Athletics: Doncaster AC join forces with rival club as new season kicks off with a bang
Doncaster Athletic Club, who were struggling to field competitive teams in the 2026 U18 and U20 Upper Youth Development League, have joined forces with a rival club.
“We have merged our UYDL team with Chesterfield and District AC for this season which has given us a balanced team with a broader base,” said club chairman Kev Lincoln. “We held a team building day recently (prior to the start of the season) with all athletes getting on well, in particular, the joint relay team.”
Explaining the reason for the new partnership, Lincoln said: “Due to the fact that a lot of people in the U18 and U20 age-groups go to university or are still at school (and involved with exams) or do some weekend work, the numbers of athletes available to all clubs is limited. Although clubs linked to universities, such as York, do well for obvious reasons. I also think this was the generation we lost during the Covid pandemic.”
He added: “Despite the problems we are having with the older teens, the club is very vibrant from under 12s through to under 16s although overall membership is currently down.
“By the end of last year we had 430 members whereas we have just under 300 this season. We have been offering "bring a friend for free" nights which has brought in a few new members.”
The Doncaster chief said that he didn’t entertain any membership worries going forward, claiming: “Numbers (and availability for teams) should recover in time as our younger members are retained and we attract new ones.”
The club kicked off what promises to be another busy season at their track when staging a successful Spring Open meeting which attracted 350 entries representing clubs from all over Yorkshire as well as Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Sussex.
Krystian Michalski’s outstanding sprint double was arguably the highlight of the meeting.
The highly-rated DAC teenager stormed to victory in the U18B 100m in a time of 10.82 seconds. He returned to the track later in the day to post an even more impressive time of 21.54 when romping home in the 200m race.
The big race of the day, the Donny Mile, which again featured a £50 first prize, was won by Brighton’s Ben Connolly. Local favourite George Phillips (4.22.00) claimed second spot.
Jordan Poulston won the men’s 200m in a time of 24.06, prior to claiming victory in the men’s 800m race in a time of 2.09.32.
Pharez Ifedayo also showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals in the U14B 14 and Under sprint races – taking the honours in both race 2 100m (12.18) and race 2 200m 24.99 events. He also bagged second spot in the long jump (4.68m).
Clubmate Cheryl Nwachukwu also claimed a sprint double in the U14G events – clocking a time of 12.68 in race one of the 100 metres and 26.93 in the 200m race.
Eagle Josephant finished second in both her U16G 100m and 200m races after clocking times of 13.20 and 26.04 respectively. Elizabeth Sulaimon (29.04) was second in race two. Chloe Oxley (13.21) was runner-up in race one.
Oliver Salter (57.93) claimed victory in the U18 400m.
Molly Collins (12.17) and Annu Longi (11.32) both won their respective U10G 75m races with Harry Blackburn (11.83) finishing second in the boys’ race one event. Sophia Wainwright (10.90) won the U12G 75m race.
Preston Livesidge (1.53.41) had to settle for second spot in the boy’s U12B 600m race.
Matilda Sulston (3.00.11) won the U14G 800m race, beating team-mate Charlotte Poskitt (3.00.23) into second place.
Eleanor Kealey (4.77m) took the honours in the women’s long jump with Jordan Poulson (5.54m) leaping to victory in men’s long jump.