21-12-09 Level 1 Coaching Course

South Staffordshire Athletics Network are promoting a Level 1 coaching course, to be held at Tamworth on 16 January 2010.

 

The Level 1 course is a one day introduction to coaching skills which qualifies and insures coaches to assist a Level Two or above athletics coach. The cost is £60 but if you are willing to, and actually do, assist in coaching at training sessions, the club will most likely refund the fee (please confirm with Gary Denning or contact me if you are relying on this).

 

If you are interested, the places are filling rapidly so get your application in quickly. The application form is attached here and the course code is MCO138.

 

15-12-09 Cannock & Stafford AC Award Winners 2009

Congratulations to Bob Hughes who won the President's Trophy for 2009 and to Malcolm Eustace and Gill Russon who took the Veteran Athlete of the Year Awards.

 

The President's Trophy is awarded by Derek Fellows to the member who he has adjudged to given the greatest service to the club over the last 12 months. Bob Hughes deservedly received the award for this year. As well as coaching 4 nights a week (and Sunday mornings), Bob manages the Young Athletes track and field and cross country teams as well as the Senior Men's track and field team. He also officiates at most of the track and field meetings that involve the club.

 

Last season, Malcolm Eustace continually lowered club records in the M50 age group and, at the season's end held records at 800, 1500, 3000, 5000 and 10000m. He won a bronze medal in the 5000m in the British Masters Track and Field Championships and, later in the season, won silver in the BMAF 10000m Championships. Malcolm was then chosen to represent his country in the Home International Cross Country race at Perry Park, finishing a creditable 4th in the individual, contributing to team gold.

 

Gill Russon was a major contributor towards the C&S Women's Veteran team's successful defence of their divisional title. During the four meetings, Gill won no less than 10 individual events. In the League Final at Stafford, the team was severely depleted and Gill took part in five individual events as well as the two relay races.

 

13-12-09 North Staffs Cross Country League - Westwood High School - 12 December 2009

Athletes from Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club competed in the fourth and final round of the North Staffs League last weekend when they travelled to Leek in the north of the county.

 

Going into this round several athletes and teams were in good positions to take medals on the day and thanks to some outstanding performances everyone in contention took medals of one colour or another.

 

Becky Bray in the under 17 girls led 2-1 going into this race and it was herself and Buxton’s Amy Mellor that set the early pace and on a course of two large laps, which included a long steep climb described as Killer Hill, Becky proved that all the hill work done at Rowley Park and Milford Common was well worth it as she moved away from Mellor on the first climb and continued to increase her lead on the second lap. Despite a challenge from Mellor leading to the second climb she again powered away up Killer Hill leaving Mellor to struggle behind to win by a large distance. Giving good support and taking the bronze medal was Teresa Hulme who again finished third with another splendid run and with Beth Clarke taking fourth and Catherine Hulme fifth which were their overall individual placings the team were convincing gold medal winners.

 

Rachel Atherton was the sole under 20 lady running for the club in the senior ladies race and with an excellent 11th place on the day she took the junior title with four outstanding performances over the season and Rachel also helped the senior ladies team to a brilliant silver team award with Christine Kilkenny 18th, Dot Fellows 45th and Sue Kneil-Boxley 50th.

 

The under 15 girls took the age group by storm with individual gold , silver and bronze and with this kind of dominance the team gold was a formality. Jade Bird was again in top form as she also showed that the hill work helped as she moved quickly away to cover two short laps but still included twice up killer hill and she crossed the line well ahead. Behind her were team mates Amelia Ridgway and Charlotte Smith battling it out for the remaining medals and it was Ridgway that took a fantastic silver with Smith who was in fourth place before the start taking a terrific bronze medal.

 

The under 17 boys saw Philip Pugh take individual gold with another excellent performance but having suffered with a bad cold recently he had to settle for second place on the day but having won the first three rounds easily the gold medal was assured. The team took a well deserved silver medal position with splendid runs from Sam Derry who crossed the line in seventh and Stuart Davies in eighth.

 

The final medal was won by Ryan Ashforth who went into this meeting 2-1 down so to share the gold medal he had to defeat his main rival from Newcastle James Fradley. Adopting tactics employed at a recent West Midland Race, he followed in the footsteps of International athlete Tom Humphries who always gained a thirty metre lead then held the distance. On this occasion it was Ryan who took an early lead and held the distance and again the hill work done in training proved decisive as he moved away on the one and only time up killer hill to take a well earned first place and a share of the gold medal along with Fradley.

 

Bob Hughes - UK Athletics Coach and Team Manager

 

06-12-09 South Staffs Athletics Network - Sprints Flying Coach Visit

The Sprint's Flying Coach visit, arranged by the South Staffs Athletics Network, will take place on Monday 7 December at Shobnall Leisure Complex in Burton at 7-9pm. Directions

 

If you are a coach wishing to attend, please register your interest with Catherine Pendlebury beforehand. Catherine can be contacted by e-mail at cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk or, alternatively,  by phone on 07800 619841. Please note that Catherine works Monday to Wednesday, although she will pick up phone messages outside of these times. It would be beneficial if you could complete the application form before attending if you haven't already done so.

 

25-11-09 Most Improved Young Athlete of the Year

Congratulations to Olivia Walker who was presented with the Most improved Young Athlete of the Year award by our President, Derek Fellows, before training last Thursday night.

 

The trophy is presented to the young athlete who, in the opinion of the club's coaches, has made the biggest improvement during the season.

 

Olivia's hurdling has continually improved throughout the year and she has lowered her 75m time from 13.0 to 11.8 seconds and ending as ranked 27th in the country! Even more impressive was the fact that, whilst still 13, she became the fastest 200m female runner in the club this year with a time of 26.50. She ended the season with the three fastest times for a female over 200m.

 

21-11-09 Staffordshire County Cross Country Championships

The County cross country championships will be held at Parkhall Country Park, Stoke on Trent on Saturday 9th January. The timetable of events are:

12.00pm u/13 Girls and u/13 Boys

12.25pm u/15 Girls and u/15 Boys

1.05pm u/17 Women, u/17 Men, u/20, senior and veteran Women

1.45pm u/20, senior and veteran Men

 

Any club member wishing to compete in these championships must pay their entry fee to either Bob Hughes or Derek Fellows on or before Thursday 17th December.  Due to the postal dates over the Christmas period club entries will not be accepted after this date.  The entry fees are £ 1.50 for seniors and veterans and £1.00 for all other age groups.  Failure to pay will mean that you are not entered into these championships and you will be unable to run.

 

Details of this event will be posted on the club notice board at Rowley Park.

 

21-11-09 London Marathon 2010

Cannock & Stafford AC are entitled to apply for three club entries to the 2010 London Marathon.

 

If any member would like to be considered for one of these places, please urgently contact Karen Moody by e-mail to kazmoody@yahoo.co.uk or by phone on 01543 685057 to register your interest. Normal entry fees will be payable for these places.

 

18-11-09 Safeguarding and Protecting Children Course

The next course arranged by the South Staffs Athletics Network will take place on 23 November at Stafford council offices from 6.30 to 9.30pm. The course is free to coaches of member clubs and the course aims are:

Protect yourself and the young people you are coaching by understanding and following good coaching practice. Learn about child abuse and how to handle situations if you have concerns.

The workshop will help you, the coach to:

· identify good coaching practice to promote a positive relationship with children

· identify sport situations and coaching practice that might constitute either poor practice or possible abuse

· identify ways of dealing with your own feelings about child abuse and state what constitutes neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse

· recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse and appreciate why reporting it is often so difficult

· identity appropriate action if a child discloses he/she has been abused

· identity appropriate action if abuse is suspected and explain the role and responsibilities of other experts (e.g. police, social services)

· describe appropriate practice that reduces the likelihood of abuse occurring.

 

Please register your interest with Catherine Pendlebury beforehand. Catherine can be contacted by e-mail at cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk or, alternatively,  by phone on 07800 619841. Please note that Catherine works Monday to Wednesday, although she will pick up phone messages outside of these times. It would be beneficial if you could complete the application form before attending if you haven't already done so.

 

17-11-09 Home International Cross Country Race - Perry Park, Birmingham - 14 November 2009

On Saturday 14th November, three of our veteran athletes were selected to represent England in the Home International cross country event held in Perry Park Birmingham.

 

With heavy rain and severe winds conditions were far from ideal, but all three of our athletes acquitted themselves well. The women's race was four to run from each country with three to count. Christine Kilkenny in the W55 age group ran her usual strong race and was rewarded with an individual bronze medal as well as helping England secure the team gold.

 

Dot Fellows ran in the W60 age group finishing in a fine 4th place overall. England also supplied the first three in that race for a convincing team victory and team gold.

 

Malcolm Eustace ran in the highly competitive M50 age group and despite the conditions being so bad (Malcolm's preferred conditions are dry and not muddy) he put in a strong performance and like Dot finished 4th in his age group (2nd England scorer) . In Malcolm's race which was six to run four to count, England were again dominant and won the team gold.

 

Next year the race will be held in Santry Park, Dublin on 13th November. Special congratulations should go to all three of our athletes who go through a difficult process to get selected and their performances totally justified their inclusion in the England teams.

 

15-11-09 North Staffs Cross Country League - Stafford Common - 14 November 2009

Athletes from Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club continued their successful campaign in the North Staffs League when they competed in the third round at Stafford Common.

 

Becky Bray in the under 17 girls is in a tough battle with Buxton’s Amy Mellor and after victory in the first round she had to settle for second place in the next round so going into this meeting on the common they were level on points. With a course of one medium and one large lap on a tough and demanding surface they matched stride for stride on the medium lap and as they went out on the large lap Becky began to increase her lead over her rival and she crossed the line over a hundred metres in front .She now goes into the final round at Leek in a months time one point in front.

 

The under 17 girl’s team have a massive lead over their rivals with Teresa Hulme also in third place overall well clear of fourth and with Beth Clarke 5th the gold medals look assured.

 

Philip Pugh continued his dominance in the under 17 boys with an emphatic victory and with good support from Stuart Davies in 6th and Sam Derry in 7th  the team beat Stoke AC by six points which has reduced Stokes lead to only two points so the team prize is still wide open in the final round.

 

Jade Bird  is another athlete who has a big lead overall in the under 15 girls and although she again finished second to Moorland’s Louise Baker she has competed in all three rounds so far, so Baker with only two rounds done does not figure in the overall standings. Amelia Ridgway took an excellent third place on the day which lifts her up to the silver medal position so C&S could produce gold and silver in the final round and with Grace Rossiter 4th and Charlotte Smith fifth the team gold also looks a certainty.  

 

The senior ladies stand in second place in the team placings thanks to outstanding performances from Sarah Pickering in 11th with Rachel Atherton 24th, Sue Kneill-Boxley 37th, Gillian Russon 69th and Fiona Russell 144th

 

Although running in the senior race Rachel Atherton also leads her respective age group in the under 20 ladies over Stafford Harriers Jenny Addison who is in second place.

 

The under 11 boys saw Ryan Ashforth going into this race tied with James Fradley of Newcastle with one win each and having just recovered from a bad cold Ryan had to settle for second place on this occasion so it goes to Leek for the final showdown. Also in the under 11 boy’s race was Tom Osbourne in 8th with Nathan Upton in 34th.

 

In the under 15 boys race William Haycox finished 11th with Matthew Pugh 21st.

 

The under 11 girls have moved up to fourth place overall with splendid runs from Charlie Peters in 17th, Rachel Wallace 26th, Sarah Preston 28th with Georgia Wallace 29th.

 

The under thirteen girls had Chloe Preston 14th and Jamie O’Connor 25th.

 

In the senior men’s race only two athletes competed with Craig Pearson finishing in tenth place with Paul Lester 39th.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager and UK Athletics Coach

 

15-11-09 South Staffordshire Athletics Network - Official Opening

Cannock & Stafford AC is one of the 5 clubs that have formed the South Staffordshire Athletic Network this year.

Tuesday 10th November was the official launch of the network and during the evening, representatives from the 5 clubs met up at Rowley Park, where former Olympian 10,000m athlete, Paul Evans, was holding a Marathon runners workshop. Following this we moved onto the MRI club in Stafford for the launch and a talk by Paul. Present for the launch was John Graves, Chairman of England Athletics and Nick Robinson, our network support officer, also representing England Athletics.

 
John Graves welcomed everyone and briefly stated the objectives behind the setting up of the athletic network programme, namely to increase participation in the sport of athletics across the board. He pointed out that this was the first time during his 50 year involvement in athletics that money has been provided directly to clubs such as ours. There followed the customary handing over of the "giant cheque" for £45,000, the funding to cover the first year.
 
The talk from Paul Evans was the highlight of the evening, now if you've never heard of him and I include myself in that category even though he's about my age and like me was predominantly a 10k runner, it didn't matter, here was an athlete who has competed at the most prestigious championships there are, the Olympic Games, twice. Paul came across as a genuinely down to earth person and gave a very entertaining talk on his career, surprisingly he didn't take up athletics seriously until he was 27. He talked about getting his first proper coach, learning about training, getting to the Olympics, the experience of that and how he just missed winning a new Mercedes when he was out sprinted to the line at the New York marathon and many other anecdotes.
 
The main point is that we all have to start somewhere and that means joining a club, so most of you have made that start. Clubs don't run themselves and going back to the objective of the network, it isn't just the number of athletes that England Athletics means to increase, it's coaches, officials and other volunteers, without whom the sport would not exist. This is what the network is for, to help clubs, it is our network, we must use it. Catherine Pendlebury is the network co-ordinator and she has done a lot of work arranging courses etc. If you want to get involved, or you know anyone else, family or friends, or you have any ideas regarding athletics that you'd like to get off the ground then contact Catherine by email; cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk 
 
Remember it is your network, the money is there to be used, look out for forthcoming events, they'll be on the notice board at Rowley as well as on the club website.

Simon Evans

 

15-11-09 Rotary Disabled Sports Championships 2009

Fiona Smith has recently been training with Geoff Phillips and Dave Crutchley at Rowley Park and she took part in the Rotary Disability Sports Championships at Coventry. Fee has sent us the following report.

