The Dacorum & Tring athletes celebrate in style

Dacorum & Tring AC athletes celebrated at an end of season awards evening

Along with scores of gold, silver and bronze medals awarded for every age group from the 2014 club championships, D&T also handed out 70 trophies and prizes for top results, achievements and services to the club.

The Barford Trophy and Echo Cup, awarded to the outstanding female and male athletes respectively, went to Phillipa Lowe and Chenna Okoh.

U23 athlete Phillipa had a stellar season, finishing second overall in the South of England AA championships in June in the 400m hurdles and third in the 400m at the CAU Inter-County Championships.

She finished her season ranked 14th overall and fifth U23 woman in the UK for the 400m hurdles.

Chenna, meanwhile, won a superb silver medal in the U15 boys’ 300m at the English Schools Championships, and finished the season ranked second in the UK for the distance.

He also won county and county schools titles in the 300m, and took top spot in the South of England AA U15 Championship and the England Athletics U15 Championships over the same distance.

Other notable wins included Trevor Ratcliffe, awarded the Steve Hearn Trophy for Outstanding Veteran, and the Trevor Crighton Trophy for Outstanding Field Athlete.

Trevor is the reigning club and country vets champion in shot put, discus, hammer and javelin, and holds numerous club records.

Rhys Rowlands won the John Dickenson Cup for Outstanding Middle Distance athlete, after his stellar performances in 2014 on the track and particularly in cross-country where he was the top-ranked U15 boy in Division 2 of the Apex Sports Chiltern League series.

A new award was presented this year – the Gerald Ratcliffe Trophy for coach of the year – given in honour of Gerald Ratcliffe, a long-time Dacorum & Tring member, coach and competitor, who sadly passed away a year ago. Sprint coach Gavin Town was the deserving recipient of the award.

Other awards included the Williams Trophy, won by Catherine Davies for contributions to the club on and off the track; the Presidents Cup for services to the club, awarded to Diane Ratcliffe; and the Rhoda Bartley Memorial Trophy for top marathon performance, won by Andrew Cracknell.

The U15 boys’ relay team won the Dickens Glass Decanter for best team effort, while four young athletes were awarded cash prizes for their medal-winning performances in the English Schools Athletics Championships: Okoh; Michael Fryer, Laurette Wenborn and Nikki Greaves.