Athletes from Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club were among the medals last weekend when they contested the final round of the North Staffs Cross Country League at the Westwood High School in Leek.

The senior men continued their dominance of Division 2, winning three of the four rounds, with outstanding performances. Jason Jones was the leading C&S runner in 7th place followed by James McCann in 8th, James Lake 12th, Aaron Houseman 13th, Aaron Brown 17th and Jamie Graham in 36th.Houseman also took the bronze medal in the Under 20 Junior Men’s competition

The under 17 title went to James Russell who won two of the rounds and had to settle for second on this occasion but it was enough to take the gold medal.

Rachael Jones also had a great season in the U15 girls finishing in fourth position this time but it was still good enough for the bronze medal overall. Georgia Wallace also ran in the U15 girls in 24th place.

In the under 13 boys James Boote competed in all four rounds to take an excellent silver medal, finishing fourth on the day.

Two athletes who competed both took individual victories on the day but, due to the clash with the Inter County Schools race, only competed in three rounds of the League. But for the clash, the titles would surely have been theirs. In the under 13 girls Iris Davies won all of her three rounds and in the under 13 boys Harrison-Smith already had a second and third place under his belt.

Other finishers in the under 13 boys along with Hardy-Smith and Boote were Bill Chesters 15th  and Kyle Haycock 23rd. These two also did the Schools race and, as they won the team race easily on the day, the team title also would have been theirs for the taking.

One other athlete in the under 13 girls was Isabelle Kelly in 12th place.

On Saturday, the sixteenth running of the British Masters Open Cross Country Championships were held at the Moorways Stadium, Derby. 

For the first time we were able to enter a team in the W35 age group. Gillian Russon, Nina Skilton and Sally Gray all ran strongly with the team finishing in a credible 8th place. Due to injuries to two of our W55 team we were unable to defend that title which we won last year.

The Club has one remaining entry for the 2014 London Marathon available.

If you are a member and would like to use the entry, please contact our secretary, Karen Moody by email to kazmoody@yahoo.co.uk by 30th November 2013.

You will, of course, have to pay the entry fee.

I would like to start by saying thanks to our outgoing President, Derek Fellows. Derek has given a lot to this club over many years and I’m pleased to say he will continue to officiate whenever he can for us. Best wishes to Derek and Dot who is recovering from an injury but I’m sure we will see her competing again in the not too distant future. I’m pleased to say that Mr. “Cannock & Stafford” himself, Bob Hughes, has agreed to become our new club President, so thanks Bob, we’re looking at getting at least 10 years from you. By the way I’ve nominated you for the Special Contribution to Sport Award in the Stafford Borough Sports awards!! I knew you’d be pleased. 

I think it has been a good year for the club, I believe we are covering our costs, which is all we need do, thanks Carole Jones for all the hours you put in looking after the finances. I also understand that membership is on the up; and we have gained some more qualified officials and coaches this year, so we are moving in the right direction. Thanks to Helen Walker for all your hard work processing the memberships and registering athletes with England Athletics. A huge thanks to the rest of the committee, all the coaches, officials, volunteers and of course the athletes for making this a great club to be associated with.

I think we’ve achieved a lot over the last 12 months but there’s still a lot to do in getting our administration house in order, something I’ve been slow to progress is getting our “clubmark” status renewed, that will be my priority in the coming months. Another priority is to get the administration of training nights sorted out, Tuesdays and Thursdays are ok, the athletes know to come and book in and pay their track fee (most of them at least) but Mondays and Wednesdays are not so organized, I think Bob collects on those evenings but he doesn’t have time to get all the athletes booked in, so I ask is anyone willing to take this task on for one of those evenings, if so speak to myself, Bob or any of the committee. The 3rd priority, and I’ve been working on this since before the clocks went back, is to get some lighting in place for the throws area…..we await word from SBC.

Here’s to a successful year ahead.

Simon Evans

Chairman

The young athletes from Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club were in excellent form last weekend when they contested the second round of the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country at Aldersley Stadium, Wolverhampton.

In the under 13 girls Iris Davies continued her splendid form with another brilliant effort to finish second on the day and to now stand second overall.

Throughout the summer track and field and now in the winter competition her main rival has been Amelia Samuels from Wolverhampton and Bilston A C with both taking victories over each other. So it was again with Samuels and Davies both moving away from the rest of the 170 runners and, with both athletes locked together approaching the finish, it was Samuels who just got the better on this occasion.

Team wise the under 13 girls consolidated their second place overall behind Rugby & Northampton A C with another good team performance. Giving Davies good support were Jazmin Maddocks in 16th followed by Molly Shermer 21st, Olivia Osborne 22nd, Isabelle Kelly 24th, Olivia Corcaron 94th and Martha Edge 104th.

In the under 13 boys Harrison Hardy-Smith made great strides to get among the medals at the end of the season with a brilliant fourth place with good support from Bill Chesters in 19th, Josh Bassett 45th and Kyle Haycock 49th. The team lie in 9th place.

In the Under 15 Boys Ryan Ashforth is another runner steadily improving through the season with an excellent third place and second overall and with further improvement he will be contesting all of the National Championships in the new year.

The under 17 Ladies had Kirsty Beswick 27th, Klara Hunt 31st and Nicola Morris 35th.

In the under 11 girls there were good performances from Cerys Boothroyd in 59th, Sadie Gardner 99th and Katie Nall 100th

The senior men of Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club continued their push towards the top division of the North Staffs Cross Country League with another emphatic win in Division Two.

Jason Jones and club mate Paul Lester were always in contention in the leading pack on the six mile course with  Jones crossing the line in fourth place in their division  followed by Paul Lester in 5th,  Ethymios Papadopolous 8th,  Aaron Houseman14th and James Lake 20^th. With one only round to go the title is looking a good bet for the local club.

