Chilling before the sprints! Back row from left: Fran Beale, Michal Musie, Tianna Cummings-Waldron, Bella Shields, Mia de Vivenot. Front row: Lucila Dussaillant, Sophie Buzzigoli, Isabela Dussaillant.
A good time was had by all at the first MYAL meeting of the season, reports Annick Hooge. The young athletes arrived very excited, and everyone performed well despite the hot conditions. Team Manager Denise had it all organised with clipboard, numbers, pins, timetable and also plenty of advice. Tim, Steve, James and Urvisha made an excellent job of putting the ESM tent up so everyone could get some shelter from the sun before and between their events!
Denise made sure that the new coaches and all the athletes were aware of the timings and also the importance of registration before their allocated events. We had a very good representation across all ages and quite a few young athletes had a go in non-scoring events.
It was a pleasure to witness the enthusiasm of the young athletes. We had a lot of emotion at the end of races: some tears of joy when performance was better than expected, and also some tears when expectations were not realised, but overall the results were satisfying and ESM came fourth!!
U11 Tianna Cummings-Waldron in the 75m (photo by Charlotte Kennedy)
The U11 girls were a new team with the exception of Isabela and Lucila Dussaillant who competed last year. Tianna Cummings-Waldron and Bella Shields kicked off the match with solid performances in the 75m. In the non-scoring it was a close finish between Isabela Dussaillant, Michal Musie and Lucila Dussaillant.
U11s Michal, Isabela & Lucila in the non-scoring 75m
U11 Finlay Vadon in the 800m (photo by Charlotte Kennedy)
All of our endurance runners performed well in the hot and sunny conditions, adds James de Vivenot. It was rewarding to see U13 Tyler Offiah, who has been doing some training with Bridie’s endurance group, stepping up from his normal shorter sprint events to acquit himself very well in the 800m. Also, new ESM member Eddie Cooper was very impressive in winning the U13 boys’ B string 800m in a time of 2:32.85 – faster than all the A string runners!
Finlay Vadon has carried his strong cross country form into the track season with a confident run in the U11 boys’ 800m. It was great to see the enthusiasm of Hussain Zaaiter, Thomas Bass and Thomas Musie in the U15 boys’ non-scoring 800m.
U15s Hussein Zaaiter, Thomas Musie & Thomas Bass in the 800m (photo by Charlotte Kennedy)
For the U13 girls, Mia de Vivenot and Catherine Gallagher were racing 1500m on the track for the first time, as was U15 Anna Dussaillant, and all performed very well, with Mia finishing strongly amongst the Cookham girls.
U13s Anika McDowell, Catherine Gallagher, Katharine Boissiere & Mia de Vivenot
Mia also jumped well in the A string high jump, continues Denise English, coming second. Katharine Boissiere had strong performances in her events, coming second in the A string 70mH and B string high jump. New member Anika McDowell scored valuable points in the 100m.
The U15 girl contingent of Shenali Kuranage, Josie Booker, Lauren Beale, Anna Dussaillant and Chimera Matthews gave solid performances on the day, contributing to the tally of points. Congratulations to Lauren on her PB of 6:13.97 in the U15 girls 1500m and well done too to her sister Fran, and to Sophie Buzzigoli both of whom ran very well in the U11 girls’ 800m.
U11 Phoenix Offiah in the long jump (photo by Charlotte Kennedy)
The boys notched up good scores across the board, notes Denise English. For the U11s, new member Phoenix Offiah had a busy day: he took a convincing win in the B string 75m, won the B string vortex and (along with Shenal Kuranage) supported the U13 relay team. Shenal won the long jump, while non-scorer Finlay Vadon also produced a good jump and went on to win the A string vortex. Dario Botillo gained valuable points for the team in the long jump.
For the U13s, all the winter training had certainly paid off for Theo Jarrett, who won the B string 100m in a time that was faster than all the A string runners – though he did have the advantage of a tailwind! Theo also won the shot putt by a margin of over 1.5m – a great result considering this was the first time he tried shot putt. The U13 boys were short of two members for the sprint relay, but this was soon sorted, with Phoenix Offiah and Shenal Kuranage stepping up an age group to run with Tyler Offiah and Theo Jarrett and help them take a clear victory. It was a pleasure to see brothers Tyler and Phoenix running in the same team. Eden Lyons supported the team well, competing in both the shot putt and discus.
In the U15 boys 200m, Tristan Collins-Marsh finished second in the A race while Yiannis Katsos won the B. Both boys ran almost identical times, though Tristan benefitted from a tailwind in his race. Tristan was also second in the 100m. [He got the same time as the winner, adds Fiona Kennedy, and the finish photo shows how small the winning margin was!]
U15 Tristan Collins-Marsh – bottom left – just misses out on victory in the 100m
The team of Tristan, Zack Clarke-Green, Yiannis and Zachary Thomas also took victory in the 4x100m.
