YDL Lower age group May 31st Aberdare

We travelled to Aberdare on Sunday, 31st May for the second round of the YDL (lower age group). The team competed brilliantly throughout and finished 2nd which keeps us 2nd overall in the league. We still have an outside chance of winning the league, but quite a few things need to go our way at the last meeting.

We were only 27.5 points behind 1st placed Cheltenham and frustratingly the pole vault bed wasn’t fit to use so the vault was cancelled a couple of days before. This is an event we are strong in where we outscored Cheltenham by 38 points at the first meeting.

The first events started at 10:15am in chilly weather with a cross wind blowing on the track. As we were leaving after the relays at 5:30pm with the sun shining, the U16 girls discus with Eloise and Ruby gaining us valuable points was still going on.

In the photo is Monty, Callum, Ben, and Sam who competed in the last track event of the day in the 4 x 300m. An amazing race to watch where all ran fantastic legs and won the race in 2m 39s which is over 5s quicker than the club record.

We had 45 athletes representing the club and for the second time in succession we filled every event. As always this included a lot of athletes in their non-preference events. It’s not possible to mention everyone but what we’d like to do is mention the last-minute athletes. These are the athletes who the shortly before or on the day are asked to suddenly fill an event for many different reasons. We have an amazing group who regularly do this to help the team out and maximise our points score.

In the U16 boys we had Sam step into the shot put on the day due to the clash with the hammer caused by it running late, he finished 3rd in the B. Zack S was emailed a day before and filled the hammer B where he threw 20m and finished 4th.

In the U16 girls, Eloise turned up for her events and had to suddenly change to the hurdles. This was due to the high jump starting late which meant Ruby couldn’t do the hurdles. Eloise was nervous and had a brief run over a hurdle before competing in the A race and finished 6th for some very valuable points. In the 800m B Georgie stepped in to finish 6th and in the 1500m B Darcy stepped in to finish 5th. Due to Eloise covering the hurdles Ruby swapped to the shot put B and finished 5th. We asked Fay a couple of days in advance to fill the hammer B, this was an event she’d never done. During her sprint session with Justin on the Wednesday, Matt did a half hour session with her where she learnt a standing throw. On the day the hammer ran late which caused a clash with the 200m, Fay ran the 200m, won it with a brilliant PB of 26.65s, then put her trainers on and ran over to the hammer to have her throw. Unfortunately, it didn’t go to plan, but it was an amazing effort to help the team out.

In the U14 boys, Archie unfortunately injured his ankle on Saturday afternoon, couldn’t walk and had to go to A&E (happily it isn’t major and he will recover soon). After some emails and texts to find a replacement for the high jump and hurdles, Toby and Henry stepped up. Toby filled the high jump B and cleared an amazing 1.45m to finish 2nd. Henry was very nervous for the hurdles B, ran his race, finished 3rd and came walking back up with a big smile on his face.

This shows the spirit for individuals to chop and change last minute to support the team to compete for the top spot. It speaks volumes and we couldn’t ask for more of them. So many brilliant season bests, personal bests and just all-round fun (and stress!).

Thank you as ever to the club officials – Dave, Debbie, Aaron, and Simon, and all the parents who help out on the day. Thanks to all who were there for the great support and for driving the athletes on longer journeys to competitions.
The last round in the league for the YDL lower is on Saturday, 18th July, in Cardiff, we will certainly be there still trying our best to get that spot in the national final.

Justin & Matt