In the under 17 men’s race James Russell consolidated his overall lead with another show of front running crossing the line ten seconds ahead of second place to gain his second victory of the competition

Several athletes from Cannock and Stafford were in excellent form last weekend when they contested the annual Year 7, 8 and 9 Inter County Schools Trials at Rowley Park.

Out of the four races C&S athletes were victorious in three beginning with the Year 8/9 girl’s race where Iris Davies was favourite and so it proved. On a course of one and a half laps of Rowley Park she quickly moved into the lead to cross the line twenty seconds ahead of second place. Club mate  and fellow Rowley Park training partner Molly Shermer was an excellent third to also qualify for next week’s Inter County Match at Warwick College.

The year 7 boys race was also won by a C&S athlete with Harrison Hardy-Smith hitting the front and slowly extending his lead on the two lap course finishing well ahead of his rivals. Qualifying for the Inter Counties with Harrison was Kyle Haycock with a splendid fourth place.

Finally Isabelle Kelly repeated the feat of her two club mates with another piece of front running. She swiftly moved away from the rest of the field to cross the line well clear of the rest of the field.

There were several successes for athletes from Cannock and Stafford Athletic Club last weekend when they made the short trip from Rowley Park to Stafford Common to contest the second round of the North Staffs Cross Country League.

The senior men took another big stride in their bid to win the second division and regain their place in the higher tier with another team win. Running as one race but with two divisions taking part, there were excellent runs from James McCann in 13th, Craig Pearson 18th, Aaron Brown 45th, Paul Lester 47th, Aaron Houseman 57th, Efthymios Papadopoulos 73rd and Bradley Haycock 102nd.

In the under 17 men’s race there was an outstanding performance from James Russell as he took his first victory in a cross country race and after his fourth place in the first round he has now moved up to second overall.

Another stunning victory, following her win in the first round, came from under 13 girls Iris Davies who led from start to finish crossing the line 13 seconds ahead of second place. Sadly her hopes for an individual medal this year, as was in last year’s League competition, will again be dashed by the annual clash with the National Inter County Schools on the same day as the next North Staffs League race. This will also take several of her team mates out, as well as other athletes from other age groups and runners from other clubs in the league. As neither League or Schools will change their dates it makes a mockery of the whole situation.

Giving Iris good support and helping the team to take first place on the day saw splendid performances from Molly Shermer in 6th, Isabelle Kelly 9th Jessica Harrison 23rd and Alice Richards in 27th.The team have a healthy 16 point lead overall.

The under 13 boys lie in second place overall with brilliant efforts from Harrison Hardy Smith in third place (third overall) James Boote 4th and Bill Chesters  18th.

Rachael Jones continued her good form in the under 15 girls with another impressive performance finishing 5th on the day but with two of the athletes ahead of her only having taken part in one race it moves Rachael up to third overall. The team are in 5th place with further good runs from Megan Hartman in 13th, Philippa Nock 15th and Georgia Wallace 32nd.

Ryan Ashforth in the Under 15 boys again showed why he is one of the top runners in the county finishing 4th behind two outstanding athletes from Wrexham and one from Cheshire’s Vale Royal A.C. Giving Ryan good support was Callum Houseman in 18th place.

The senior Ladies had two runners with Chris Kilkenny finishing in 31st and Gillian Russon in 33rd.

Finally there were two runners in the under 11 girls with Megan Chesters finishing in 28th place and Emily Haycock in 30th.

The track and field season is now a distant memory, so much so that in the last couple of weeks I've received the fixtures for the indoor season from British Athletics and Midlands Athletics. 

So a quick end of season catch up on noticeable performances. First, and is there no stopping this man, congratulations to Paul Edwards for his bronze medal at the World Masters Games in the 100m Hurdles. This was back in early August and took place in Turin, Italy. Next and again its our veterans grabbing the headlines, with Christine Kilkenny, Terry Faulkner and Kristian Lundby who all won gold medals at the British Masters Championships at Alexander Stadium over the weekend of 14/15 September. 

On the same weekend in September there was another big win for Emma Hamplett in the javelin at the UK Schools games. Not only was this her third national victory this year, but another PB to extend her No. 1 ranking position for U17 women. By the way we are trying to source some lighting for the throws area, though because of all the factors it is not proving very easy. If anyone has any suggestions in this area please let us know.

Finally, and it's a biggie, I suggested that we get a team together, of all ages from the club, to come to Rowley Park on a Sunday afternoon in mid October and run a continuous relay of 42,195m (or a Marathon as it is better known). Well they did and we're only the fastest team in the world to date!!! As you're probably aware this was the World Marathon Challenge in aid of "Save the Children", and thanks to all the helpers, Sandi, Helen, Justine, Bob, Helen, Jayne, Darrell and Derek and of course "yours truly" with the magic stopwatch. Shaun, Gary and athletes from throughout the club ran their socks off to knock out a time of 1 hour, 42 minutes and 22 seconds. Sorry team from Estonia! I think the rangers have now finished hosing down the park, as it was noted that many of the team did actually leave something on the track - well over the fence to be accurate!! 

Please try and collect sponsorship money as soon as you can. You can pay in on the JustGiving page (link on web and Facebook) or give it me and I'll pay it in on your behalf.

Remember memberships are now due, £5 discount for early renewal. 

The AGM takes place next month. I'm very proud that we are an all inclusive club, but I'm also aware how much work a few put in to make us the club we are. If you feel you'd like to contribute, let me (or any of the other club officials / coaches) know.

Finally the club presentation night will be going ahead on 4th January, please buy your tickets early so we know how many will be coming. They'll be on sale soon.

