16-12-19 North Staffs Cross Country League - Rodbaston - 14 December 2019

With one of the fields at Rodbaston being unavailable for use, the U20 and Senior races were cancelled. This meant that the individual positions for the season were those following Race 3.

 

Nina Skilton therefore retained her W50 title with Sue Kneill-Boxley in third. Christine Kilkenny was the W65 champion and Dot Fellows won the W70 title. In the Men's events, Geoff Kitching came third in the M65.

 

In the races that did actually take place on the day, our U11B finished the season in third place overall with good runs from Jack Hadley (6th), Ted Cooper (9th) and Euan Hurcombe (34th).

 

Ethan Eisenhauer finished 15th in the U15B race, Luke Powell 13th in the U17M and Beth Beeson 21st in the U11G.

 

10-12-19 Christmas Track Opening Times

The last club track training session will be on Thursday 19th December and the first track session back is Thursday 2nd January 2020.

 

The track opening times over the Christmas period are:

Monday 23rd December

Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)

Tuesday 24th December

Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)

Wednesday 25th December

Park unsupervised

Thursday 26th December

Park unsupervised

Friday 27th December Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)
Saturday 28th December Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)
Sunday 29th December Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)
Monday 30th December Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)
Tuesday 31st December Track open during day (staff on site 10-5pm)
Wednesday 1st January Park unsupervised
Thursday 2nd January Track open as in the evening as normal

 

If you do train at the track anytime from 20th December to the 1st January, please remember that these are not club nights so you have to pay the Rangers for use of the track.

 

The throwing area is not to be used outside of supervised hours. Under no circumstances should throwing take place without first obtaining the authorisation of site staff.

 

Please speak to your own coach regarding when they are taking training sessions over the period between Christmas and the New Year.

 

09-12-19 Weekend Cross Country Round Up

Our Senior Men finished 13th in their Division. One fixture in the Birmingham and District Cross Country League at Crewe on Saturday (7th). After a strong performance by Leamington, we are now in the final relegation place.

Chris Perrin (24th) and Bill Chesters (57th) both had good runs and were backed up by Phil Wolfe (105th), James Perrin (112th), Tim Kelly (115th), Matthew Bonney (122nd), Paul Lester  (149th) and Tom Orton, fresh from his Valencia Marathon run, in 173rd.

 

In the Midland Women's Cross Country League meeting at Stratford, we had two women taking part, Rebecca Brown came 72nd and Sue Kneill-Boxley came 93rd.

 

On Sunday, in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League, Jack Hadley had a great run to finish 22nd of the 103 finishers in the U11B race and Luke Powell came 43rd in the U17M.

 

Delilah Dempsey came home in 57th in the U13G and, in the U15G race, Caitlin Disley finished 34th and Isabelle Beckett 73rd.


 

25-11-19 Chairman's Report for AGM

I feel it’s been a slightly up and down season for the club with plenty of success but also some areas where I’m aware that we need to improve.
 
On the coaching side, I’d like to thank all of our coaches who turn up week in, week out, giving up their time at their own expense to train their athletes in order for them to be able to compete to the best of their abilities. Over the year, we have gained a few new coaches and we are currently working to upgrade our ability to coach throws and jumps more effectively.
 
All athletes should recognise that their coaches are giving up their time for the athlete’s benefit. Thanking the coach and any helpers at the end of the session is really appreciated and giving them the courtesy of letting them know if you can’t make training should also go without saying. 
 
Thank you also to our officials who turn up to each of the club meetings. England Athletics and the Power of 10 have become stronger on their requirement to have enough qualified officials to allow results to be recognised. This year, a National League meeting and a number of regional meetings had to be cancelled due to insufficient officials. I did make an appeal for additional volunteers to become officials but, unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. If you would like to help the club and become an official, please contact me. On a positive note, I’d like to congratulate Pete Brown on achieving his level 2 qualification. Well done Peter (at last!)
 
I’d also like to show my appreciation for the work carried out by our other volunteers. The members of the Committee are efficient at their roles and ensure that the club runs as smoothly as possible and other volunteers who assist at training sessions, collect money at training or undertake other tasks are all valued. Thanks to Alyson who acts as a sounding board for any issues I have, manages all of our youth and senior teams on match days, helps with my training sessions and assists with the athletes with Downs Syndrome on a Thursday night.
 
Last but certainly not least, thanks to all of the athletes who turn out and represent the club.
 
In cross country, our Senior Men and Women performed well to maintain their places in the top divisions of the Birmingham & District and Midland Women’s League respectively but it was a mixed season for the club’s track and field teams.
 
Our U13 and U15 athletes won their Division in the YDL Lower Age Group and our Men’s Veterans team retained their League title, with the Women’s Veterans team finishing runners up. However, after gaining promotion to the top division last season, our seniors were relegated back to Division 2. Probably the biggest disappointment with this was that we only managed to field athletes in just over half of the middle / long distance races (and over a quarter of those were from athletes in the sprint group). It’s something we obviously need to work on improving next season.
 
There were a number of C&S athletes who achieved individual success.
 
Bethan Rees has established herself as one of the country’s top javelin throwers and this season she won her third British Championships bronze medal as well as bronze at the England Athletics U23 Championships and gold at the Welsh Senior Champs. Beth also gained further Welsh international honours during the season.
 
Olivia Walker won medals at both the Welsh Indoor and Outdoor Championships, Chloe Wilde won silver in the 400m hurdles at the Welsh championships and Megan Davies took home a 400m silver from the Scottish Indoor Championships. Liv picked up her first Welsh vest during the season.
 
Five of our athletes were invited to compete at the British Indoor or Outdoor Championships:- Beth, Olivia, Amy Pye, Natalie Ainge and, for the first time, Chloe Wilde. Achieving the standard required to receive invites to this level of competition is testament to the dedication shown by these athletes. Well done to you all!
 
We had nine athletes selected to represent Staffordshire at the English Schools Cross Country Championships and four at the English Schools Track & Field Championships, including Amy who won bronze in the short hurdles. The drop off in the number of our athletes achieving the standard required to compete at English Schools is worrying, and something that we should be seeking to improve, but is a problem that is being faced at clubs across the County and the rest of the Midlands.
 
Jack Turner represented England Midlands in the Welsh U20 International and Tom Peters represented the West Midlands at the mini London Marathon.
 
Carl McMullen defended his M35 World Icosathlon Championships (double decathlon) title for the third time and a number of our athletes also won medals in Midland and County Championships in track & field, road running and cross country.
 
The number of veteran (Masters) athletes that join and compete for our club continues to grow, increasing the depth and quality of our teams. Carl, Chris Hollinshead, Emma Hollinshead, Hazel Cane, Sally Gray, Per Kristian Lundby and Martin Roberts all won individual medals at either National or International level in either road running or track and field events. Sue Kneill Boxley and Martin Roberts represented the Midlands in the Inter Area competition in Coventry.
 
I’d like to thank Stephen Terry-Short for his time as the men’s Vets team manager as he is stepping down due to work commitments and best wishes to Per Kristian Lundby who has taken the tough decision to retire in order to prevent existing health problems from deteriorating further.
 
I hope our cross country runners have a good remainder of the year and, I know it’s a bit early yet but I’d like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Christmas and successful time next year.
 
Shaun Ainge
Chairman


 

19-11-19 Weekend Cross Country Round Up

It was a busy weekend of cross country action for our athletes with four meetings planned although this was reduced to three when the Midland 5 & 7 Mile Championships were cancelled due to the course being waterlogged.

