Welcome our new Chair Andrea Broughton
Andrea Broughton elected Chair of Thames Valley Harriers
At the Club’s Annual General Meeting last Monday, 28th January, Robert Datnow stepped down from the role of Chair after more than three years in post, and handed the baton to Andrea Broughton, who was unanimously elected. Andrea has been a member of Thames Valley Harriers since 2005, running 10k, half marathon and marathon distances. She has in the past been involved in organising the TVH road race series of 10k and half marathon distances. She is also a keen parkrunner, running at Wormwood Scrubs parkrun and also volunteering regularly as run director and in other roles.
Professionally, Andrea is a director at the international research consultancy Ecorys, focusing on leading and managing research studies and evaluations for the European Commission in the area of employment and labour market policy. Her LinkedIn profile is here. Andrea also has significant organisational management experience through her involvement with a range of amateur orchestras in London, both as a violinist and a concert organiser.
Awards
Tom Major Trophy
The TOM MAJOR TROPHY for the best performance of the year by a TVH athlete was won by Molly Caudery. Molly won the pole vault competition for TVH at the European Clubs Championships in tricky conditions in Birmingham in May 2018 and set a UK Junior pole vault record of 4.53m a few weeks later. Since then, she has suffered some injury setbacks but was back to her best in 2022. Molly set a new PB of 4.60m in May, won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, competed well at the European Championships and finished the season ranked equal 1st in the UK.
Roy Clarridge Trophy
The ROY CLARRIDGE TROPHY for our youngest athletes was won by Luis da Silva and Marni Keam-George who both compete in the Under 11 age group.
Luis has been competing for TVH since his 9th birthday in Sept 2021 and in the summer of 2022 regularly won races over 75m, 600m and 800m in the Middlesex Young Athletes League. Luis started the winter season winning the U11 race at the Middlesex young athletes road races in September and followed that with wins in cross country league races. He also won a very fast road race over 800m in Amsterdam while his mum Lisa was running the marathon.
Marni started running for TVH in 2022 and has had several 2nd place finishes in cross country league races and at the Middlesex young athletes road races and also ran well over 600m in the Middlesex Young Athletes League. Marni had her best race so far for TVH on 21st January at the Middlesex County Centenary Cross Country Championships winning the U11 Girls race on a tough course at Parliament Hill.
Mel Edwards Trophy
The MEL EDWARDS TROPHY for the U15 age group was won by Adela Svihalkova for her fantastic 2021/22 cross country season, balancing her time between competing for the Czech Republic in the biathlon and TVH in athletics. Adela won the Southern Inter-Counties race, the London Youth Games at Parliament Hill, cross country league races, finished 10th in the English National cross country soon after returning from biathlon races and finished 5th for Middlesex in the UK Inter Counties cross country at Loughborough. Adela also had a great start to the U17 age group in the 2022 summer track season, running 2:09.34 for 800m in her National Athletics League debut.
Norris Segal Trophy
The NORRIS SEGAL TROPHY for the best U17 age group performances was won by Max Bishop and Kyrah McGuire.
Max followed up an impressive 2021 season with an early season 800m PB of 1:55.46 in 2022 and now holds the 800m club record in the U13, U15 and U17 age groups as well as the 1500m in the U13 and U15 age groups.
In her first full season competing for TVH, Kyrah had a very impressive year improving her 200m PB by over 2 secs to 25.17 and her 100m PB by almost 1 second to 12.45.
Bob Chard Trophy
The BOB CHARD TROPHY for a young middle distance athlete showing good improvement and competing well was won by Maya Sutaria.
Maya joined TVH nearly 5 years ago and has always competed well for the club in track, cross country and road races and in the last three years has shown great ability over a wide range of distances from 300m on the track to 6km cross country races as well as peaking and running her fastest times at the biggest events. In her first season in the U17 age group Maya improved her 800m PB by 6 secs for the third year in a row.
In September 2022 TVH and the Czech Centre organised the first Emil Zatopek Run raising funds to set up the ZATOKEK FELLOWSHIP FUND to support TVH young athletes. The first winner of a Zatopek Fellowship award was announced at the AGM; Kimi Camargo Scholz a very promising middle distance athlete, with further Zatopek Fellowship award winners to be announced over the next few weeks.