Simon Evans

Chairman

The young athletes of Cannock & Stafford were in action last weekend when they travelled to Hatton Park near Warwick to compete in the first round of the highly competitive West Midland Young Athletes Cross Country League.

With major clubs from all over the Midlands taking part, several C&S athletes performed brilliantly against the best in the Midlands with Ryan Ashforth (U15 Boys) and Iris Davies (U13 Girls) both taking 3rd place in their respective age groups.

Ashforth was always in contention on the two mile course with the leading three breaking well away from the rest of the field and they were still locked together as they approached the finish with Ryan having to settle for third place in a sprint finish. Giving Ryan good support was Hugo Beattie in 39th and Sam Bagley in 53rd. The team were 11th.

The under 13 girls lie in second place behind Rugby thanks to the excellent effort of Iris Davies who again was in a trio of athletes who broke well clear of the rest of the pack. She also had to settle for third place in a sprint finish.

The team also had newcomer Jazz Maddocks in splendid form as she crossed the line in 9th place followed by Molly Shermer in 12th, Molly Trow 32nd, Olivia Osbourne 37th, Isabelle Kelly 39th, Ella Gardner 71st, Alice Richards 80th, Olivia Corcoran 97th and Martha Edge 98th.

The under 11 girls lie in 7th place with outstanding runs from Ariana Jones in 10th, Cerys Boothroyd 32nd, Elizabeth Aston 39th, Sadie Gardner 90th, Megan Chesters 120th and Emiily Haycock 126th.

The under 15 girls occupy 7th place with excellent runs from Rachael Jones in 16th, Lucy Gilbert 42nd, Philippa Nock 50th, Katy Lord 55th, Rebecca Brown 59th and Josie Wiklund 74th.

The under 11 boys are in 7th place with fine efforts from Harry Hardy-Smith in 11th, Bill Chesters 30th, Josh Basssett 33rd and Kyle Haycock48th.

The under 17 men ran well with James Russell in 15th, Jagon Edge 35th and Ashley Daniel 60th giving the team a well deserved 8th place

One C&S athlete contested the under 17 Ladies with Kirsty Beswick finishing in a creditable 34th place.

The first WMYACCL meeting of the season takes place at Hatton Park, Warwick on Sunday (6th).

The timetable is:

11.00   U11G

11.15   U17M

11.40   U11B

11.55   U15G

12.15   U13B

12.35   U13G

12.55   U15B

13.15   U17W

On 20th October, C&S have entered a team to take part in the World Marathon Challenge to raise money for Save the Children.

The team will run 105 laps + 195m at Rowley Park, which constitutes the Marathon distance. There must be at least 26 members taking part and the distance is split into 200m legs meaning each runner will run about 8 x 200m with approx 12 or 13 minutes recovery between each.

If you are interested in either taking part, or helping (lap counting, timekeeping etc) then please contact either Sandi or Shaun at the club (or email me through the website). We are after athletes of all ages, although preferably you will be able to run the 200m legs in under 35 seconds as we are trying to complete the race as fast as possible. However, if you only think you can manage one or two runs and think you may be slightly slower than 35 seconds but you'd still like to take part, please pass on your details to Sandi.

We will be handing out sponsor sheets to those taking part and would ask athletes to try to get at least £10 each in sponsorship.

The race will start at 1pm

Cannock & Stafford athletes took part in their final track and field meetings of the season at Telford and Blackpool over the last two weekends.

At the Telford Games on 14 September, Amy Pye won three gold medals in the U13G events in the 70m hurdles (12.0), long jump (4.43m) and 200m (28.2). Iris Davies smashed her 800m pb to win in 2:28.6 and Charlie Peters stepped up an age group to win the U15G 1500m in 5:22.0.

Chloe Wilde just missed out on the U15G meeting record in the 800m but still comfortably won in 2:22.3 and Megan Davies rounded off a fantastic season by winning the 200m in 26.9.

Jordan LeFevre took gold in the U17M 400m in a pb of 52.5 and Natalie Ainge won the SW race in 63.0.

Gabi Burton completed her season with two more first places, in the U20W 100m (12.7) and 100m hurdles (15.7), Talent Gukwe won the SM 200m in 22.7 and Shaun Ainge gained two golds in the Vets 200m (26.3) and the discus.

Six C&S athletes travelled to Blackpool the following weekend to compete in the Blackpool Open Medal meeting. Rodders Underwood won his first gold medal after catching Allee Rigby on the line in a close SM 800m encounter (both with 2:18.8) that also saw Jak Carpenter win his first medal in third (2:20.0) ahead of Shaun Ainge in fourth (2:22.2).

Jak only had a short break before he took part in the 100m but it didn't seem to affect him as he produced a pb performance of 12.2. Steve Thompson also ran in the 100m and finally lowered his pb to 12.3 in his U17 race.

Olivia Osborne was the only female C&S athlete taking part in the meeting but she won bronze in the U13 800m in 2:47.4 and a pb in the 100m of 15.5

Christine Kilkenny, Terry Faulkner and Kristian Lundby all won gold medals at the British Masters Championships at Alexander Stadium over the weekend of 14/15 September.

Christine took the W60 5000m title in 20:37.85. Terry Faulkner won the M70 200m in 32.99 and also won a silver in the 400m in 73.37.

Kristian Lundby jumped 9.22m to win the M65 triple jump and won a bronze medal in the javelin with a throw of 34.66m.

Other C&S athletes who competed in the Championships were Paul Lester (M40 5000m), Paul Edwards (4th in both M50 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles), Gary Myles (7th in M50 100m and 5th in 100m hurdles) and Alison George (8th in W50 shot) 

Congratulations to Steve Thompson and Eleanor Proud who were CSW's top male and female point scorers in the Upper Age Group of the Youth Development League this season.

