On Saturday 15^th January Christine helped the Cannock & Stafford senior team to first place in the county cross-country
championships held in Sandwell Valley.  She was 3^rd scorer in the team who were most surprised at their success.  On
the following day Christine and Dot Fellows contested the Midland Veterans cross-country championship at Birchfield
and both were successful in winning their respective age groups, Christine winning the W50 age group and Dot the W60.

For the first time in a long time we failed to field a team in this competition and had to settle for individual successes.

On the following Friday the North Staffs Road Running Association held their presentation evening and again we had a
successful evening with Dot picking up one of the major awards when she was presented with the Veteran Female of the
ear award, there were also awards for Gillian Russon, Jeanne Bryan and Gill Caldwell.

Towards the end of January BMAF held their indoor championships at Cardiff and Anne Wainwright performed
brilliantly to win the gold medal in the W50 Pentathlon, during this competition she lowered her PB in the 60m
hurdles by 2 seconds and she gives the credit for this to Gary Myles who has been coaching her over hurdles.

I do not normally comment on individual road races but in the Alsager 5miler held in February 2005 Dot ran 34min
21secs which put her top of the W60 all time rankings, breaking a record set in 1996 by 25secs. To say that she was
pleased would be slightly understating it.

On 4^th May Dot and Jeanne ran in the Clayton 10k road race which had been designated as the Staffs championship
for that distance.  Dot ran 43mim 50secs to win the gold medal in the W60 age group and though slightly slower
Jeanne beat all of the W55 runners to pick up that gold medal.

On the following night the veteran’s track & field league started with a meeting at Telford, our women’s team was
far from full strength on the night with several athletes dropping out at the last minute and to come away with a
victory was really quite astonishing.  I don’t know why I am surprised at our women’s team because they always
seem to pull out superb performances.

There were wins for Anne Wainwright (W50 100m, W45 400m and W45 high jump, Gillian Russon won the W35B 2k
Walk, Dot Fellows had wins in the W35A 2k Walk and W45 1500m (Setting a league record) and Carol Lowndes won
the W35 Javelin. With great back up by Christine Kilkenny and Sue Kneill-Boxley this team simply refuses to be beaten.

Our men’s team competed well and there were victories for Andy Weetman M40A 100m, Gary Myles M40B 100m and
Martin Roberts in the M40 Hammer.  Terry Faulkner was unfortunate to pull his hamstring in his first event and took
no further part in the meeting and with yours truly bombing out in the M60 shot and M50 triple jump (I could not reach
the pit) we did well to finish 4^th only one point behind Telford.

On 17^th May Dot was again in record breaking form on the road, whilst competing in the Stone St Michael’s 10k she
lowered the British record by running 43min 06secs to lower the old record by two seconds.

Early in June we contested the second veterans track & field league at Stoke and once again our women rose to the
challenge with a succession of victories, Anne Wainwright had wins in the Pole Vault and 200m, Kay Finch, Gillian Russon
and Dot Fellows had a clean sweep in the 800m and Sue Johnson, Sue Kneill-Boxley and Dot Fellows repeated the clean
sweep in the 3000m.  Both of Dots runs were W60 age group League records.  Our men’s team Failed to gain any
individual wins but a solid team performance saw them gain third place on the night and move up to third in the league overall.

MVAC held their Track & Field Championships at Solihull and again our athletes achieved great success, Shaun Ainge
won gold in the M40 High Jump (P.B. 1.65m) Martin Roberts took gold in the M45 Hammer, Alison George took gold in
the W40 Shot and Anne Wainwright took gold in the W50 Javelin & Shot.  Two weeks later BMAF held their Pentathlon
championships at Milton Keynes and Shaun exceeded all of his expectations by securing the Bronze medal in the M40
age group, Anne did likewise in the W50 age group.  MVAC held their championship in conjunction with the BMAF event
and Shaun took the gold medal with Andy Weetman taking silver, Anne again took gold.

BMAF held their 5k Road running championship at Horwich and Dot Fellows won the W60 title in a time of 21min 09secs
securing her 27^th British championship. 

In the second week in July the veterans held their third round of league fixtures at Stafford with Shaun Ainge securing the
only two individual wins (H Jump & 100mB) in the men’s team, they finished 4^th on the night and remained 3^rd overall in
the league.  Our women’s team continued their dominance of their division with a convincing victory at Stafford, Anne Wainwright
had victories in the 100m, 400m and Long Jump and was also a member of the winning relay team, Sue Kneill-Boxley, Sue
Johnson and Dot Fellows all won their respective age groups in the 1500m and for good measure Sue Johnson also won her
age group 400m.  With one round of fixtures left both teams are in a position to qualify for the “A” cup finals at the end of
the season.

