Record year lifts Zara to top award
THROWER Zara Acton was crowned Burton Athletic Club’s athlete of the year when the club held their annual awards night at the Mercure Newton Park Hotel.
Acton added eight metres to her discus personal best, reaching 33.02m, in a season in which she won the Midlands Under-17 Championships, also coming second in the shot.
She was an English Schools Athletics Championships finalist and upped her shot PB to 10.84m.
Both distances were club records, so it was no surprise that she also won the club’s Throws Award on the night.
Club chairman Jaime Walker reflected on a year of achievement for the club, with under-20 Ben Acton selected by England for the shot in a home countries international.
Ed Sheffield, Zara Acton, Fran Sharpe and Harry Handsaker all reached the English Schools championships.
It was a year in which many longstanding club records were broken and Walker added that an exciting crop of Under-15s were showing a lot of potential.
Handsaker won the Under-17 male award and was the club’s highest-ranked male, at 10th in the 100m indoor rankings for his PB of 10.71 seconds.
He might have won bronze at the English Schools but for a foot injury which slowed him at the end of the race, in which he came in fifth.
After several weeks on crutches as a result, he returned to run for the North in a schools match but was injured again.
Nonetheless, his potential has seen him selected to go on to the British Athletics academy of sporting excellence programme at Loughborough University.
Sharpe took the Under-17 female award and was the highest-ranked female at 11th in the Under-17 jave- lin 600gm, throwing 35.37m. She set club records for the 500gm and 600gm javelin.
In the masters category, Nicola Long was the club’s highest-ranked, 11th in the V40 hammer.
Ben Howard set eight club records in the M35 age group to lift the Veteran of the Year award in a season in which he also won numerous British Masters medals in the throws at national competitions.
Young runner Maisie Trueman had a successful evening. She won the Winter League, in which points are scored in cross country events, plus the Mike Kelsall fun run award for the highest Burton finisher, the park run challenge and the Record Breaker award, for setting three new Under-13 club records, at 800m, 1200m and 1500m. The 800m and 1500m marks had stood since 1984.
Callum Abberley won the male park run challenge, Matt Lear the Carl Udall road race trophy, after coming 50th in the Derby 10k, and the Martin Naughton trophy for the club’s leading finisher in the English Cross Country Championships. Lucy Smith was given an award for her run of four hours 21 minutes in the London Marathon.
Kaliyah Morant-Hudson took the ladies’ cross country award and Jack Shorten the male equivalent after a season in which he gained Staffordshire selection.
The Chairmanship Award went to Judy Kelsall and Coach of the Year was awarded posthumously to Mike Kelsall for his coaching of youngsters over many years.
Paul Smith, who, in more than 40 years with the club has coached many athletes to English Schools level and managed the men’s teams, while still holding the club’s 110m hurdles records as a senior and at Under-20, was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame, as was Sue Withnall, who still holds club records in 100m and 400m hurdles, high jump, long jump and pentathlon, set in the 1980s.
Last season, she re-joined the club to take part in the veterans’ league and plans an attack on the W55 records next year.
Under-13 girls Freya Bruno; Under-13 boys Freddie Kugelmann; Under-15 boys Max Wrigley; Under-15 girls Katie Scott; Under-20 ladies Rebecca Sheffield; Under-20 men Ben Acton; Senior lady Mia Sheriff; Senior man Jonathan Dumalow; Training award Paige Barker; Judy Kelsall most improved athlete award Jess Lear; Service Award Jackie Acton; Official of the Year Tom Farr.