Top 10 finishes for TVH’s Young Athletes at the South of England Road Relays
Equalling the club best position in the Under 15 girl’s 3 x 3000m relay the TVH girls were a magnificent fifth out of 63 finishing teams. The first lap had Margaux Couffon having her initiation in relay racing having a great run to finish 15th.
In a high class Under 17 Women’s race the Valley team also had a great result when finishing seventh.
Charlotte Buckley then was unfortunate to have Portsmouth’s Josie Czura starting three seconds behind her. Josie went on to run the fastest lap and help Portsmouth to win the race. Charlotte kept up the chase and was awarded the second fastest time for her lap when bringing the team home third. Then Rose Barkle was unfortunate to be passed by Guildford and Blackheath and held on to bring the team home fifth. Charlotte’s time was the seventh fastest of the race.
In a high class Under 17 Women’s race the Valley team also had a great result when finishing seventh. Beating several teams who were in front of them them last year including Blackheath, Bedford and Herne Hill this was a magnificent achievement. Kosana Weir was seventh on the first lap and her time was 18th fastest of the race. Unfortunately Verity Walker went back to 11th on lap 2 before India Weir brought the team back to seventh with the 12th fastest time of the race. With the ‘B’ team also having a good day they were led off by Rosie Vallance who finished 30th with a slightly slower time than last year. Then Alice Harray had a great run to pick up seven places but was disappointed because the thought she faded at the end. All this after having a severe cold which, with Olivia Olsher, prevented them from racing the previous week. Olivia Olsher also picked up places to bring the team in 22nd out of 43 teams.
The Under 13 Girl’s also had two teams competing. Ava White was on the first lap and due to inexperience found herself hemmed in at the start. When she got going she was down in the 20’s and eventually worked herself up to 25th. Zakia Mossi is only11-years-old and found it tough against bigger girls but only dropped four places to finish 29th. Although small, Melina Duer made up two places to bring the team home 27th. The ‘B’ team also did well with Charlotte Cooney-Quinn doing the first lap before rushing off to Chelsea. She finished 51st out of 69 starters. Lily Vallance then had a good run to pick up nine places before Lily Salkeld ran one second faster to bring the team home 39th out of 59 complete teams.
On the downside, the boys only had one team running. Even the Under 15 Boys team started with an incomplete team but Oliver Weintraub arrived during the race and was able to run the last lap. Even then, they were at the back of the field and finished 44th out of 46. Nicholas Duer was promoted to run first instead of Oliver and finished 52nd out of 59 starters. Basil Rock held his position then Finlay Watson moved up to 47th before Oliver completed the team in 44th place. Our lone runner in the Under 17 men’s race was Jake Hooley who finished his lap in 35th place.
Results:
Under 13 Girls. ‘A’ Team 27th 37:45. A White 12:01; Z Mossi 12:58; M Duer 12:46.
‘B’ Team 39th 39:46. C Cooney-Quinn 13:03; L Vallance 13:22; L Salkeld 13:21.
Under 15 Girls Team 5th 34:29. M Couffon 11:38; C Buckley 10:50; R Barkle 12:01.
Under 15 Boys Team 44th 46:33. N Duer 11:25; B Rock 12:19; F Watson 11:43; O Weintraub 11:06.
Under 17 Womens ‘A’ Team 7th 33:14. K Weir 10:54; V Walker 11:35; I Weir 10:45.
‘B’ Team 22nd 35:45. R Vallance 12:07; A Harray 11:44; O Olsher 11:54.
Under 17 Men. J Hooley 35th 13:50.