In the final round of league fixtures in August both teams competed at Wyndley (Sutton).  There were no individual wins but
a good all round team performance saw our men’s team again secure 3^rd place.  This meeting saw the debut in the veteran’s
ranks of club chairman Gary Denning who promptly set a veterans club record in the Shot. (Signs of more to come).  Our
women’s team were very much depleted and we went to Sutton with only 5 athletes, Dot Fellows had 3 victories (200m, 800m
& 3000m) whilst Anne Wainwright had 2 victories (200m & 800m) their victories were achieved in different age groups, but for
the first time in a long time we were unable to cover every event and eventually finished 2^nd to RSC. This was sufficient to
clinch the Northern division championship for the third successive season and a coveted place in the women’s “A” final.

When the results of the fixtures in the other divisions came through it became clear that our men’s team had also qualified for
the “A” final.  This is the first time that the men had achieved this and I look on it as a sign of progress by the team.

The finals took place at Worcester early in September and just when we wanted our strongest teams out our women’s team
were reduced to just 6 athletes, the finals consist of a full athletics programme and last all day, this put a tremendous strain on
all of our athletes with Anne Wainwright doing 8 events Sue Kneill- Boxley 7 events and Dot Fellows 6 events bearing the brunt
of the work.  The team finished a magnificent 3^rd on the day only a few points behind favourites Rugby & Northampton and RSC. 
Dot had wins in the 1500m & 3000m Anne won
the 200m, 400m and Pole Vault and Alison George Won both the Shot and Discus.  What a superb team effort by all concerned
and I was so proud to be team manager on the day. To draw a comparison RSC had
12 athletes competing in the final and unfortunately for one reason or another we had 7 unable to compete.

Our expectations in the men’s final were a lot lower having secured the 8^th qualifying place, Unlike our women we were unable
to cover every event and went into the meeting with 4 gaps, It did not help when yours truly pulled a hamstring in the first field
event and this caused me to drop out of 2 others, not to be outdone Tim Buss then pulled his hamstring in the 3000m and was
unable to finish that race and also was unable to do his 1500m.  Had we been able to compete in the events that we missed
then the men would have finished 6^th a sure sign of progress made during the season but as it was we ended up 8^th beaten by
5pts by RSC and 3pts by Leamington.

At the end of the meeting the teams were presented with their trophies won during the season with our women collecting the
shield for divisional champions and Dot was voted the outstanding female athlete in the division. Probably the six league records
she set during the season had something to do with it. 

Just prior to the cup final, the veteran world championships were held in San Sebastion and two of our athletes competed, Alison
George competed in two events, the weight throw (8^th) and the shot put (14^th) whilst Anne Wainwright secured bronze medals in
both the Heptathlon and 80m hurdles, this is the highest standard of competition in the veterans section and we are so fortunate
to have athletes of such calibre represent us. Such is the team spirit of our women’s team that both athletes came back from the
world championships early to represent us in the cup final and in Anne’s case she almost certainly missed out on two gold medals
in the relays. I simply cannot speak too highly of them and the rest of the athletes who have competed for us this season, the team spirit has been first class and it has been a pleasure to have managed them.
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10-11-05 WMYACCL  - Click for Full Results

The young athletes of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club were in action last week when they contested the second round of the
West Midlands Young Athletes League at Rodbaston College hosted by C&S.

Outstanding performances were achieved by several athletes starting with the under 15 girls where Cally Read scored a brilliant
second place which has moved her up to joint first overall.

Team mate Rachel Atherton was also in great form finishing in third spot giving her  overall while fellow club members Emma
Gore (10^th), Chloe Boulter (23^rd), Beth Clews(50^th) and Laura Allan 52^nd.

The team are third overall.

The under 17 men had Chris Harvey also finishing in an excellent second place which sees him also joint first and with Ian McCann
in 16^th and Glyn Owens 28^th the team are lying in fifth place.

The under 13 boys have moved up to third overall with Alex Mason 11^th, Michael Edwards 14^th, Tom Newman 25^th, Sam Derry 33^rd,
Alex Dodd 43^rd, Harvey Wain-Williams 45^th and Ryan Smith 61^st.

The under 17 Ladies are in 5^th with Rachel Horsley 7^th, Charlotte Parker 19^th and Kirsty Kelsall 23rd.

The under 13 girls are also in 5^th with good efforts from Becky Cooke 19^th, Shanie Read 28^th, Becky Bray 33^rd, Amy Winfield 43^rd,
Shannon Bradley 44^th, Hollie Allan 48^th and Jane Connolly 94^th.

The under 11 boys are 6^th with Tom Childs 12^th, Alex Brunt 24th, Sam Leather 30^th, Sam Bray 31^st, Monty Alexander 35^th and
Josh Starkie 55^th.