 

Our U11B maintained their position in the top three of the team event and are involved in a battle for top spot with Newcastle (Staffs) and Stoke with one meeting remaining. Jack Hadley finished in 6th place, Ted Cooper had his best run of the season with a terrific 7th place and Callum Wason came 13th.

 

Leah Southall came 55th in the U11G and Ethan Eisenhauer 14th in the U15B race.

 

In the senior women, Nina Skilton currently holds top spot in the W50 age group after a brilliant 14th place finish. Sue Kneill-Boxley came 41st, Christine Kilkenny 64th, Kate Pearce 85th and Dot Fellows 99th. C&S are currently 5th in Division 1.

 

Matt Williams came 50th in the Senior Men's race, Malcolm Down 137th and Geoff Kitching 214th.

 

As at the time of writing, there are no results available for the Inter Counties Schools Cross Country meeting at Lilleshall.
 

11-11-19 Midland Women's Cross Country League - Burton Dassett - 9 November 2019

Unfortunately our Senior Women were unable to field the four runners required to score at the Midland Women's Cross Country League meeting at Burton Dassett on Saturday. This means that they will be relegated from Division 1 at the end of the season.

 

We did have two runners that turned out in the horrible conditions with both finishing in the top half of the runners taking part. Rebecca Brown came 94th and Sue Kneill-Boxley 106th.
 

09-11-19 SAFETY ALERT

We have received a report of an incident where a child waiting for their parents by the entrance gates at Rowley Park was approached by a person, unknown to the child, who offered them a lift home.

 

Can parents please ensure that, if they do have to leave their child alone at training, the child is asked to wait in the Function Room until collected from the car park nearest the track.
 

09-11-19 Birmingham & District Cross Country League - Coundon Park, Coventry - 9 November 2019

Despite a late change of venue, our Senior Men still had a good turnout for the first meeting of the Birmingham & District Cross Country League season on Saturday.

 

The landowners of the original venue at Worcester withdrew permission to hold the race there due to ground and weather conditions. The race was moved to an early start so that the planned Modland Women's League and the Men's division 3 fixture could be held at the venue later in the day.

 

Our team came 13th of the 16 teams in Division 1 and, of the 253 finishers, Chris Perrin was our first athlete to compete the course in 23rd position. Bill Chesters came 60th (8th Junior), Phil Wolfe 91st, Harrison Hardy-Smith 108th, James Perrin 121st and Craig Pearson 129th.

 

Tim Kelly was close behind Craig in 132nd, Tom Orton finished 186th, Paul Lester 189th, Malcolm Down 229th and Martyn Clare 245th.
 

04-11-19 NSCCL - Stafford Common - 26 October 2019

Our U11 boys are currently lying in second place in the North Staffs Cross Country League after the second meeting of the season at Stafford Common. Callum Wason finished 7th, Jack Hadley 8th and Ted Cooper 15th.

 

Beth and Ella Beeson both finished in excellent 13th places in their age groups, Ella as our only U13 girl and Beth in the U11s. Also in the U11G race, Martha Shenton came 21st, Ella Haycock 32nd and Leah Southall 42nd.

 

In the U15G, Jasmine Lovatt came 6th and in the U15B their were good performances from Euan Wade (11th) and Ethan Eisenhauer (27th). Luke Powell came 21st in the U17M race.

 

Our Senior Women had a good turn out and finished 4th on the day moving them to 6th overall in Division 1. Nina Skilton is joint leader in the W50 category and came 15th overall followed by Sally Gray (19th), Sue Kneill-Boxley (43rd), Lucy Berry (55th), Chris Kilkenny (80th), Dot Fellows (106th) and Ann Robinson (130th). Dot currently heads the W70 category, Chris is second in the W65 and Sue third in the W50.

 

In the Senior Men's race, Matt Williams came 53rd, Malcolm Down 134th and Geoff Kitching 207th.
 

29-10-19 UK Top 100 Rankings

With over 180,000 athletes registered with England Athletics, being ranked in the top 100 in the senior rankings in your event is a tremendous achievement. This year, Cannock & Stafford AC have eight athletes in that position.

 

Once again, Bethan Rees leads the way with a best throw of 49.47m placing her fifth in the women's javelin rankings.

 

Natalie Ainge appears twice in the top 100 of her events. A PB of 61.59 at Yate in the Midland League in the 400m hurdles meant she finished the season in 37th place and she also ranked 65th in the 400m with another PB of 55.97 whilst winning the Midland Indoor title at Birmingham Arena.

 

Chloe Wilde and Allee Rigby are two more 400m hurdlers in the top 100 of their events. Chloe's early season PB of 63.20 at Loughborough not only placed her in 48th position but also earned her a first invite to compete at the British Championships. Allee finished in 98th place with a 57.7 400m hurdles recorded at the Midland League meeting at Tamworth.

 

Olivia Walker and Amy Pye both ranked inside the top 50 of the 100m hurdles. Olivia finished in 37th place with a time of 14.15 at a UK Women's League meeting in Leigh and Amy 46th with 14.28 at the Midland Championships at Nuneaton.

 

Despite suffering with back problems for the majority of the season, Jack Turner's hammer throw of 42.96m at the Senior League meeting at Alexander Stadium put him in 96th position and Megan Davies, who missed almost the entire outdoor season, finished in 100th place in the 400m rankings after running 56.89 to win silver at the Scottish Indoor Championships.


 

24-10-19 Stafford & District Schools Cross Country Championships - Stafford Grammar School - 23 October 2019

C&S athletes were to the fore at the Stafford and District cross Country trials yesterday (23rd) which were held at the Stafford Grammar School.

 

There were three members who took their individual age group titles starting with the year 10/11 girls as Lucy Richardson was a comfortable winner securing her place for the County Championships on the 1st February. The year 7 girls saw Ella Beeson take the title with club mates Isla Williams fifth and Delilah Dempsey seventh, well done you three.

 

The year 8/9 girls had second claim Isla Fraser sixth, Issey Beckett thirteenth and Olivia Malpass twenty third.

 

In the year 7 boy race, Jake Weavell was just outside the top three as he took a well placed fourth.  The year 8/9 boys race saw Ethan Eisenhauer take a brilliant third place while second claim athlete Harry Beckett was a creditable sixth. The year 10/11 boys race saw Tom Peters claim a fantastic first place with Harry Davenport also running well in sixth.


 

21-10-19 Midland Cross Country Relays - Aldersley - 19 October 2019

The Cannock & Stafford AC teams that entered the Midland Cross Country Relays at Aldersley on Saturday (19th) produced some impressive performances.

 

Our Senior Men's team came 8th out of the 56 teams that started their race. Bill Chesters, Chris Perrin, James Perrin and Craig Pearson all recorded times below 21:20 with Chris Perrin running the 7th fastest leg overall (19:08) and Bill Chesters 19th overall (19:34).

 

Our Masters team of Matt Williams, Mark Green, Pedro Havelock and Nick Tomkinson-Hill came 7th of 24 teams with Matt's leg of 22:08 the fastest in the team.

 

We had two Women's Masters teams in action. The 'A' team of Nina Skilton, Veronika Foster and Sue Kneill-Boxley finished in 7th place of the 32 teams racing and the 'B' team of Hazel Cane, Kate Pearce and Ann Robinson came 19th.

