LOLA ROAKE produced another outstanding performance, just a week after earning a bronze medal at the English Schools’ Athletic Association Track & Field Championships.
This time she was representing Woking AC in their Youth Development League Lower Age Group match at Hemel Hempstead.
In the under-15 girls’ 800m, she led from start to tape to win in a very impressive time of 2min 14.1sec which ranks her joint 11th in the UK.
She was chased home by her team-mate Sophie Price, who finished second in the race and first in the B string with the second-best time of her career, 2min 19.5sec.
The same two athletes later went on to win their respective 300m races.
Price won her race by more than 3sec, knocking more than 1sec off her previous best in posting a time of 43.2sec.
Roake was a comfortable winner in the B race with a personal-best time of 44.8sec.
There was also success for Woking in the under-15 girls’ 1,500m, with Imogen Freeman frontrunning her way to victory in a time just outside 4min 55sec.
In the boys’ equivalent, teammates and training partners Jacob Bowyer and Jack Dormer were involved in an exciting sprint finish.
Bowyer just edged out Dormer, winning in a time of 4min 22.9sec. Dormer was only a stride back in second place in a personal-best time of 4min 23.3sec.
Dormer had earlier set a personal best in the javelin, achieving a comfortable victory with a throw of 39.38m.
Jack Harel finished second overall with a throw of 32.19m before going on to win the shot with a throw of 11.68m.
Woking athletes were also in fine form in the sprints.
Under-13 girl Mia Mosko continued her great season with a triple victory during the afternoon.
First, she dominated the 150m to win in a time of 19.8sec, a personal best and enough to rank her joint eighth in the UK.
She went on to win the 75m by posting 10.1sec, just 0.1sec shy of the club record, to put her joint ninth in the UK and just 0.2sec off top spot.
Her final win of the day came in the long jump, courtesy of a third-round leap of 4.69m.
Under-15 girl Eleanor Buckle set two personal bests. She finished third in the 200m in a time of 27.3sec and second in the 100m thanks to a wind-legal personal best of 13.0sec.
In the same 100m, Sara Louise Fordjour finished third in a personal-best time of 13.3sec.
These two teamed up with Evie Wiltshire and Mia Reeves to win the 4x100m in a time of 53.2sec.
Zach Leacock finished second in the under-13 boys’ 75m in a personal-best time of 11.0sec, with Luke Wheeler coming third in the B race.
Woking’s senior team were missing several key athletes for their Southern League Division One fixture at Bromley but still finished third overall and remain in the table’s top five.
Thomas Leacock continued his fine campaign. A week after running for Surrey, he won a very exciting 100m in 10.87sec, just 0.04sec ahead of the second-placed athlete.
There was a double victory – success in the A and B competition – in the 110m hurdles, Kaspars Kazemaks and David Awde finishing first and second respectively overall.
There was also a double success in the high jump, with George Hopkins and Daniel Gilbert finishing first and second respectively overall. Hopkins cleared 1.80m and Gilbert set a personal best of 1.75m.
Hopkins and Awde produced a double win in the pole vault.
And another double victory for Woking completed a hat-trick of wins for Hopkins. This time he teamed up with Roy Chambers in the javelin. Chambers threw 49.84m and Hopkins threw 48.85m.
There was a Woking win in both the A and B string of the women’s 400m hurdles, through Lauren Chadwick and Natasha Griffiths.
And in the women’s 1,500m, Martha Collings just missed out on first place in a very tight finish. Mari Woodhatch won the B race.
Woking’s final win came in the women’s javelin, a fine throw of 37.03m from Florence Baulk being just shy of her season’s best.
The club’s next match is on Sunday, July 23 at Portsmouth – their final Youth Development League Lower Age Group fixture of the season.