Eleanor had a fantastic season, winning five of the events that she took part in, including three of the four 300m races (she finished 2nd in the other one).

Steve had one victory in the 100m hurdles and had a number of second place finishes and took part in the 1500m steeplechase in the final meeting to pip Jordan LeFevre to top spot.

Max Wyatt won gold at the Midlands Championships at Alexander Stadium on Saturday with a throw of 52.99m in the U15 javelin.

Three other C&S athletes came just outside the medals on the opening day of competition. Megan Davies stepped up an age group to take part in the 300m and came 4th in 41.85, ranking her 6th in the country for her age. James O'Brien ran 4:16.03, bettering his previous pb by almost 3.5 seconds, to finish 4th in the U17 1500m and Michael Townsend finished a place outside the medals in the U15 80m hurdles.

Charlie Peters was another athlete to step up an age group, finishing 6th in a competitive heat of the U15 800m and Nedescha Heine qualified for the final of the U17W 80m hurdles, finishing 7th in the final.

On Sunday, Bethan Rees took the U15 Girls javelin final with a throw of 31.29m.

Ryan Ashforth came 4th in the U15 Boys 3000m, Rachael Jones came 7th in the U15 1500m final and James Russell came 5th in his heat of the 800m.

A small C&S team of ten men and seven women made a successful journey to Newport as they finished third in the final Midland Senior League meeting of the season to retain their place in Division 3.

There were individual wins for Isabel Rogers in the 200 ‘B’ and long jump ‘B’, Natalie Ainge in the 100m hurdles ‘B’ and Chloe Boulter and Nadescha Heine in the high jump (‘A’ and ‘B’ respectively). Chloe’s high jump of 1.65m equalled the League’s Divisional record.

Gabi Burton finished second in the 100m and 100m hurdles and there were also second place finishes for Natalie Ainge in the 400m hurdles, Jess Leek in the long jump, Isabel Rogers in the triple jump ‘B’ and shot ‘A’, Chloe  in the shot ‘B’ and the womens 4x100m team. Izzy’s shot put was the furthest thrown by a C&S athlete since 2009.

In the men’s events, Adam Smith came second in the 400m hurdles and James Lake 800 ‘B’ and 1500m ‘B’), Aaron Brown (pole vault), Martin Roberts (hammer ‘A’ and discus ‘B’), Jak Carpenter (hammer ‘B’) and Shaun Ainge (100m hurdles ‘B’) all finished second in their events.

Jordan LeFevre and Rodders Underwood both broke their 400m pbs and Sue Kneill Boxley clocked up a personal tally of 17 points in the 100, 400, 800 and 1500m races. Craig Pearson came third in the 3000m and Steve Thompson fourth in the long jump.

Apart from the above performances, the majority of those mentioned amassed points in other events in a great team effort to achieve the third place finish.

What a summer of sport we have seen and it’s not over yet. Together with the good weather we have had over the last month it has been fantastic. I think it is an appropriate time to highlight the successes our athletes have achieved recently before they become a distant memory. I have to start with our Javelin squad, all of whom are currently inside the top 20 in the Power of 10 ranking system, for their age groups. This is a fantastic achievement and coach Mark Pinner is doing a brilliant job despite the difficulties with facilities he has had to deal with over the last year. Emma Hamplett is once again the leading U17 javelin thrower in Britain (led the U15 age group in 2012). Her recent victory at the SIAB Schools International with a new PB of 45.65m puts her over 2m ahead of her nearest rival. Bethan Rees is 3rd in the rankings and has been winning at championships throughout the season and also gaining valuable points for the club at the YDL matches. The biggest improvement (that I can see) appears to be by Harry Marshall who improved his PB by 9m!! over his 2012 best, I understand he has been rewarded with selection to represent England at Cardiff on Wednesday. 

On the track it has been a busy season for our top hurdler, Olivia Walker, who (along with Emma Hamplett), became the 2013 English Schools Champion. Her new PB time of 14.02 ranks 4th in her U20 age group and also put her in a trio of Cannock & Stafford AC athletes who were invited to the British Championships. Unfortunately the other 2, Chloe Boulter (High Jump) and Sam Evans (1500m) were unable to compete due to injury.

As a club we have been competing in the various age group leagues, some are still to complete their season, the Midland’s Veterans League final match is tonight (31st July) at Sutton and the Senior team have their final fixture on 10th August in Newport. The Youth Development Leagues have concluded but the results of the last matches weren’t on the YDL website when I looked so I’m not sure how we finished, I will include the final standings in the next report. Whatever the outcomes, I would like to congratulate and thank every athlete / coach / team manager / official / helper who has represented the club this season in the various leagues and championships. I know from personal experience as an Official how much is happening from late April through to August and how difficult it is to balance your involvement with family life and work, so please rest assured that everything you do is appreciated by everyone connected to Cannock & Stafford Athletic Club.

Finally I would like to say good luck to those still in competition, that mainly being the U15 and U17 age groups with the Midlands Champs in mid-August and the England Champs on 31st Aug – 1st September, and don’t forget there’s the end of season party on the 13th September, see Sandi Thompson for tickets.

Simon Evans

Chairman

Alison George of 3R Sports Massage / AMG Fitness Management will be available to provide sports massage to C&S athletes and relatives at our training sessions on Tuesday evenings at Rowley Park for a special rate of £10 for a 30 minute session.

Alison's website can be viewed here. Please contact Alison directly, either through her contact number on her website, or by coming down on a Tuesday evening, to book a session.