U15 Seweryn Czapka in the 800m (photo by Charlotte Kennedy)
Seweryn Czapka and Vitaly Bender cleaned up in the 800m. Seweryn was off to a fantastic start, opening up a big lead on the rest of the field and maintaining this to the finish. The pair also won the A and B shot putt respectively. Elsewhere in the field, Yiannis won the A string long jump while Zack Clarke-Green won the B.
U15 Vitaly Bender in the 800m (photo by Charlotte Kennedy)
Many thanks to Charlotte Kennedy for all the professional photographs. The full album can be viewed by clicking here. To download, please use the code MYDL.
Thanks also to Denise, James, Annick, Urvisha, Tim and Steve for all their hard work, adds Fiona Kennedy. The ESM turnout, at 36 athletes, was a little down on last year’s opener which saw 45 – but then last year kicked off with a home match! We have that advantage at the next event, which is at Perivale on Saturday 26th May, so let’s see a good turnout of athletes with plenty of support.
Annick, Tim, Urvisha & Steve enjoy a well-deserved cuppa!
Match scores:
1 Highgate 1068; 2 Shaftesbury 868 ; 3 Heathside 771; 4 ESM 704; 5 Cookham 668 ; 6 Barnet 606; 7 Trent Park 290 ; 8 Enfield & Haringey 229 ; 9 Serpentine 198; 10 Queens Park DNS
ESM results summary:
U11B: 75m: A: 4 Shenal Kuranage 11.66; B: 1 Phoenix Offiah 11.48; NS: 6 Dario Botillo 12.66; 800m: 4 Finlay Vadon 2:43.90; 4x100m: 2 ESM 63.96; VT: A: 1 Finlay Vadon 32.41; B: 1 Phoenix Offiah 25.62; NS: Dario Botillo 23.45; LJ: A: 1 Shenal Kuranage 3.68; B: 3 Dario Botillo 3.13; NS: 1 Finlay Vadon 3.41; 4 Phoenix Offiah 2.77
U13B: 100m: A: 3 Tyler Offiah 14.45; B: 1 Theo Jarrett 13.49; NS: 2 Tom Dobbin 14.88; 800m: A: 4 Tyler Offiah 2:41.00; B: 1 Edward Cooper 2:32.85; NS: 5 Tom Dobbin 2:50.85; 4x100m: 1 ESM 58.39; DT: 5 Eden Lyons 9.11; SP: A: 1 Theo Jarrett 6.63; B: 2 Eden Lyons 3.34
U15B: 100m: A: 2 Tristan Collins-Marsh 12.14; B: 4 Zack Clarke-Green 13.39; NS: 4 Zachary Thomas 14.63; 200m: A: 2 Tristan Collins-Marsh 24.88; B: 1 Yiannis Katsos 24.87; NS: 2 Hussein Zaaiter 35.81; 800m: A: 1 Seweryn Czapka 2:17.96; B: 1 Vitaly Bender 2:21.27; NS: 4 Hussein Zaaiter 2:52.36; 5 Thomas Bass 2:57.75; 6 Thomas Musie 3:00.44; 4x100m: 1 ESM 51.84; JT: B: 3 Thomas Musie 5.22; LJ: A: 1 Yiannis Katsos 5.51; B: 1 Zack Clarke-Green 4.81; NS: 2 Hussein Zaaiter 3.22; SP: A: 1 Seweryn Czapka 8.07; B: 1 Vitaly Bender 4.68
U11G: 75m: A: 4 Bella Shields 13.01; B: 4 Tianna Cummings-Waldron 12.88; NS: 3 Isabela Dussaillant 14.82; 4 Michal Musie 15.32; 5 Lucila Dussaillant 15.36; 800m: A: 7 Fran Beale 3:26.29; B: 5 Sophie Buzzigoli 3:32.61; 4x100m: 2 ESM 74.17; VT: A: 4 Sophie Buzzigoli 15.71; B: 4 Fran Beale 12.05; NS: Michal Musie 8.82; LJ: A: 7 Isabela Dussaillant 2.32; B: 6 Lucila Dussaillant 1.77
U13G: 100m: A: 5 Katharine Boissiere 14.90; B: 4 Anika McDowell 15.51; 1500m: A: 2 Mia de Vivenot 5:42.62; B: 5 Catherine Gallagher 6:44.88; 4x100m: 6 ESM 63.85; 70mH: 2 Katharine Boissiere 14.18; HJ: A: 2 Mia de Vivenot 1.20; B: 2 Katharine Boissiere 1.15; SP: 5 Anika McDowell 4.47
U15G: 100m: A: 5 Chimera Matthews 13.62; B: 5 Shenali Kuranage 14.92; 200m: A: 7 Chimera Matthews 28.70; B: 5 Josie Booker 30.83; 1500m: A: 4 Lauren Beale 6:13.97; B: 3 Anna Dussaillant 6:35.38; 4x100m: 7 ESM 62.53; JT: 6 Anna Dussaillant 5.12; LJ: A: 6 Josie Booker 3.87; B: 4 Shenali Kuranage 3.76; NS: 2 Anna Dussaillant 2.90; SP: A: 4 Josie Booker 5.93; B: 3 Lauren Beale 5.04
Full results on power of 10