Four of the Best for Team Derbyshire

Young athletes from Derbyshire clubs pulled off a stunning result at the annual Aviva-sponsored Sportshall Athletics East M idlands Regional Final in Grantham at the weekend. All four Derbyshire teams - U13 girls, U13 boys, U15 girls and U15 boys, won against county teams from Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. This comes as a repeat performance of last years result when Derbyshire acheived the first ever clean sweep of victories.


Their winning performances exceded all expectations again and all four teams now go through to the National Finals at the NEC in April where they will compete against the best young athletes in the country.

All athletes, aged 11 to 15 years were selected for the Derbyshire team from their performances at the county Mini League competitions that have been on-going over the winter months. The 36-strong Derbyshire squad was made up from athletes from Amber Valley AC, Derby AC, Chesterfield DAC, 2DASH and Blackwell & District Young Striders.


In the U15 'all-rounder' individual titles Derbyshire dominated the medal positions. In the U15 boys Amber Valley's Tom Bridge took gold, with Derby's Jay Raradza in silver medal position and Amber Valley's Dominic Hare taking bronze. In the girls event Derby's Kelse Hutchinson took gold, with Amber Valley's Jessica Turner taking bronze.


The U13 girls team won in convincing style by over 140 points from nearest rivals Nottinghamshire. Amber Valley's Molly Mee won the gruelling 6 Lap decisively with team-mate Megan Bruce winning speed bounce.Derby's Katherine Molyneux took two individual golds in 4 Lap and standing long jump and Mae Emery gold in high jump. Hutchinson sisters Kamara and Keisi took gold in shot putt and vertical high jump respectively, this being Keisi's first regional sportshall (and still technically an U11). Georgina Trace (AVAC) threw an indoor personal best to take silver in shot putt and there were bronzes for Imogen Cresswell (AVAC) in standing triple jump, Eleanor Rawson (2DASH) in standing long jump, and Alicia Barrett (DAC) in vertical high jump. Molly and Katherine combined well to win the 8 Lap paarlauf and the young 4 x 1Lap quartet of Eleanor, Keisi, Megan and Corey Wilson won a very close and exciting race.


Despite some last minute team changes the U13 boys had individual success with almost every boy acheiving a top 3 finish or being part of a winning relay team. Amber Valley's Jethro McGraw won the 6 Lap time trial and came 3rd in speed bounce, Rory McColgan won the triple jump and Jack Allen was a surprise package in the 2 Lap sprint winning with ease and taking a further medal in the shot putt for third place. Ben Michell was surely one of the youngest athletes in the competition (still an U11), yet he beat athletes up to two years older than himself in the high jump with a personal best of 1.38m. Derby's Jordan Thompson won standing long jump and there were silver medals for sportshall newcomer Anthony Colder (DAC) in vertical hgih jump, Chesterfield's Theo Stuart in standing long jump and Blackwell's sole representative Tom Lodge in speed bounce.

The Derbyshire U15 girls team were hard pushed by a strong Leicestershire team but emerged team winners by 26 points. Kelse Hutchinson deservedly took the all-rounder title with a win in the shot putt with an 11+m throw, finished equal 1st in 2 Lap and was 2nd in vertical high jump. Jessica Turner was the only other U15 girls gold medallist in speed bounce, and took silver in the 4 Lap. There were silver medals for Chesterfield's Sarah Sanders and Kat Scott in standing long jump and speed bounce respectively, and Kelly-Jay Payling (AVAC) took bronze in shot putt. Jessica teamed up with clubmate Emily Heappey to take gold in the 8 Lap paarlauf.


Tom Bridge took the all rounder title in emphatic style. He took gold with a personal indoor best in the shot and took bronze in standing long jump. Jay Raradza won the 2 Lap sprint and Dominic Hare had to share a gold in the 4 lap timetrial. Dominic and Jay combined their speed and endurance abilities to record an emphatic win in the 8 Lap paarlauf. Chesterfield's Rory Chambers took home two silvers for 2 Lap and standing triple jump. Perhaps the most exciting race of the day for the amassed Derbsyhire supporters and team came during the last event of the day - the U15 boys 4 x 2 Lap relay. AVAC's Jack Newton was in contention with the leaders on the first leg until he almost pulled up with a pulled hamstring. He valiently carried on to hand over to Chesterfields Will Stockton who clawed back a place or two but a win at this stage looked impossible. On third leg Tom Bridge powered his way through gaining a further place to hand over to Rory Chambers who had the race of his life to claim a memorable victory by the width of a vest over his Lincolnshire rival. An exciting relay to cap an historic day.

Thank you to team managers Alistair Cook, Julie Feeney, Judy Payling and Nigel Smith, and to officials Rob Bruce, Trevor Jolly and Tony Trace.
Full results can be found on www.sportshall.org


Further details of the Aviva National Sportshall Finals on 18th April at the LG Arena, NEC will be given to each team member and put on this website when details are known. The county association hopes to provide transport for athletes, team managers, officials and parents.