Athletes had it all in the bag early

Most of those Ryston Runners in competitive action last week had it all in the bag before the weekend was half over.Wednesday’s racing took place at Ferry Meadows, where Bushfield Joggers played host to the second of the events in the Peterborough 5K Series. Gareth Hunt (SM) placed 27th in 19:27 and Gina Hurrell (F60) 247th in 24:48. Madison Hicks ran in the 3K, placing 26th/2nd FU13 with 12:13.On Friday ten of the club’s members were over in North Walsham for the EPIC 5K, where Aimee Shaw took the honours in the SF category with 19:08. Finishing just one second and one place ahead of Aimee, in 27th overall, Cody Pearman was first of the club over the finish line in 19:07, placing him 21st in the SM rankings, although he is still technically a Junior athlete.Justin Walker was 43rd overall but second M50, with 19:39, and James Ord, 38th with 19:22 contributed to a full set of category medals for the club as he was third placed M40, consolidated by Linda Marshall picking up third F55 in 149th with 23:42.George Petit was just off the M50 podium, finishing fourth in category and 87th overall with 21:36, a tad behind Chris Reid, 11th M40/ 80th/21:22. Claire Chamberlain placed 210th/28thSF in 26:33, Polly Chapman 241st/10thF40 in 27:31, and Julie Williamson, running the course with her 14 year old daughter, finished in 335th/22ndF40, with 32:31.The action was back in North Walsham on Sunday where Lucy McDowie finished second female but first in her F45 category in the Victory Tri, completing her swim/bike/run challenge in 57:21.The Eastern AA championships held at the Wilberforce Road track in Cambridge on Saturday also featured the Eastern Masters AC Championships. Chris Palmer came away with two gold medals in the M70 category, winning the 400m with 74.30 then the 200m with 31.81. Richard Van Baaren equalled that achievement with golds in the M60 Long Jump (4m42) and Triple Jump (8m 93).At the other end of the age and experience spectrum, nine Ryston Junior athletes were competing in the Athletics Norfolk Quad Kids fixture at Thetford, from which Riley Price came home with a medal round his neck after placing second in the Year 6/7 Boys category. His sister Courtney Price was 12th and Dione Britton 14th in the equivalent Girls’ competition. In the Year 4/5 Boys Isaac Western just missed out on a medal, placing fourth, Joshua Downey was seventh and Dillon Britton ninth in the same category, while Maya Marcinek (14th), Freya Reynods (15th), and Bonnie Norman (Foulkes) (16th) represented the club in the Girls’ competition for that age group.Also in Track ad Field news, after adjustments were made to results from the latest East Anglian League fixture at which technical issues rendered competition in discus and hammer unfeasible, it appeared that the Ryston Men’s team had placed third leading to the possibility of a place in the end of season final.What with this, the possibility of the Men’s team also qualifying for the EMAC final, and the Round Norfolk Relay, September is shaping up to be a challenging month all round for the club.