Young athletes in Amber Valley continued their winning streak when they triumphed at the Derbyshire Under 11s Sportshall Athletics Final held at Moorways Sports Centre in Derby on 11 March.
The team competed against eight other teams from across the county in a variety of indoor track and field events, including indoor javelin, standing long jump, hurdles and obstacle relays, all designed to test speed, strength, coordination, agility and balance.
The Amber Valley team of seven boys and seven girls lifted the winner’s trophy for the second year, having won the inaugural competition in 2007. Their win comes hot on the heels of their success in the East Midlands Regional Final at Grantham in November.
Commonwealth gold medallist Lisa Dobriskey presented the team members with their trophy and individual medals. Afterwards she said: “It was a fantastic event and I really enjoyed it. Everyone was so determined and enthusiastic. Hopefully they will take it forward, and perhaps we have some future Olympians here.”
Councillor John Nelson, Cabinet Member for Leisure Development at Amber Valley Borough Council said: “Congratulations to the Amber Valley team on yet another fantastic win! The Borough has developed a fine tradition of producing talented teams and this is testament to the strong working links between the Borough’s schools, Amber Valley Borough Council and Amber Valley Athletics Club.”
The boys and girls were selected from Amber Valley Borough Council’s well-established schools’ Sportshall Athletics competition programme. The team was put together by Julie Feeney, Athletics Coordinator at Amber Valley Borough Council, and trained and managed by Amber Valley Athletic Club coaches Judy Payling and Nigel Smith. Julie also organised the county final, with assistance from England Athletics East Midlands. Sportshall Associates provided the equipment.
Team members were Molly Mee, Annie Utting, Imogen Cresswell, Sophie Gale, Katie Rawlings, Hannah Blount, Robyn Allan, George Coutts, Jethro McGraw, Ben Robinson, James Bowers, Krishan Mistry, and Matthew Jameson.
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For further information please contact Lisa Garnham, PR and Communications Manager at Amber Valley Borough Council, on 01773 841655.
Note for editors
Teams at the event were made up of school pupils aged nine to 11, representing Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire, Amber Valley, Erewash, Derby East, Derby West, Derbyshire Dales, Bolsover and South Derbyshire. Derby West took second place, and North East Derbyshire were third.
Sportshall Athletics is traditional track and field events brought indoors, using specially adapted equipment such as foam javelin, standing long jump and obstacle relays. The programme of seven different relays and nine different field events is designed to test the youngsters’ speed, strength, coordination, agility and balance.