Note that this service is not provided by Cannock & Stafford AC and the club therefore accepts no liability for any advice or treatment provided

Congratulations to Terry Faulkner, Paul Edwards and Alison George who were all selected to represent the Midlands in the Masters Inter Area Competition at Solihull last Sunday.

Terry won his M70 400m race in 75.43, his fastest outdoor 400m time of the season. Paul came 4th in the M50 100m hurdles in a season's best of 15.54 and Alison came 3rd in the W50 shot with 8.19m

Our senior athletes took a giant step towards Division 3 safety on Saturday at Tamworth.

The men’s team didn’t have any individual winners but were helped by a number of athletes doing multiple events – Jak Carpenter taking part in six individual events and Shaun Ainge five.

Talent Gukwe (100m), James McCann (800m), James Lake (800m ‘B’), Craig Pearson (1500m ‘B’) and Jason Jones (5000m ‘B’) all finished second in their events.

The women faired much better. Olivia Walker won both 100m hurdles and 100m, Natalie Ainge won the 100m hurdles ‘B’, high jump ‘B’ and long jump ‘B’ and Isabel Rogers, making a welcome comeback, finished first in the 100m ‘B’ and triple jump ‘B’.

Sue Kneill-Boxley won the 1500m ‘B’ and Nina Skilton the 3000m ‘B’ aided by Sally Gray who was our ‘A’ competitor in both of these races.

The club also welcomed two new members, Nadescha and Catalina Heine, and gave Senior League debuts to James Russell and Georgia Walker. All four athletes scored valuable points

On a sweltering Sunday in Corby, the C&S Senior team came 5th in the second Senior League meeting of the season.

The team was boosted by the appearance of two athletes that had taken part at the English Schools Championships over the previous two days, Gabi Burton and Harry Marshall.

Gabi has established herself as the club’s top female sprinter this year and enhanced that reputation by easily winning the 200m in a pb of 25.6. She then followed this with victories in the 100m hurdles and 100m.

Harry followed up his 7th place finish in English Schools javelin with a second place throw of 51.48m in this meeting.

Chris Harvey won both 800m B and 1500m A races for the men’s only two victories but, aside from Gabi’s three victories, there were also wins for Natalie Ainge (100m hurdles B, long jump B and high jump B) and Chloe Boulter (high jump) for the women.

The women’s 4 x 100m team of Chloe, Gabi, Nat and Emily Fowler-Parkes also won their race by over two seconds from their nearest rivals, finishing in 51.5

Emma Hamplett needed to increase her pb if she was to win gold in the Intermediate Girl's javelin and she did so magnificently with a throw of 45.44m. This was Emma's second consecutive gold at the Championships, having won the Junior Girl's title last year

Olivia Walker also took gold, on her eighteenth birthday, in the 100m hurdles. The race was shown live on Sky Sports. Olivia's winning time was 14.31.

Earlier in the day, Megan Davies came 8th in her 200m semi-final, Lucy Heap 9th in the Senior Girls javelin with 34.84m and Harry Marshall came 7th in the Senior Boys javelin with 54.56m

Seven Cannock & Stafford athletes were in action on day 1 of the English Schools Track & Field Championships at Alexander Stadium on Friday.

First in action were Natalie Mukerji and Bethan Rees. Natalie Mukerji ran 12.7 seconds in finishing 7th in her Intermediate Girls 100m heat, only 0.1 seconds off her pb and Bethan Rees finished 12th in the Junior Girls javelin in her first English Schools competition with a throw of 30.43m

Megan Davies came fourth in her Junior Girls 200m heat in her second fastest ever time of 26.22 to qualify for Saturday's semi-final as a fastest loser and Gabi Burton missed out on a final place in the Senior Girls 100m by just five one hundredths of a second, finishing fifth in her semi final in 12.51.

Ryan Ashforth stayed in touch with the leaders until the last 400m of his Junior Boys 1500m heat before tiring slightly to finish in 4:22.71.

Olivia Walker won her semi final of the Senior Girls 100m hurdles in the fastest qualifying time of 14.47 seconds and Eleanor Proud ran just four one hundredths of a second outside her pb to finish 4th in her Intermediate Girls 300m semi final in 41.24

The CSW athletes who competed at Abingdon last weekend enjoyed the warm conditions as the team finished fifth in the latest YDL Upper Age Group meeting.

Alex Bradnick was making his first outdoor appearance of the season and he started it well, winning the 100m in 11.0. Worcester provided a few athletes to our composite team for trhis meeting and they contributed well towards the team performance. Hakim Shepherd won the high jump with 1.91m, Tom Kenwright won the U17 200m in 22.8 and Holly Wootten won the U20 B javelin with a throw of 35.56m. Nixie Turner also won her 1500m race in a time of 5:12.1

C&S's Lucy Heap won the U20 A javelin with a pb of 39.15m and Eleanor Proud gained two victories, winning both U20B 200m (26.2) and the U17 300m (41.9).

James Russell won the U20 B 1500m and the U17M 4 x 100m relay team of Sam Khogali, Tom Kenwright, Steve Thompson and Jordan LeFevre just held off the Stoke challenge to win their race.

Elsewhere, there were pbs for Jordan Lefevre in the 100m (11.8), Steve Thompson long jump (5.25m), Sam Rigby with the U20 weight shot and hammer, Craig Hicks U17 shot and discus, Jack Mucklow in the 100m (11.7), Jagon Edge 800m (2:07.7), Jack Longmore 1500m, James McCann 3000m steeplechase and Aaron Houseman sneeked in with three pbs as a 'fill in' in the hammer, long jump and javelin. 

Congratulations to Bethan Rees who won gold in the javelin at the Welsh U15 Championships in Cardiff last Sunday.

