|
Gemma Smith recorded a best triple jump of 11.78m to take silver in the England Athletics U17 Championships at Alexander Stadium. She was beaten to gold by Emma Pringle of Gateshead who improved her pb by nearly 50cm to win with a jump of 12.08m
|
|
John Turner and I went along to the public enquiry to represent our club, the hearing lasted four days. Also in attendance every day was our hurdles coach Charles Harvey and on several occasions there were parents of athletes, athletes themselves and some of the stadium staff in attendance.
The hearing started with the council producing some of their senior officers and in our opinion they did not give a very good account of themselves. In turn they were followed by some councillors themselves who seemed more intent on making political statements then addressing the issue on the table which was the planning application to build houses on the stadium land.
Mr Lavender who was conducting the enquiry intervened and made it quite clear that he would not allow political comment. There was a lot of technical discussion regarding the planning application before members of the public were allowed to have their say, and 19 people had registered their intention to speak. I can only recall one person who was in favour of the planning application with by far the majority against it.
The leader of the council Mr Neil Stanley had requested that he be allowed to speak last before the final addresses by the legal teams representing both sides. Both John and I feel that he was discredited on several accounts and that his testimony did his sides efforts more harm than good. He finally admitted after more than two years in denial that he did promise that they would not close the track until there was a new facility in place. He claimed that all the money raised from the sale of the stadium land would be spent on leisure facilities within the district. He then revealed that some of the money would be spent on improving housing stock on some of the properties surrounding the current stadium. He had to admit that the often quoted figure of £1,000 per day to keep the stadium open was in fact a greatly inflated figure and included central office overheads in the town council offices, which would still remain if the stadium were closed or not. He also revealed that there had not been no planning application made to put the new track down at Blake, Mr Lavender stated at this point that it did cast doubts in his own mind as to whether the council did intend to replace the current track.
We were assured by the Q.C. representing the council, that should planning permission be granted to build on the stadium land, that there is a legally binding document that the council must provide the new facility, but they would not commit to when that would be. Mr Lavender undertook site visits to several sites to be clear in his own mind what the various discussions had been about, he visited our stadium on Thursday 19th July and was escorted round by John. He did report back to the hearing on the Friday that he had made the visit and was most impressed by what he had seen.
Both John and I are of the opinion that the save our stadium campaign won the arguments hands down, but we will have to wait probably several months before a decision is made. We can only wait and hope.
Derek Fellows - Club President
|
|
Gary Myles ran brilliantly in both his heat and the final of the M45 110m hurdles to win a bronze medal at the European Veterans Championships in Slovenia. After finishing 2nd in his heat in a time of 17.54, Gary went even faster in the final recording a time of 16.87 secs.
Andy Weetman recorded a personal best of 12.06 in the 100m heats. His third place finish in his heat was good enough for him to qualify for the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers. In the semi final, Andy finished 6th in a time of 12.42.
Paul Edwards was in action in the 400m hurdles on Saturday. A brilliant season's best of 64.08 was good enough to earn him 3rd place in his semi final and to qualify for the final. In Sunday's final, Paul finished 8th in a time of 64.53.
Les Green, who turned 70 during the championships, completed the M65 marathon in 19th place in a time of 5hrs 56 mins 26 secs.
|
|
I had many emotional highs and lows coaching and travelling through a 14 year Olympic and international journey with my wife Clova. Good and bad. Up and down, and not since those times have I had similar to what I went through this weekend
Saturday - international success and a truly amazing performance Sunday - sad goodbye to a stadium,
Gem's (Gemma Smith) performance winning the international title at Bedford was one of quality, confidence and maturity and after 4 successive silver medals in championships nobody deserved this better ,and to win your first major representing your country is special, and to do it with 4 of the leading 5 jumps in the country including the best in the country is something to be very proud of. Yes she was representing her country but she was she also representing her club as always. Cannock and Stafford can be proud of her and her performance on Sunday it was fitting she broke the stadium record but of course sadly that is lost forever but memories are not. Both myself and Clova have many memories of the stadium and although we were with Wolverhampton on the day we were also with you guys. To finish off with the lap of honour which was well supported was good , and to finish Gem of course got a dip in the water jump from her Wolves training partners
Regards
HOWARD COURT
Being both a parent and athlete I have many
great memories of Cannock stadium:- Bob's cap (has he got any hair?),
Gary and Charlie's endless pursuit of hurdle
technique perfection, Not being able to see athletes in the back straight for fog, The great banter that goes on between the athletes, Jamie's motivation and leadership,
To see my daughter (Nat) loving athletics
again, the list goes on....
Nuff said.
PAUL EDWARDS
I can only echo Paul's
sentiment. Watching my son and then taking
up the sport myself, I found that it was
fantastic how two of my sons were welcomed
into joining in and competing for this
fantastic family club.
We have met some very
genuine people and despite its seemingly low
stature in the local sporting scene it has
provided a great source of talent and
rewarded many young people at a National
level and Olympics.
I have seen for myself the
hard work by the coaches and the progress
made by youngsters. I have also been
encouraged by fellow veterans and masters.
