls 1500 metres who ran a very impressive time of 4 minutes 54.2 seconds, a national grade 2 performance. Elsewhere in the middles events Oscar Sinnett finished fifth in the Junior Boys 1500 metres in a new personal best time of 4 minutes 44.4 seconds.

In the long jump there were 2 further medal winners. In the Inter Girls competition Laura Kersley added 29cm to her previous best ever jump in the 6^th and final round to win the silver medal with a great leap of 5.09 metres. In the senior Girls event Fara Jasani was just 3 cm shy of her personal best in winning the sliver medal with a leap of 4.95 metres.

The final medal was won by club’s newest member with Nerys Tullett winning the sliver medal in a personal best time of 48.54 seconds.

In the Southern Athletics League Woking’s Senior team finished 2^nd overall with a fine overall team performance with Fara Jasani and Laura Kersley in action again with Fara jumping 4.99 metres and Laura 4.95 metres. Thomas Leacock returning from injury finished 2^nd in the 100 metres. All rounders Kaspars Kasemaks, Roy Chambers and Rory Kelly had busy afternoon and contributed greatly to the overall team score. Chloe Sharp completed a fine double win in the 800 metres and 1500 metres steeple-chase and under 20 Martin Sunderland got a new personal best in the 1500 metres with 4 minutes 07.73 whilst Florence Baulk got a season’s best in the javelin with 37.12 metres.

Woking’s youngsters are next in action at the Wessex League on Sunday 19^th June in Aldershot where the under 11’s right up to the under 17’s will be in action.