Happy High Peak youngsters retain athletics trophy again

Happy High Peak Athletics Club retained the small club trophy for the fifth year in succession after the final meeting of the season in the Derbyshire Track And Field Mini League for youngsters aged nine to 14.
The successful High Peak AC youngsters with their trophy.The successful High Peak AC youngsters with their trophy.
The successful High Peak AC youngsters with their trophy.

Terrific credit must go to the team of Nancy Pilkington, Margot Grice, Tom Boam, Dylan Taylor and Ella Brookes, who resisted the attention of carnival day back home in Buxton to produce some gritty performances at Derby’s Moorways Stadium and grind out as many points as possible.

The parents should be praised too for getting the youngsters there, especially Amanda Boam, mother of Tom, who had to rush back to perform in the brass band at the carnival procession!

Fittingly, Boam completed a fantastic season in which he has competed in all four of the league’s meetings, showing tremendous versatility.

After winning the shot put in the first round and the high jump competition last time, he came fourth in the 100m this time, clocking a time of 14.86 seconds.

Several High Peak athletes competed in three of the fixtures, and produced some notable performances.

U11 Pilkington won a high jump contest and also set a personal-best (PB) time in a 600m race, while U13 Taylor finished second in a shot put event.

Also for the U13s, Isabelle Woolley landed a shot put/100m double, and Brookes achieved a PB in a 200m sprint.

For the U11 girls, Olivia Barker and Maisie Paul tackled many sprint and field events together, and both showed their skill in the howler javelin, consistemtly improving their distances.

Grice also ran well in the 150m and 600m races, and achieved a fantastic throw in the howler javelin.

Thanks must also go to the many other athletes who competed for the club over the course of the season, including U13 girls Alana Ryan, Ruby Howe, Hannah Duncan, Imogen Wilson and Veronica Zhang, plus U9 boys Lucas Zhang, Jack Taylor and Max Paul, U13 Jed Burton and the U15 duo of Annabelle Fletcher and Bella Anderson.

The overall league champions were Amber Valley and Erewash AC, but High Peak were joint top of the small clubs league, alongside Heanor Running Club.