Denley Olympic Trophy
The DENLEY OLYMPIC TROPHY for the best U20 age group performances was won by Reece Earle and Joel Houslin.
Sprinters Reece and Joel both contributed enormously in 2022 to our success in winning the National Athletics League and Southern Athletics League. Reece improved his 100m PB to 10.65 and 200m PB to 22.11 and Joel ran consistently under 22 secs for 200m. The awards for their best performances are for Reece winning the 100m and Joel the 200m in the Senior Boys age group at the English Schools Championships.
Ken Norris Sao Paulo Trophy
The KEN NORRIS SAO PAULO TROPHY for the most meritorious performance in a road race of 10 miles or more was won by Heather Seaward.
Heather has competed well for TVH for many years in track events, cross country and road relays and made her marathon debut in Manchester in April 2022, running an impressive 2:35:42.
Robert Datnow Masters Trophy
The ROBERT DATNOW MASTERS TROPHY for the best performances in Masters age groups (aged 35+) was won by Laurensa Britane and Nicholas Atwell.
Nicholas was one of the most successful Masters age group athletes in the country in 2022. He won the 60m, 200m and 400m titles at the British Masters Indoor Championships and the 100m, 200m and 400m titles at the British Masters (outdoor) Track & Field Championships. Nicholas also competed well for TVH in the National Athletics League and Southern Athletics League.
Laurensa has competed well for TVH for many years in the javelin as her main event as well as the discus and shot and has been carefully working her way back from injury but always competes for TVH in the throws when able to. She won silver in the javelin and bronze in the discus at the World Masters Championships in Finland in July.
Laurensa also won the MAZ RALPH TROPHY for the female athlete contributing the most points to the success of the National Athletics Team and Southern Athletics Team.
Simon Maddison Trophy
The SIMON MADDISON TROPHY for the best performance by a Masters athlete aged 50+ was won by our outgoing Chairman Robert Datnow.
In his first season in the M50 age group and with his many other commitments, Robert was still able to perform very well for TVH on the track and road, running a season’s best for 800m of 2:09.90 at the World Masters in Finland, a best for 1500m of 4:48.48 at a TVH open meeting, 17:44 on the road at the British Masters 5km Championships and a half marathon in 83:21.
David Segal 400m Sprint Awards
The DAVID SEGAL 400m SPRINT AWARDS for the fastest 400m times of the year by senior and junior (U20) athletes were won by
Women : Senior – Zoey Clark Junior – Maddie Casey
Men: Senior – Ricardo dos Santos Junior – Ollie Telfer
Special mention to Maddie for her big improvement over 400m in 2022 at the Middlesex County Championships after competing in the 800m earlier in the day.
Michael Parker Heroic Hurdler Award
The MICHAEL PARKER HEROIC HURDLER AWARD was won by Jessica Tappin.
Jess improved her 400m Hurdles PB in 2022 by more than 1 second to 55.89 and ran 13.95 for 100m Hurdles at the National Athletics League final at Bedford in August also running the 400m Hurdles on the same day and competed throughout the season for TVH in hurdles and sprints events. Jess is already very close to her 60m Hurdles best this indoor season running 8.68 on 21st January.
Volunteer of the Year
The VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR was won by Tash Mundell.
Tash has officiated for TVH as a track judge for the past couple of seasons, gaining experience and qualifying very quickly to the level where she was able to be Track Referee at the age of 21. She is also keeping the TVH tradition going of both officiating and competing on the track on the same day at Southern Athletics League fixtures. Tash is immensely popular on the judges stand and a great example as we need to find younger volunteers to replace our older officials.
Coach of the Year
The COACH OF THE YEAR was won by Lumar Sylvester
Lumar has shown enormous dedication in coaching young athletes for Track Academy at Willesden on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then travelling to Linford Christie Stadium to coach a large older sprints group. Lumar also coaches sessions at both venues at weekends, with many of the athletes thriving and performing well for TVH. He was one of our best sprinters a few years ago and is passing on his expertise and is back competing now with some good 60m performances already in 2023.