I must thank the following
people who I hope do not vanish from the
scene and continue to brave the elements
where ever they decide to don there spikes
or trainers, big John, Paul (boing boing)
Edwards and Shaun having watching you on
your knees after a training session
and thinking that will never happen to me.
I cannot forget to mention
my son Craig who has made me very proud,
encouraging me and all the young people who
have encouraged, cajoled and made me laugh.
Special mention to Jamie
Mills and Keiron, their are to many to
mention, I have enjoyed and hope to continue
training and competing in your great
company.
Once again I thank
everyone who has smiled at me, encouraged me
and cheered me and anyone wearing the Green
vest of this fine club to the finishing line
and beyond.
KEVIN SAMMONS (M50)
|
|
There were a strong contingent of Cannock & Stafford athletes in action at the English School's Championships at Gateshead.
Shanie Reed finished 4th in her Junior Girls 800m heat in 2:23.82 and Ashley Wickett 6th in his Junior Boys race in 2:09.75. Tom Lake ran 54.63 to finish 6th in a first round heat of the 400m.
Seven of our Intermediate Girls made it to the Championships. Louise Foster just missed out on a medal in the pole vault clearing 2.80m for 4th place but Gemma Smith won a medal on Friday, finishing second in the triple jump by equalling her pb of 11.63m. Isabel Rogers jumped 5.18m for 9th place in the long jump and Jane Bourne threw a pb of 8.74m in the shot to finish 17th.
Harriet Thompson made it to the final of the 80m hurdles by finishing as one of the fastest losers in the heats in a time of 11.60 seconds. Elisha Bateman just missed out, finishing 4th in her heat in 11.97 secs. Both of these performances were personal bests. In the final, Harriet finished 7th in 11.64.
Rachel Atherton progressed through the first round of the 800m in 2:18.91 and went slightly faster in round 2 (2:18.82) but, unfortunately, failed to make the final.
In the Senior Girls, Cally Reed comfortably reached the final of the 800m in 2:12.17 and then came 7th in the final on Saturday in 2:13.62. Sam Evans also progressed to the final in the Senior Boys race by winning his heat in 1:53.92. He ran slightly faster in the final (1:53.71) but ended in 5th place.
Chad Barton smashed his pb in the Senior Boys javelin and achieved an excellent 5th place finish with a throw of 59.64m.
In the penultimate event of the afternoon, Cally Reed & Lucy Dubberley both bought home bronze medals as part of the Staffordshire Senior Girls 4 x 100m relay team
|
|
Cannock & Stafford AC are entitled to apply for club entries to the 2009 London Marathon.
If any member would like to be considered for one of these places, please contact Karen Moody by e-mail to kazmoody@yahoo.co.uk to register your interest as soon as possible. Normal entry fees will be payable for these places.
|
|
Dear all,
|
|
Several of our veteran athletes took part in the British Championships at Alexander Stadium last weekend.
Christine Kilkenny dominated the W55 5000m race to win in a time of 19:55.96. Kristian Lundby won a silver medal in the M60 long jump with 4.63m and bronze in the triple jump with 9.88m. He also just missed out on a medal in the javelin, throwing 38.77m.
Our throwers did well with Martin Roberts and Alison George both winning two medals each. Martin threw the hammer 42.92m and the weight 11.11m for two bronze medals whilst Alison recorded a shot of 9.53m to win silver, just 2cm behind the gold medal winning put and also threw the weight 7.79m for bronze.
Gary Myles took silver in the M45 110m hurdles in 21.31 and recorded a time of 13.22 in the heats of the 100m. Paul Edwards took a bronze medal home after finishing 3rd in the 400m hurdles. Andy Weetman made the final of the 100m by running 12.46 in his heat and came 7th in the final in 12.73.
|
|
Dot Fellows gained a silver medal in her age group at the BMAF 10k Road Championships at Loughborough on Sunday.
The event doubled up as the Midland Masters Championships where Dot again won the silver medal.
|
|
Jamie Graham represented GB in the Learning Difficulties Open European Championships at Sport City at the weekend. 22 European countries took part along with teams from South Africa and Australia.
Jamie, at a few days short of his 17th birthday, was the youngest athlete to have represented GB in any INAS World or European competition.
As expected, the competition was of a high standard and Jamie finished fifth in his heat, despite recording a time of 57.15. He also ran the first leg of the 4 x 400m where the GB team came 5th in the final but were unfortunately disqualified.
|
|
Cannock & Stafford's U20s team finished second to Birchfield in the latest Junior League Midland Premier match at Cannock Stadium on Sunday. This result lifted the club to 3rd in the eight team League and guaranteed their survival in the division for next season.
Again, the success was based on athletes being willing to fill gaps in events that they would not normally do. The pole vaulters appeared for the first time this season and Louise Foster and Sammy Witton went on to gain maximum points in 'A' and 'B' vaults. Guy Mayer recorded an amazing 52.8 in his first competitive 400m. Radek Bednarczyk gained a pb in the 800m with 2:05.4 and Chris Perrin, on his debut, beat his previous best 1500m time recording 4:15.8.
Adam Smith and Adam Rigby scored heavily in their specialist events of 400m hurdles and high jump as well as competing in a number of other events.