 

Nina's excellent run of 23:48 placed her as the 23rd fastest leg of all senior and masters runners.


 

20-10-19 Cannock & Stafford AC AGM

The AGM of Cannock & Stafford AC will be held in the Function Room at Rowley Park at 7.30 on 28th November 2019.

 

The meeting will receive the annual report of the club's activities in 2018/19, as well as the audited accounts. This will be followed by the election of members to fill vacant positions. These are Vice Chairman and Treasurer.

 

Please complete the nomination form on the attached agenda for anyone willing to stand for the vacant committee positions. Please note the Vice Chairman and Treasurer role is a 2 year tenure. As the Chairman and Secretary are half way through their term in office these positions are not up for election until the AGM 2020.

 

Thanking you

 

KAREN MOODY

Cannock & Stafford AC Secretary

 

Link to Agenda and Nomination Form
 

22-09-19 Midland Road Relays - Sutton Park - 21 September 2019

At the Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday (21st), our Senior Men's team of Phil Wolfe, Chris Perrin, Matt Bonney, James Perrin, Harrison Hardy-Smith and George Falcus came 34th out of the 122 teams that started the race.

 

Our Masters Men's team (Craig Pearson, Tim Kelly, Tom Orton, Malcolm Down, Martyn Clare and Pedro Havelock) came 14th in their race.

 

Sally Gray, Nina Skilton and Sue Kneill-Boxley came 43rd of the 121 teams that started the Senior Women's race and our U15G team (Dawn Riley, Maddy Batchelor and Isabelle Beckett) came 26th.

 

Ella Beeson, Delilah Dempsey and Lucy Wain made up our U13G team and they ran well to finish 28th in their age group.
 

10-09-19 Bank Top Garage North Wales Relay - 8 September 2019

The second annual relay race of the North Wales Relay, sponsored by Bank Top Garage, took place on Sunday (8th). It involved five teams of runners tackling a 25 mile course.

 

The teams were Chris Hollinshead, Tracey Weetman, Andy Weetman and Emma Hollinshead (Spain), Veronika Foster, Rebecca Brown, Clive Rosen and Ann Robinson (USA), Natalie Boswell, Peter Brown, Sue Kneill-Boxley and Sally Aldridge (France), Lauren Turley (first 2 legs), Malcolm Down and Geoff Kitching (Team GB) and Craig Pearson (first 2 legs), Vici Browning and Chris Caffery (Germany).

 

Not even Walt Disney could have predicted the fairy tale that unfolded over the course of the race.  Team GB clinched this prestigious title for 2019 but it didn’t seem possible.

 

Lauren ran the first 16 mile magnificently by herself, hitting her target pace before handing over to Malcolm for  the shorter 3 mile leg over the Little Orme and then over to Geoff.

 

Geoff started his leg in 4th place and was a man on a mission, to go one better than the second place last year. Onwards and upwards over the Great Orme as he overtook Leader Emma Hollinshead before sprinting to glory.

 

“It’s the first thing I have won in 65 yrs” - no wonder he looked so happy.  2nd were Spain, 3rd USA, 4th France and 5th Germany.  What a fabulous weekend and race.

 

Chris Hollinshead
 

29-08-19 World Double Decathlon Championships - Helsinki, Finland - 24/25 August 2019

Carl McMullen won the M35 World Double Decathlon title for the third consecutive year at the Championships held in Helsinki, Finland last weekend.

 

Only two competitors in Carl’s age group completed the tough 20 event programme over the two days of competition. He began with a 100m in 12.13 and a 5.45m long jump. A 200m hurdles in 29.03 followed and then he threw the shot 8.36m. Carl completed the morning session with a 5000m in 22:27.45.

 

The afternoon’s events started with Carl running a 2:41.22 800m before clearing 1.54m in the high jump and clocking 60.33 in the 400m. The first day was completed with a 16.58m hammer throw and a 13:38.41 3000m steeplechase.

 

On the second morning, Carl began by completing the 110m hurdles in 18.45 and the discus (23.36m) before clocking 24.90 in the 200m. He cleared 1.80m in the pole vault and finished the 3000m in 12:54.42.  A 400m hurdles (68.05) and javelin (19.71m) were followed by a 1500m in 5:51.82 and a 10.80m triple jump.

 

As if that wasn’t enough, the final event was a 10,000m which Carl completed in 48:24.26. Carl scored a total of 7684 points to thoroughly deserve his gold medal.

 

25-08-19 British Championships - Alexander Stadium - 24/25 August 2019

Beth Rees threw a superb final throw of 49.19m to win her third successive bronze medal in the javelin at the British Championships, a fantastic achievement for an athlete who is still only 19.

 

On Saturday, Natalie Ainge ran her second fastest ever 400m hurdles time of 62.17 to finish sixth in her heat and Chloe Wilde ran 65.45 in her 400m hurdles heat.

 

Amy Pye and Olivia Walker had also received invitations to race at the event but unfortunately had to decline.

 

19-08-19 Manchester International - Manchester Regional Arena - 14 August 2019

Beth Rees gained further international honours last Wednesday (14th) when she represented Wales at the Manchester International.

 

She came fourth in the competition with a throw of 47.63m.

 

16-08-19 Midland U13/U15/U17  Championships - Nuneaton - 10/11 August 2019

Emily Pearce was the only Cannock & Stafford AC athlete to compete at the Midland U13/U15/U17 Championships at Nuneaton last weekend.

 

She qualified for the final of the U15 75m hurdles with a wind assisted pb of 12.86 (+2.8) to finish third in her heat. In the final, Emily came eighth in 13.14 (+2.7)

 

12-08-19 British Masters Track & Field Championships - Alexander Stadium - 10/11 August 2019

Per Kristian Lundby won gold and Sally Gray and Martin Roberts silver at the British Masters Championships at Alexander Stadium at the weekend (10/11th).

 

Per Kristian jumped a season’s best of 8.85m to win the M70 triple jump and Martin Roberts threw 40.06 to take silver in the M55 hammer.

 

Sally Gray came second in her first track 5000m for four years, clocking 19:56.40.

 

Two other C&S athletes just missed out on medals. Owen Hurcombe ran a pb of 2:14.95 to finish fourth in the M45 800m and Geoff Kitching also came fourth in the M65 5000m with a time of 22:33.08.

 

08-08-19 England Athletics U17/U15 Championships - Manchester - 3/4 August 2019

Olivia Riley competed in the hexathlon at the National U15 Combined Events Championships in Manchester last weekend, finishing a creditable 28th out of 42 competitors.

 

Olivia began with a 13.31 75m hurdles before a 4.37m long jump left her in 25th place after 2 events. A javelin throw of 12.07 and shot of 6.88m placed her in 32nd before a pb in the high jump of 1.58m scored her 712 points to move her to 22nd. She then finished her competition with an 800m in 3:02.75.

 

05-08-19 Midland Senior League - Yate - 4 August 2019

A small team of athletes and officials travelled to Yate for the final meeting of the Senior League season and were rewarded with an enjoyable day out and a number of great performances.

 

Charlie Peters began the meeting with a season’s best 5.11m in the long jump. She followed this with a season’s best 12.82 in her 100m race, only two one hundredths outside of her pb.

 

Our long hurdlers maintained their run of great results in the league this year. Natalie Ainge ran a pb of 61.59 to finish second in the A 400m hurdles and Chloe Wilde won the B race in 64.64. Allee Rigby then came second in the Men’s A race in 59.27.

