AAC Annual Awards Evening
On Friday, 17 March, members of AAC gathered to celebrate the club's Annual Awards Evening. The event marked the athletic achievements of the whole club for the 2022 season.
Young athlete awards
After a rousing welcome from Club Chairman Tim Foxall, the evening kicked off with awards for our young athletes.
The young athletes start from under 11 and train in our Fun-damentals Group. Here the athletes develop basic movement skills like balance, coordination and mobility, competing indoors in the winter and outdoors during the summer. The young athletes progress through to the Transition Group (U13) where they will spend two years training in both endurance running and track and field events.
Then at U15 they choose either to join the Speed Development Squad (SDS U15 T&F ) or the Endurance Competition Group (ECG) (U15 upwards).
Although this does not mean they are fixed to these groups and can , move between the two during the summer and train for field event, if they wish to compete in throws or jumps, as well as endurance T&F races.
SDS (U15) spend two years in this group then transfer to the U17/ senior T&F group, when they move into U17 competition age category for competitions.
The ECG has a more diverse membership in terms of age, event preference and training background but with careful planning all athletes can train together, which promotes the development of younger or newer members. Athletes in this group can compete year-round in cross country, track and road running.
Stuart Watton (the club's throws coach) presented the young athlete awards to the best female, best male and most-improved athletes in each category.
| Best female | Best male | Most improved athlete | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals (U11) | Eleanor Cadwallader | James De Bresser | Elizabeth Howlin |
| Transition (U13) | Georgia Bewick | Dominic Smith | Nate Glass |
| Speed Development Squad (U15) | Bethan Thompson | William Lyon | Jason Kahura |
| Senior Track and Field (U17 upwards) | Tiffany Cox | Edward Betts and Luke Chown | Kaila John |
| Junior Endurance (U15) | Evey Powell | Samuel Nixon-Gagg | Daniel Egerton |
| Senior Endurance (U15 upwards) | Olivia Martin | Harry Richards | Connor Morgan |
Alongside the category awards, two trophies were presented for outstanding achievement in the Endurance Group.
The Ivor Hopkins XC trophy went to the year's outstanding performance(s). We awarded the trophy to Olivia Martin (3rd English Schools senior girls 3000m) and Evey Powell (winner, UK Inter Counties Cross Country, U15 girls).
Joint winners of the Ivor Hopkins XC award
The Jack Conan Cup looks at a broader range of factors contributing to the health of distance running, as well as performance and a positive attitude to training and racing. Jessica (Jess) Summers was deemed to meet all the criteria and was duly awarded the trophy this year. Her coaches noted Jess's commitment since her first session with AAC in September 2021, recognising that she is "always there and always smiling".
AAA Standards
The AAA Standards recognise performance across age groups and events from Grade 1 (top 7.5% of performances) to grade 4 (top 65% of performances).
An astonishing number of young athletes achieved AAA UK Standard Awards. We presented them all with certificates and badges to mark their achievements.
Forty-one badges were handed out, of which four were grade 1, and four were grade 2. We've included the complete list of awards at the end of this article.
Young athletes collecting their AAA Standards awards
Senior road running
Club Championship
After a well-deserved break for food and mingling with club friends, the evening moved on to the awards for the senior road running side of the club. The awards focused on the Club Championship, a friendly in-club competition encompassing several local races throughout the season. Points are awarded based on finishing position. Although you don't have to be the fastest runner to win a prize. Competing in many races gives you a good chance because the aim is to get as many points as possible over the year. The Club Champs has already kicked off for 2023, and plenty of races remain. Learn more about the Club Champs.
The overall winners of the Club Championship for 2022 were Becks Compton and Mark Lewy.
Overall female Club Championship winner - Becks Compton
Overall male Club Championship winner - Mark Lewy
Age category winners and those who had completed 10+ races were also presented with awards. We've included the complete list of awards at the end of this article.
Track and field awards
As well as road running, AAC are part of the Southern Counties Veterans League, which competes in track and field over the summer season. This year the awards went to Pip Terry and John Oliver for their sheer effort and the number of events they competed in.
If you would like to participate in the League for the 2023 season, please contact the Vets League Manager, Andrew Caruana.
Special awards
To bring the evening to a close, we presented three special awards.
The Ivor Hopkins Volunteer award is given to recognise outstanding commitment to the club, acknowledging the hard work, dedication and achievements of individuals who give their time to benefit others week in and week out, year in and year out. This year the award was presented to long time AAC member Andrew Garner.
In recognition of the award, John Stead (AAC President) said:
“I could not think of a more worthy recipient than Andrew for that award. Andrew has always given his heart and soul to the club and always goes out of his way to help anyone improve their performance.”
The Tads Marathon Trophy is 'for outstanding achievement or contribution to marathon', principally for the Abingdon Marathon. This year, the award went to Cliff Penton, who has stepped down after performing the role of Race Director for 5 races over 7 years.
The final award of the evening was the Club Personality Award. This is awarded to the person(s) who most capture the spirit of being a club member and enjoying running / athletics. Stuart Watton (throws coach) and Jen Swarbrick (departing Club Social Secretary) were joint winners this year.
To close
2022 was a fantastic year of achievement for club members, with a full return to competition. Well done to this year's winners, and good luck to everyone for the 2023 season!