 

"I have had several operations on my left hand side which resulted in me not being able to use my left arm for well over two years.  After the swimming event I was offered the chance to participate in weight lifting.  Geoff and Dave were really worried about me undertaking this event as they knew about the difficulty with my left arm but I said I would give it a go and if it hurt I would stop."
 
I raised the bar initially with no weights on it.  After three lifts the trainer asked me if it was getting easier it was and I told him so.  He explained this was due to the fact my muscles were warming up.  I lifted the bar five times more and then weights were to be put on each end referred to as "biscuits".  I was only to do one lift with these on. 
 
After I achieved this lift I was really emotional.  The fact that I had been able to do it at all.  The empowerment I felt and the sense of achievement.  I thanked the trainer (Arthur), Geoff and Dave.  I had a huge smile on my face.
 
That night at the hotel I had a hot bath during this time my arm felt different so I tried to raise it.  I raised it slowly at first in front of me and then slightly higher until it was at full stretch.
 
I cannot believe what the weekend in Coventry has done for me but I am so glad I gave it my best shot.
 
This now means I can be far more independent than I have ever been for the last couple of years as currently I have an attendant wheelchair. Now with the use of my left arm, I will be able to use a self-propelling wheelchair without going around in circles.
 
In the photograph I am using Geoff's wheelchair which he lent me to attempt the wheelchair slalom race in.  (We thought this was going to be a giggle prior to the Sunday as I knew I would end up going around in circles).  However, this was not the case thanks to regaining the use of my left arm.
 
I am so glad I met Geoff who in turn introduced me to Dave without their help I would never have attended my first ever competition and I am so proud I did go to Coventry and at what I achieved."
 
Fiona Smith (nee Stevenson)
 

09-11-09 North Staffs Cross Country League - Park Hall - 7 November 2009

The Saturday afternoon competition was the 2nd round of the North Staff League at Park Hall Country Club in Stoke and the under 15 and under 17 girls saw outstanding team and individual performances.

 

Jade Bird finished second on the day but with her first place from the first meeting she leads the event overall. The team were convincing leaders with Amelia Ridgway crossing the line in 5th and Charlotte Smith 9th.

 

The under 17 girls had Becky Bray in second place and after her first place in the opening fixture she is tying for first place overall with Buxton’s Amy Mellor. The team have a massive lead over their rivals with Teresa Hulme also holding third place overall and with sisters Catherine 4th, Sarah 5th along with Beth Clarke in 6th the gold medals look a formality.

 

The under 17 boys have overall leader in Philip Pugh with two convincing victories so far and with Sam Derry 7th Stuart Davies 8th the team are second to Stoke AC.

 

Ryan Ashforth continues to improve with every race and with a brilliant victory in the under 11 boys he now holds joint leadership with James Bradley from Newcastle.

 

The under 11 girls are lying in fifth place with excellent runs from Iris Davies in 6th, Charlie Peters 17th Rachel Wallace 28th, Sarah Preston 30th and Rachel’s twin sister Georgia Wallace in 31st.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager and UK Athletics Coach

 

09-11-09 County Schools Year 7,8 & 9 Cross Country - Rowley Park - 7 November 2009

Last weekend saw a busy time for the young athletes of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club with two competitions starting with the schools year 7, 8 and 9s county trials on Saturday morning at Rowley Park.

 

With selection for the county team at stake several runners from C&S gave splendid performances to qualify for the Inter County match at Stoke University on the 21st of November. In the girls year 7 race Megan Bond took the bronze medal with an excellent third place with Chloe Preston running well in eighth, Sophie George ninth and Katherine Smith 12th.

 

In the year 7 boys Aaron Ball gave a good effort to finish in 6th place with Lewis Coles in 14th spot and Steven Thompson 32nd

  

The year 8 and 9s were in a combined race and in the girls race Danielle Woodward scored a splendid fourth place followed by Kate Pilling fifth and Emily Fowler Parkes 6th. Danielle was also running for Walton High school and with fellow club and school team mates Alex Smith in 12th, Daisy Waller 13th and Clara George 19th the four took the team gold medals.

 

In the boys race James McCann was another bronze medallist for the club with William Haycox 5th, Aaron Houseman 7th, Jordan Barrett 9th, Tom Eustace 12th, Max Vatlander 17th, James Russell 18th and Adam White 27th.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager and UK Athletics Coach

 

04-11-09 Marathon Running Workshop - Rowley Park - 10 November 2009

The official launch night of the South Staffordshire Athletic Network will take place at Rowley Park next Tuesday (10th).

 

It will be marked with a Marathon Running Workshop. This workshop is in two parts both led by Paul Evans. Firstly at Rowley Park at 6.30pm, a practical session aimed at coaches / athletes training for a Marathon and Half-Marathon. Secondly at the MRI club in Stafford at 8.30pm, a talk on training planning and Paul’s fantastic career. (Directions to MRI club)

 

You do not need to attend both sessions but please register your interest with Catherine Pendlebury beforehand. Catherine can be contacted by e-mail at cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk or, alternatively,  by phone on 07800 619841. Please note that Catherine works Monday to Wednesday, although she will pick up phone messages outside of these times.

 

04-11-09 The Birmingham Challenge - Senneleys Park - 24 October 2009

Several  young athletes from C&S contested the Birmingham Cross Country Challenge on the same day as the Birmingham league and it was Ryan Ashforth that led the celebrations with an excellent victory in the under 11 boys  race over 1500 metres finishing well clear at the line.

 

The under 17 men had five C&S runners with Chris Perrin in fifth with Philip Pugh tenth, James Perrin thirteenth, Ashley Wickett 14th and Sam Derry 19th.

 

In the under 15 girls Becky Straw ran a splendid race with a performance that saw her finish in second place. Also running in the under 15 girls was Amelia Ridgway who finished in a a creditable seventh place

 

30-10-09 Birmingham & District Cross Country League - Senneleys Park - 24 October 2009

Following their promotion to Division 2 last season, Cannock & Stafford's male senior runners came 6th in the first meeting at Senneleys Park in the Birmingham & Cross Country League.

 

C&S had three runners in the first ten. Tom Humphries, the 2008 National Cross Country Champion, won the race with James Houghton in 7th and Phil Wolfe in 9th.

 

Craig Pearson supported well in 18th place and Hayden Carter (90th) and Jamie Graham (160th) made important contributions to ensure the team recorded a score.

 

21-10-09 First Aid Course - 2 November 2009

As part of the South Staffordshire Athletics Network, coaches and officials and helpers of C&S have the chance to attend a free first aid course (normal cost £15) at Stafford Council offices, Civic Centre, Riverside on 2 November.

 

The course runs from 6.30 to 9.30pm and is a general 3 hour Emergency Aid course, that will provide you with the knowledge of how to deal with potential life threatening injuries and teach you how to deal with a variety of situations.
 

If you are interested, please contact Catherine Pendlebury - Network Co-ordinator on cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk or alternatively, Catherine can be contacted by phone on 07800 619841. Please note that Catherine works Monday to Wednesday, although she will pick up phone messages outside of these times.

 

A timetable and details of all courses currently available through the network can be downloaded here.

 

 

16-10-09 Three C&S Veterans Chosen for Cross Country International

Three of our veteran athletes have been selected to represent England. 

 

Chris Kilkenny, Dot Fellows and Malcolm Eustace have all been selected for the British and Irish Masters Cross Country international to be held on the 14th November in Birmingham.

 

This will be the first time that three of our athletes have been selected, Chris will contest the W55 age group, Dot the W60 age group and Malcolm the M50 age group.  This year the fight for places has been very competitive and congratulations must go to all three for their selections. 

 

All three should act as an inspiration to our younger athletes.

 

 

14-10-09 South Staffordshire Athletics Network

Cannock & Stafford AC are one of five South Staffordshire clubs that have become part of the South Staffordshire Athletics Network.

 

The other clubs involved are Stafford Harriers, Tamworth, Burton and Washland Women Runners.

 

The aim of the network is to work strategically with other local key partners to develop the sport of athletics in local areas.

 

The network will seek to drive up the quality of coaching, links with community groups such as schools, competition in clubs (inter and intra club) and also seek to develop the all round quality of provision within clubs in the network.The ethos behind McCain Athletics Networks is all about working in partnership to improve the provision of athletics in the area.

 

A timetable and details of courses, including flying coach visits, to support the development of local coaches has been issued and can be downloaded here.

 

All courses are free to coaches involved with any of the network clubs. An electronic version of the application form is available here.

 

The form should then be e-mailed to Catherine Pendlebury - Network Co-ordinator on cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk or alternatively, Catherine can be contacted by phone on 07800 619841. Please note that Catherine works Monday to Wednesday, although she will pick up phone messages outside of these times.

 

 

12-10-09 Sportshall Athletics

For those interested in coaching Sportshall athletics for the younger athletes, a course has been arranged for this Sunday (18 October) at Shobnall Leisure Complex, Burton starting at 1pm.

 

The course is an introduction to Sportshall Athletics for interested/ supporting parents and beginner / young coaches (2 hours - 1pm to 3pm) and a separate follow-on coaching session to examine sportshall event technique for coaches who want to learn more or have previous sportshall experience. (2 hours - 3pm to 5pm) You are welcome to attend both if you would like!

 

The course is free and booking is easy just email or telephone

Catherine Pendlebury- Network Coordinator

Email: cpendlebury@staffordbc.gov.uk

Phone: 07800 619 841

 

 

12-10-09 Veteran's Social Evening

A veteran's social evening has been arranged by Sue Kneill-Boxley for 20 November at Walton Village Hall.

 

Walton Village Hall lies between Walton-on-the Hill and Milford near Stafford (http://www.waltonvillagehall.co.uk/) and a barn dance caller has been booked for Friday 20th November for a do from 7:30 to 10:30.

 

You can bring your own drinks both alcoholic and otherwise, however, we cannot sell alcohol as we don't hold a bar license.

 

Please can you let Sue know if you are interested. Sue's e-mail address is S.E.Kneill@staffs.ac.uk

 

Everyone is welcome (whether or not you’ve been able to compete this season). You can also bring families/friends along. The venue can hold over 100 people but, for a barn dance, about 60 to 70 would be good.

 

 

07-10-09 North Staffs Cross Country League - Lyme Valley - 3 October 2009

Following a disappointing summer on the track and field the middle distance squads of Cannock and Stafford junior athletes showed that they are still a force to be reckoned with as they provided three individual winners, two winning teams’ performances plus a second place for a further team.

 

Jade Bird was in excellent form in the under 15 girl’s race taking an early lead and she held her position throughout finishing well clear as she crossed the line. Giving good support was Millie Ridgway in a splendid third place with Charlotte Smith in sixth place giving the club a fourteen point lead over Stoke.

 

The under 17 men’s individual also went to C&S with Philip Pugh in an early battle with Stoke international 800 metre athlete Tom Guy but he was no match for the strength of Pugh who like Bird finished well clear. The team were just edged out by Stoke by just three points with Sam Derry in 6th and Stuart Davies in 8th.

 

Becky Bray was another athlete who dominated her race in the under 17 girls finishing well clear with triplets Teresa Hulme in 4th Sarah in 5th Catherine in 6th with Beth Clarke in 9th giving the club a massive lead over their rivals.

 

In the U11 boys race, Ryan Ashforth ran superbly to finish 2nd out of a field of 38 runners.

 

The under 11 girls lie in 5th place with outstanding runs from Charlie Peters in 18th, twins Rachel and Georgia Wallace in 22nd and 23rd respectively and Sarah Preston in 25th.

 

The senior Ladies performed well finishing second to Stafford Harriers with Chris Kilkenny 18th, Rachel Atherton 29th, Sue Kneill-Boxley 31st and Dot Fellows 44th.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager and UK Athletics Coach    

 

04-10-09 Uttoxeter Cross Country - 27 September 2009

Jade Bird started the cross country season in impressive fashion with victory in the U15 girls race at the Uttoxeter Cross Country. Along with Amelia Ridgway (5th) and Grace Rossiter (7th), she also took gold in the team event. In fact, the C&S girls so dominated the race that they also took team bronze through Charlotte Smith (12th), Jess Boulter (16th) and Alex Smith (18th).

 

Phil Pugh took silver in the U17 men’s race and also won team gold with Ashley Wickett (4th) and Sam Derry (11th). Stuart Davies (12th) and Jack Lockett (15th) also contributed.

 

Ryan Terry won bronze in the U15 and won team silver along with Tom Eustace (13th) and Matthew Pugh (16th). In the U11 boys race, Ryan Ashforth took bronze and this performance helped the team to a bronze with the assistance of Nathan Upton (16th) and Ewan Flynn (19th).

 

Iris Davies was the highest of the U11 girls finishers in 11th place. Charlie Peters came 14th, Rachel Wallace 22nd, Georgia Wallace 26th and Sarah Preston 27th.

 

Aaron Ball was our only competitor in the U13 boys, finishing 16th but, in the U13 girls, Katie Wickett came 23rd, Chloe Preston 27th, Megan Bond 28th, Hannah Smith 31st and Jamie O’Connor 40th.

 

Our two U17 women competitors performed well with Becky Bray finishing 8th and Becky Cooke 10th.

 

28-09-09 Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde Open Medal Meeting - Stanley Park - 27 September 2009

Cannock & Stafford athletes enjoyed an entertaining day at the Blackpool, Wyre & Fylde AC Open Medal Meeting at Stanley Park on Sunday to bring the track and field season to a close.

 

Kate Leek took home two gold medals after winning both 100m and 200m races (13.2 and 27.1). Natalie Ainge won the 400m in a season’s best of 61.3 and also took bronze in the 100m. Chloe Boulter won a bronze in the 200m in 28.2 and ran a pb of 13.5 in the 100m.

 

Natalie Edwards cleared 1.40 in the high jump for second place but had to leave that event to compete in the 400m where she won bronze, equalling her pb of 64.6.

 

The 800m had few competitors but Jamie Graham came 2nd in the Senior Men’s race in 2:13.3, Sue Kneill Boxley came 2nd in the SW and Beth Clarke finished 3rd in the U17 race. Our only other middle distance competitor, Rebecca Wallace, came 3rd in the U15 1500m.