 

Allee also won the 110m hurdles A race in 17.14 and Chloe won the B 100m hurdles in 17.69.

 

Nat won the A 400m in her third fastest time ever (57.03) and came second in the triple jump with a season’s best 10.25m as well as throwing a season’s best with the hammer (17.98m).

 

Amy Pye was another individual winner, finishing first in the 100m hurdles (14.45) as well as gaining a third place finish in the 100m with a fast 12.42.

 

Thando Hart ran a 400m pb of 64.31 in the B race (3rd) and Ellie Virgo was just outside of her 800m pb with 2:22.78.

 

Chloe Boulter came third in the high jump A (1.50m) and long jump B (4.65m) and Charlotte Hall threw a pb of 17.41 in the discus.

 

It was a welcome return to the track for Megan Davies. She had travelled to take part in the 4 x 400m but was persuaded to run a 200m, which she did in 25.92.

 

Ollie Greensill came fifth in the A 400m, Millie Peters threw in the javelin and Martin Roberts and Shaun Ainge competed in the hammer, shot and discus.

 

Our women’s relay teams once again proved themselves as one of the best in the Midlands as they won both 4x100 and 4x400m races. The 4x100 team of Charlie, Amy, Chloe and Nat ran 49.70 and the 4x400 team of Ellie, Meg, Nat and Chloe came agonisingly close to a sub 4 minute run finishing in 4:00.11, their second fastest time in the last ten years.

 

Thanks to Alyson, Bob, Jayne, Gary, Darrell, Shaun, Paul and Ollie who all helped out on the day.

 

05-08-19 European Masters Games - Turin - 26 July to 4 August 2019

In the European Masters Games, taking place in Turin, Carl McMullen, Chris Hollinshead and Emma Hollinshead all won medals.

 

On Wednesday (31st), in hot conditions and a field of seventeen athletes, Chris Hollinshead won silver in the M50 5000m in 17:19.07. Later, on the same day, Emma ran 31.22 to finish fifth in the W45 200m.

 

On Friday morning (2nd), Carl came fifth in the M35 200m in 24.80 and Emma took silver in the W45 800m in a season’s best 2:42.62.

 

Carl was back in action in the afternoon and took gold in the M35 400m hurdles in a photo finish with another British athlete, both finishing in 63.05.

 

29-07-19 England Athletics Senior Championships - Manchester - 27/28 July 2019

Five of our athletes competed at the England Athletics Senior Championships over the weekend, representing Staffordshire.

 

Natalie Ainge and Chloe Wilde were involved in the first track event of the meeting on the Saturday, the 400m hurdles. With 29 competitors registering, there were four pretty full heats. Nat ran in the first heat and came fifth in 62.80 to qualify for the semi-finals as a fastest loser by one one-hundredth of a second. Chloe ran in heat two and also finished fifth with her third best ever time, 63.54.

 

Charlie Peters was next on the track and ran 13.18 to finish sixth in her 100m heat.

 

The rain was now coming down quite strongly for Nat’s semi-final where she came sixth with 63.96.

 

On Sunday, conditions were still damp for Amy Pye’s 100m hurdles heat where she came sixth in 14.68.

 

In the final field event of the meeting and in worsening conditions, Bethan Rees threw an impressive 48.23m in the javelin to finish fourth.

 

26-07-19 Welsh Athletics U20 International - Cardiff - 24 July 2019

 

 

Congratulations to Jack Turner who was selected to represent the England Midlands team that competed at the Welsh Athletics U20 International in Cardiff on Wednesday.

 

Jack came 5th in the shot competition throwing 11.97m, just 9cm short of his pb.

 

 

 

 

24-07-19 Welsh Masters Championships - Brecon - 21 July 2019

Stephen Terry-Short ran a pb of 12.25 to win the M45 100m at the Welsh Championships at Brecon on Sunday (21st). Stephen also won the 200m with a wind assisted 25.93.

 

Emma Hollinshead also won two gold medals in the W45 400m (69.9) and 800m (2:45.77) and Chris Hollinshead maintained the run by winning the M50 3000m in a time of 9:54.79.

 

16-07-19 Welsh Senior Championships - Cardiff - 13/14 July 2019

Congratulations to Bethan Rees who retained her Welsh Senior javelin title with a throw of 46.16m in Cardiff today.

Olivia Walker came third in the 100m hurdles in 14.32, becoming Welsh Champion in the process, and Chloe Wilde took silver in the 400m hurdles in 66.10.

 

13-07-19 English Schools Championships - Alexander Stadium - 12/13 July 2019

Amy Pye won bronze in the SG 100m hurdles at the English Schools Championships at Alexander Stadium today in a time of 14.31.

In the JG high jump, Olivia Riley cleared 1.56, only 1cm below her pb, to finish eighth out of 21 competitors at her first English Schools event.

Earlier today, Bill Chesters came 8th in the SB 2000m steeplechase in 6:32.55 and Amy Pye qualified for her second final of the afternoon as part of the Staffs SG 4×100 relay team.
In the final the girls finished fifth.

Yesterday, Jack Turner came seventh in the SB hammer with 47.86 and Amy qualified for the 100m hurdles final by finishing second in her heat.

 

13-07-19 England Masters Inter Area Challenge - Coventry - 6 July 2019

Cannock & Stafford had two athletes representing the Midlands in the Masters Inter area challenge at Coventry last Saturday (6th).

Martin Roberts won the M50 hammer event with a best throw of 40.47.

Sue Kneill-Boxley had a very busy day. She ran 2:57.39 in the W50 800m, 5:48.78 in the W35 1500m and 12:34.00 in the W35 3000m as well as clearing 1.00 in the M35 high jump.

 

10-07-19 Midland Senior League - Tamworth - 7 July 2019

Relegation from Division 1 of the Midland Senior League was confirmed on Sunday (7th) but our athletes that did turn out took advantage of the sunny weather conditions to produce a number of personal or season’s bests.

 

Amy Pye easily won the 100m hurdles in 14.8 and came second in the 100m in an impressive 12.4.

 

Natalie Ainge produced her second fastest time ever in the 400m hurdles (62.3) to finish second and finished second in the triple jump with her best distance since 2015 (10.20m). Nat also won the ‘B’ 400m in 58.3.

 

Hannah Malpass came second in both the 200m (26.1) and 400m (58.8) and Chloe Boulter finished second in the high jump with a 1.60m clearance, her best of the season. Charlie Peters came second in the ‘B’ 200m in 13.0.

 

In the 800m, Rebecca Brown was delighted to run her third fastest ever time and a season’s best (2:27.6) to finish second in the ‘B’ race and Thando ran a SB (2:29.4) in the ‘A’.

 

Ollie Greensill equalled his 200m non wind assisted PB of 23.4 in the 200m and Allee Rigby ran his third fastest ever 400m hurdles time (57.7).

 

Chloe Wilde competed in her first 1500m for 5 years and just missed out on a new PB, clocking 5:13.2 and there were PBs for Connor Mills and Tom Lemmon in the 1500m, Geoff Kitching in the 5000m and Darrell Wilde and Rodders in the 2000m steeplechase.

 

Our Women’s 4x100m relay team once again proved themselves to be one of the fastest teams in the Midlands. Charlie, Amy, Nat and Hannah ran 49.2 to win, just ahead of the Birchfield quartet.