Ian McCann and Becky Cooke doubled up in 800 and 1500m races and Cally Reed ran 57.7 secs in the 400m before winning the 1500m. Hollie Allan lowered her best 400m time to 62.4 and Harriet Thompson, also in her first meeting of the season, came 2nd in the 100m.
Hannah Greaves competed in the 800m before running 27.6 in the 200m and the 3000m runners, Alex Jackson, Philip Pugh, Rebecca Phillips and Rebecca Bray, had to endure torrential rain to score well in the event.
Alasdair Rigby competed in the 110m hurdles and steeplechase, two events where we usually have no competitors and James Perrin also made his debut in the steeplechase. Dan Millerchip gained pbs in both discus and hammer, Chad Barton won the 'B' discus as well as throwing the javelin over 53m and Dan Timmis came 3rd in the 'A' shot and 'B' hammer. Jamie Hammond and Ashley Bennett scored well in long and triple jumps and Isabel Rogers won the women's long jump event.
Sally Clague threw a pb of 28.89m in the javelin and Hannah Jones won the 'B' javelin and also threw the hammer.
Jane Bourne and Anna Denning contributed well in the throwing events and Chloe Boulter showed her all round abilities by finishing second in the high jump and triple jump as well as running the 400m hurdles. Leanne Jones recorded a season's best in the triple jump as well as competing in the 100m, 200m and long jump and Elisha Bateman finished her 400m hurdles run despite struggling with a knee injury.
|
|
On Sunday, in Horwich nr Bolton, the British Masters held their 5k road racing championships. Once again our women were equal to the challenge with Christine Kilkenny taking a silver medal in the W55 category and Chris Rollason finishing 7th in the same age group. Dot Fellows missed out on a medal in her age group finishing 4th with her race being won in a world record time.
Our team combined to win the W55 team gold, and put in such a strong performance they would have secured 3rd place overall in any age group.
|
|
Stacey Johnson ran a very controlled race to win gold at the England Athletics U23 championship 1500m in a time of 4:31.3. She finished over 5 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.
In the U20 men's 800m, Sam Evans qualified for the final by finishing 3rd in his heat in 1:52.1. In blustery conditions in the final, Sam came home 5th in a time of 1:54.25.
|
|
Today, UK Athletics nominated a team of 35 athletes for the British team for the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and amongst them was Cannock & Stafford's Martin Crutchley. Martin recently achieved the qualifying standard in the F38 shot with a pb throw of 13.73m.
UK Athletics Director of Disability, Tim Jones said:
“We are pleased to be able to nominate such a strong team for Beijing, which is a real blend of both youth and experience. Over half of the nominated team are set to make their debut at the Paralympic Games, in particular 8 of the 14 female athletes.
“UK Athletics set some tough qualifying standards to ensure a high quality team, and it is testament to the determination and talent of our athletes that these were achieved and exceeded.
“It is important that a large majority of the travelling team is capable of winning medals, and we are confident that this will be the case in Beijing. We all know that the Paralympics will be the real test, but we believe the Paralympics GB athletics team is exceptionally well prepared for the challenge ahead.”
|
|
On a scorching day at Solihull on Sunday, a number of C&S's veteran athletes competed in the Midland Championships and between them came away with a haul of medals.
First to gain a medal was Alison George who achieved a Championship best performance in the W45 shot of 9.54m. She was followed shortly afterwards by Martin Roberts who won the hammer with 40.96m and Shaun Ainge who came first in the high jump with 1.60m. Shaun later won his second gold by winning the M40 400m in 57.2.
Gary Myles and Paul Edwards won gold and silver respectively in the 110m hurdles with Gary recording a time of 17.6 and Paul 19.4. Paul followed this with gold in the 400m hurdles in 64.9 and also competed in the 100 and 200m before finishing off with a great run of 58.8 in the 400m although, in a very competitive M45 category, this was only good enough for 6th place.
Considering the strong opposition, Andy Weetman did well to qualify for both the 100 and 200m finals in times of 12.1 and 25.7 seconds but just missed out on the medals running slightly slower than his heat times in the finals.
Kristian Lundby had a very successful day in the M60 age group winning silver in the high jump and following this with gold in the long jump (4.54m), javelin and triple jump. Kevin Sammons, competing in his first Midland Championships, ran in the 100m, 200m (30.0) and 400m (75.0)
Christine Kilkenny was our second female athlete to compete and she led the W55 5000m from start to finish to win gold in 19:56.7.
|
|
C&S kept in the hunt for promotion by finishing second to Solihull and Small Heath in the 2nd Senior League meeting of the season on Saturday.
Guy Mayer won both 100m A race and 200m B race in times of 11.4 and 23.4. Jamie Mills won his 400m B race in 52.0 secs and Adam Smith won the 800m B race in 2:18.8 soon after recording a pb of 61.3 in the 400m hurdles. Alex Jackson ran brilliantly to win the 3000m in a pb of 9:19.9 and also came 3rd in the 800m with 2:05.8.
Steve Haywood stepped in at the last minute to run the 3000m steeplechase and, with an excellent performance, sprinted away from his nearest rival at the final water jump to win. Richard Parker won the shot put with 11.85m and came 3rd in the discus. He was ably supported by Josh Tunnicliffe who came 2nd in the 'B' in both events. Martin Roberts won the hammer with 44.14m.