 

Alex Pinner gained a new pb in the javelin to win the event with a throw of 49.69m and Alicia Clarke came 2nd in the U17 discus with 19.98m. Georgia Hollins just missed out on a medal in the long jump, finishing 4th after a 4.29m best jump. In the SM discus, Shaun Ainge threw 20.76m and Paul Edwards broke the club’s M50 record with a throw of 18.22m.

 

Matt Mayne won silver in the 200m in 24.7 and then stepped up into a higher age group and still finished 4th of 12 competitors in the 400m with 54.8. In the SM 400m, Jamie Mills came 2nd in a season’s best 51.7 and Jon Biddle 3rd in 53.9.Adam Smith (56.0) and Jamie Graham (56.6) were also in the same race. Hollie Allan won bronze in the 300m with a time of 45.9 secs.

 

In the U15 200m, Olivia Walker ran 26.6 to finish 4th overall. This was the 3rd fastest 200m time of any Cannock & Stafford female athlete in the 200m this season, Olivia also having recorded the first two. Megan Jones came 1st in her 200m race in 28.4. In the SM 200m five C&S athletes competed against each other, Jamie Mills ran 23.6, Jon Biddle 23.7, Talent Gukwe 25.1, Dan George 25.9 and Tom Smith 28.1.

 

Emily Fowler-Parkes continued her progression with a pb of 29.4 in the 200m, finishing in 5th place overall. In the U13 100m, Emily won her heat in 14.3, Georgia Hollins finished 2nd in hers and Vicky Ferneyhough came 1st in hers in 14.8. Jess Leek came 6th overall in the U15 races (13.4).

 

Seven C&S athletes took part in the SM 100m. Jamie Mills again came out on top with 11.6, Jon Biddle 11.7, Talent Gukwe 12.0, Alasdair Rigby 12.2, Adam Smith 12.4, Dan George 12.6 and Tom Smith 13.2.

 

Thanks to John Turner for organising the trip once again.

 

26-09-09 Uttoxeter Cross Country

The cross country season opens with the Uttoxeter Cross Country at Bramshall Park, Uttoxeter on Sunday (27th).

12.00  U11 G

12.20  U11 B

12.40  U13 G

1.00   Sen Men

1.45   U13 B

2.05   U15 G

2.30   Fun Run

2.50   U15 B

3.15   U17 M

3.40   U17W, Sen Women,  Vets Women

 

Parking at Oldfields School on Stone Road close to Bramshall Park and Sports Centre.

 

Please note that there is no parking on the main road. Cars were clamped last year.

 

23-09-09 Club Hoodies

The colour chart for the hoodies is back up in the club room.

 

As well as the hoodies with the club badge on, you can now also have your name added to the back. If you would like to order one leave details and payment with Simon or Derek. The cost is £18 with just the club badge or £23 with a name on the back.

 

If you would like your name added to any hoodie you have already bought, please bring it to Simon on a Monday or Wednesday evening along with £6.

 

23-09-09 Triple Jump Coaching

Gina Marshall will be coaching triple jump on Monday nights at Rowley Park. Beginners triple and long jump coaching will take place 6.30-7.15 with more advanced athletes 7.15-8.00pm. Gina can be contacted on 01785 665423

14-09-09 Telford Games - Telford - 12 September 2009

There was a good turnout of Cannock & Stafford athletes for the Telford Games at a sunny Oakengates on Saturday.

 

Emily Fowler-Parkes won three medals. After winning her 100m heat, Emily equalled her pb to win a bronze medal in the 100m. She also achieved a pb of 4.05m to win a silver in the long jump and, after winning her 200m heat, she finished 2nd in the final for another silver.

 

Georgia Hollins took home gold in the long jump with 4.28m and equalled her pb of 14.2 in the heats of the 100m but just missed out on a medal in the final, finishing 4th. Steven Thompson achieved pbs in both the 100m and 200m.

 

Charlie Low jumped a new long jump pb of 4.71 to win the U13 competition and also qualified for the final of the 200m where he finished 4th.

 

Olivia Walker continued her outstanding season by achieving two pbs in the U15 75m hurdles. She won her heat in 12.0 secs and then raced to victory in the final in a time of 11.8. She also took a bronze medal in the 200m final in a time of 27.8 after finishing 2nd in her heat.

 

Amelia Ridgway dominated her U15 1500m, sprinting away from her nearest challenger down the home straight to record a pb and Championship Best Performance in a time, to be confirmed, of 5:18.1. Charlotte Smith came 4th in the 800m. In the Boys U15 800m, Steve Sutton and James Lake both recorded pbs, Steve taking bronze in 2:15.9 and James finishing 4th in 2:20.6.

 

Our javelin throwers were out in force and all threw well. Lucy Heap took bronze in the U15s with a pb of 28.82m, Matthew Liddell-Young won the U15 with 37.09 and Adam Phillips took silver with 30.90m in the U15 Boys – both throws new pbs. In the U17 men, Alex Pinner won gold with a throw of 47.58m and Richard Stanley silver with 40.51m. In the U17 women, Sally Clague won silver with a throw of 30.89.

 

Matthew Mayne ran a pb of 12.2 to take silver in the 100m and also won silver in the 200m in 24.7.

 

Chloe Boulter cleared 1.55m in the U20 high jump to win silver and followed this with a 28.4 sec 200m to again finish 2nd. Natalie Ainge beat her to the gold with a time of 27.2. The U20 ran with the Senior Women and Kate Leek edged out Natalie to take gold in the older age group, also in 27.2. Kate had earlier finished 2nd in the 100m in a time of 13.4 secs.

 

Alison George threw the shot 8.74m for 3rd place, Natalie Ainge jumped 10.61m for silver in the triple jump, Dan Timmis easily won the U20’s shot with 11.88m and Mathew Paynter finished 3rd in both discus (35.44m) and shot (9.82m).

 

 

11-09-09 President's Season Summary

As the current track season draws to an end I have prepared my annual summary.  In the young athletes’ league we did struggle this season, we were unable to fill all of the positions in the team and eventually we just managed to survive relegation.  This is no way a criticism of our coaches and team managers who once again were excellent, but a sad reflection on the decision of the Cannock Chase District Council to close the Pye Green Stadium, the knock on effect was that we had fewer athletes in the younger age groups to select from and this caused us problems.

 

In the National Junior league our combined team performed admirably and narrowly missed out on the National finals, we are fortunate that we have so many multi-talented junior athletes in our ranks and their loyalty to our club deserves commendation.

 

In the senior Midlands League we enjoyed some long overdue success when we were victorious in winning division 5, we were the outstanding team throughout winning three of the four fixtures and coming second in the other, our team used many of our junior athletes and again they rose to the challenge and did our club proud.

 

Our veterans’ section had probably their best season yet.  Our women’s team won the Northern section of the Midlands League for the 7th season in succession and our men’s team were runners up to Stoke in their section.  In the Cup Finals where the clubs from all over the Midlands come together to compete our men’s team were 2nd to the powerful Rugby & Northampton Lions team, again this was indeed the men’s team best ever showing, our women were somewhat overshadowed on this occasion having only 6 athletes on cup final day and finishing 4th in their competition. We did supply 2 female athletes for the England veterans’  in the international cross country team down in Wales and both came back with team gold medals.  

 

At the moment the closure of the Pye Green track is having a negative effect on our club recruitment especially in the younger age groups but we as a club must overcome this problem to enable us to move forward, I would like to thank all of the committee for their efforts over the past 12 months, I would also like to thank all of the parents who continue to support our club and our athletes, and I would like to thank all of our athletes many of whom appeared to be competing every week, for their efforts in what has been a difficult but rewarding season. Finally I would like to say a big thank you to all of the clubs coaches who throughout the season have been magnificent, they must take a lot of satisfaction in the amount of PBs our athletes have produced during the season.

 

Derek Fellows

President

 

06-09-09 Midland Veteran's Track & Field League Cup Final - Rowley Park - 5 September 09

Rowley Park hosted the Midland Veterans Track & Field League Cup Final on Saturday.

 

The C&S men’s team achieved their highest ever finish in the final, finishing as runners up to Eastern Division champions, Rugby & Northampton Lions.

 

With Paul Edwards and Shaun Ainge unable to take part in any track events due to injury and Kristian Lundby on holiday, the remainder of the team had to cover events which they would not normally compete in. Team manager, Andy Weetman led by example, taking part in five individual events and two relays. His performances in the pole vault, long jump, javelin, 100m and 400m earned a total of 28 points.

 

Malcolm Eustace performed brilliantly, as he has throughout the season. He started the day by finishing 3rd in the 800m before winning the M35 3000m. Malcolm then annihilated the field in winning the 1500m by 25 seconds before taking part in the 4x400m relay team.

 

Terry Faulkner came 3rd in the M60 200, 400 and 800m races and ‘Super’ Kevin Sammons earned valuable points in the 100m (lowering his pb to 14.3), 200m and 2k walk as well as high jump and triple jump, which he competed in for the first time after a crash coaching course by Shaun.

 

Gary Myles broke the vet’s club triple jump record in winning the event with 10.54m and he also came 4th in the 200m. Les Green came 4th in the M60 3000m and also took part in the 2k walk, long jump and javelin. Martin Roberts came 2nd in the hammer and Graham Middleton 3rd in the discus. John Turner was dragged onto the field to compete in the shot. Ian Evans competed in the M40 1500m.

 

Despite being unable to run, Paul Edwards and Shaun Ainge contributed on the field. Paul broke the club’s age group record for the hammer with 18.55m and finished 4th in the shot and Shaun came equal 2nd in the high jump.

 

Andy Weetman commented, “For C&S to finish second in the Midlands cup final and to beat the likes of Birchfield into 3rd place was an excellent result. Even though we had key athletes missing, the team pulled together wonderfully to fill every event on offer. This meant athletes competing in events they would not normally wish to do given the choice but in so doing gained valuable points on the day. So thanks to everyone for their fantastic efforts and well done to us all”.

 

The C&S women’s team came 4th in their final.

 

Again missing athletes through holiday, the available competitors were stretched to the limit. Sue Kneill-Boxley was busy on the track, finishing 3rd in the 800, 1500 and 3000m races and also competing in the 200m. Dot Fellows came 2nd in the W60 1500m, 3rd in the long jump, 4th in the 200 and 800m and also scored good points in the 2k walk and javelin.

 

Gil Russon came 2nd in the high jump, 3rd in the long jump and 400m and 4th in the 100m and 2k walk. Chris Kilkenny finished 2nd in the 3000m and took part in the 100 and 400m races.

 

On the field, Alison George won the shot and came 2nd in the discus and Carol Denning came 4th in the hammer.

 

In the Gold Cup, which is a trophy competed for by teams having both men’s and women’s teams in the ‘A’ cup finals, C&S came 4th overall.

 

19-08-09 National Junior League Paper Match

To decide the last two places in the National Junior League Final, the clubs that finish the season in 3rd and 4th place in each of the three Premier Divisions are invited to submit their teams for a 'paper match'.

 

This involves selecting the top two performers in each event with only Junior League performances counting. These performances from each of the clubs are then compared to give a theoretical meeting result.

 

Cannock & Stafford finished 4th of the teams that accepted the invitation. The 'results' can be viewed here.

 

10-08-09 Top Points Scorers 2009 Season

Senior League

Congratulations to Dan Timmis and Natalie Ainge, who were the top C&S male and female points scorers in the Senior League this season.

 

In the table, compiled by the Divisional Secretary, the top 3 male and female point scorers were:

Male - Dan Timmis 73pts, Mathew Paynter 62pts, Adam Smith 59pts

Female - Natalie Ainge 72pts, Chloe Boulter 70pts, Natalie Edwards 59pts

 

All three girls would have had a much higher points total had they been available to compete in the final meeting of the season at Leamington. A full list of the point scorers in the Senior League is available here

 

Junior League

In the Junior League, the top points scorers were Dan Millerchip and Natalie Ainge.

 

The top three were:

Male - Dan Millerchip 102pts, Dan Timmis 65pts, Chad Barton 54pts

Female - Natalie Ainge 90pts, Chloe Boulter 79pts, Cally Read 56pts

 

Young Athletes League

Cannock & Stafford named their top male and female athletes at each of the YAL meetings this season. No athlete was allowed to be named more than once and the winner took home an Athlete of the Match t-shirt.

 

The winners were:

Meeting 1 at Stafford                    Matthew Mayne and Jessica Leek

Meeting 2 at Alexander Stadium    Tom Baldwin and Megan Jones

Meeting 3 at Yate                         Alex Pinner and Rebecca Straw

Meeting 4 at Solihull                     Michael Pinney and Eleanor Proud

Meeting 5 at Coventry                   Jordan Cashmore and Olivia Walker

 

Rebecca, Eleanor, Jordan and Olivia have not yet received their t-shirts so if they would like to see Shaun, on one of the training nights, that can be rectified.

 

10-08-09 Officials Course - 26 September 09

Without officials there would be no athletics meetings.

 

We are grateful to the people who have assisted on the field and as track judges at the meetings this season but we need more qualified officials in the club to take the pressure off the few we have. Competition rules generally state that each field team should have at least one qualified official of level 2 or above (the Young Athletes League require 2 per club). Track judges, timekeepers, starters and marksman are also required

 

By providing officials at meetings, usually we earn points towards the team scores which are valuable in deciding the team's league position at the end of the season.

 

If you are interested in helping out, a level 2 course has been arranged for 26th September at Alexander Stadium starting at 10.00am. The club will pay the cost of the course if you are willing to officiate at some of the club's meetings next season (and you get to learn the actual rules for the events that you usually watch!)

 

Please contact Simon Evans if you are interested or send an e-mail with contact details through our website here.

 

10-08-09 England Athletics U17 & U15 Championships Championships - Bedford - 8 & 9 August 2009

Rebecca Straw ran a 4:44.11 1500m to finish 6th in her heat and qualify for the final of the U15 1500m as a fastest loser. In the final on Sunday, Rebecca finished 6th out of the 12 competitors in a time of 4:46.22.