Bethan threw 32.70m to win the event by over 3m

Last Sunday (23rd), the Stone St Michael 10k road race was held and it also doubled up as the County  10K Road championship. 

Gill Russon won gold in the W40 age group, Chris Kilkenny took gold in the W60 group and Dot Fellows took gold in the W65 category.

Three County champions in one race! Well done ladies

Congratulations to the ten Cannock & Stafford athletes chosen to represent Staffordshire at the English Schools Track & Field Championships at Alexander Stadium on the 5/6 July 2013.

They are:

Junior Boys - Ryan Ashforth

Senior Boys - Harry Marshall

Junior Girls - Megan Davies, Bethan Rees

Inter Girls - Eleanor Proud, Emma Hamplett, Natalie Mukerji

Senior Girls - Gabi Burton, Olivia Walker, Lucy Heap

Congratulations to you all!

A number of our athletes represented Staffordshire at the Mason Trophy at Alexander Stadium on Saturday.

Emma Hamplett won the Intermediate Girls javelin with a throw of 42.88m. This throw was over 5m further than her nearest rival.

Megan Davies came 6th in the Junior Girls 100m and then ran brilliantly to finish 4th overall of the 20 athletes that took part in the 200m with a time of 26.7.

Eleanor Proud came 3rd in the Inter Girls 300m in 41.9 and, ten minutes later, joined the long jump competition where she came 7th. Natalie Mukerji came 8th in the 100m (12.9) and 6th in the 200m (26.8)

Callum Houseman (7th in the Junior Boys) and Craig Hicks (10th in the Inter Boys) threw in the hammer.

Chloe Wilde ran well to record a pb in the Junior Girls 800m (2:22.4) to finish 5th and Ryan Ashforth also came 5th in the Junior Boys 1500m in 4:23.9.

Steve Thompson had an excellent 100m hurdles race, finishing 2nd in the B race, 9th overall, with a new pb of 14.8

A depleted Cannock & Stafford Senior League team came fourth in the first Senior League meeting of the season at Coventry.

There were two events where both our A and B string athletes gained victories. Firstly, in the men's 800m, Tim Papadopoulos dipped under the two minute mark to win the A race and James McCann followed that up with victory in the B race. Then, in the women's 100m, Gabi Burton and Olivia Walker won the A & B race respectively, both running 12.7 secs. Olivia also came 2nd in the a 100m hurdles race with Gabi winning the B race.

Chris Harvey returned to the track with victory in the 3000m. Mitchell Blundell came second in the B race.

In the women's 3000m, Sally Gray marked her first appearance since moving from Stafford Harriers with victory in a season's best 10:56.4.

Chloe Boulter won the women's high jump and finished 2nd in the long jump, Talent Gukwe came 2nd in the 100m and Jak Carpenter, in his first club event, came 2nd in the B high jump and javelin.

Two of our U17 male athletes, also making their Senior debuts, gained pbs. Steve Thompson ran 25.0 in the 200m and Jordan Lefevre ran 53.5 in the B 400m race.

There were 9 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals for Cannock & Stafford veteran athletes at the Midland Masters Championships at Nuneaton last weekend.

Leading the way was Terry Faulkner who won three gold medals in the M70 100, 200 and 400m races.

Shaun Ainge and Paul Edwards both won medals either side of competing for the Seniors at Coventry in the Midland Senior League. Shaun won gold in the M45 high jump, breaking his own club record with a jump of 1.60m, and the 400m. Paul beat Gary Myles in an extremely close M50 100m hurdles race to take gold, Gary winning silver, before following with a silver in the 400m. Gary also won bronze in the M50 100m.

Kristian Lundby won gold in both M65 triple and long jump events and came second in the discus. Graham Middleton won silver in the M50 hammer and discus and bronze in the shot.

Our only female athlete taking part, Christine Kilkenny, won gold in the W60 5000m in a new club record time of 20:47.0

It was a glorious, sunny day for the 14 athletes that travelled to Yeovil to compete in the Youth Development League meeting on Sunday.

There were five individual victories. Harry Marshall won the U20 javelin with a throw of 53.57 and Steve Thompson had a magnificent victory in the 100m hurdles in a new, non wind assisted, pb of 14.9.

Georgina Greenwood won the U20 triple jump with a best of 10.65m and Natalie Mukerji held off a spirited challenge from Heidi Jackson of Stoke to win the U17 200m. Eleanor Proud made it six wins out of seven in the outdoor 300m this season with a brilliant pb of 41.2

It was a good day too for Jordan LeFevre who gained three pbs in the 100m, 200m and discus. Jordan Barrett ran a pb of 2:02.5 in the U20 800m and James Russell a pb of 2:11.9 in the U17 800m.

Catherine Hulme came 2nd in the U20 1500m, Adam Johnson 3rd in the U20 3000m and Aaron Houseman 4th in the U20 1500m.

Sam Nicholls, ran 54.0 for the third time this season in the 400m, despite running with an injured foot. Although they were prevented from running due to injury, Teresa and Sarah Hulme both played their part by scoring points in the discus.

Gemma was ranked 3rd in the country in the U20s triple jump in 2009 before choosing to take an athletic scholarship at Missouri State University in 2010.  During her summer holidays, Gemma still competes for Cannock & Stafford AC in the Midland Senior League. Mandy and Trevor recently visited her in America and Trev sent me this report:-

We have just returned from a fabulous trip to USA to watch Gemma compete. It was a brilliant experience.
 
Gemma Smith left England 3 years ago on an athletic scholarship to Missouri State University in the USA. The highlight of the athletics season is the NCAA conference championships which this year was held in Des Moines Iowa. Two weeks before the Conference finals the Drake relays take place at the same track in front of 15,000 spectators. In this year's meeting there was a London Rematch with many of the USA Olympic athletes taking part, such as Lolo Jones and Brittany Reese.  Gemma Smith was selected as a Student athlete to represent MSU and jumped 12.06m in the triple jump which placed her 15th (an indication of the standard).

