WOKING Athletic Club members scooped ten medals, including four golds, at the Surrey Schools’ Track & Field Championships last Saturday.

The club’s medal haul at a very hot Kingsmeadow track in Kingston also included five silvers and a bronze. And there were numerous personal-best and highly-graded performances.

Several Woking athletes are now in with a good chance of being selected for Surrey to compete at the prestigious English Schools’ Championships in Birmingham. 

One athlete who is certain to be selected for Surrey is Jack Dormer, who continued his outstanding season in the 800m, winning the junior (under-15) boys’ race in a personal best of 2min 1.4sec, which is well inside the qualifying time and moves him up to ninth in the UK rankings.  

Almost certain to be selected is Lola Roake, who ran her best race of the season to dominate the field in the junior girls’ 1,500m and win by more than nine seconds in a very impressive time of 4min 41.20sec. That was her best time of the season and the third-best of her career. She is now up to 15th in the UK rankings.

The other two first places achieved by Woking members came in the field events. 

In only his second competition since joining the club, John Hayes Akenzua leapt to an outstanding distance in the intermediate (under-17) boys’ long jump with a fine 6.42m, moving him to 17th in the UK and giving him a chance of being selected for Surrey.

Jack Harel, who only recently returned to the sport after breaking his ankle and missing four months of training, won the junior boys’ shot with a personal best of 12.71m. This added more than 1.20m to his previous best and ranks him ninth in the UK.

There were further medals in the throws. Junior girl Isabella Jones launched the javelin to 30.38m, adding nearly 1m to her previous best and winning silver with a performance that ranks her 20th in the UK. Emelia Wazydrag finished second in the intermediate girls’ hammer with a throw of 28.83m.

And there was a silver medal in the intermediate girls’ long jump. Laura Kersley had a fine series of jumps, her top leap being 5.15m, which was her best this season and the second-best of her career.

The other two silver medals came in the endurance events.

Sophie Price had a very good run for second place in the junior girls’ 800m. And Mari Woodhatch won silver in the intermediate girls’ 1,500m with a personal-best time.

The final medal won by a Woking member came in the intermediate girls’ discus, Alice Clark earning bronze with a throw of 26.95m.

Outside the medals, there were some other outstanding performances. Sahil Vassanjee equalled his best time of 11.7sec in the junior boys’ 100m to finish just outside the medals in fourth place. The time was also a national grade-one performance and came after he had to run an extra race – a run-off to decide who qualified for the final. Adam Cohen also set a best time, with 11.8sec. 

Junior girl Eleanor Buckle qualified from the 100m heats in a personal-best time of 12.8sec. She repeated the time in the final – a national grade-two performance. Sarah Louise Fordjour set a personal best of 13.3sec in the heats. 

Dylan Lewis ran a personal best in the intermediate boys’ 400m, posting 52.50sec in the heats before finishing seventh in the final, this knocking just under a second off his previous best time.  

Scarlett Brown was 0.02sec shy of her best time in the junior girls’ 75m hurdles, coming sixth in the final.

And Oscar Sinnett set his best time (2min 5.55sec) in the intermediate boys’ 800m to finish seventh.