 

Another of our athletes to break a pb was Matthew Mayne. He went into his race hoping to dip under 54 seconds for the first time and he did this in style, finishing in 53.59. Matt just missed out on a place in the final after recording the 9th fastest time of the 16 competitors.

 

Three of male middle distance runners were in action yesterday (Saturday). Thomas Baldwin came 5th in his U15 800m heat in 2:07.44 and Chris and James Perrin ran in the U17 1500m, Chris finishing 7th in 4:10.32 and James 10th in 4:16.81.

 

On the field, Jess Leek unfortunately failed to repeat her success at the English Schools in the long jump, missing out on qualifying for the final three attempts.

 

08-08-09 World Masters Athletic Championships - Lahti, Finland - 28 July to 8 August 2009

Les Green came 22nd in this morning's M70 marathon in the World Masters Championships in Finland.

 

Les completed the race in 5 hours 55 mins and 30 secs. This was his third event of the championships having previously took part in the 8k cross country and the 5000m on the track.

 

The quality of the championships can be seen from the fact that the winner of the 70 - 75 age group in the marathon (Les' race) was a runner from Columbia who finished in an unbelievable 3 hours 1 min and 27 secs!!!!

 

08-08-09 Congratulations

Congratulations to our President, Derek Fellows, who recently re-qualified as a level 2 track judge. 

 

Without officials, our athletes would not be able to compete. If you are interested in helping out at meetings another level 2 officials course is organised for late September. Details will follow shortly.

 

07-08-09 World Masters Athletic Championships - Lahti, Finland - 28 July to 8 August 2009

Paul Edwards finished a brilliant 5th in the 100m hurdles final at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Finland.

 

For the second consecutive day, Paul recorded a pb of 15.62 and this time, once again, was achieved despite a headwind.

 

Another Cannock & Stafford athlete competing, Les Green, has already taken part in two events. On the 28th July, Les came 24th in the M70 8k cross country race with a time of 53:21 and on the 1st August, Les came 10th in his 5000m heat with a time of 33:04.10.

 

Not content with just the two long distance races, tomorrow Les takes part in the marathon!

 

06-08-09 World Masters Athletic Championships - Lahti, Finland - 6 August 2009

Paul Edwards today ran his fastest 100m hurdles ever to qualify for tomorrows final at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Finland.

 

Competing in the first of three heats, Paul finished 3rd in 15.88 seconds into a slight headwind, smashing his previous best of 16.3. He then had a nervous wait to see if he would qualify for the final as one of the two fastest losers. The American who came 3rd in the second heat finished 0.02 secs outside of Paul's time and as only the third placed athlete in the final heat beat his time, Paul qualified.

 

In the final, Paul will be competing against Arto Brygarre who won silver at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki and Olympic bronze at Los Angeles in 1984.

 

03-08-09 Midland Senior League - Leamington - 2 August 2009

Cannock & Stafford gained promotion from Division 5 of the Midland Senior League as champions after the final meeting of the season at Leamington on Sunday.

 

Despite missing a number of their regular athletes, the C & S team were still strong enough to finish second on the day.

 

Gemma Smith had a successful day, winning the long jump with a pb of 5.39 as well as the triple jump and high jump. She also came 3rd in her first 100m run of the season. Emily Malaband, taking part in her first Senior Meeting, was obviously helped by the presence of Gemma as she won the ‘B’ long jump and triple jump (pb of 9.74m) and 2nd in the ‘B’ 100m.

 

Mathew Paynter increased his pb in winning the discus with a throw of 39.23m and won the ‘B’ shot and came 3rd in the javelin, also with a pb. Dan Timmis pulled out the stops with a 11.04m shot to finish 3rd. Dan also won the ‘B’ discus.

 

The male hammer throwers once again took maximum points with Martin Roberts winning the ‘A’ and Graham Middleton the ‘B’. The women hammer throwers also scored well with Karen Moody recording a season’s best 33.97 in the ‘A’ and Alison George 22.06 in the ‘B’. Both finished 2nd. Alison also came 2nd in the shot.

 

Marie Smith gained pbs in both discus (2nd) and javelin (4th) and Alicia Clarke won the ‘B’ discus. Becky Cooke came 2nd in the ‘B’ high jump as well as comfortably winning the ‘B’ 800m.

 

Sean Rich came 2nd in the high jump and then gained a pb in the triple jump with 11.47m (3rd).

 

On the track there were victories for Chris Harvey in the 1500m, Tom Humphries in the 3000m, Kate Leek and Hollie Allan in the 400m A and B and Beth Clarke in the 1500m ‘B’.

 

Stacey Johnson, taking part in her last races for the club before leaving for America for two years, easily won both 800m and 1500m races. Teresa Hulme and Catherine Hulme took part in the 3000m, Teresa finishing 3rd in the ‘A’ race and Catherine 2nd in the ‘B’. Teresa also finished 3rd in the 400m hurdles. Kate Leek and Hollie Allan came 3rd in the 200m races.

 

Craig Pearson came 3rd in the 3000m steeplechase after coming 2nd in the ‘B’ 800m. Stuart Davies ran 2:18.1 in the 800m and also ran the 400m and Sam Derry ran 4:38.3 to finish 3rd in the ‘B’ 1500m.

 

Talent Gukwe and Andy Weetman doubled up in the 100 and 200m and Adam Smith came 2nd in the ‘B’ 110m hurdles in a pb of 19.9 as well as running the 400m and 400m hurdles. Gary Myles came 2nd in the sprint hurdles and Shaun Ainge came 3rd in the ‘B’ 400m hurdles in a pb of 66.2.

 

The women’s 4 x 400m team of Allen, Johnson, Cooke and Leek were the final C&S winners of the day.

 

27-07-09 National Junior League - Cardiff - 26 July 2009

Cannock & Stafford’s Junior League team came 5th in the final meeting of the season at a rain swept Cardiff International Stadium on Sunday to finish in third place in the league.

 

The new venue was impressive. A large stand, incorporating changing rooms and meeting rooms, ran the full length of the home straight – a testament to a forward thinking council, unlike that of Cannock.

 

Missing almost half of the eligible athletes, through holiday or choosing to take part in other events, the remainder had to work hard to fill in gaps left.

 

Chris Harvey won his 800m race, surprising his opponents by kicking for home with 250m left. Sam Evans repeated the tactic to win his 1500m. Dan Timmis and Dan Millerchip have done well all season and Dan Timmis’ throwing on Sunday helped Dan Millerchip to ‘B’ wins in the hammer, shot and discus.

 

Chad Barton and Alex Pinner won both ‘A’ and ‘B’ javelin events, Alex throwing a pb of 46.64m. Cally Read won both 400m and 1500m races in her final event for the club and Catherine Hulme won the 3000m ‘B’ race, following home her sister Teresa who finished 4th in the ‘A’ race.

 

It was a day when everyone had to play their part. Talent Gukwe competed in the 100m and then jogged the 200 with an apparent leg injury before making a remarkable recovery to take part in the 4x100. Max Johnson did the 100, 200 and relay and then volunteered for the 2000m steeplechase. Adam Smith ran both hurdles races, the 1500m and the 4x400m with a heavy cold and Adam Rigby, competing with little training this year, did the 400m, 400m hurdles, high jump and 4x100.

 

Phil Pugh stepped in to do a 400m as well as the 3000m and steeplechase and Chad Barton took part in the high jump as well as his javelin event. Jamie Hammond came 2nd in the 'B' triple jump and 7th in the long jump.

 

Isabel Rogers took the place of the missing Gemma Smith by scoring good points in the high jump, long jump and triple jump as well as the 100m and 4x100. Beth Clarke did her first 400m hurdles race as well as the steeplechase and trying to beat sister Alicia at the hammer. Alicia also competed in the shot and discus.

 

Elisha Bateman throw a shot, as well as competing in her main event, the 100m hurdles and Harriet Thompson did both 100m and 100m hurdles.

 

Teresa Hulme ran an impressive 76.48 in the 400m hurdles and Sarah Hulme came 3rd in the ‘B’ 1500m and threw the javelin. Natalie Ainge came 2nd in the 400m and long jump ‘B’ events, 3rd in the triple jump ‘B’ and 5th in the 200m. Shanie Read ran a 200m and came 6th in the 800m and Becky Cooke ran well in the 800m ‘B’ to finish 3rd and also came 3rd in the high jump ‘B’ and 6th in the discus ‘B’.

 

Jamie Graham looked set for a possible 2nd place in his 800m ‘B’ race but then seemed to stop, exhausted, with just 5m left, allowing 4 opponents to pass him on the line.

 

Once again, the relays provided excitement. The women’s 4 x 400 team (Ainge, Cooke, S. Read and C. Read) again ran brilliantly to come 2nd to Birchfield and the men’s team (Smith, Harvey, Graham and Evans) came home 4th with Sam recording an impressive final split of 48.0.

 

15-07-09 Blackpool Open - 27 September 2009

John Turner has organised a coach trip to the Blackpool Open meeting on the 27th September.

 

Following the meeting, there will be a short trip to the Pleasure Beach followed by a drive through the illuminations before returning back to Stafford.

 

The cost will be between £12 and £15 each (confirmed shortly) and athletes will be expected to send off, and pay for, their own entry forms for the Open Meeting. Entry forms are available here.

 

If you are interested, please see John Turner on training nights. Under 16's will be allowed to go at John's discretion.
 

13-07-09 Wenlock Olympian Games - Much Wenlock - 12 July 2009

Last weekend saw the 123rd Wenlock Olympian Games. Much Wenlock was the birthplace of Dr William Penny Brooks, the founding father of the modern Olympic games.

 

At this year's meeting, Natalie Edwards won a silver medal in the senior women's pentathlon. She finished the 100 hurdles in 19.1 secs, jumped 3.86m in the long jump, threw the shot 7.09m, high jumped 1.41m and finished off by completing the 800m in 2:48.4.

 

Max Grosvenor-Hayes came 2nd in the 100m with 13.1. Georgia Hollins came 1st in Long Jump and 3rd in the 100m and Emily Fowler-Parkes came 1st in the 200m and 2nd in the 100m.

 

In the Senior men's 100m, Paul Edwards came 4th in the 100m in 12.8 seconds.
 

11-07-09 Aviva UK Championships and World Trials - Alexander Stadium - 10-12 July 2009

Sam Evans qualified for the semi finals of the 800m in the UK Championships at Alexander Stadium at the weekend.

 

On Friday night, Sam finished 3rd in his heat with 1:51.39 and then on Saturday, in the semi-final, he finished 7th with an improved time of 1:50.68.

 

Stacey Johnson was also in action in the 1500m heats but just missed out on qualification despite running a seasons best of 4:23.56.

 

11-07-09 English Schools Track and Field Championships - Don Valley Stadium - 10/11 July 2009

Friday

Cally Read qualified for the final as the fastest competitor from the Senior Girls 800m, winning her heat in 2:16.47.

 

Two C&S athletes in action on Friday, both recorded pbs in their heats but  didn't qualify for the next round. Matt Mayne ran 54.19 in finishing 5th in his Junior Boys 400m heat and Tom Baldwin came 4th in his Junior Boys 800m heat in a time of 2:05.10.

 

Rebecca Straw, representing Hereford & Worcestershire, came 6th in her heat of the Junior Girls 1500m in 4:53.73.

 

Saturday

Jess Leek started the day in superb style for our athletes winning silver on countback in a close Junior Girls long jump competition. Jess jumped a new pb of 5.37m.

 

Cally Read took home a bronze medal in the Senior Girls 800m.

 

Following her race Cally said  ‘I spent a lot of time talking to my coach Keith (Holt) about the race and felt confident going into the final. I knew I would get a medal but I wasn’t sure which colour.’

 

The Staffordshire School's captain was determined to perform well.  ‘The plan was to follow Leigh Lennon and out kick her at the end if I could’.  Lennon, the hot favourite, set off at a fierce pace with the eventual silver medallist and Cally in tow.  The first lap was completed in a speedy 63 seconds which had the affect of taking the three medallists away and clear of the field.  The pace was relentless and as the three entered the final 100m it was still unclear who would prevail.  No quarter was given and as they crossed the finish line you could have thrown a blanket over the three athletes.  Less than a second separated the winner Lennon and Cally, who took a well deserved bronze medal. 

 

It was a particularly special occasion for Cally because not only had she taken a medal in a new personal best time of 2 minutes 08.92 seconds but also her previous and long term coach Bob Hughes had travelled up to see her do it.  ‘This was for Bob’ Cally said afterwards.

 

Two of our javelin throwers were also in action. Chad Barton came 10th in the Senior men's event with 53.38m and Sian Karleusa 21st in the Junior Girls with 27.53m. Sammy-Jo Witton cleared 2.70m in the pole vault for 13th place.

 

Gemma Smith just missed out on a medal in the Senior Girls triple jump. After just returned to action after an ankle injury, a best jump of 11.54m meant Gemma finished in 4th position. She was soon back in action in the 4 x 100m relay, along with Isabel Rogers, and again finished in 4th place.

 

06-07-09 British Masters Track and Field Championships - Alexander Stadium - 4 / 5 July 2009

The British Masters Track and Field Championships were held over the weekend of 4/5 July at Alexander Stadium and some of Cannock & Stafford’s top veteran athletes were in action.

 

Gary Myles won a bronze medal in the M45 110m hurdles in a fast time of 16.43 seconds and then came 4th in the 100m ‘B’ final with a time of 12.87 secs. Paul Edwards looked set to emulate Gary’s feat, and take home a bronze, until he hit the final hurdle and fell. This caused him to finish 4th in 19.15 secs, still beating two other competitors!

 

Malcolm Eustace won a medal on each day of the competition, finishing 2nd in the 1500m on the Saturday (4:35.91) and 3rd in the 5000m on Sunday (16:31.85). Both performances were new club records.

 

Kristian Lundby’s triple jump practice paid off as he came 1st in the M60 event with a season’s best 9.78m and Martin Roberts came 6th in an extremely strong M45 field with a throw of 43.14m. The fact that Martin had comfortably won the hammer competition in the previous day’s Midland Senior League meeting gives some indication of the strength of veterans athletics.