Two weeks later in the NCAA Valley Conference Championships Gemma competed firstly in the Long Jump and came 5th with an outdoor PB of 5.89m (w.a), the winning distance was 6.33m. She followed this up with another outdoor PB of 12.13m in the triple jump to finish 8th

For once the sun shone at Stoke and the conditions couldn't have been much better for the athletes taking part in the County Championships at Northwood Stadium on Saturday.

Cannock & Stafford AC athletes came away with sixteen gold, fifteen silver and ten bronze medals and achieved no less than four Championship Best Performances.

The first of these came in the U13G 70m hurdles where Roseanna Burton ran a pb of 12.2 to beat the previous record. This was quickly followed on the field where Emma Hamplett (40.36) and Lucy Heap (39.02) both achieved CBPs in the javelin for their respective age groups although Emma had stepped up an age group to beat Lucy to gold in the U20s event. Olivia Walker, who would have beaten the CBP last season if her run hadn't been wind assisted, this year needed no help as she won the 100m hurdles for U20s in 14.4.

Elsewhere, Harry Marshall, Bethan Rees and Tori Hamplett all won their respective javelin events. Natalie Mukerji gained pbs in the U17W 100 and 200m to easily take gold in both events and Charlie Peters won the U13 long jump and smashed her 1500m pb to take first place in that race.

Bethan Rees won her second gold in the shot and Jess Leek won the U20 long jump in her first long jump competition of the season.

Iris Davies ran a pb to win the U13 800m and Elisha Walker won the U15 high jump.

Megan Davies won the U15 100m and was then involved in the race of the day as she was beaten by a body width in the 200m, recording the same time of 26.3 as the winner. Eleanor Proud dominated the 300m with an impressive 41.6 and took bronze in the long jump.

Gabi Burton maintained the position of the fastest female sprinter at the club with a second place in the U20 100m in 12.5 with Olivia Walker a meter behind (12.6). Gabi also took home a silver in the 100m hurdles.

James Taylor made an immediate impact in his first competition in the green vest. He took home three medals, a silver in the U15 discus and bronze in both the 100 and 200m. Talent Gukwe continued his progression with pbs in both 100 and 200m to take home two silver medals in the SM events.

Ryan Ashforth, James O'Brien and Aaron Houseman all smashed their pbs to earn silvers in their 1500m races and Bill Chester and Jordan Barrett both won silvers in their 800m events

Rebecca Lawley won a fantastic silver medal in the U13 long jump and Gary Myles (100m hurdles) and Gemma Bailey (U15 100m) also took home silver.

Chloe Wilde finished well to record a pb in the U15 800m to win a bronze medal, Paul Edwards finished third in the 100m hurdles and there were two bronze medals for Harrison Hardy-Smith in the U13 1500m and javelin.

Rob Lockett (U15 300m) and Matthew Mayne (U20 400m) both ran well to pick up bronze in their events.

The 26th National Road Relay Championships for Masters were held in Sutton Park on Saturday 18th May.

Representing our club were Chris Rollason, Dot Fellows and Christine Kilkenny in the W55 age group (they are all in their sixties).  Chris Rollason ran the first leg and gave the team a solid start running 22min 23secs for the three mile course and bringing the team back in 5th place in their age group out of nine.  Dot Fellows running second had a good run in 22min 09secs and pulled the team into second place, at this stage they were 1min 45 secs down on leaders Bingley Harriers and despite Christine Kilkenny running the second fastest leg (20min 43secs) the team had to be content with second place 40seconds behind Bingley.

This was a tremendous team effort considering the number of years that they were giving away to the younger athletes

The Senior League meeting that was cancelled this Saturday at Telford has now been rearranged for 20th July.

It will now take place at Tamworth

Allee Rigby has set up a C&S league in the Fantasy Diamond League competition.

If you fancy your chances in this free to enter competition, go to www.fantasydiamondrace.com The code for the C&S league is 20412.

Although there have already been two meetings this season, final scores will be adjusted to enable the league to start from meeting three.

I know we are well into the Track & Field season but I would like to say a big congratulations to all the athletes who competed for the club in the Cross Country season.

It is a key element of the clubs success that we consistently do well in the various leagues. In the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League we had particularly strong performances from the Under 11 and Under 13 Girls teams, both finishing 3rd overall. Some notable strong performances from individuals show that 7 of our athletes claimed a top 20 position, best of all was the 3rd place finish by Iris Davies.

In the Midlands Masters Champs it was a Team Gold winning performance from Christine Kilkenny, Chris Rollason (1st and 2nd in the W60 age group) and Dot Fellows (2nd in W65).

Back to the younger age groups and there was a whole load of strong performances and quite a few medals won at both the County Schools and County Champs, well done to all those who took part, and for those who went on to represent your county at the English Schools Championships, you should be proud that you have continued a long tradition of C&S athletes being part of that major event .

In the Birmingham Cross Country League Division 2 the Men’s finished 5th overall with Chris Perrin claiming 1st place followed closely by brother James in 5th. These are their positions as seniors, as they are both still juniors they had positions 1 and 2 covered in that age group, so it was a brilliant effort by them both. Craig Pearson also finished high in the league with 15th overall in what is a very competitive league.

Finally we also had some success in the North Staffs Cross Country League with our Under 11 Girls winning their age group and individually Ryan Ashforth and Charlie Peters being the individual champions in their respective age groups of Under 15 Boys and Under 13 Girls.