 

27-06-19 British Championships Invitations

Congratulations to Natalie Ainge, Amy Pye, Beth Rees, Olivia Walker and Chloe Wilde who have received invitations to the British Championships after having achieved the entry standards required.

 

A fantastic achievement by you all!!

 

24-06-19 England Athletics U20/U23 Championships - Bedford - 22/23 June 2019

Beth Rees took home a bronze medal from the England Athletics U20/U23 Championships at Bedford after throwing a season’s best of 49.47m in the U23 javelin.

Chloe Wilde finished second in her U23 400m hurdles heat in 63.63 to qualify for the final. In the final, Chloe came 7th in a time of 64.50.

Amy Pye gained automatic qualification from her U20 100m hurdles heat, finishing third in 14.36 and then came 6th in the final in 14.53.

Hannah Malpass ran a new pb of 57.35 from the outside lane to finish 4th in her U20 400m heat.

Charlie Peters ran 13.05 in the U20 100m and Matt Bonney 16:17.20 in the U20 5000m.

 

21-06-19 Midland Senior League - Alexander Stadium - 16 June 2019

Despite finishing in sixth place on the day, there were a number of really strong performances from our athletes at the latest Midland Senior League meeting of the season at Alexander Stadium.

 

The day began well with Jack Turner finishing third in the hammer with 42.96m and Martin Roberts finishing second in the B with 32.82m. This was followed with four excellent runs in the 400m hurdles with Natalie Ainge finishing second in the women’s A race in 63.9 and Chloe Wilde, Allee Rigby and Rodders all winning their races in 65.3, 59.0 and 66.1 respectively. Allee later came second in the 110m hurdles in 16.8.

 

Nat also came second in the 400m in 57.6 and second in the B long jump. Hannah Malpass won the B 400m race in 59.9 as well as finishing second in the 200m A in 25.8.

 

Olivia Walker came second in the 100m hurdles (14.3) and won the 100m B race in 12.6 whilst Amy Pye came second in the 100m hurdles B in 14.5 and second in the A 100m in 12.8.

 

Beth Rees won the javelin with a best of 43.84. Jak Carpenter (11.62m) and Mathew Paynter (10.67m) came second in the A & B shot respectively and there were third place finishes for Millie Peters (B javelin), Chloe Boulter (high jump) and Jak Carpenter (discus).

 

As well as winning his 400m hurdles race, Rodders performed well in the 3000m steeplechase, 110m hurdles, long jump and triple jump. Megan Huxley ran well in the 3000m and 1500m in her return to the track after a number of years and Darrell Wilde ran pbs in both the 800 and 1500m.

 

Ross Goode, Ollie Greensill, Jack Longmore, Bill Chesters, Tim Kelly, Charlie Peters, Charlotte Hall and Rebecca Brown all performed well and contributed towards our final points tally.

 

Our women’s relay teams finished off the day in style with the 4x100 quartet of Olivia Walker, Amy Pye, Chloe Wilde and Hannah Malpass winning in a fast 48.8 and the 4x400 team of Hannah, Nat, Rebecca and Chloe W came second in 4:04.9.

 

16-06-19 British Masters 5K Road Championships - Horwich - 16 June 2019

Congratulations to Hazel Cane who won a silver medal in the W55 age group at the British Masters 5k Road Championships in Horwich today (16th) with a time of 24:42.

 

Natalie Boswell finished 5th in the W35 race in 22:59 and Emma Hollinshead 4th in the W45 age group in 23:20. Hazel, Natalie and Emma’s times combined to give them 5th place in the W35 team event.

 

In the men’s races, Craig Pearson came 8th in the M35 event with a time of 17:56, Chris Hollinshead 6th in the M50 in 17:59 and Paul Lester 12th in the M45 race in 18:48. Combined, they came 4th in the M35 team placings.

 

14-06-19 Midland Masters Track & Field Championships - Nuneaton - 9 June 2019

There were medals and records galore for our masters athletes at the Midland Masters Championships at Nuneaton on Sunday.

 

Paul Edwards led the way with three gold medals. He started with a Championship Best Performance in the 100m hurdles (16.23), took the 300m hurdles title with 49.10 and won the 200m in 27.62. All three performances were club records.

 

Stephen Terry-Short won golds in the M45 100 and 200m events in 12.50 and 25.46 respectively. Rob Law won two bronze medals in the same races (13.35 and 26.79) and Clive Rosen ran 15.42 in the M60 100m.

 

Owen Hurcombe broke his own M40 800m club record to win silver in 2:15.66 and Geoff Kitching gained his second club record in a week in winning silver in the M65 1500m with a time of 5:54.11.

 

Also in the 1500m, it was gold and silver for C&S athletes in the M45 race with Tim Kelly winning in 4:37.49 and Paul Lester in second in 4:53.98.

 

Our only field competitor was Martin Roberts who added the M55 hammer gold (39.15m) and shot silver (7,95m) to his medal collection.

 

10-06-19 Belated Bronze for Beth

 

Bethan Rees has finally received her bronze medal from the 2017 British Championships.

 

Beth threw what was then a pb of 49.56m to finish fourth in the event but was promoted to the bronze position after the disqualification of the winner, Joanna Blair, who tested positive for a banned substance at an international competition in June 2017.

 

This is Beth’s second British Championships bronze medal after her third place finish at last year’s meeting.

 

 

 

 

04-06-19 BMAF 10 mile Championships - Dorking - 2 June 2019

Congratulations to Chris Hollinshead who retained his M50 British Masters 10 mile title at the Championships in Dorking, Surrey

 

On a hot, sunny day, Chris ran 59:22 to win gold.

 

04-06-19 Midland Senior and U20 Championships - Nuneaton - 1/2 June 2019

On Saturday, at a sunny Nuneaton, it was a successful day for our athletes at the Midlands Championships.

 

Jack Turner started the day well by taking gold in the U20 shot with 11.64m. He also finished fourth in the discus with 36.19m.

 

Charlie Peters qualified for the 100m final by finishing third in her heat with a wind assisted 12.62 and then finished sixth in the final in 12.66 (+2.7).

 

Josh Ward took bronze in the U20 800m in 1:57.83 and Chris Perrin coped excellently with the warm conditions to win gold in the 5000m in 15:17.15.

 

Millie Peters came fourth in the U20 javelin with a season’s best of 25.43m and in the 200m, Ollie Greensill ran 23.18 (+2.2) in the Senior Men’s heats and Ross Goode 24.64 (+2.3) in the U20M.

 

Amy Pye won bronze in the U20 100m hurdles in 14.28 (+0.9)

 

In the 400m semi finals, Natalie Ainge won her race with an outdoor pb of 56.70 and in the other semi, Hannah Malpass came third with 58.41 and Gabi Burton fourth in 60.37. All three qualified for the final which took place an hour and a half later.

 

In the final, Natalie Ainge won silver (57.45) with Hannah Malpass sixth (59.70) and Gabi seventh (60.42)

 

Conditions were not quite as warm on the Sunday for the second day of the competition but that didn't affect Chloe Wilde as she won silver in the 400m hurdles. Leading until the last 15m, Chloe was just beaten on the line for the gold medal.