 

Terry Faulkner capped a remarkable comeback from the broken hip sustained last year when he gained a bronze medal in the M65 400m with a time of 68.06.

 

In the women’s events, Christine Kilkenny won silver in the W55 5000m in 20:12.08 and Alison George bronze in the W45 shot (8.77m). Alison also came 5th in the weight with a throw of 6.95m.

 

06-07-09 DSE Nationwide Junior Athletic Championships - Blackpool - 4 / 5 July 2009

On what has been a busy but successful weekend for our club I believe that pride of place must go to Dave Crutchley and his team of five athletes who went up to Blackpool to compete in The National Junior Championships for the Disabled.  Dave and his team of dedicated coaches have worked really hard with some of these athletes and you can judge how successful they have been with the following results.

 

Jamie Graham earned a silver medal in the 800m and then followed this up with gold in the 200m and gold in the 400m, setting national records in the both events.

 

Sarah Hickman should really be called the golden girl, she took gold in the 100m and 200m before turning her attention to the field events.  Gold in the long jump, discus and shot followed showing how versatile she is and a haul of five gold medals from a national championship is surely enough for anyone.

 

Richard Britton competing in his 1st national championships for the club distinguished himself by claiming the silver medal in the Discus, this really is a great start for Richard.

 

Tyrone Williams can only train once a week and we really did not know what to expect, he finally finished 4th in the shot missing out on a medal by 5cm, bad luck Tyrone, I am sure that your time will come.

 

Last but not least was little Ellie Upton, she started off with gold in the distance club in a new national record, she then moved on to the Javelin ball throw where she again earned gold in another new national record.  In the target bean bag Ellie won the bronze medal and she then teamed up with 3 other athletes to contest the 4 x 60m relay where she was part of the team that secured the silver medal.

 

I have spoken to the old man (Dave) and he has told me that he is very tired (shattered) very pleased and very proud of his team of 5 athletes who between them came away with 9 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal. I can only add to that by saying how proud our club is for your efforts and successes.  Well done to you all.

 

Derek Fellows

Club President

 

05-07-09 Midland Senior League - Burton - 4 July 2009

Cannock & Stafford’s senior team secured promotion from Division 5 with a third victory of the season at Burton on Saturday (4th) and only a mathematical improbability will prevent them from clinching the title in the final meeting at Leamington on 2nd August.

 

The early tempo was set in the field events. Sammy-Jo Witton won the women’s pole vault and Martin Roberts and Graham Middleton won the ‘A’ and ‘B’ hammer competitions. Natalie Ainge (2nd in ‘A’) and Chloe Boulter (1st in ‘B’) both smashed their pbs in the long jump (5.11m and 4.93m respectively) to ensure a successful start.

 

It was another good day for both Natalie and Chloe. Nat won the triple jump and ‘B’ 100m hurdles and came 2nd in the 100m with a pb of 13.0. Chloe won the high jump and triple jump ‘B’ and came 3rd in the 400m hurdles. Natalie Edwards again contributed with a heavy points total. She won the high jump and 400m ‘B’ events, came 2nd in the 100m hurdles and ran a pb of 28.2 in the 200m.

 

Paul Edwards won both the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles ‘B’ races and Adam Smith came 2nd in the ‘A’ 400m hurdles. Craig Pearson came 2nd in the 2000m steeplechase. Alasdair Rigby jumped a pb of 5.84 in the long jump and Chris McKay came 2nd in the ‘B’ with 5.70m as well as jumping a pb of 11.31 in the triple jump.

 

Dan Timmis won the discus with a pb of 36.57m and came 2nd in the shot. Graham Middleton won the ‘B’ shot and Martin Roberts came 2nd in the ‘B’ discus.

 

There were pbs for Talent Gukwe in the 100m (11.8) and Max Johnson in the 200m (25.8) and a welcome return to action for Jamie Mills who came 4th in both 100 and 400m races.

 

Stacey Johnson doubled up in the 800 and 1500m, comfortably winning both events. Her nearest challenger in the 1500m was team mate Rachel Atherton who won the ‘B’ race as well as coming 2nd in the 200m ‘B’.

 

Beth Denning won the discus (24.21) and came 2nd in the shot as well as 2nd in the ‘B’ hammer. Marie Smith won the ‘B’ discus and came 2nd in ‘B’ javelin and Sally Clague won the ‘A’ javelin with a throw of 30.95m.

 

Kate Leek came 2nd in the 400m with Hollie Allan winning the ‘B’ race and Becky Cooke won the 800m ‘B’ race. Women’s team manager, Carol Denning, came 2nd in the ‘B’ shot.

 

As always, the relays provided excitement. The women’s 4x100m team of Edwards, Leek, Denning and Boulter came 2nd and the men’s 4x100 (Smith, Gukwe, Johnson and Mills) 3rd. The women’s 4x400m (Ainge, Edwards, Allan and Atherton) team then easily won their race, even lapping the Burton team in the process! The men’s team of Smith, McCann, McKay and Mills came 4th in the final race of the day.

 

30-06-09 England U23 & U20 Championships - Bedford - 27/28 June 2009

Local athlete Sam Evans of Cannock & Stafford AC produced the performance of his life on Sunday in the final of the 800m in the AVIVA England U23 & U20 Championships at Bedford.  With the race doubling as the trials for the EA European Junior Championships, which will be held next month in Novi Sad, Serbia the chase for places was on.  Evans cruised into the final having comfortably won his heat the previous day.  Now coached by England Junior Cross Country Team manager, Keith Holt, Evans showed his new found strength and confidence by leading the race from the gun. 

 

‘Sam is supremely confident of a special performance today, he is relaxed and believes he will win’ Holt said before the final.  Despite the hot and humid conditions in Bedford and the delayed start, the coolest man in the stadium was Evans.  He knew he would have to run a lifetime’s best to win and was prepared to do it the hard way by leading. 

 

The gun went and the field charged into the first bend.  As they passed the first 200m in a speedy 26.54 seconds Sam was at the head of the field looking comfortable.  ‘The plan was to lead from the gun.  I had talked it over with Keith beforehand and he felt my best chance was to dictate the race from the front.’ 

 

The lanky Paige Haines of Newham & Essex Beagles made a futile attempted to take the lead but his token challenge quickly evaporated as the Stafford man increased his pace at the front of the field.  The first 400m was completed in a competitive 55.41 seconds with the field still tightly bunched.  With the bell still ringing in their ears the challengers were gathering themselves as the race began in earnest.  The pace was relentless and despite various challenges Sam maintained his position at the head of the field. 

 

An almost flawless demonstration of front running by Evans deserved a victory.  Sadly this was not to be as the fast finishing Robbie Schofield made his move passing Sam with 150m remaining.  Schofield had moved through quickly from the middle of the pack to take a three metre lead going into the home straight.  Sam took a second or two to gather himself before giving chase but the finish line came just too soon.  Despite closing the gap to a metre on the tiring Schofield, Sam had to settle for second place in a lifetime’s best of 1 minute 50.05 seconds.  A mere 0.23 seconds outside the European qualifying time. 

 

Fortunately for the Stafford athlete he still has two weeks in which to achieve the time.  ‘I can’t believe it felt so easy.  I know I can run much faster’ said a disappointed Sam.

 

It was also good to see fellow club mate Chris Harvey back competing at the top level after two year’s blighted by injury.  Despite running a season’s best time of 1 minute 51.75 Chris could not catch his long time friend and fellow Cannock & Stafford athlete.  It is clear to see that with Sam and Chris the future of 800m running in Stafford is in good hands.

 

In the women's 800m, Cally Read finished 6th in her heat in a season's best time of 2:11.21 and triple jump medal hope, Gemma Smith, had to withdraw from the event due to injury.

 

In the women's U23 1500m, Cannock & Stafford's Stacey Johnson took bronze position with a time of 4:34.39.

 

26-06-09 Midland U20 / Senior Championships - Alexander Stadium- 21 June 2009

There were four medals for Cannock & Stafford athletes at the Midlands U20 Championships at Alexander Stadium last Sunday.

 

In the 1500m race, Sam Evans won the race in 3:56.8, just beating team mate Chris Harvey (3:58.3) into second place. In the women's race, Rachel Atherton took home a bronze medal recording a time of 4:54.4.

 

Jamie Hammond was the fourth of our medal winners, also taking home a bronze medal in the long jump with 6.13m.

 

Isobel Rogers qualified for the final of the 100m by finishing 5th in her heat with a time of 13.23 but didn't start the final. She also just missed out on a medal in the long jump, finishing 4th with 4.80m. Chloe Boulter unfortunately missed out on a high jump bronze medal on countback after a 1.55m clearance and Adam Smith finished 5th in the 400m hurdles in 62.59.

 

24-06-09 BMAF 5k Road Championships - Horwich- 21 June 2009

Dot Fellows competed in the BMAF 5k road championship held in Horwich nr Bolton and despite running nearly half a minute quicker than last year she had to settle for the silver medal on this occasion. 

 

Malcolm Eustace who competes as a second claim athlete for Cannock & Stafford in the veterans league finished 4th in the M50 race, he was only 9 seconds from finishing 2nd and 3 seconds from the bronze medal.

 

24-06-09 English Schools Championships

The following Cannock & Stafford athletes have been chosen to represent their counties in the English School Championships at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield on the 10th and 11th July.

 

Thomas Baldwin, Chad Barton, Sian Karleusa, Jessica Leek, Matthew Mayne, Cally Read, Gemma Smith, Sammy-Jo Witton (all Staffordshire)and Rebecca Straw (Hereford & Worcestershire).

 

Congratulations to them all.

 

18-06-09 Midland Masters Track & Field Championships - Solihull - 14 June 2009

Cannock & Stafford’s veteran athletes had a successful day at the Midland Masters Track and Field Championships at Solihull on Sunday.

 

Paul Edwards once again led the way, competing in six M50 events and bringing home 2 gold, a silver and two bronze medals. The bronze medals came in the 100m (13.1) and 200m (26.2) and the silver in the 400m hurdles in 67.4. Paul’s two gold medals were won in the 100m hurdles and 400m (16.3 secs and 58.3 secs respectively) and he came 4th in both long jump and 200m.

 

Gary Myles came 2nd in the M45 100m hurdles in 16.9, 5th in the 100m (12.7) and 6th in the 200m (27.3)

 

Peter Fellows won gold in his first Midland Championships by clearing 1.60m in the M40 high jump and Martin Roberts gained a silver medal in the M45 hammer by throwing 43.32m.

 

Graham Middleton came first in the discus with 28.28m and won a bronze in the hammer, just behind Martin, with a throw of 39.03m.

 

The women were also successful. Alison George won the W45 shot with 8.84m and Chris Kilkenny won gold in the W55 5000m in a time of 20:07.4.

 

14-06-09 National Junior League - Mansfield - 14 June 2009

Long after the majority of athletes, spectators and officials had left Berry Hill Park on Sunday evening, Dan Timmis and Dan Millerchip secured the points to give C&S an excellent 3rd place at the Junior League meeting at Mansfield.

 

It was, once again, a brilliant team performance with each athlete given loud vocal support from the travelling C&S contingent. Sam Evans ran a great front run to break the remainder of the field to comfortably win the 800m in 1:53.3 and Ashley Wickett came 3rd in the 'B' race in 2:08.3. The race of the day saw Chris Harvey shadow Birchfield's Adam Cotton until the last 100m of the 1500m before sprinting past to gain victory in 4:01.7. James Perrin won the 'B' race.

 

Chris Perrin came 3rd in the 3000m 'A' with Philip Pugh winning the 'B' race. Chris also came home 2nd in the 2000m steeplechase 'B' after Phil came 6th in the 'A'.

 

Chad Barton won the javelin with a throw of 56.33m and Dan Millerchip gained a new pb in finishing 4th in the 'B' with 36.11. Dan Timmis came 2nd in the 'A' shot with 11.83m and Dan Millerchip won the 'B' with 11.18m. Dan Timmis also finished 2nd in the discus with a pb of 38.64m and Dan Millerchip won the 'B' with 32.41m.

 

Chloe Boulter gained two pbs on the track. Her 71.6 in finishing 3rd in the 400m hurdles was followed by a 27.7 in the 200m. Chloe also won the 'B' high jump and came 2nd in the 'B' triple. Cally Read finished 2nd in the 400m with 58.3 and then ran a great 1500m to win in a time of 4:43.3. Hollie Allan equalled her 400m best of 62.4 to come 3rd in the 'B' race.

 

Rachel Atherton won the 800m, after leading from the gun, in 2:19.6 and Shanie Read came 2nd in the 'B' with 2:21.8. Rebecca Bray came 2nd in the 'B' race with 5:16.7.

 

Julie Addison and Beth Clarke doubled up in the 300m and 1500m steeplechase. Julie came 3rd in the 300m and 4th in the steeplechase and Beth coming 3rd in the 3000m 'B' and 2nd in the S/C, gaining far more enjoyment from the steeplechase to the 3k!

 

Gemma Smith came 3rd in the high jump (1.55m) and 2nd in the long jump with 5.12m. Sally Clague threw a season's best 31.27m in coming 3rd in the javelin and Natalie Ainge came 2nd in the long jump 'B' among the 5 events she took part in.

 

The relays were again entertaining. Both our women and men's 4 x 100m teams finished a respectable 6th. The women's 4 x 400 team of Natalie Ainge, Rachel Atherton, Hollie Allan and Cally Read came 2nd in a season's best time of 4:02.7. The men's team of Adam Smith, Jamie Graham, Chris Harvey and Sam Evans all ran well to finish 4th in 3:30.1.

 

08-06-09 Midland Senior League - Leamington - 7 June 2009

Cannock & Stafford won their second consecutive meeting in the Midland Senior League at Leamington on Sunday.

 

Despite an early morning downpour, the rain had stopped and the sun had appeared through the clouds by the time the meeting started.

 

There were early victories for Isabel Rogers (5.06m) and Natalie Ainge in the ‘A’ & ‘B’ long jumps and Martin Roberts and Graham Middleton in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ hammer, Martin throwing 43.70m.