The under 11 girls are 8^th with Pascale Massey 25^th, Alex Liddiard 33^rd, Tara Thorpe 34^th, Chloe Tomalin 36^th, Sophie Mason 40^th,
Jessica Boulter 46^th, Grace O’Connell 63^rd, Sophie Smith 69^th and Sarah Molloy 79^th.

The under 15 boys saw three runners with Huw Owens 6^th, Hayden Carrter 10^th and Ashley Williams 37^th.
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The senior Ladies of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club contested the final round of the North Staffs League last weekend
at the Westwood High School in Leek and an impressive victory on the day saw them gain promotion to the First Division
taking the Second Division title from Wrexham beating them by twenty seven points overall.
 

Trailing Wrexham by five points before this meeting it needed a good performance from the quartet of athletes who
travelled to Leek and so it proved with seventeen year old Emily Upton producing an excellent performance as she
led the team home in fourteenth place.

Giving good support were team mates Sarah Pickering with a determined effort finishing in seventeenth followed
by Christine Kilkenny in twenty second with Dot Fellows close behind in twenty third.

There was an added bonus for Kilkenny as she took the gold medal in the over 50 veteran age group.
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A new committee was the most urgent task, and a lot of credit goes to John Turner, who proved to be the main inspiration
and driving force behind the committee that we now have in place.  I serve on the committee and have seen at first hand how
they work and pull together for the benefit of our club.  It is fair to say that 12 months ago our finances were in a precarious
position, but under the expert guidance of our club treasurer Colin Watson we are now in a far healthier position, as a club we
had to make several decisions to improve our financial position.  Some of these decisions proved to be inspired and we can
face the future with far greater confidence.
 

Our club membership secretary Carole Jones has held the post for several years and does a truly tremendous job, this task is
most time consuming and Carol’s commitment to our club could never be questioned.

Most clubs are lucky to have one experienced club coach to look after the youngsters coming into the club and monitor
their progress, we are indeed fortunate to have Bob Hughes and John Turner in our team and their input is immeasurable.

It is a fair bet that most club members have never heard of “Club Mark” but for the past few months Nick Cooke has undertaken
the task of preparing a package to present to Staffs AAAs regarding how our club is run, and a whole host of information that the
AAAs need to see that the club is run on a proper basis, one of the benefits of this is that when we achieve club mark status it will
open up several avenues for funding which are not available at the moment, this is a monumental task and will be ongoing for a
long time yet and is another indication of how members of the committee are working for the club. Only one club in Staffordshire
has so far achieved this status and thanks to Nick’s efforts we are closing in to be the second.
 

There are several members on our committee who I have not mentioned but who’s contribution has been just as important, but two
who deserve special mention for their contribution and commitment are club chairman Gary Denning and club secretary Karen
Moody, both were new to their respective posts and their commitment and input has been second to none, I simply cannot think
of anyone who has given more of their time and efforts to make sure that our club progresses. They are both truly an inspiration
to us all.
 

If anyone would like the opportunity to serve on our committee I am sure that Gary and Karen would be pleased to hear from you,
remember that we all had to start at one time, and any contribution that you may make would be appreciated by all.
 

Finally I intend to be an active president and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the various meetings and functions that the club is promoting.  May I take this opportunity to wish all of you A Merry Christmas and a happy and successful new year.
 

Derek Fellows

President
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By the time they began the third and final lap Cope had a commanding lead with Johnson having a similar advantage over
third place and that is how it  stayed all the  way the to the finish. Giving Johnson good support and helping the team to take
second place were Chris Kilkenny, Emily Upton and Sarah Pickering, these three changed positions with each other several
times during the race with Kilkenny just getting the better of her two younger team mates finishing a splendid twenty second.

Upton aged only seventeen performed well in her first season in the senior ranks finishing close up behind Kilkenny in twenty
third with Pickering again close behind in twenty fifth.  Final runner was Sue Kniell-Boxley who finished 57^th.
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Eleven Cannock & Stafford athletes were selected for Staffordshire to compete at the English Schools Championships.
Abbi Tyson (100m) and Lucy Dubberley (200m) ran in the short sprints, Ashley Smith the 400 metres and Harriet Thompson
the sprint hurdles.
Chris Harvey and James Trollope were selected for the 1500 metres and Laura Simmonds the long jump.
Also in the field, Daniel Nash was in the high jump, Alex Shepherd the javelin and Richard Parker the shot putt.
The Championships were held at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, on July 8 and 9.
Following fine performances, four athletes were selected to compete for England schools in Dublin on the weekend of July
16-17.
Abbi and Laura were chosen for the girls team and Daniel and Alex the boys.
Well done to all 11 for putting the club on the map
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