38 Walton athletes covering over 50 events enjoyed bright sunshine and high temperatures on both days and Walton AC enjoyed the most successful county championships in many years. 12 County Champions were crowned, and 5 Club records were broken, with a total of 24 Medals being won by members of Walton AC.
In the Senior events Sam Mace won Gold in the Hammer with a throw of 52.10m, whilst older sister Sophie Mace (2C), was a double Surrey medallist by striking Gold in the Discus and won a Silver medal in the Hammer in a new PB. Nicki Bell retained her Senior Surrey title winning the Gold medal in the Javelin with a throw of 41.42m. Masters’ athlete Susie McLoughlin (W45) won Bronze in the 400m in the senior ladies event in a UK W45 leading time, 30 years after winning her first Surrey Championships. Brook Cronin set a windy Senior Club record (21.17w) in the heats of the Mens 200m before backing this up with a new Club Record of 21.32secs to win a Bronze in a highly competitive 200m final. Aaron Marlow (2C) won Silver in the Javelin in a PB of 49.50m and Bronze in the Discus. Meanwhile in the Berkshire Championships, Sarah Loades (W50) won Gold in the senior ladies 200m and set a UK W50 leading time to win the Silver in the 400m, both in WAC W50 Club records.
In the U20 age group, Ash Wright won the Gold medal in the High Jump in a PB of 1.85m, whilst Tori-Ann Anderson also won Gold in the U20 female event setting a new U20 Club record of 1.65m. Matthew McKenna won the Silver in a highly competitive 800m, closing with a 55secs last lap in a fast time of 1:53.34. George Pittwood struck Gold in the 400m, setting a new PB in the heats before improving it further in the final, to win in 49.18secs. Malo Sandow defended his 400H title to win another Gold medal and Archie Vinnicombe was a double Surrey medallist, winning the hammer with a throw of 31.95m and followed up with a Silver medal in the Shot Put.
In the U17 category, Lucas de La Touche won Gold in the Javelin in a PB with the 700g implement, after a first round throw of 49.84m. This was also a new Club Record which broke the previous which had stood since 1982.
In the U15 events, Seren Pinnington Jones proved how versatile she was competing successfully in 5 events. After finishing 8th in the Long Jump, she ran a PB in the 100H, made the semi-finals of the 100m and the won the Bronze medal in the High Jump, clearing 1.44m. The final event of the weekend was the U15 girls Triple Jump and in the final round she jumped 9.73m to win the Gold medal in a new Championship Best Performance (CBP) and close the Championships. Matthew Wellinger won a superb Bronze with a PB in the 800m, and Eashan Patel ran a PB in the heats of the 300m before improving it again, running an English Schools entry standard, to win a Silver medal in the final.
The youngest WAC athletes to compete were in the U13 age group and were Aisha Farah, Sam Sloman and Leo Fry. Sam navigated 3 rounds of the 100m to finish a superb 5th in the final, whilst Aisha mirrored this with a 5th place in the High Jump. Leo had a great weekend winning a Silver medal in the High Jump, clearing the same height as the winner before winning his heat and the Gold medal in the final of the 800m in an excellent PB of 2:16.22.
It a superb championship weekend from a Walton perspective with many PBs being achieved as well as an abundance of medals won. Congratulations to all who took part.