 

These results set the tone for the day. Natalie Ainge went on to gain victories in the triple jump and 400m ‘A’ events and Chloe Boulter gained victory in the high jump ‘A’, 400m hurdles ‘B’ and triple jump ‘B’.

 

Adam Smith gained a pb in winning the 400m hurdles in a time of 59.9 and Paul Edwards won the ‘B’ race as well as the 110m hurdles ‘B’. Gary Myles won the 110m hurdles ‘A’ in 17.5.

 

Mathew Paynter came first in the men’s discus with a new divisional record throw of 38.46m, beating the previous record by over 1m. Dan Timmis gained pbs in winning both shot and discus ‘B’ strings (10.91m and 34.78m respectively).

 

Rebecca Cooke and Beth Clarke won the ‘A’ and ‘B’ 800m races whilst Alison George and Alicia Clarke reciprocated in the shot. Beth Denning and Marie Smith were winners in the discus and Alison George won the ‘B’ hammer.

 

Congratulations must also be given to Natalie Edwards who took part in seven events during the day.

 

03-06-09 Track Availability

Rowley Park track will not be available for training on Wednesday 10th June as there is a Veterans League meeting being held.

 

Due to school meetings, the track will only be available from 6.30pm on the following dates during June:

Thursday 4th June

Tuesday 9th June

Thursday 11th June

Tuesday 16th June

Thursday 18th June

Tuesday 23rd June

Thursday 25th June

Tuesday 30th June

 

25-05-09 National Junior League - Moorways Sports Centre, Derby - 24 May 2009

C&S’s Junior League team finished 5th in the second meeting of the season at a scorching Moorways Sports Centre on Sunday.

 

With a number of athletes pulling out of the meeting for various reasons during the week prior to the meeting, much credit must go to Adam Smith, Alasdair Rigby, Chloe Boulter and Natalie Ainge who competed in five events, the maximum allowed under the competition rules and Dan Millerchip who competed in all four throwing events.

 

There were individual wins for Sam Evans and Chris Perrin in the 1500m A and B races, Julie Addison in the 1500m steeplechase B, Chloe Boulter in the high jump and triple jump B events, and Laura Simmonds and Gemma Smith in the long jump A and B.

 

Philip Pugh ran a pb of 9:30.5 in the 3000m, Dan Millerchip finished 2nd in the hammer and 3rd in the discus and Chris McKay, making his debut, finished 2nd in both hammer and discus B events.

 

Alex Pinner threw a pb of 44.23 to finish 4th in the javelin and Alasdair Rigby equalled his pb of 1.85m in the high jump.

 

Rachel Atherton came 2nd in the 400m B with 62.9 and Hollie Allan ran a sb of 62.6 in the A race. Teresa Hulme ran well to finish 2nd in the 800m B, Catherine Hulme a pb in the 3000m and Sarah Hulme a pb in the 1500m steeplechase.

 

Natalie Ainge came 2nd in the triple jump with 10.64m along with a sb of 71.3 in the 400m hurdles and Gemma Smith came 2nd in the high jump with 1.65m.

 

Many thanks to all athletes who took part in the meeting.

 

25-05-09 Midland U15/U17 Championships (& U20 throws) - Alexander Stadium - 23/24 May 2009

A number of Cannock & Stafford athletes took part in the Midland U15 / U17 Championships at Alexander Stadium last weekend.

 

Although there were no gold medals for our athletes, there were some outstanding performances.

 

Olivia Walker took part in the 75m hurdles on Saturday and recorded a pb of 12.05 to finish 2nd in her heat. She then won bronze with 12.07 in the final. The following day she produced two stunning runs in the 200m to win another bronze with the fastest times recorded by a C&S female athlete of any age for 2 years (26.50 and 26.58). Liberty Thornton made the final of the 75m hurdles finishing 6th.

 

Jess Leek was our highest placed athlete of the weekend, winning silver in the long jump with a pb 5.27m. Jess also competed in the 100m where she made the final by finishing 2nd in her heat.

 

Lydia Trow took bronze in the U15 3000m in an impressive time of 11:30.89 and Matt Mayne improved his pb in the 400m to 54.4 to take bronze in that event. Matt also made the final of the 100m.

 

Chris and James Perrin both achieved pbs in the 1500m finishing 6th and 8th respectively.

 

In the field events Chad Barton took bronze in the U20 javelin with 55.38m, Matthew Liddell-Young came 4th in the U15 javelin, Sally Clague 5th in the U20 javelin and Louise Foster 5th in the pole vault.

 

Becky Straw ran a fast time of 4:48.95 to just miss out on the medals in the U15 1500m and Shanie Read was unfortunate to miss out on a place in the 800m final after running a pb in her heat.

 

Oliver George was another to run a pb and his time of 25.63 earned him 4th place in the 200m final.

 

16-05-09 British Masters Road Relays - Sutton Park - 16 May 2009

On Saturday 16th May the 22nd National Road Relay Championships were held at a blustery Sutton Park.  We had one team entered in the W55 age category.

 

Chris Rollason ran the first leg for us finishing in 3rd place overall with a deficit of 3min 6secs. She was opposed by what turned out to be the fastest leg of the day run by the first leg runner of Wold Veterans. At this stage Team Bath were lying 2nd with a lead of 1min 17secs over the C&S team.  Dot Fellows was our second leg runner and immediately set about cutting the deficit, Dot came back in 2nd place 2 seconds in front of Team Bath but still 2minutes 58seconds behind Wold Veterans.

 

This left Chris Kilkenny with a tremendous challenge when she set out on the final leg, but what a leg. Chris just doesn’t know when she is beaten and produced what turned out to be the second fastest leg in the W55 age group to bring the team home in 1st place and secure what looked like an unlikely victory.  The final victory margin of 1min 38secs was an astonishing turn round. 

 

It is worth pointing out that this is the 5th British Team title that these 3 athletes have won, I am sure that they are the most successful team we have had.  It also continues the run of excellent results that our club is currently enjoying.

 

15-05-09 West Midlands Regional Disability Championships - Alexander Stadium - 10 May 2009

Last Sunday I felt both proud and privileged to attend and officiate at the West Midlands Regional Disability Championships held at the Alexander Stadium Birmingham

 

We had 5 athletes representing our club and what fantastic results they produced.  Pride of place I feel must go to Ellie Upton who was not only contesting her first championship but was competing for the first time ever.  Ellie won Gold in the Target Bean Bag, Silver in the Distance Club and Silver in the Javelin Back Throw.  It won’t always be this easy Ellie but well done.  Ellie was competing in the under 15 wheelchair category.

 

Sarah Hickman was competing in the under 15 category and completely dominated in the 100 and 200 metres winning gold in both competitions, not satisfied with that she then won a 3rd gold in the shot put. A talented athlete indeed.

 

Jamie Graham contested the under 20 age group and again achieved complete domination in winning the 200m, 400m and 800m in none of these races was the second placed athlete even close. Jamie really was a class apart.

 

Our only senior wheelchair athlete to contest these championships was Ian Cope and in fact it was Ian who set the trend for our elite little group by winning the first track race of the day the 400m.  He followed up by then winning the 200m and just for good measure he took the gold medal in the Discus. Anyone who has seen Ian train knows how much he puts into his sport and these gold medals justify all of his efforts.

 

I suppose that I must mention the old man (Dave Crutchley) team manager supreme, who inspired all of our athletes to their successes, but old warrior that he is he also wanted a slice of the action.  Dave himself took 2 gold medals in the Distance Club and the Discus, but being rather coy did not say if he was competing at senior or veteran level.

 

Our five athletes between them bought home 12 gold and 2 silver medals, you can see why I was so proud. Dave has informed me that because of their successes Ellie, Sarah and Jamie have all been selected to represent the West Midlands in the National Junior Championships at Blackpool on the first weekend in July, of course we wish them well.

                                                                                                       

Derek Fellows

Club President

 

07-05-09 Midland Senior Track and Field League - Solihull - 2 May 2009

An excellent performance from the C&S Senior team saw them make a flying start to the season by winning their first Division 5 match at Solihull on Saturday.

 

The men’s team were short of numbers and it was down to athletes competing in a number of events that they were able to score as well as they did.

 

Paul Edwards competed in the 110mH ‘B’ race which he won in 20.6 secs, 400mH ‘B’ (2nd in 64.5) and his first triple jump as well as the 200m and the two relays. Shaun Ainge competed in triple, long and high jumps and recorded a time of 2:19.7 in the 800m ‘B’ race before joining the 4 x 400m relay team.

 

Adam Smith ran in the 400m, 400mH, 1500m and 4 x 400m relay and Dan Timmis cleared 1.50m in the high jump and won the ‘B’ shot (10.86m) and discus (30.57m) in addition to throwing the javelin and running a leg of the 4 x 100m. Mathew Paynter competed in the long jump and threw well in shot (11.33m) and javelin as well as winning the discus (36.95m). Jamie Graham ran in the 400m, 800m and 4 x 400m relay.

 

Tom Humphries and Chris Harvey both made impressive appearances. Tom won the 5000m by almost two minutes from the second place runner and Chris Harvey ran 3:58.3 to easily win the 1500m.

 

In the women’s events, Stacey Johnson turned out to comfortably win the 3000m and Sue Kneil Boxley gained 2nd place finishes in the 1500m and 3000m ‘B’ races.

 

Laura Simmonds, in her first competition for two years won the long jump (5.48m) and came 2nd in the 400m ‘B’. Isabel Rogers won the long jump ‘B’ and came 2nd in the 100m.

 

Natalie Ainge smashed her pb in the triple jump with an extraordinary series of jumps including 3 of over 10.90m (best 10.94m) to win the ‘A’ and also won the 400mH ‘B’ and came 3rd in the 100m ‘B’. Chloe Boulter jumped a season’s bests of 10.43m to win the triple jump ‘B’ and 1.59m to win the high jump and came 4th in the 400mH.

 

Natalie Edwards won the high jump ‘B’ with 1.50m and got a seasons best 28.5 in the 200m. Carolyn Watterson, making her debut, recorded 27.9 in the 200m ‘B’. Hollie Allan came 2nd in the 400m in 63.3 and Beth Clarke came 2nd in the 800m.

 

Beth Denning came 2nd in the shot (7.69m) and discus (22.66m) and Alicia Clarke came 2nd in the ‘B’ shot (6.73m) and hammer (15.98m). Marie Smith won the ‘B’ discus (21.57m).

 

The women’s 4 x 400m relay team of Natalie Ainge, Hollie Allan, Chloe Boulter and Stacey Johnson finished the meeting in fine style by winning their race.

 

04-05-09 Uttoxeter Half Marathon - 3 May 2009

On Sunday 3rd May two of our senior veteran athletes contested the Uttoxeter Half Marathon which also doubled up as the county championship for that distance.

 

Christine Kilkenny ran a strong race and eventually finished 4th overall out of the women in a time of 1hr 33min 28secs,  Our other competitor was Dot Fellows who ran her fastest time on this particular course since 2005, Dots’ time was 1hr 44mins 6secs.  Chris was declared the county W55 champion and Dot won the W60 title, in each case they left many younger athletes far behind.

 

01-05-09 Midland Masters Road Relay Championships -  Edgbaston Reservoir - 26 April 2009

Last Sunday the Midland Masters held their road relay championships at Edgbaston Reservoir in Birmingham. Each runner had to complete 2 laps of the reservoir. 

 

Our first leg runner Chris Rollason ran into an early lead and after 2 laps handed over a lead of nearly one minute to Christine Kilkenny.  This was one of Chris Rollasons strongest runs for some time having suffered from several injuries.  Christine Kilkenny stretched the lead with what turned out to be the 2nd fastest leg of the day and handed over to Dot Fellows with our club in a strong position.

 

Dot was in no mood to give up what was a strong position and proceeded to run the 3rd fastest leg of the day and secure what was a convincing victory for our super vets.  Chris Rollason ran 23.14mins Chris Kilkenny 20.34mins and Dot Fellows 22.07mins. Our team beat 6 composite teams made up of men and women and easily secured the Midland Masters road relay championship.

 

27-04-09 National Junior League - Alexander Stadium - 26 April 2009

Cannock & Stafford's Junior League team produced a magnificent 2nd place finish in the first meeting of the season at Alexander Stadium on Sunday.

 

The achievements of our under 20's team can not be overstated. The fact that C&S are the smallest club in a division of eight teams that include Birchfield Harriers, Notts AC, Cardiff, a composite team of both Amber Valley and Chesterfield and another composite of five different Welsh clubs indicates that we are punching above our weight.

 

The second place position was again down to the athletes. They were willing to do events that they were not necessarily expecting to do and they performed well in them. Chad Barton took part in the high jump as well as winning the javelin and coming second in the B hammer. Alex Pinner did his first ever long jump as well as finishing 2nd in the B javelin. Alasdair Rigby did well in the 400m hurdles B race and Chloe Boulter only just missed out on a pb in the 200m as well as achieving a pb in the 400m hurdles and winning the B high and triple jumps.

 

Chris and James Perrin came home first and second in the 1500m to win A and B races and then took part in the steeplechase. Louise Foster and Sammy Witton won the A and B pole vault and Dan Timmis and Daniel Millerchip recorded excellent results in the discus and shot.

 

Catherine Hulme, Rebecca Phillips, Philip Pugh and Jack Lockett scored well in the 3000m and Sarah Hulme (3rd in the A) and Teresa (2nd in the B) did brilliantly in their first steeplechase run.

 

Guy Mayer recorded his best finishes in the Junior League in the 100 and 200m and was supported well by anther debutant, Chris Morris. Hayden Carter and Ashley Wickett picked up good points in the 800m and Cally Read and Rachel Atherton won the A and B 800m women's races.

 

Beth Denning, Anna Denning and Alicia Clarke all threw well to cover the hammer, shot and discus between them and Sally Clague and hurdler Harriet Thompson finished 3rd in the javelin A & B strings. Harriet also ran 13.16 in the 100m supported in the B race by Isabel Rogers who ran 13.2. Isabel also came 3rd in the long jump. In the men's long jump, Jamie Hammond had an excellent series of jumps culminating in a pb of 6.30m on his final attempt.