Hannah Greaves ran her best time of the season to finish 2nd in the 200m (27.2 secs) and Cally Reed ran the same time to win the 'B' race. Kerri Genders won the 400m B race with 61.1 and later came 2nd in the 800m. Rebecca Cooke won the 1500m in 5:07.6 and Lucy Haywood won the 3000m in 10:25.5.
The women's shot putt was a successful event with Alison George winning the 'A' competition and Carol Denning the 'B'. Alison also won the hammer with 27.20m.
The women's 4 x 400m team of Cally Reed, Becky Cooke, Natalie Ainge and Kerri Genders were the final C&S winners of the day.
Praise must also be given to the clubs younger athletes who competed for the club against athletes who were sometimes much older than themselves and never looked out of place at this level. They include Josh Sutton, Alasdair Rigby, Sam Derry, Stuart Davies, Daniel Millerchip, Chloe Boulter, Natalie Ainge, Beth and Alicia Clarke and Anna Denning.
|
|
The Cannock & Stafford AC U20 team finished fifth in the latest Junior League meeting at Tamworth but were only ten points behind a second consecutive third place finish.
A number of athletes had given up the opportunity to compete in the Midland Championships to take part in this meeting and their attendance was greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, there were still gaps, with nobody taking part in the pole vault, steeplechase or sprint hurdles.
Events started on the field. Jamie Hammond continued his excellent progress by finishing 2nd in the long jump with a pb of 6.02m and later finished 4th in the 'B' triple jump with 10.99m. Ashley Bennett won the 'B' long jump with 5.86m and came 4th in the triple jump with 11.77m. In the hammer, Daniel Millerchip threw 25.52m and was ably supported by Chad Barton who threw 23.53m. Daniel later threw a pb in the shot of 11.36m and came 4th in the discus with 29.94m. Special mention must go to Chad who followed his hammer throw with a first place in the javelin. After the first three rounds of throws, Chad was lying in 3rd place. Whilst all the other competitors decided to gain shelter from the poor weather conditions, Chad continued and made it pay with a throw of 49.79m. Josh Tunnicliffe won the 'B' shot with 10.31m and came 2nd in the 'B' discus with 27.78m. Hannah Jones threw a pb of 20.17 to finish 4th in the women's javelin.
In the women's hammer, Chloe Boulter, throwing the implement for the first time, recorded a distance of 16.82m to finish 6th. It was a busy afternoon for Chloe who showed her versatility by also running the 400m hurdles and coming 5th in the high jump. Anna Denning came 5th in the 'B' hammer and also scored useful points in shot and discus. Jane Bourne had been hospitalised during the week but turned out to finish 2nd in the 'B' javelin, 5th in the discus and 6th in the shot.
Another all rounder, Adam Rigby, won the high jump with 1.80m, came 4th in the 'B' 400m hurdles and 2nd in the 'B' javelin. Sean Rich, competing for the first time at this level, gained a pb of 1.70m in the high jump and also ran well in the 400m hurdles. In the women's 400m hurdles, Natalie Ainge won the 'B' race in 71.4, winning the race by almost three seconds in only her second attempt at the event. Nat also came 3rd in the triple jump with a pb of 9.84m and 5th in the 400m with 63.1. Hollie Allan won her 2nd 'B' 400m in succession in 64.4.
Isabel Rogers finished 2nd in the long jump with 5.02m and had good support from Leanne Jones who finished 3rd in the 'B'. Leanne also came 2nd in the 'B' triple jump and ran in the 100m and 200m. Natalie Edwards also doubled up in the 100 and 200 and came 3rd in the 'B' high jump with 1.40m.
Guy Mayer came 5th in the 100m in 11.7 and 6th in the 200 in 23.8. Josh Sutton, despite a terrible start, came 4th in the 'B' 100m in 12.0 and Kieran Walsh ran 24.2 in the 200m and gained a new pb in the 400m of 52.8, just being beaten to the line by a Notts athlete in the 'B' race. Sam Evans finished 2nd in the 'A' 400m in a time of 49.7. The 800m saw two debutants at this level. Radek Bednarczyk ran 2:08.4 to finish 6th and Becky Cooke 2:27.7 to finish 4th. Jamie Graham (2:17.5) and Beth Clarke (2:45.6) were the 'B' runners. In the 1500m, Cally Reed came 2nd in a season's best 4:47.6 and Beth Clarke came 3rd in the 'B'. In the men's races, Ian McCann came 4th in 4:22.3 and Sam Derry 2nd in the 'B' in 4:44.9.
The 3000m women both performed excellently with Rebecca Phillips coming 2nd in 11:29.5 and Rebecca Bray 2nd in the 'B' in 11:47.0
The men's and women's 4 x 100m relay teams finished 4th and 5th respectively. It was the turn of the women's 4 x 400m to out perform their male counterparts by finishing second in their race (Natalie Ainge 64.5, Hollie Allan 64.8, Becky Cooke 64.5, Cally Reed 58.4) whilst the lads couldn't quiet repeat the heroics of Alexander Stadium finishing in 4th. (Radek Bednarczyk 56.3, Ian McCann 55.5, Kieran Walsh 53.5, Sam Evans 50.1)
|
|
Harriet Thompson raced to gold in the U17W 80m hurdles at the weekend. With Elisha Bateman unfortunately missing the event due to injury, Harriet won her heat in 11.91 and then went even faster in the final, winning in 11.84 secs.
