Ryston athletes show their strength in Southern Athletics League

A lull in the local athletics calendar meant there was no reported competitive activity from members of Ryston Runners AC last week, but there was time for consolidation of some recent results.

The Southern Athletics League finally released this season’s tables which showed Ryston finishing in 11th place in Division Two NE.

When one considers that most of the other clubs in this group are large, mainly London-based enterprises, this is no mean achievement, made more impressive by the fact that last season Ryston was on the brink of relegation.

The club’s final match of the season, at Woodford Green a fortnight ago, featured the same hard core of fewer than 20 athletes, including U17s who are restricted to just three events each.

This made it difficult to cover every event, particularly in the women’s competition, but the indomitable spirit of all involved still saw them achieve fifth place.

Freya Knight (U17) achieved the club’s only individual win of the day for the women’s team, in the long jump, and Gareth Hunt the only one for the men’s team, in the 110m hurdles.

However, Matthew Smith, Nigel Kenny, Kieran Bell, Riley Bell, Danny Smith, Nathan Stockdale, Chris Balmer, Rob Simmonds, Miles Hovell, Ella Goldring, Ruby Smith, Belle McKenzie, Lindsey Clare, Becks Tuff, Gaye Clarke, Claire Chamberlain, and Zoe Flander continued to forge ahead and reinforce Ryston’s reputation as a club that battles right to the end.

The Peterborough summer road race series overall results were also released in the same week, revealing

that U11 athlete Madison Hicks had won her age category over 3k and Gina Hurrell was placed second in the W60 5k competition.

Nigel Kenny (M55), George Pettit (M50) and Daniel Barnes also featured in the overall 5k standings.

Following last week’s mention of Jake Whitehouse competing in the Run Sandringham 24-hour event, it transpired that two other Ryston members were also involved.

Caine Burton completed eight of the five-mile laps to tot up a total of 40 miles individually, while Dawn Robinson covered the same distance as part of the winning team “Easier Said Than Run”, comprising herself, three members of Wymondham AC and one from Lowestoft, who covered 37 laps (185 miles) in the time allowed.

This weekend, Ryston plays host to the Wissey Half Marathon. For more information, please visit: www.rystonrunners.org.uk