 

Natalie Ainge and Hollie Allan both came 3rd in their 400m races and Nat also finished 3rd in the long jump B. Jamie Graham took part in the 400m B race. Gemma Smith tied for first in the high jump and came 2nd in the triple jump against her Birchfield rival.

 

Adam Smith ran in the 400m hurdles despite injuring his shoulder in a rugby tackle during the few days prior to the event and Natalie Edwards recorded a fast time in the women's 400m hurdles as well as taking part in the 200m. Julie Addison and Beth Clarke produced solid performances in the 1500m.

 

The women's 4 x 400m relay team of Natalie Ainge, Rachel Atherton, Hollie Allan and Cally Read once again produced the highlight of the relays as they came 2nd to a strong Birchfield line up.

 

19-04-09 Three M50 club records for Paul Edwards - Stoke AC Open - Stoke - 19 April 2009

Paul Edwards broke three club records in the M50 age group at the City of Stoke Open on Saturday.

 

His first came in the long jump where he easily beat his previous pb by jumping 5.13m. He followed this with 12.9 in the 100m and then recorded an excellent 25.9 in the 200m.

 

Sam Evans found himself £100 better off as he won the prize race of the meeting, the mile, in 4mins 25.2. Sam remained on the shoulder of leader Sebastian Duffy of Stoke throughout the race and then kicked with 150m to go to take the win. Craig Pearson recorded a time of 4:40.3 in the same race.

 

In excellent conditions for the sprinters, Emily Fowler-Parkes recorded two pbs in the 100m (14.4) and 200m (29.7). Georgia Hollins also ran a best of 30.1 in the 200m and 14.5 in the 100m as well as coming 2nd in the long jump. Kate Leek won both Senior Women 100 and 200m races. Natalie Ainge won the U20 100m and finished 2nd in the 200m.

 

Jess Leek jumped a personal best of 5.10m in the long jump and won the U15 200m in 27.0. Megan Jones finished 2nd in the long jump and 100m and 3rd in the 200m. Tom Smith also recorded pbs in the 100 and 200m and Jamie Graham finished 3rd in the 200m U20 race in 25.4.

 

Natalie Edwards won the high jump with 1.45m and performed solidly with early season bests in the 100 and 200m races and Shaun Ainge recorded his best performances for two years in the long jump, 100 and 200m.

 

Phil Pugh ran 9mins 48.9 in the 3000m and then competed in the 1500m alongside Chris and James Perrin (4:21.7 and 4:22.8 respectively)

 

10-04-09 Track Availability

The track at Rowley Park will not be available for training on the following dates due to football cup finals being played on the pitch in the centre.

 

Sunday 19th April

Tuesday 21st April

Thursday 23rd April

Sunday 26th April

Tuesday 28th April

Thursday 30th April

Tuesday 5th May

Thursday 7th May

Sunday 10th May

 

The track will still be available on Mondays and Wednesdays throughout this period.

 

05-04-09 Officials News

Congratulations to Angie Smith and Dave Allan who have both qualified to become UKA level 2 athletics officials (timekeeper and track judge respectively). They both attended the course at the end of 2007 and have done the required amount of fixtures and demonstrated their competence during the 2008 season to earn their UKA licence, well done and thanks. Angie has already shown commitment to progressing this year as she was selected to help at a National event, the England Athletics Under 15/17/20 Indoor Championships in February. Last month we had 2 volunteers attend the level 2 course, our president Derek Fellows, renewed his qualification as a track judge and Fiona Russell is joining me on the timekeepers stand this season.

 

We are lucky as a club to have several qualified officials that regularly give up their time to ensure that the league matches, that our athletes are competing in, are able to be staged. There are 4 different leagues equalling 17 separate fixtures from April through to August that need officiating. As Officials Secretary I know the club is extremely grateful for any amount of assistance it gets but it is becoming a difficult task to get enough officials.

 

Athletes, see if anyone in your family is interested, they may even get to the Olympics, as officiating, at that level requires a huge amount of people and that pool of people is getting fewer each year. UKA and England Athletics organise the courses so if anyone wants to express an interest please email the club and I will find out details of future courses.

 

The following link is to do with a Youth Sport Trust project to get more young volunteers involved in officiating, follow the link for full details.

 

http://www.englandathletics.org/news.asp?itemid=1048&itemTitle=Bringing+new+officials+into+the+sport&section=42&sectionTitle=England+Athletics+News

 

Simon Evans

Officials Secretary

 

30-03-09 Wigan Open Meeting - 29 March 2009

Cannock & Stafford took an impressive number of athletes to the Wigan Open meeting on Sunday and the hard winter training was reflected in the times achieved.

 

Bethan Roberts ran an excellent 300m recording 44.1 secs and later won her 200m race in 28.5.

 

Four of our athletes took part in the SW 400m. Kate Leek won in 62.0, Natalie Ainge came 2nd (62.9), Chloe Boulter finished 3rd (66.6) and Natalie Edwards 5th with 67.0.

 

Ollie George took part in the U17’s 400m and came 3rd in 57.0, 4 seconds faster than his best of last season. The SM race saw Jamie Graham in 3rd place as the fastest C&S athlete with 56.1. Shaun Ainge came 5th (57.4) and Paul Edwards 6th (57.6).

 

Jess Leek won her U15 200m race in 27.9 and Megan Jones ran 28.7. Chloe Boulter came 2nd in the SW race with a time of 28.8 and Natalie Edwards 4th in 30.0.

 

There was an extremely close finish to the SM 200m in which our athletes competed. Jamie Graham came 2nd in 25.9 but was pushed all the way to the finish by Dan George, taking part in his first ever competitive race. Dan recorded 26.4 and was followed closely by the two veteran athletes, Shaun Ainge and Paul Edwards (26.5 and 26.7 respectively). Tom Smith, also in his first race, finished well in 28.4 secs.

 

Paul Edwards completed the 100m hurdles in 18.6 secs before the 100m races took place.

 

Eight C&S athletes took part in the 100m. In the U15 girls were Jess Leek (13.3) and Megan Jones (13.8), SW – Kate Leek (13.7), Natalie Ainge (14.0) and Natalie Edwards (14.8) and SM – Dan George (13.1), Shaun Ainge (13.3) and Tom Smith (14.1)

 

In the 1500m, Amelia Ridgway had an excellent start to the outdoor season, knocking around 6 seconds off her pb.

 

30-03-09 Milford 21 - Message from our Chairman

Thank you to everybody - marshals, timekeepers, tent assemblers, T-shirt girls, registration team, course markers, car park attendants, refreshment ladies - who helped at the Milford 21. We made more than £500 for club funds. Not bad considering we didn't have a sponsor!

 

Gary Denning

Chairman

 

22-03-09 British Masters Cross Country Championships - Denbighshire - 21 March 2009

In the BMAF cross country championships held at Ruthin School, Denbighshire, North Wales we had two representatives, Christine Kilkenny in the W55 age category and Dot Fellows in the W60s. 

 

On this occasion Christine was just run out of the medals finishing in 4th place. Dot managed to finish 3rd in her age group and came away with a bronze medal.  Unfortunately with Chris Rollason injured we were unable to field a team in this years championship.

 

15-03-09 Stafford Half Marathon - 15 March 2009

James Houghton continued his impressive winter season with 5th place in the Stafford Half Marathon, finishing in just over 1hr 15mins. Dave Constance came 9th in the M45 category finishing just over 10 minutes behind James.

 

Dot Fellows ran another impressive Stafford Half, winning the F60 category in a time of 1:44:25 and Melanie Leek, running her first half marathon ran an excellent time of 1:50:49 to finish 17th in the F45s.

 

All these athletes finished in the top half of a field that had 1714 finishers.   Pictures

 

09-03-09 British Masters Indoor Championships - Lee Valley - 7/8 March 2009

Kristian Lundby was the most successful Cannock & Stafford athlete at the British Masters Indoor Championships at Lee Valley, winning the M60 long jump and triple jump events (4.24m and 9.64m) and gaining a bronze in the javelin with a throw of 36.14m.

 

Alison George won silver in the W45 shot, throwing 9.25m, only 2cm behind the winner.

 

Gary Myles won gold in an extremely tight 60m hurdles race. Less than one tenth of a second separated the top three positions, Gary winning in 9.09secs.

 

In the M45 60m heats, Andy Weetman finished in 4th place in 7.82secs and later ran 7.85 in the B Final. Gary Myles came 3rd in his heat in a time of 7.96secs.

 

Graham Middleton took bronze in the M45 weight event with a throw of 12.03m, finished 5th in the discus with 33.33m and 4th in the hammer (38.27m). Martin Roberts also came away with bronze with a distance of 41.18m in the hammer.

 

01-03-09 WMYACCL - Perry Park - 1 March 2009

The young athletes of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club concluded their cross country season recently with team and individual successes when they travelled to Perry Park in Birmingham.

 

The under 17 boys took the gold medals in the team event with another victory on the day as they had also done on the previous four meetings. Chris Perrin was highest scorer in ninth place with Philip Pugh 11th these two were given good support by Chris’s twin brother James Perrin in 19th spot. Completing the scoring was Stewart Davies in 27th and Sam Derry 28th. With the top six in each age group receiving trophies it was Philip Pugh who took a well deserved fourth spot overall.

 

The under 15 girls took an excellent second placed in the team awards with Becky Straw finishing in fourth place followed by Jade Bird 6th, Teresa Hulme 13th, Sarah Hulme 18th, Lydia Trow 19th, Catherine Hulme 21st Shanie Read 26th, Charlotte Smith 31st, Alice Smith 42nd, Julie Addison 47th and Jess Boulter 57th. Jade Bird took the individual fourth place overall with good runs from all five meetings.

 

The under 15 boys, like their girl counterparts, also took a splendid second place overall with outstanding performances from Ashley Wickett in 14th, Ryan Terry 16th, Alex Hunter 20th, Stephen Sutton 21st, Jack Lockett 31st,  Michael Smith 32nd, James Lake 35th and Adam Cole 44th.

 

The only other trophy secured on the day was Ryan Ashforth who is only in his first year in the under 11 boys but with five outstanding efforts over the season he picked up another fourth place overall for the club finishing in ninth place on the day.

 

The other age groups saw the under 17 girls finish sixth overall with Becky Bray 16th,  Becky Cooke 26th and Beth Clarke 37th.

 

In the under 13 boys there were good runs from Jordan Barrett 24th, James McCann 25th Will Haycox 37th, Tom Eustace 38th and James Russell 64th. The team finished in sixth place overall.

 

The under thirteen girls gave a good account of them selves with Millie Ridgway finishing 11th, Dannielle Woodward 84th and Becky Wallace 107th.

 

In the under 11 girls Hannah Smith was 30th, Katie Wickett 42nd and Chloe Preston 57th.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager

 

27-02-09 WMYACCL - Perry Park - 1 March 2009

The timetable for the final WMYACCL at Perry Park is:

11.00  U11 Girls

11.15  U17 Girls

11.35  U11 Boys

11.50  U15 Girls

12.10  U13 Boys

12.30  U13 Girls

12.50  U15  Boys

13.05  U17 Men

 

26-02-09 Third Midland Open Indoor Meeting - NIA - 22 February 2009

A personal best high jump of 1.85m by Alasdair Rigby was the highlight of the third Midland Open Meeting, from a C&S perspective.

 

Jamie Hammond jumped a season's best of 5.86m in the U20 long jump and Isabel Rogers won her long jump competition with 5.03m. Isabel also came 3rd in the 60m in 8.14 secs.

 

Over the 60m hurdles, Gary Myles warmed up nicely for the British Masters Indoor Championships with an impressive 8.79 seconds. In the younger age groups, Liberty Thornton and Rachel Elt performed in the U15 event recording times of 10.0 and 11.3 respectively.

 

There were four U15 girls taking part in the 60m flat. The fastest was Ruby Coates in 8.65 secs followed by Jenny Moore in 8.78, Liberty Thornton 8.83 and Rachel Elt (8.84). Rachel also threw the shot 6.12m

 

22-02-09 Celtic Cup - Cardiff - 22 February 2009

Gemma Smith, making her debut for the England U20 team, won the Triple Jump at the Celtic Cup held in Cardiff on Sunday 22 February.

 

In a close competition where all the athletes were down on the previous week's efforts Gemma confirmed the National Championship form by beating C. King from Ireland into second place with a jump of 11.77m.


The photo is of Gemma receiving her medal from Olympic Long jump gold medalist Lyn Davies.  Photo

 

16-02-09 Gemma Smith selected for England U20s

Cannock & Stafford's Gemma Smith has been selected to represent England U20's in the Celtic Cup to be held in Cardiff on the 22 February 2009. This follows on the heals of her pb triple jump of 12.05m at the National Indoor Championships last weekend.

 

Congratulations Gemma!

 

16-02-09 Aviva England Athletics Indoor U20/U17 and U15 Championships  - NIA, Birmingham - 14/15 February 2009

There were medals for three of our athletes at the National Indoor Championships last weekend at the NIA in Birmingham.

 

Gemma Smith gained a silver medal with a personal best triple jump of 12.05m. Her 4th round jump of 12.02m had already beaten her previous best and had put her in the lead of the competition and she improved the lead with the 12.05m jump in the 5th round. It looked as though Gemma would win gold but Laura Samuel of Leicester Coritanian jumped 12.40m in the final round to snatch victory away.

 

A week after she took the Midland indoor under 20 800 metres title Cally Read was back in action and came away with a brilliant bronze medal.

 

In a race where several of the opposition had faster personal best times she was not overwhelmed by the two race favourites Leigh Lennon and April Stevenson and it was Lennon who set the early pace with Read and Stevenson side by side in second and third place and on the last lap the pair of them were fast closing in on Lennon and at the line it was Lennon who held on in a time of 2.11.36 with Stevenson 2.12.65 and Read in 2.13.18 completing a highly successful indoor season.

 

In the U17 age group, Chris Perrin won silver with a time of 4.16.92 in the 1500m.

 

Guy Mayer ran a pb in the 60m heat, qualifying in 3rd place with a time of 7.16secs. In the semi final, Guy ran 7.20 finishing 6th.