Gemma Smith took gold on countback in a very close long jump competition. She won with a distance of 5.20m whilst team mate Isabel Rogers jumped only 6cm less and finished 5th! On Sunday, Gemma gained her 2nd gold of the weekend by recording 11.30m in the triple jump.
Louise Foster and Sammy Jo Witton won gold and Silver in the pole vault with jumps of 2.70 and 2.60m respectively and Craig Ridgway just missed out on a medal finishing 4th with a vault of 3.50m.
Beth Denning took a fine bronze medal in the discus with a throw of 22.71m and also took part in the shot, finishing 8th with 8.45m.
Elsewhere, Craig Sammons made the final of the U15 100m finishing 2nd in his heat in 12.43 and came 7th in the final despite going faster (12.26). The following day, Craig also reached the final of the 200m, finishing 8th, by running 24.76 secs. Chad Barton threw the javelin 55.10m for fourth place and Chloe Boulter cleared 1.50m in the high jump for fifth.
Megan Jones competed in the 100m (4th in heat in 13.43), long jump (4.32, 11th) and 200m where she ran a new pb of 27.45. Megan Humphries also ran the 100m (13.78, 6th in heat).
Chris and James Perrin both had to contend with two 1500m runs in a day. Chris finished 8th in the final in 4:26.44 whilst James finished 11th in 4:41.21, both times slightly slower than their heats. Sarah Hulme ran in the U15G 1500m, finishing 5th in her heat in a new pb of 5:11.36.
In the U15 800m, Shanie Reed reached the final and came 6th with a time of 2:27.31. Catherine Hulme ran 2:31.31 in the heats and Julie Addison 2:39.17. In the U17, Rachel Atherton came 4th in her heat with 2:24.06. In the U15B 800m, Ashley Wickett finished 2nd in his heat in 2:20.58 but unfortunately failed to make the final.
In the javelin, Sally Clague finished 6th in the U17 with a throw of 28.15m and Lucy Heap 11th in the U15 with a throw of 20.19m.
|
|
Martin Crutchley recorded a new National record for the discus at the English Federation of Disability Sport Regional Athletics Championships at Alexander Stadium with a throw of 30.37m, beating his personal best by over 2m.
In other events, there were gold medals galore for
C&S athletes. Ian Cope won gold in 100, 200 and 400m
(Wheelchair). Jamie Graham gold in 200, 400, 800m
and Ben Gilbert won gold in both Wheelchair Club and
Distance Club (Wheelchair)
The disabled athlete coach, David Crutchley won gold
in Distance Club and Discus and Kevin Ward gold in
100,200,400m (Wheelchair)
|
|
Cally Reed took home two gold medals from the County Championships on Saturday but, after winning the 800m in 2:12.9, it was her Championship best performance of 57.4 in the 400m that stole the show.
Gemma Smith also recorded a Championship record, and equalled her pb, whilst recording 11.55m in the triple jump. This was also Gemma's third medal of the day having won the U17 100m and gained silver in the long jump behind team mate Isabel Rogers who won with a leap of 5.19m.
Craig Sammons had a successful day in the U15, winning both the 100m and long jump, and gaining bronze in the 200m. Adam Phillips won the U15 shot and came 2nd in both hammer and discus. In the U17 age group, Daniel Millerchip won a full set of medals with gold in the shot, silver in the discus and bronze in the javelin.
Adam Smith gained two pbs in winning the U20 400m hurdles in 61.8 and finishing third in the 400m in 53.9. Gary Myles won the 110m hurdles race to record C&S's only senior men's gold.
In the U15 800m, C&S athletes filled the top three places with Shanie Reed winning in 2:25.4 followed by sisters Teresa and Catherine Hulme in 2nd and 3rd.
Harriet Thompson won the U17 80m hurdles and Chloe Boulter cleared 1.55m for the first time to win the high jump. Sally Clague won the javelin with a throw of 27.00m and Louise Foster headed a C&S 1-2 in the pole vault with a height of 2.90m, Sammy-Jo Witton getting the silver medal with 2.50m.
Leanne Jones won the U20 triple jump with 9.55m and, in the seniors, Katie Leek won double gold in the 200 and 400m races recording times of 26.9 and 60.8 respectively.
Other medallists were: Silver: Jordan Barrett (U13B 1500m); Charlie Low (U13B long jump); Jade Bird (U15G 1500m); Rachel Atherton (U17W 800m); Josh Sutton (U17M 200m); Jamie Hammond (U17M long jump); Craig Ridgway (U17M pole vault); Hannah Greaves (U20W 100m); Natalie Edwards (U20W high jump); Guy Mayer (U20M 100m); Paul Edwards (110m hurdles) and Martin Roberts (hammer) Bronze: Amelia Ridgway (U13G 1500m); Grace O'Connell (U13G 200m); James Russell (U13B 800m & javelin); Lucy Heap (U15G javelin); Jessica Leek (U15G long jump); Ashley Wickett (U15B 800m); Richard Stanley (U15B javelin); Isabel Rogers (U17W 100m); Natalie Ainge (U17W 300m); Rebecca Bray (U17W 1500m); Chris Perrin (U17M 1500m); Alex Pinner (U17M 200m); Hannah Greaves (U20W 200m) and Jamie Graham (U20M 800m)
|
|
Cannock & Stafford’s Junior athletes excelled on Sunday at Alexander Stadium to finish third in their first Junior League outing of the season.
