Woking Athletic Club’s season finished on a high at the Surrey County Relay Championships in Carshalton, coming away with four medals from the five races they were in.
With head coach Joe Holden retiring after 15 years, the young athletes wanted to end on a high for him.
Joe dedicated countless unpaid hours of coaching, was one of the main organisers of the awards evening for many years, had a hand in ensuring the move from Sheerwater to Woking Sportsbox went smoothly, and supported the whole running of the club.
He also dedicated his time to commentating at different events, so he will be missed beyond Woking Athletic Club.
The stars of the weekend were the under-17 men’s team. Fresh from their magnificent silver medal at the National Relay Championships in Birmingham last month, they were favourites to win gold and did not disappoint.
They dominated from start to finish with magnificent baton changes and fine individual sprinting, with Liam Trinidad getting them off to a magnificent start.
Kris Eccleston extended the lead down the back straight before handing over to Sahil Vassanjee, who flew round the bend to complete the final change to Adam Cohen, who stormed home to win comfortably in 43.70 seconds.
Although this was slower than their time in Birmingham, they was severely affected by the strong wind on the day and should be very proud of their achievements over the past month, being the fifth quickest club team in the country.
Straight after the under-17s, the under-13 boys were in action in what was for three of the four their first time in a county championships.
They all put in magnificent runs, with the changeovers as good as the under-17 men, and they came away delighted with a silver medal.
They were led off by Theo De Paula Dens, who got off to a superb start before handing over to Gwyllam Hughes.
He flew down the back straight before handing over to Max Lockyer, who ran equally as well as the first two before handing on to Zach Leacock, who brought them home with a fine anchor leg for a brilliant second place.
The same four also competed in the 4x200m relay and came away with another silver medal, not far behind the winners.
On the Saturday the under-15 girls 4x100m team had a fantastic run against high class competition to set a new club record of 51.15 seconds and come away with a brilliant bronze - in previous championships this time was enough for gold.
Sofia Monteregge got the team off to a good start before a smooth change to Sara Louise Fordjour, who had a great run down the back straight before handing over to Mia Mosko, who flew round the bend before handing on to Evie Wiltshire, who had a close battle for second and was just pipped for silver - but all were happy with bronze.
The under-17 women’s team of Eleanor Buckle, Chloe Moore, Izzy Wright and Mia Reeves just missed out on a medal in their 4x100m, finishing fifth, but all had good runs and demonstrated great baton changing. All are first year in the age group so will have a great chance next year to get on the podium.
Woking’s endurance athletes will be back in action soon as the cross country season is about to start.