Last weekend we held our second Valhalla Virtual Throws Competition. Once again we had entries from across the World including Costa Rica, Namibia, Sweden and other countries. We also held the Best of Britain going head to head in a team event with the sessions coming out on top with help from City of York Shot putter Scott Lincoln throwing 20.37m which is 2cm off his PB. The decider will be happening June 20th. It was great to see so many of the clubs athletes taking part and achieving some great distances and why was really special to me was to see Coaches Karen Buck and Craig Pounder both taking part.
The event was done with no charge and I did ask if people wanted to if they would donate to a just giving page I set up for the NHS. Over the two events we managed to raise over £2100 which made me proud of what we can achieve. I have decided to do one more Virtual competition on June 20th the day before Father’s Day. I will also be streaming the Seniors V Juniors competition live on YouTube. This time I have decided to try and help our wounded ex military athletes and they are a group called the Wounded Highlanders.
If you would like to enter please send your details to valhallathrowsacademy@outlook.com
The club also staged more virtual races for the club’s distance runners. 42 runners took part in the 1 mile challenge with Angus McMillan running the fastest time with 4.25. Angus also dragged brother Rory to a time of 4.49 with Don running 5.25, which is a good time for a 59 year old. Tommy Shaw was the only other runner under 5 minutes with a time of 4.41. Lottie Langan was the fastest female runner with 5.30 with Chelsea Walker, who has been doing more running due to the suspension of the track season being second fastest female with 5.49.
34 runners took part in the 10k virtual race with older runners running it in one go and younger runners doing it spread across 2 or 3 runs. George Phillips ran a superb 32.59 as he broke 33 minutes for the first time in a 10k. Giles Chalk was the 2nd quickest male runner with 38.40. Lottie Langan was again the fastest female as she ran 2 x 5k runs to give her 38.20 overall.
A full set of results for both the 1 mile and 10k virtual races cab be found on the front page of the website. The next virtual challenge organised by the club is a 3k between 1st and 7th June.
Alex Dickinson has run a series of good 5k virtual races in the Even Splits 5k league where runners must do six 5ks spread across 12 weeks. Alex lies 2nd in the overall series after a series of runs close to the 16.30 mark. Giles Chalk is currently lying 10th in the league with Ed Mezzetti (15th) and Mike Raynes (35th). Andy Richardson needs to run one more race to complete the series.