Ross Goode ran 12.03 (+2.8) in the U20 100m heat, Allee Rigby 53.64 in the SM 400m and Charlie Peters jumped 5.00m in the U20 long jump

Harrison Hardy-Smith ran a season’s best in the U20M 1500m (4:16.78) to finish fourth and Gabi Burton came 6th in the SW 200m final in 26.15 (+2.3)

 

22-05-19 Loughborough International - Loughborough - 19 May 2019

Bethan Rees and Olivia Walker both represented Wales at the Loughborough International on Sunday (19th).

 

Beth came third in the javelin with a 48.24m throw and Liv finished seventh in the 100m hurdles with 14.38 into a 1.2 wind.

 

Amy Pye also took part, running in the second of the 100m hurdles guest races and finishing second in 14.37 (-0.4)

 

22-05-19 BMAF Road Relays - Sutton Park - 18 May 2019

Three Cannock & Stafford AC teams took part in the British Masters Road Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday (18th)

 

With a number of our team of six men far older than the M35 age category in which they entered, the lads did really well, finishing 27th. Paul Thacker led off with a 19:59 first leg before handing over to Tim Kelly who ran the team’s fastest leg of 17:48. Craig Pearson took over and ran 18.23 and was followed by Owen Hurcombe (18:56), Martyn Clare (22:40) and Geoff Kitching (22:59).

 

We had two female teams taking part. Our W35 women came 16th out of the 30 teams that started. Sally Gray started with a 20:43 and was well supported by Natalie Boswell (23:28), Gill Russon (22:37) and Sue Kneill-Boxley (24:38).

 

Our W45 team came 14th in their category with Ann Robinson running a 26:46 leg, Lynda Clare 26:02 and Emma Hollinshead 24.32.

 

 

22-05-19 Midland Senior League - Oxford - 19 May 2019

A small squad of 15 C&S athletes travelled to Oxford to take part in the Midlands Division One fixture on Sunday (19th).

 

We had three individual wins on the day but there were a number of other excellent performances from our athletes.

 

The club welcomed back Mathew Paynter after a seven year absence and he won the discus with a 39.49m throw. He also came second in the shot with a pb of 12.24, second in the ‘B’ hammer with a pb of 28.61 and fifth in the javelin.

 

Natalie Ainge won the 400m in 57.4 and the ‘B’ 400m hurdles in 63.1, which would also have won the ‘A’ race. She came second in the ‘B’ 100m hurdles (16.4), jumped 9.87m in the triple jump and also competed in the 100m (13.0), discus and hammer.

 

There were two pbs for Ollie Greensill in the 200m (23.4) and 400m (52.6) and Charlie Peters ran a 200m pb of 26.4 as well as running 13.0 in the 100m.

 

Allee Rigby came second in both the 400m hurdles (60.7) and 110m hurdles (17.0), cleared 1.75m in the high jump and ran in the 400m ‘B’ race. Chloe Wilde also finished second in the 400m hurdles (64.6) and 400m ‘B’ 60.8, fourth in the 100m hurdles (17.1) and threw the shot.

 

Chloe Boulter jumped 9.69m in the triple jump, 1.50m in the high jump and 4.55m in the long jump in addition to competing in the shot and hammer events. Charlotte Hall threw in the javelin (15.29m) and discus (16.34m)

 

Martin Roberts competed in all four throws including a 35.47m hammer throw and Millie Peters threw 21.40m in the javelin. Ross Goode ran well, with times of 12.0 and 24.8 in the 100m and 200m respectively.

 

Rebecca Brown came fourth in the 800m (2:32.4) and second in the ‘B’ 1500m (5:28.8) and Allegra Soutar, making her way back after injury, ran in both the 3000m (11:30.4) and 1500m (5:21.9).

 

In the men’s middle distance, Darrell Wilde ran in the 800m (2:24.3) and 1500m (5:17.3) whilst Craig Pearson, a day after taking part in the BMAF Road Relays, ran 4:33.3 in the 1500m and 17:49.7 in the 5000m.

 

13-05-19 Staffordshire AAA Championships - Northwood Stadium - 11 May 2019

Nineteen gold medals were won by C&S athletes at the County Championships at Northwood Stadium on Saturday (11th).

 

Natalie Ainge, Charlie Peters and Jack Turner led the way with two gold’s each. Nat won the SW 400m hurdles (64.1) and 400m (58.7), Charlie won the U20 long jump (4.88m) and 100m with a wind assisted 12.8. Jack gained his two victories in the U20M shot (11.36m) and hammer (45.46m).

 

Olivia Walker won the SW 100m hurdles in 14.2 and Amy Pye won the U20 race, equalling Olivia’s Championship record of 14.4 in the process.

 

Lucy Wain won the U13G 200m (30.9 w) and Verity Ball took gold in the U13G high jump with 1.15m. Olivia Riley was another high jump winner after clearing 1.50m in the U15G event.

 

Sapphire Wainwright won the U13G javelin (12.59m) and Beth Rees the SW javelin with a best of 45.04m.

 

Issey Kelly won the U20W 200m in 27.3 (wind assisted) and Joe Taylor the U20M 110m hurdles in 16.9.

 

Isaac Lewis jumped 5.55m to win the U20M long jump, Josh Ward ran 1:57.7 to win the U20M 800m and Bill Chesters won the U20M 1500m in 4:10.7.

 

Ellie Virgo took gold in the U20W 800m in 2:29.9.

 

Corrine Haynes, Verity Ball, Lucy Wain, Lucy Richardson, Heather Law, Josh Blakesley, Tom Peters, Issey Kelly, Millie Peters and Chloe Wilde all had second place finishes and there were third place finishes for Ella Beeson, Olivia Riley, Emily Pearce, Henry Heathcote (twice), Bethany Lewis, Matt Bonney, Olivia Walker and Ollie Greensill.

 

08-05-19 BUCS Outdoor Championships - Bedford - 4-6 May 2019

C&S had three athletes competing in the BUCS Outdoor Championships at Bedford over the Bank Holiday weekend.

 

Beth Rees, competing for Aston University, won bronze in the javelin. After throwing 46.32m in her qualifying pool, Beth followed this with 46.22m in the final to win a medal in her first year at University.

 

Hannah Malpass had an extremely busy, and successful, weekend. On Saturday she lowered her 400m pb by almost a second to qualify from her heat in third place in 58.03. The following day, she bettered this even further by running 57.60 to finish third in her semi-final and qualify for the final as a fastest loser. Hannah also helped her Newcastle team to qualify in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

 

On Monday, Hannah started the first of her three finals by finishing 7th in the 400m in 58.13. She again competed in both relays, with her team finishing 7th in each.

 

Rebecca Brown ran in the 800m heats on Saturday and finished 7th in her race with 2:32.45.

 

31-03-19 World Masters Indoor Championships (including World Masters Half Marathon) - Torun, Poland - 24-30 April 2019

The World Masters Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland ended on Saturday with two C&S athletes having taken part.

 

Stephen Terry-Short ran a pb of 7.91 to finish fourth in his M45 60m heat, just missing out on a place in the semi final by three one-hundredths of a second. On Thursday, Stephen then ran his best 200m time for almost four years, finishing third in his heat in 25.88.

 

The World Masters Half Marathon Championships were held alongside the Indoor competition and Chris Hollinshead ran a great time of 76:33 to finish sixth in the M50 race, only missing the medal positions by 68 seconds. Chris was the top scorer in the GB team that finished fourth in the team event.

