Oxfordshire Track and Field League

The first match of the 2024 season was held on a very rainy Sunday 28 April at Horspath Athletics and Sports Ground, Oxford. The second match of the season is due to be held on Sunday 11 August at North Oxfordshire Academy, Drayton Road, Banbury OX16 0UD.

2024 Match Reports

Match 1 – Horspath

The 2024 season started with some very wet and cold weather. The rain did settle for the afternoon so giving some improved conditions for the later races. We had a very full turnout, so it was great to see the willingness to compete won over the grey skies. 143 QuadKids took part and 296 U13 to U20 athletes ran/jumped/threw.

Thanks, as always to all those who enabled the competition to take place from the League organisers, the multitude of officials (new and seasoned), the volunteers who ran the kitchen and all those involved in the setup and takedown. Also of course thanks to all the coaches, team managers, club committees and parents, as none of the athletes would be able to compete without all your time and support.

A major part of athletics is competing, whether this was your first competition, first time in an event or a new personal best, it is onwards and upwards. Some of course will have had an event that didn’t go as planned, but that means the next time it will only be better.

There are many unsung successes hidden in the result sheets, a well-run 6th place can be more of a success than a 1st place, but always there are special mentions to the athletes who had outstanding performances or set records. England Athletics has moved from the AAA Grade system to PB Awards and ESSA Awards. To sow confusion the grading is reversed, so the top standards are now 9 rather than 1 in the AAA system.

In the QuadKids Ottilie Maclean (Bicester AC) was 1st U9 Girl and was ESAA Stage 6 in her 600m. Chester Bailey (Team Kennet) was 1st U9 Boy and was also ESAA Stage 6 in his 600m. Matilida Hogg (Team Kennet) and Lenny Wyvill (Team Kennett) also secured a ESAA stage 6 in the 600m.

In the QuadKids U11 age group Mia Gore (Abingdon AC) was 1st Girl and Charlie Simpson (Bicester AC) was 1st Boy.

There were six U11 girls who got a ESAA Stage 8 in the 600. Orlagh Stratford (Team Kennet), Eleanor Cadwallader (Abingdon AC), Maame Frimpong (Radley AC), Mia Gore (Abingdon AC), Alice Stratford (Team Kennet) and Praiya Foreman (Team Kennet).

Grace McCulloch (Oxford City AC) was Level 7 in U13G 100m, Lara Ford (Abingdon AC) was Level 7 in the U13G 200m and Emily Brown (Abingdon AC) was Level 7 in the U13G Long Jump.

Esme Duncan (Oxford City AC) was Level 8 in the U15G High Jump. Aoife Duggan (Oxford City AC) and Rosie Rosser (Oxford City AC) were both Level 7 in the U15G Triple Jump.

Chloe Knibbs (Radley AC) was Level 7 in the U17W High Jump.

Angelo Jones (Oxford City AC) was Level 8 in the U13B 100m. That would give him 5th nationally, but he is already placed 2nd.

Michael Emmanuel (Oxford City AC) was Level 7 in U13B 200m and also was Level 7 in the U13B 800m. His time in the U13B 800m, 2:20.7, also broke the league record that had been previously held by Jago Behagg (Radley AC) in 2:23.3. It would place him 8th nationally, if he wasn’t already in 5th place.

The U13 Boys 4x100m record was broken by Oxford City AC (Angelo Jones, George Coyle, Toby Valentine, Michael Emmanuel) who ran 55.0 to beat the previous record of 55.8 that was held by the Witney Team from 2019.

Berkay Altuntas (Team Kennet) was Level 9 in the U13B Discus, which ranks him 6th nationally.

Bertie Lee (Oxford City AC) was Level 8 in the U15B 80m Hurdles, which ranks him 8th nationally. Luca Roberts (Witney Road Runners) was Level 7 in the U15B High Jump. Dominic Smith (Abingdon AC) was Level 8 in the U15 Javelin, and Luca Roberts (Witney Road Runners) was Level 7 in the same event.

Turkay Altuntas (Team Kennet) {whose brother featured earlier} was Level 9 in the U15B Discus, which ranks him 4th in the country. He also got a Level 8 in U15B Shot, and in that event he was 2cm off the record.

2023 Match Reports

For the season, the winning QuadKid teams for each age group were: Team Kennet U9 Boys, Team Kennet U9 Girls, Oxford U11 Boys and Team Kennet U11 Girls. The overall winning QuadKid team for the season was Team Kennet.

Oxford City Girls/Women had a clean sweep being the winning team in the U13G, U15G and U17W and so were the overall 1st placed Female Team.

Witney were 2nd place in the U13G.

Banbury were 2nd place In the U15G and U17W and their scores gave them 2nd placed Female Team. The third placed Female Team was Radley.

The Boys/Mens competion was more varied. The U13B winning team was Banbury, followed by Team Kennet.

U15B winners were Witney, with 2nd place being taken by Radley.

U17M winners were Radley, followed by Bicester.

The overall winning Male Team was Radley. Second place was Witney, with Banbury in third.

Congratulations to all who took part.