The 2013 outdoor Track & Field season is now under way, so I look forward to seeing strong participation throughout the club in the various leagues and competitions, and wish everyone a successful season.

Simon Evans

Chairman

Cannock & Stafford have joined forces with Worcester AC under the banner CSW to take part in the first season of the new Youth Development League.

At the first meeting at Oxford, there were a number of good performances from our athletes.

In the U20 men events, there was a second place finish from Sam Nicholls in the 400m 'B' race, despite carrying a hamstring injury. Jordan Barrett ran a pb in the 800m to finish 3rd and Harry Marshall won the javelin with a throw of over 50m. Steve Thompson jumped a pb of 5.22m in the long jump and Adam Higgins of Worcester won the high jump with a pb of 1.75m.

In the U17M, James O'Brien had an impressive victory in the 1500m and Steve Thompson came 2nd in both the short and long hurdles. Sam Rigby came 2nd in both shot and hammer but was unfortunately injured in the discus and failed to record a throw. Chris Mayne cleared a pb of 1.60m to finish 3rd in the high jump.

Zoe Styles achieved a double victory in the U20W 100 and 200m and team mate Ella Gibbons ran 61.0 to win the 'B' 400m race. Jessica Leek won the 'B' 100m. Catherine and Sarah Hulme came 2nd in the 1500m 'A' and 'B' races respectively and Heather Paton won the 100m hurdles. Lucy Heap won the javelin with a throw of 34.15m.

In the U17W, we only had 4 athletes taking part but there were victories for Natalie Mukerji in the 200m, Eleanor Proud in the 300m and long jump (equalling her previous pb of 5.10m) and Siobhan Glover in the 300m hurdles. Natalie was unfortunate not to win the 100m too, being disqualified for running out of lane after she was distracted by a competitor swearing at her whilst running the race! The 4x100m relay saw the girls quartet of Natalie, Siobhan, Eleanor and Emily Fowler-Parkes win in a time of 51.5.

The Birchfield Open at Alexander Stadium last Sunday was well attended and provided a high level of competition for those taking part. This year, the competition was limited to athletes under 20 along with invited seniors.

Three of our under 13 girls won two medals each. Charlie Peters improved her long jump pb by 25cm to 4.50m to win the event and then came 2^nd in the 1200m. Amy Pye came 2^nd in the 75m in a pb of 10.82 and then won the 150m, also in a pb of 21.03. Iris Davies won two silvers in the 800m (pb of 2:34.2) and high jump

Roseanna Burton rounded off an impressive haul for the U13 girls with 2^nd place in the 70m hurdles

Thomas Peters was our youngest medallist, taking bronze in the U11 long jump with 3.16m

Megan Davies powered her way to victory in the U15G 200m in a pb of 26.81 and there were silver medals at this age for Chloe Wilde in the 800m and Bethan Rees in the javelin.

Ryan Ashforth easily won the U15 1500m in a pb of 4:30.10 and, in the U20 800m, James McCann came 2^nd and Jordan Barrett 3^rd (pb of 2:04.61)

Olivia Walker was pipped for gold by 0.01 secs in the U20W 100m hurdles and Gabi Burton finished 3^rd in the same race.

It was a good team effort today at the Stoke Open, despite the cold, wind and rain (usual Stoke weather!)

There were good performances in the sprints from Jak Carpenter, Talent Gukwe, Dave 'Rodders' Underwood, who ran a fantastic pb in the 100m, and Steven Thompson (sprints and hurdles).

Also, well done to Catherine Hulme, our only lady today, and Samuel Rigby in the throws

In the Staffordshire AAA 5000m Championships, Mitch Blundell won gold in the Senior Men's race with a winning margin of almost half a minute.

Last race of the day was a 400m for Paul Edwards, who ran well in the freezing cold

Well done to all!

As you probably know I wasn't able to get tickets for the London anniversary games, I am really sorry about that.

When it was announced that the meeting was being switched from Crystal Palace to the Olympic Stadium I thought then that it would be a fantastic opportunity for a day out from the club, and for those who missed out (like me) in 2012 to at least experience something close to that. At the end of January I found out I had been selected to officiate at the meeting, so I felt even more sure that I would want to be there with fellow club members (even though we'd be in different parts of the stadium). I contacted British Athletics to try and see what, if anything, they were doing to help clubs and was told that clubs would be contacted. As it turns out it now seems that this was false (I'd like to use a different word but I'd better not).

I still honestly did not expect the tickets to go like they did, especially when they struggled to fill Alexander Stadium days after the Olympics last year. I have emailed the governing body to express my feelings, that once again they have failed to give consideration to the people that really matter in this sport, you, and again I am sorry that this didn't come off as planned.

I believe that tickets are being sold through other outlets, unofficially, but I wouldn't touch those on principle. If there are masses of empty seats when I'm there, I will make my feelings known.

Sorry to go on but I am very annoyed by the way we at grassroots get no consideration from those "running" the sport

Simon Evans

Chairman

From the 1st April 2013, the following false start rules apply:

Senior, Junior and Under 17 Competition (excluding those for Schools and Masters)

In all competitions for Senior, Junior and Under 17 athletes as defined in Rule 107 (4) – (6), but including those where younger athletes are competing according to the Rules, whether false start detecting equipment is in use or not, any athlete deemed responsible for a false start shall be disqualified.

In the case of athletes competing in a Combined Events competitions as defined in Rule 140 for the age groups identified in the previous paragraph, whether false start detection equipment is in use or not, any athlete deemed responsible for a false start shall be warned. Any athlete(s) responsible for a further false start in the race shall be disqualified from the race.

Put simply, if you are in U17, U20 or Senior competition and you false start, you are disqualified! (unless it's a schools event)