It was a day of numerous personal best performances. Kieron Walsh and Adam Smith both recorded their fastest 400m times for the second meeting in succession (53.14 and 54.04 respectively) whilst Natalie Ainge (61.22) and Hollie Allan (62.5) achieved best times in the women’s race. Cally Reed shook off recent injury problems to win the 800m ‘A’ race in a pb of 2:11.64 and Sam Derry ran 2:19.04 for his best time in the 800m. Sam also ran in the 1500m in his first event at this level.
On the field, Chad Barton threw the javelin a massive 55.88m to beat his previous best by almost 4m and Dan Millerchip threw the shot 11.12m in his first competition with the heavier weight, whilst Isabel Rogers won the long jump with 5.44m. Jamie Hammond achieved pbs in both long jump (5.72m) and triple jump (11.42m)
Across the board, the C&S athletes turned in good performances. Sam Evans (1500m ‘A’), Alex Jackson (3000m ‘B’), Alasdair Rigby (high jump), Chloe Boulter (400m hurdles ‘B’ and high jump ‘B’), Natalie Ainge (long jump) and Gemma Smith (triple jump) were other individual winners.
Guy Mayer, Josh Sutton and Lucy Dubberley all doubled up in the 100m and 200m to earn valuable points. Leanne Jones finished 2nd in the triple jump ‘B’, 4th in the javelin ‘B’ and ran 13.81 in the 100m whilst her sister Hannah threw the javelin 19.26m in her first competition. Kieron Walsh competed in the hammer and javelin as well as his 400m run and Adam Smith also ran the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles (63.03). Daniel Millerchip came 3rd in the discus and competed in the hammer and Adam Rigby cleared 1.85m in the high jump as well as finishing 3rd in the ‘B’ discus.
Ian McCann ran 9:19.41 to finish 3rd in the 3000m ‘A’ and Alasdair Rigby showed his versatility by competing in the 400m hurdles and 2000m steeplechase. Ash Bennett came close to his pb’s in both long jump (5.98m) and triple jump (12.31m). Rachel Atherton doubled up in the 800m and 1500m, finishing 2nd in the ‘B’ 800m and 5th in the ‘A’ 1500m. Rebecca Bray (4th in ‘A’) and Beth Clarke (3rd in ‘B’) ran well in the 3000m. Elisha Bateman ran her fastest 400m hurdles time in a race where the league record was broken.
Jane Bourne, also in her first competition at this level came an excellent 3rd in the discus and also took part in the shot and she was ably supported in the throws by Anna Denning who scored useful points in discus, shot and hammer.
As always, the relays finished the meeting in magnificent style. After both the men’s and women’s 4x100m teams finished 6th in their races, our excellent 4x400m squads took centre stage. Natalie Ainge, Rachel Atherton, Hollie Allan and Cally Reed came a comfortable 2nd behind Birchfield with all four runners recording excellent split times (62.3, 63.1, 64 and 57.5 respectively).
The men were involved in a memorable race. Solid runs from Adam Smith (54.8) and Ian McCann (54.1) and an amazing leg from Kieron Walsh (53.2) who stormed through the field still left Sam Evans at least 30m behind the Birchfield runner when he was handed the batten. Sam steadily eat into the lead and despite still being around 10m behind when rounding the final bend he managed to pull alongside with 40m to go and eased past to win in 3:30.77. Sam's spilt was 48.9.
A fitting end to a great day.
|
|
At the CP Sports Grand Prix meeting at Harvey Hadden on Saturday, Martin Crutchley threw a pb in the shot of 12.93m.
Martin was one of four C&S athletes taking part in the meeting. Jamie Graham ran season best performances in both the 200m (25.61) and in the 400m (56.03). Wheelchair athlete Ian Cope competed in the 100m (22.58), 200m (39.96) and 400m (77.89) whilst young Ben Gilbert threw the discus 4.75m and the club 7.27m.
|
|
On the 20th April the Midland Masters Road Relays were held at Sutton Park and our W45 team of Chris Rollason, Chris Kilkenny and Dot Fellows successfully defended their title of Midland Masters Champions.
Chris Rollason went off first and was opposed by Leamington ACs best runner and when Chris came back 1min 18 secs in arrears, Christine Kilkenny set off with great determination on the second leg and turned the deficit into a lead of 3min 17 secs. Dot went off on the last leg and eventually bought the team back with a victory margin of 1min 58secs, It must be realised that all of our team are over 55 years old and one is over 60. The Leamington team were all under 50 years old.
The only women's team to finish ahead of the C&S trio, in any age group, were the Bournville W35 team.
|
|
The conditions were against the sprinters who took part in the Charnwood Open meeting on Sunday but, despite this, there were some promising performances by Cannock and Stafford athletes.