 

In his first year in the U17 age group, Ashley Wickett came 8th in the 800m final in a time of 2.09.20.

 

 

15-02-09 Birmingham & District Cross Country League - Stafford Common - 14 February 2009

The senior men of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club finished their Birmingham Cross Country League in style with another individual and team success as they won promotion back to Division 2 in the fourth and final round at Stafford Common.

 

International Tom Humphries repeated his victory of  the third round with another fine display of front running and with three large laps he steadily increased his lead over team mate, junior Phil Wolfe and that is how they crossed the line with James Houghton fourth and Craig Pearson fifth.

 

Following these four were the ever consistent Paul Lester in eighth, Dave Constance 35th Jamie Graham 103rd and Tim Buss 120th.

 

Individual awards went to James Houghton who took, the overall title with Phil Wolfe second and Craig Pearson third with Paul Lester joint sixth.

 

Phil Wolfe also took the leading under 20 athlete title with the best of three performances over the season.

 

The team finished first on the day as they did in the previous round but with several athletes missing earlier in the season the team had to settle for second place overall to Sutton Coldfield  so the target next year will be to consolidate their league 2 status or even go for promotion to the First Division.

 

Special thanks to Stafford Harriers for hosting the meeting and laying on an excellent course.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager and U.K. Athletics Coach

 

09-02-09 Midland Indoor Championships - NIA - 7/8 February 2009

Cally Read became Midland under 20 Champion at 800 metres last weekend when she travelled to the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham to compete in the Midland Indoor Championships.

 

In a straight final she quickly left her rivals behind as she powered to a convincing victory in a time of 2:16.09

 

In the under 17 girls age group Becky Cooke qualified  for the final of the 800 metres with a time of 2:24.07 and in the final a time of 2.28.95 saw her finish in fifth place overall. Shanie Read finished just behind Becky in the semi-final in a time of 2:25.36.

 

Jamie Hammond won a bronze medal in the U20 long jump with a season's best 5.73m and Chloe Boulter finished 5th in the U20 high jump, equalling her pb of 1.55m for the second time this season. Alasdair Rigby came 6th in a strong U20 high jump competition, clearing 1.75m. In the U17 competition, Sean Rich just missed out on a medal, clearing 1.65m.

 

Ruby Coates came 4th in her heat of the U15 200m in a time of 29.10 secs and also jumped 4.59 in the long jump (6th). Jane Bourne won bronze in the U17 shot with a throw of 7.76m.

 

Louise Foster continued her run of 2.90m vaults in the pole vault to win bronze and Harriet Thompson took a break from hurdling to qualify for the 60m flat final by recording 8.18 in her heat . In the final she just missed out on a medal by one 1/100th of a second in a time of 8.16 secs. Guy Mayer ran 7.29 in his 60m heat finishing 4th.

 

Gemma Smith added yet another gold medal to her impressive collection by triple jumping to 11.60m and Chloe Boulter finished 4th in the same event with a jump of 10.35m.

 

09-02-09 Staffordshire Schools Cross Country Championships - University of Stoke - 7 February 2009

The young athletes of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club were in good form again last weekend when they contested the County Schools Championships at Stoke University.

 

Seeking a place in the All England Schools Champs in March, where eight athletes are selected to run, many members produced their best performances and so it was for the Hulme triplet sisters competing in the under 17 Inter Girls age group despite only being in the under 15s at club level.

 

Teresa turned in the best effort finishing in silver medal position with Sarah fourth and Catherine fifth followed by Becky Bray 9th and Julie Addison 10th and as they all competed for Stafford and District they easily took the gold team award. Running for Cannock Schools was Beth Clarke in 11th place.

 

The inter Boys had Chris Perrin taking bronze followed by Philip Pugh in fourth, James Perrin 7th, Ashley Wickett 11th, Sam Derry 13th, Jack Lockett 14th, Mike Smith 15th and David O’Farrell 26th. Cannock schools took the silver team award.

 

The year 7 girls of Stafford were also in Gold winning team position with Leanne Dimmock taking second place for an excellent silver medal with Ellie Proud 5th, Elphie Nash 9th, Hannah Smith 18th and Sara Dimmock 19th.Cannock were third with Katie Wickett 23rd.

 

The junior girls race saw Cannock overall team winners with Stafford third. Running for Stafford was Charlotte Smith 6th, Abi Wise 13th, Jess Boulter 23rd and Alex Smith 27th with Amelia Ridgway 5th and Grace Rossitter 7th for Cannock.

 

The junior boys saw another win for Cannock with a large turnout from the club with Alex Hunter 4th, Tom Baldwin 5th, Steve Sutton 10th, James Lake 11th, Adam Cole 14th Ryan Terry 19th Matt Haywood 21st Jordan Barrett 22nd and Tom Eustace 26th with Will Haycox and James McCann for Stafford in 18th and 34th respectively.

 

The year 7 boys saw the talented Ryan Ashforth who is only a year 5 pupil lead home the Stafford team in 14th place with club mate James Russell right behind in 15th as the team finished third with Cannock fourth as Liam Dixon finished 10th, Jordan Cashmore  19th and Aiden Funnell 23rd.

 

05-02-09 Birmingham Games - NIA - 31 January / 1 February 2009

The Birmingham Games saw the first outing of the season for a number of our middle distance runners.

 

In their first appearances as under 17's, Shanie Read and Ashley Wickett ran in 800m races with Shanie finishing 4th in 2:21.75 and Ashley recording 2:14.03.

 

Cally Read came 2nd in the U20's 800m in 2:14.56 and Amelia Ridgway gained a pb in her first U15's race with 2:46.78.

 

Tom Humphries and Sam Evans competed in the SM 1500m semi-finals, Tom finishing 3rd in his race in 3:57.0 and Sam 6th in 4:08.7. Unfortunately, neither qualified for the final.

 

Harriet Thompson won her U20 60m hurdles race by one 1/100 of a second in a time of 9.30 secs and Guy Mayer came 3rd in his race in the U20 60m with 7.28 secs, faster than his indoor time of last season.

 

In the field events, Louise Foster continued her consistent early season form recording a pole vault of 2.90m and Gemma Smith put herself top of the early season U20 UK rankings with a triple jump of 11.80m whilst taking part in the SW event. Alison George started the season well with a throw of 9.50m in the SW shot to finish 2nd.

 

01-02-09 Officials Course

It is important that we provide officials at the meetings that we take part in. In fact, in most competitions such as the Young Athletes and Junior Leagues, officials gain points towards the team totals and these are valuable towards the overall results.

 

The next officials course is :

Level 2: Sunday 29th March 2009, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham

 

Level 2 is the course to start with if you have a reasonable knowledge of athletics. There is a small cost but if you are connected to Cannock & Stafford Athletic Club the club will pay this for you. If you are interested in getting involved and becoming an official let me know via the club email and I will get the application forms for you.

 

Simon Evans

Officials Secretary

 

26-01-09 Second Midland Open Jumps and Throws Meeting - HPC, Birmingham - 24 January 2009
Our athletes had a good day at the High Performance Centre on Saturday with Ruby Coates recording a personal best in the U15 long jump (4.61m) and a number of others equalling their pbs.

 

In the U17 Men's high jump, Sean Rich equalled his best jump of 1.70m to finish in 3rd place. Jamie Hammond leapt 5.67m in the U20 long jump and in the Senior Men's hammer, Martin Roberts threw 42.78m.

 

The U20's triple jump was won by Gemma Smith who improved her season's indoor best to 11.50m. Chloe Boulter finished 3rd with 10.09m. Gemma also took part in the long jump (4.83m) and Chloe equalled her high jump pb with 1.55m to finish 3rd.

 

In the U17 Women's Pole Vault, Louise Foster won with an equal pb vault of 2.90m and Sammy-Jo Witton cleared 2.40m.

 

 

26-01-09 Midlands Cross Country Championships - Berry Hill Park, Mansfield - 24 January 2009
The under 15 girls of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club last weekend justified the faith coach and team manager Bob Hughes had in them when predicting that they are one of the best squads  in the Midlands.

 

Competing in the Midland Cross Country Championships at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield which takes in an area from Bristol in the South up to Mansfield in the North they came away with well deserved bronze medals just being narrowly beaten by winners Halesowen and runners up Leicester.

 

Jade Bird who is in her first year at this age group was always nicely placed in the leading pack of runners and it was only towards the end when the pace quickened that six were able to get the better of her but a seventh place in these championships is an outstanding achievement. The team kept up the good work with Becky Straw finishing in 22nd, Lydia Trow 30th and completing the scoring was Teresa Hulme in 33rd. These four were given good support by Catherine Hulme in 55th with Charlotte Smith right behind in 56th followed by Sarah Hulme 67th and Julie Addison 70th.

 

The under 17 ladies were a creditable eighth place with excellent performances from Rachel Atherton in 28th, Becky Bray 37th, Becky Cooke 45th and Beth Clarke 60th.

 

The under 13 boys finished in thirteenth place with splendid efforts from William Haycox 41st, James McCann 46th, Tom Eustace 67th and Jasper Hall 105th.

 

The under 17 boys had three finishers with Chris Perrin 27th, twin brother James in 45th and Stuart Davies in 63rd.

 

In the under 15 boys race Ashley Wickett ran well for 27th place with Jack Lockett 77th.

 

The under 13 girls had one athlete as Amelia Ridgway crossed the line in 27th place.

 

Finally one senior man competed in the men’s race which had over three hundred runners with Craig Pearson performing well in 65th position.

 

Bob Hughes

UK Athletics Coach & Team Manager

 

11-01-09 Birmingham Cross Country League - Burbage Common - 17 January 2009
The good old days returned to Cannock and Stafford Athletic club last weekend when they turned out a near full strength team to contest the third round of the Birmingham and District Cross country league held at Burbage Common in Hinkley.

Not since the days in the nineties of internationals Spencer Duval,  Paul Davies-Hale, Carl Warren and the O’Connor brothers Ali and Simon under team manager Ian Connelly, have the club had such a good turn out of the top quality athletes in the league with only Sam Evans missing through work commitments.

At present the club are in division three of the league  due solely to the last meeting last season in division 2 when in promotion place they were unable to field a complete scoring team of six runners but on this occasion they turned out a team worthy of division 1.

Tom Humphries who ran in Spain the previous week took time off from his international duties to run here and he gave a masterly performance of front running in very wet conditions finishing well over a minute in front of his nearest rival Cornes of Black Country Tri Club.

Third was junior international Chris Harvey who has just recovered from an operation on his dislocated shoulder putting in a strong effort to just edge out newcomer Phil Wolfe another junior athlete in fourth place with Craig Pearson sixth, James Houghton who is leading the overall individual placings in seventh and completing the scoring was Paul Lester in twelfth.

Giving good support was junior athlete Hayden Carter 39th, Dave Constance 42nd and Tim Buss 124th.

The club are now in second place overall behind Royal Sutton Coldfield and a decent turnout at Stafford Common on the 14th of February should see the club gain promotion to division 2 .

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager

 

You tube video from race

 

11-01-09 Staffordshire County Cross Country Championships - Sandwell Valley - 10 January 2009
The young athletes of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club had a highly successful day last weekend when they contested the County Cross Country Championships at Sandwell Valley in Tipton.

Pride of place goes to Jade Bird who took the gold medal in the under 15 girls with the rest of the team wrapping up the gold medals in the team competition with seven runners in the top eleven places. Racing with the under 15 boys in a combined race Jade soon had a clear lead over her female rivals and also many of the boys were left in her wake as she finally crossed the line one minute ahead of second place.

 

The gold team medals were secured with triplets Teresa Hulme taking a brilliant bronze in third place with sisters Catherine and Sarah in fourth and sixth place respectively. These four received excellent backing from Charlotte Smith in 9th, Julie Addison 10th, Grace Rossitter 11th, and Jessica Boulter 16th.

 

The under 17 ladies finished in silver team place thanks to excellent efforts from Rachel Atherton in 5th, Rebecca Cooke 7th Rebecca Bray 8th and Beth Clarke 16th.

 

The under 17 men also took silver team place again with outstanding runs from Chris Perrin in 8th, Philip Pugh 9th, James Perrin 12th, Sam Derry 19th and Stuart Davies 22nd.

 

The under 13 boys took a splendid silver team award with Will Haycox in 9th, James McCann 10th, Tom Eustace 11th, James Russell 16th, Aidan Funnell 19th and Liam Dixon 24th.

 

The under 15 boys collected the bronze team prize with fine performances from Ryan Terry in 9th, Tom Baldwin 12th, Steve Sutton 13th, Alex Hunter 14th, Adam Cole 15th, James Lake 17th and Michael Smith 21st.

 

The under 13 girls finished fifth overall with good efforts from Leanne Dimmock in 17th, Rebecca Wallace 23rd, Alex Smith 26th and Sara Dimmock in 28th.

 

Running well in the under 20 men were Phil Wolfe in fifth place with Jamie Graham 12th.

 

The senior ladies had two athletes with Chris Kilkenny 17th and team mate Dot Fellows 22nd and there was one senior man with Craig Pearson finishing in a creditable 17th place.

 

Bob Hughes

Team Manager


 

09-01-09 First Midland Open Meeting - HPC, Birmingham - 4 January 2009
The first Midland Open meeting of the season took place at the High Performance Centre in Birmingham last Sunday.

 

Five of our female athletes took part. Jane Bourne came 2nd in both U17 Shot and Discus with distances of 7.94m and 26.64m respectively. Louise Foster came 3rd in the U17 Pole Vault with a height of 2.80m and Sammy-Jo Witton 5th with 2.60m.

 

Chloe Boulter came 2nd in the U20 High Jump clearing 1.50m. Gemma Smith won the triple jump (11.35m) and came 2nd in the long jump with 5.13m.
 

08-01-09 Staffordshire County Cross Country Championships - Timetable
The County Cross Country Championships take place at Sandwell Valley on Saturday (10th).

 

The timetable of events is as follows:
12:00 : U13 Boys and Girls
12:25 : U15 Boys and Girls
1:05 : U17 Men and Women plus U20, Senior and Veteran Women
1:45 : U20, Senior and Veteran Men