Match 3 – Abingdon

In this match multiple records tumbled. We saw 10 records broken and 1 matched.

Two records that were only set in August were bettered. Kenechi Akosa (Team Kennet) ran 37.3 to beat his previous U15M 300m record of 38.4, this was also a Grade 1 result. Matilda Saunders (Team Kennet) ran 2:08.9 in the U9W 600m to beat Praiya Foreman’s (Team Kennet) 02:11.7.

Three middle distance records that had stood for some time were broken.

The U13M 800m record had been held by Nick Wiltshire (Abingdon) 2:25.8 since May 2013. This was beaten by Jago Behagg (Radley) with 2:23.3. Also a mention must go to Harry Thynne (Abingdon) who ran 2:23.5 in that close race.

The U17W 800m that had been held since April 2015 by Emily Thompson (Banbury) 2:16.4 was beaten by a whisker by Isla McGowan (Banbury) in 2:16.3

The U15M 1500m record that had stood since June 2010, Christian Von Eitzen (Radley) 4:27.4, was convincingly beaten by Thomas Roberts (Banbury) who ran 4:21.0, which was also a Grade 1 result. A mention also to Jonas Tipping (Radley) whose 4:24.9 also beat the earlier record.

Three relays records were broken or matched.

The 4×100 U15M record, which had been held by Banbury since June 2010 with 48.3, was resoundingly beaten by Radley (Aidan Williams, Kyle McLeod, Lincoln Jones, Divine Iheme) with 46.8.

The 4×100 U11M record held since May 2011 by Oxford City in 64.15 was matched by Banbury (Oscar O’Hagan, Warrick Sellers, Noah Bullock and unknown!) in 64.1.

Team Kennet (Penelope Lyth, Orlagh Stratford, Matilda Clare & Quinn Joyce) ran 63.0 in the 4×100 U11W to beat their 63.9 record from April.

And finally three jump records were beaten.

Matilda Saunders (Team Kennet) jumped 2.94 in the U9W long jump to beat Evie Kearney’s (Team Kennet) record of 2.77 set in August 2022

Aidan Williams (Radley) jumped 11.40 to improve his 10.83 record he had set in the U15 Triple Jump in April 2023

The U15W Triple Jump record was set by Maya Roach (Oxford City) who jumped 9.60 to beat Ella Koolen (Banbury) 9.21 that was jumped in September 2019

In addition to the two Grade 1 results mentioned above, 5 other performances were at that level. Noah Lauder-Clark (Team Kennet) threw 32.11m in the U13B Javelin. Divine Theme (Radley) ran 11.4s in the U15B 100m and 23.4s in the U15B 200m. Joel Nga (Abingdon) ran the U15B 300m in 38.5s and Adam William (Radley) completed the U15B 80H in 12.0s.

The first placed QuadKids teams in each age group for this match were: Radley U9 Boys, Team Kennet U9 Girls, Oxford City U11 Boys, Team Kennet U11 Girls. The overall winning QK team for this match was Team Kennet.

Match 2 – Banbury

Four league records were broken and one record matched, all by athletes from Team Kennet!

Praiya Foreman U9G (Team Kennet) gained two records, a 12.3 in the 75m and a 2:11.7 in the 600m. 

William Mahoney U9B (Team Kennet) ran a 12.3 to gain the U9 Boys 75m record. 

Kenechi Akosa U15B (Team Kennet) matched Matthew Gain’s thirteen year old U15B 200m record of 23.3s. That time placed Matthew 14th in the country in 2010 and places Kenechi 20th this year. Kenechi also broke the U15B 300m record, running 38.4s. Both these results were Grade 1. 

We also had a further 6 results which were Grade 1 performances. Lucy White U13G (Oxford City) in the 100m, Charlie Binning U13B (Radley) in the High Jump – ranked 7th in the country, Noah Lauder-Clark U13B (Team Kennet) in the Javelin, Joel Nga U15B (Abingdon) in the 100m and the 200m and finally Oscar Owena U17M (Abingdon) in the 100m.

Match 1 – Oxford

At the first match of the season four league records were set.

Aidan Williams U15B (Radley) recorded a Triple Jump of 10.83m, Isla McGowan U17W (Banbury) ran 1500m in 4:35.5 and Divine Iheme U15B (Radley) ran 100m in 11.3. These last two records were at Grade 1, with Isla’s time currently being 11th in the country this year, with Divine’s time currently third.

Divine’s U15B 100m record continues the pattern he started last year, when he set the records in the U13B 100m and 200m.

Team Kennet’s U11G (Penelope Lyth, Orlagh Stratford, Matilda Clare & Quinn Joyce) set the record in the U11G 4x100m. Their time of 63.9s was an almost 4 second improvement on the previous 12 year old record.

There was a further Grade 1 result in the U13B Javelin with Noah Lauder-Clark throwing 32.60m, which places him 7th in the country currently. Benjamin East’s record of 44.06m set in 2016 might prove hard to beat in the future as that was the 5th furthest ever throw in the UK by an U13B, with Benjamin also throwing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd longest ever throws in that age group.