A strong wind blowing into the faces of the runners in the home straight on a generally cold and overcast day meant that times were always going to be down against normal performances. Our first athlete to compete was Adam Smith who ran 64.4 in the 400m hurdles. Our veteran athletes led the way in the 100m with Andy Weetman recording 12.6 and Paul Edwards 13.2. Olivia Walker (U15) and Leanne Jones both finished in 14.2 seconds, Natalie Edwards 14.6 and Emily Fowler-Parkes (U13) a personal best of 15.6. Olivia followed her fine 100m performance by completing the 75m hurdles in 14.4.
Jessica Leek is in her first year of competing as a U15 athlete but the holder of the club record for the U13 long jump looks set to carry on where she left off last season as she recorded a pb of 4.93m in the long jump competition. She also competed in the 200m where she recorded 29.3 seconds. Josh Sutton was the fastest of our runners in the 200m with 24.8 followed by Andy Weetman (25.8), Jamie Graham (26.4) and Paul Edwards in 26.7. Also competing in the 200m were Leanne Jones who ran 30.8, Natalie Edwards (30.2), Emily Fowler Parkes (33.6) and Paul Crutchley (29.1).
Probably the best performances on the track came in the longer sprint events. Natalie Ainge won the 300m by 6 seconds whilst finishing in 43.2 secs. Katie Leek won her 400m race with a strong last 100m in 61.4 and Adam Smith and Kieron Walsh both recorded pbs in 54.3 and 54.2 seconds respectively. Jamie Graham ran 58.6 to follow on from his 800m performance of 2:24.2 and Paul Edwards finished in 59.1.
|
|
The 2008 Athletics season is only a few weeks away, would any officials who have received an availability letter but have not returned it please do so as soon as possible. It is vital that sufficient officials are available to successfully hold the 4 matches that the club has agreed to host.
Those matches are:- 18th May UK Athletics YAL Cannock 19th June Midlands Vets League Stafford 29th June National Junior League Cannock 20th July UK Athletics YAL Cannock
Any officials who have not received an availability letter or email please contact the club and your details will be forwarded to Simon Evans, Officials Co-ordinator.
|
|
Three athletes representing Cannock & Stafford took part in the BMAF National Cross Country Championships at the weekend and pride of place went to Christine Kilkenny who not only won the W55 age group in 28min 40secs, she relegated Paula Fudge and Anne Ford to 2nd and 3rd in her age group. Paula and Anne are former Great Britain internationals and tend to dominate in their age group.
Christine made a strong start on the first of three laps and had a good lead going into lap two. With spectators telling Paula and Anne how far they were behind they worked really hard to close the gap but Christine had kept enough in reserve to earn a wonderful win. Christine was well supported in the W55 age group by Chris Rollason, who despite being out of an individual medal place ran a strong race.
In the W60 age group we were represented by Dot Fellows, who ran strongly throughout but had to give second best to Angela Copson from Rugby/Northants. Dot finished over 4minutes clear of the third finisher.
At the awards ceremony we discovered that out three athletes had in fact took the W55 team gold award and were crowned the British W55 team champions for 2008.
|
|
Firstly, CP Sport has guaranteed places in the Great Manchester Run on the 18 May 2008 if you are able to raise £125 in sponsorship. Full details and entry form are available here.
The B of the Bang 10k takes place on the 25th May and is a race around the Sports City complex. An entry form for this event is available here.
|
|
Stacey said "I am absolutely delighted, it is my first GB call up of what I intend to be of many. I hope that I can help inspire younger athletes in the club to continue competing when faced with injuries as from Under 17 I have battled with several injuries which have hindered my progression. Gaining selection is the ultimate reward and makes all the hard training worth while."
Congratulations Stacey!
|
|
Cannock & Stafford will compete in Division 5 against Solihull & Small Heath, Stratford, Worcester, Leicester and Shrewsbury.
|
|
Representing Staffordshire, Tom Humphries was pushed on in the early stages by Phil Wicks of Surrey but finally managed to finish 8 seconds in front of his rival at the race at Wollaton Park in Nottingham.
The race doubled up as a trial for the World Championships in Edinburgh at the end of the month and Tom's selection was well earned.
|
|
You will be able to choose from Field, Starter/Marksman, Timekeeping or Track.
I understand that the fee will be covered by Sport England so, in the first instance, please contact me via the website and Simon Evans will forward the relevant forms.
|
|
It’s not a highly publicised race and doesn’t attract a massive field, allegedly due to how tough it is. For a tortoise like me that made it a tad daunting, normally on the start line I give a glance around to see who I’m sure I’ll be in front of….. with only a handful of women entered, all of those had single figure body fat and well worn club vests, I feared my results may not be too good! My target was just use it as training, not to come last and to run the whole 21 miles.
The first couple of minutes set the tone of the race as it’s a steep uphill climb which certainly sorts the men from the boys. I was amazed as I ran round they’d managed to find a route that was 90% uphill, how did they manage that? The downs were so steep, no advantage was made time wise as it was necessary to watch your footing. It’s a mixture of sand, shale, mud, track you name it we ran on it. The views are fantastic, the course a real challenge (but fun), the marshals superb and even a good amount of drinks stations.