 

26-03-19 Message from our Membership Secretary

REMINDER: if you haven’t renewed your club membership by 1st April, your England Athletics registration will lapse which means you will not be eligible to enter Club, Area, National or most Open competitions this season.

 

2019 membership cards have been sent to everyone who has renewed so far. Please check your LoveAdmin and EA athlete portal is up to date with your personal details.


Good luck to everyone for the outdoor season.

 

Helen Walker

Membership Secretary

 

25-03-19 Midland Road Relay Championships - Sutton Park - 23 March 2019

At the Midland Road Relay Championships at Sutton Park on Saturday (23rd), C&S entered teams in both the men’s and women’s events.

 

Out of the 66 teams that started the women’s race, our team of Sally Gray, Rebecca Brown, Kate Pearce, Megan Huxley, Hazel Cane and Sue Kneill-Boxley finished in 28th place in an overall time of 2:50:44.

 

Our men’s team of Chris Perrin, Phil Wolfe, Craig Pearson, Tim Kelly, Bill Chesters, Matt Bonney, Sam Bagley, Tom Orton, Connor Mills, James Perrin, James Russell and Pedro Havelock came 18th out of the 71 teams that began the race in a time of 4:30:08. Bill, Matt and James Perrin all finished in the top 10 runners in their respective stages.

                                                                                               

17-03-19 Our Club Needs YOU

Cannock & Stafford AC have a small group of volunteer qualified officials who officiate at the club’s league meetings. Without officials, meetings can not take place and athletes would have no competitions to take part in.

 

The Powerof10 will not include results from meetings where there are an insufficient number of qualified officials in attendance.

 

At our YDL and Senior meetings, each official that we provide earns points for our club (up to a maximum amount). In last season’s YDL meetings, our officials earned more points for the club than the top individual athletes.

 

Due to the general shortage of officials across the country, the YDL have changed their scoring of officials this year to 8 points per qualified official and 4 points for non qualified helpers. Obviously, we are grateful for any help we receive on the day but it is more beneficial if we have qualified officials.

 

As I mentioned at the start, we have a small group of officials at the club. These officials cover all of the club’s meetings. In addition to the YDL and Senior meetings, our officials also cover our veterans league, County Champs and County School meetings. If we had a few more people who were willing to help, it would allow our existing officials to have the occasional meeting off. As Bob and myself are officials, anyone who could take our place occasionally would allow us to support the athletes that we coach.

 

The club can provide training for anyone who is willing to help as either a field judge, track judge or timekeeper. We do not expect anyone to be able to officiate at every meeting but, even if you can do two or three meetings a season, it would be a great help.

 

If you a parent, athlete or supporter and would like to help, please see either myself, Bob or Simon Evans or contact me through our website.

 

Shaun Ainge

Chairman

 

                                                                                               

17-03-19 English Schools Cross Country Championships - Temple Newsam Park, Leeds - 16 March 2019

The English Schools Cross Country Championships took place in difficult conditions in Leeds on Saturday. Cannock & Stafford AC had nine athletes representing Staffordshire at the meeting.

 

In the Junior Girls race, Jasmine Lovatt and Lucy Richardson ran with Jasmine the first Staffordshire athlete to complete the course, finishing 141st out of the 353 girls who completed the race.

 

Thando Hart was part of the Staffordshire team that finished 11th in the Inter Girls race and Allegra Soutar was the second Staffordshire athlete to finish in the Senior Girls.

 

Tom Peters was also the second Staffordshire athlete home in the Inter Boys and, in the Senior Boys, C&S had four athletes taking part. Matt Bonney had a strong run to end as the fastest Staffordshire athlete in 106th and was supported by Bill Chesters and Connor Mills. Josh Ward unfortunately didn't complete the race.

                                                                                               

11-03-19 CAU Inter County Cross Country Championships - Loughborough - 9 March 2019

Five Cannock & Stafford AC athletes represented Staffordshire at the CAU Inter County Cross Country Championships on Saturday (9th) at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough.

 

Giorgia Chattwood was the first Staffordshire woman home in the Senior Women’s race in 69th position. Allegra Soutar also had a good run, finishing 76th in the U20W race, helping her Staffordshire team to fifth place.

 

Jasmine Lovatt came 184th in the U15G event and Phil Wolfe 210th in the Senior Men.

 

Thando Hart was bought down by a fallen athlete in the U17W race and, after being accidently spiked down the back of the leg by others involved in the pile up, retired from her race.

 

Harrison Hardy-Smith competed as an individual in the event, which also doubled as the World Cross Country Trials, finishing 108th in the U17M race.

                                                                                               

11-03-19 British Masters Indoor Championships - Lee Valley - 9/10 March 2019

Tim Kelly came within four one-hundredths of a second of winning a bronze medal in the M45 3000m at the British Masters Indoor Championships at Lee Valley on Sunday. His time of 9:49.18 was a season’s best.

 

Stephen Terry-Short was also in action and just missed out on a place in the final of the M45 60m after finishing fourth in his heat in 8.01 secs on Saturday. On Sunday, Stephen ran 26.53 to finish fifth in his 200m heat.

                                                                                               

24-02-19 England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships - EIS, Sheffield - 23/24 February 2019

Amy Pye and Charlie Peters were in action at the National Indoor Age Group Championships over the weekend.

 

Charlie ran a pb of 8.02 to finish 6th in her 60m heat. Amy came seventh in the 60m hurdles final in a new pb of 8.81 after finishing third in her heat in 8.85

                                                                                               

24-02-19 London Mini-Marathon

Congratulations to Tom Peters who has been selected to represent the West Midlands in this years London Mini-Marathon after finishing sixth in the West Midlands trials last weekend.

 

Tom completed the three mile course in 17.14.

                                                                                               

19-02-19 City of Birmingham Games (inc Midland Indoor Champs for Track Events 200m+) - Arena, Birmingham - 17 February 2019

At what could possibly be the last Midland Indoor Championships to be held at the Arena, Birmingham, Cannock & Stafford AC won two medals, both in the same race.

 

In the meeting, which was incorporated into the City of Birmingham Games, Natalie Ainge smashed her pb by over a second to win gold in the SW 400m in a time of 55.97. For much of the race, Chloe Wilde pushed Nat hard and, although she faded slightly over the last 100m, Chloe still won bronze with a pb of 59.01.

 

In the younger age groups, there were 200m pbs in the U15G for Olivia Riley (27.78), Mia Wainwright (28.15) and Heather Law (29.19) and indoor pbs for Ross Goode (24.33) in the U20M race and James Malpass (24.36) in the U17M. Bethany Lewis also ran an indoor pb of 28.72 in the U17W race as well as 46.70 in the 300m.

 

In the City of Birmingham Games events, Olivia Riley came second in the high jump with a 1.40m clearance and jumped 4.23m in the long jump. Millie Mae John took part in the 60m hurdles (11.73) and long jump (3.59m) and Issey Kelly recorded 4.53m in the U20W long jump.

 

Also taking part in long jump competitions were James Malpass (5.46m in the U17M) and Isaac Lewis, whose best jump was 5.41m in the U20M.

                                                                                                

19-02-19 BUCS Indoor Championships - EIS, Sheffield - 15/17 February 2019

At the EIS in Sheffield, Hannah Malpass and Rebecca Brown were both in action in the BUCS Indoor Championships.

 

Hannah, representing Newcastle Uni, qualified for the 200m semi-final by finishing second in her heat in a season’s best 26.12. She then went on to run 26.40 in the semi-final.