My target of to run the whole course was stuppered by a couple of fierce hills which turned even the leaders into walkers with hands on thighs to make the summits.
I was very pleased to see Stuart (my other half) a mile or so from the finish as he had finished over an hour earlier and had walked back to encourage me up the final climbs. I dragged myself over the finish line in 3.38 which was not in last place and definitely earned me the mars bar we were given.
Anyone wanting to up the miles with a marathon looming or to set themselves a challenge I would strongly recommend doing this race run by Cannock and Stafford Athletic club.
Perie Haddon - Derby Tri
I would just like to say a big thank you to all involved in the Milford 21 on March 10 2008. I was impressed by the friendliness of the assembled “condemned man” the cheerfulness of the marshals, which pop up all over the course and in the strangest of place and the St John Ambulance for their attendance, although I had to turn down their offer of a lift. – Very well organised.
Like your last competitor (Perie Haddon) I too had targeted this race as a training run after being off colour for about 3 weeks and with London looming, Milford became a “do or die” attempt at getting back on track. I managed to finish (be it rather slowly in 3 hrs 39 min) but would wiling do it again for another Mars bar? I too have never seen a course quite like it, the only thing it hasn’t got is a ”flat piece” and the series of back to back hills at around 11 miles is absolutely sole destroying. If any runner needs to test their mental strength, then I can strongly recommend this event. The rewards are magnificent with good views on the hills over looking Staffordshire and flora and fauna be suiting a conservation area. Why other runners choose to hammer out 20 miles in the other tarmac race down the road is quite beyond me. Perhaps they just like an easy life.
Many thanks again.
Andy Osgathorpe - Stone Master Marathoners
|
|
|
|
Sam Evans achieved his first national medal when finishing third in the 800 metres at the Under 20s National Indoor Championships at Birmingham on Sunday. These championships were an excellent learning curve for Sam having to contend with both a qualifying heat and final within four hours of each other. Having qualified for the final by comfortably winning his heat in 1:55.68, Sam found himself in last place at the halfway distance in the final, having been tripped and spiked early on. He demonstrated tremendous spirit and determination in recovering from this set back and running an excellent third lap before attaining third place overall in a time of 1:56.30.
Gemma Smith jumped 11.42 for the second time this season to win a silver medal in the U17W triple jump event. Adam Rigby was our other entrant and he recorded a height of 1.81m in the U20M high jump.
|
|
On a tough hilly 12000 metre course, close to the theme park, there were three laps of four kilometres and straight from the cannon Humphries was in the leading three athletes vying for first place with almost two thousand runners behind. On the beginning of the second lap he injected a faster pace to brake the following pack and for a while only Phil Wicks from Belgrave could muster any pressure but he soon started to lose touch with Humphries as Tom kicked again on the third lap to take complete control of the race.
The only anxious moment came towards the end of the race when a mass of back markers blocked his way on a steep climb giving Wicks a chance to close in but a bit of physical contact soon saw Humphries through and he went on to finish over thirty seconds ahead of his opponent.
This was his first senior national title but a second title following his under 17 win five years ago.
C&S, for the first time in years, finished a scoring six athletes in the senior men’s race with Rob Little crossing the line in an excellent 58th with James Houghton 109th, Craig Pearson 209th, Dave Constance 691st and Tim Buss 1030th. The team were 25th.
The senior women’s race saw Stacey Johnson finish in a fantastic ninth place beating some of the country’s top female senior runners to put herself in contention for selection to the world champs in March. Christine Kilkenny was the only other woman in 174th.
Another C&S star in the making is twelve year old Jade Bird who, following her two county titles at club and schools level produced her best performance to date finishing a brilliant fifth place in the under thirteen girl’s championship. In about twentieth early on she rapidly moved through in the latter stages to finish ahead of several fancied athletes. Giving Jade good support were Rebecca Straw 56th, Tara Thorpe 138th, Lydia Trow 163rd, Amelia Ridgway 186th and Alex Smith 313th. The team were a splendid 10th overall.
The under 13 boys ran really well to finish 28th with Joe Bailey in 63rd, Matthew Haywood 159th, Ryan Terry 202nd,William Haycox 208th, Tom Childs 221st and Jasper Hall 302nd.
The under 15 girls were a fine 12th place with Catherine Hulme 94th, Rebecca Bray 97th, Rebecca Cooke 102nd, Teresa Hulme 139th, Rebecca Philips 187th, Sarah Hulme 196th and Julie Addison 227th.
The under 15 boys were a creditable 17th place with good runs from Chris Perrin 47th, Ashley Wickett 105th, Sam Derry 162nd, Jack Lockett 185th, James Perrin 208th and Stuart Davies 293rd.
The under 17 men and women had only one competitor each with Rachel Atherton 89th and Hayden Carter 177th.
Bob Hughes, Team Manager and U.K. Athletics Coach
|
|
Dear Sirs,
|
|
In the high jump, Adam Rigby tied in first place with a jump of 1.85m whilst his brother, Alasdair, equalled his pb for the second time in a week to finish third in the U17M with 1.80m. Gemma Smith jumped 11.31m to win the U17W triple jump and Jane Bourne improved last weeks bronze m |