 

Rebecca finished seventh in her 1500m heat in 5:20.24, whilst representing Central Lancashire Uni.

 

                                                                                                           

17-02-19 Roy Newton

We are sad to announce that C&S life member, Roy Newton, has passed away. Roy was involved in the amalgamation between Cannock and Stafford, was a coach to young athletes and his two daughters, Clare and Emma both competed for the club. Our thoughts and best wishes are with his family.

                                                                                                           

12-02-19 Midland Indoor Championships - Short Sprints and Field Events - HPC - 9/10 February 2019

The first part of the Midland Indoor Championships took place in the HPC at the weekend.

 

On Saturday, Charlie Peters was our only competitor in action and she jumped a season's best 4.92m to win bronze in the U20W long jump.

 

After competing at the British Championships on Saturday, Amy Pye took gold in the U20W 60m hurdles race on Sunday, lowering her pb to 8.82 in the process.

 

In the U15G 60m hurdles, Emily Pearce came second in her heat in 10.74 seconds and then lowered this time to 10.21 to finish fifth in the final. Charlie Peters was back in action in the 60m and, after finishing second in her heat in 8.15, she came fifth in the final in 8.17 seconds.

                                                                                                           

11-02-19 WMYACCL - Aldersley - 10 February 2019

Harrison Hardy-Smith picked up a trophy for 6th overall in the U17M age group after finishing 12th in the final race of the season at Aldersley on Sunday (10th).

 

Delilah Dempsey had a good run in the U11G race, finishing 43rd out of the 129 competitors. Callum Watson came 50th in the U11B.

 

In the U13G race, Daisy Aspinall came 39th, Isla Fraser 71st and Isabelle Beckett 77th.

 

Thomas Lemmon finished in 31st place in the U15B with Henry Davenport 52nd.

                                                                                                           

10-02-19 British Indoor Championships - Arena, Birmingham - 9/10 February 2019

Olivia Walker and Amy Pye competed in the 60m hurdles at the British Indoor Championships at the Arena, Birmingham this weekend.

 

Olivia came fourth in her heat in 8.75 and Amy seventh in her heat in a pb of 8.86

                                                                                                           

10-02-19 Weekend's Senior Cross Country Round Up

Our Men’s and Women’s Senior teams both comfortably retained their place in the top division of their respective cross country leagues following the weekend’s final meetings of the season.

 

In the Birmingham & District Cross Country League, Chris Perrin was, once again, the first of our athletes to finish, in 11th place. It’s been a promising first senior season for Bill Chesters who again ran well for 57th place. Matt Bonney came 64th, James Perrin 73rd, Phil Wolfe 88th and Craig Pearson 106th. Tim Kelly finished in 144thand Tom Orton 158th giving C&S tenth place on the day out of the sixteen teams in the division and eleventh place overall this season.

 

In the individual standings, Chris Perrin came tenth in the Senior men and Bill Chesters eighth in the Junior Men.

 

At the Midland Women's Cross Country League fixture in Gloucester, C&S came eighth on the day placing them ninth overall for the season out of the fourteen teams in the division.

 

Giorgia Chattwood finished in an excellent eighth position and had great support from Allegra Soutar in 35th, Emily Griffiths in 54th, Sue Kneill-Boxley 65th and Lisa Knight 99th.

                                                                                                           

29-01-19 Welsh and Scottish Indoor Championships - 26 January 2019

Congratulations to Olivia Walker who won gold in the 60m hurdles at the Welsh National Championships on Saturday and to Megan Davies who won silver in the 400m at the Scottish National Championships.

 

Olivia ran her best time for five years in a straight final in Cardiff. Her time of 8.68 gave her second place in the race but won her the gold medal in the Championships as she qualifies through residency (and a bit of a Welsh accent).

 

The Scottish Championships have different qualification rules and Megan Davies took advantage as she won silver in the 400m in her first competition as a senior woman.

 

Meg won her semi-final in Glasgow in 58.32 and then came so close to grabbing gold in the final after a late charge in the home straight. Meg finished in 56.89, four one-hundredths of a second behind the winner.

 

                                                                                                           

29-01-19 Midland Cross Country Championships - Newbold Comyn, Leamington - 26 January 2019

The Midland Cross Country Championships were held at Newbold Comyn, Leamington on Saturday (26th).

 

In a race of 403 Senior Men, Chris Perrin finished in an excellent ninth place. James Perrin came 54th.

 

In the SW race there were 263 finishers. Sue Kneill-Boxley was the first of our athletes home in 62nd place. Emily Griffiths came 72nd and Lisa Knight 124th.

 

Allegra Soutar was fourteenth in the U20W race and Becky Brown 24th.

 

                                                                                                           

23-01-19 Top Point Scorers 2018

Each season, the top point scorers in the Midland Senior League, Youth Development League - Upper Age Group and Youth Development League - Lower Age Group, are presented with an award at the club's presentation evening.

 

The top 10 scorers for 2018 in each age group are shown below.

 

 

 

Midland Senior League        
Male     Female  
Name Pts   Name Pts

Alasdair Rigby

Jak Carpenter

Martin Roberts

Ross Goode

Josh Richards

Josh Ward

Sam Bagley

Darrell Wilde

Jack Longmore

Dan Fitzhenry

133.7

65

64

36

34

34

29

28

28

27

 

Natalie Ainge

Chloe Boulter

Chloe Wilde

Amy Pye

Charlie Peters

Allegra Soutar

Cara Brown

Megan Davies

Hannah Malpass

Giorgia Chattwood

144

123

71

43

41

33

33

24

21

20

 

Youth Development League - Upper Age Group  
Male     Female  
Name Pts   Name Pts

Jack Turner

Callum Houseman

Joe Taylor

Nathaniel Sackey

Harrison Hardy-Smith

Bill Chesters

Ethan Johnson

Sam Parr

Ross Goode

Sam Bagley

79

57

47

46

46

46

39

38

37

36

 

Chloe Wilde

Allegra Soutar

Cara Brown

Sydney Davies

Chloe Lindop

Charlotte Hall

Amy Pye

Libby Moore

Charlie Peters

Iris Davies

89

61

52

39

38

35

27

27

25

24

 

Youth Development League - Lower Age Group  
Male     Female  
Name Pts   Name Pts

Tom Larkin

Josh Blakesley

James Malpass

Sam Scott

Sullivan Davies

Elliot Bunker

Henry Heathcote

William Riley

George Holmes

Lachlan Hutchinson

72

45

44

33

30

24

22

22

20

20

 

Lucy Richardson

Fadia Hashish

Morgan Carter

Heather Law

Millie John

Mia Wainwright

Emily Pearce

Allana Williams

Dawn Riley

Louise Gathergood

54

53

43

41

39

36

33

29

25

21

                                                                                                           

21-01-19 Home Countries International Cross Country

Well done to Giorgia Chattwood who represented the Midlands Counties Senior Women in the Home Countries International Cross Country in Belfast on Saturday.

 

Giorgia came 41st in the race and picked up a team silver medal.

                                                                                                           

21-01-19 Cannock & Stafford AC Presentation Evening

The club's presentation evening took place at Stafford Rangers FC on Saturday (19th).

 

During the evening, acknowledgement was given to the following, with apologies for any achievements that were omitted in error.

 

In the veteran's (or Masters) category, Carl McMullen retained his World M35 title at the Icosathlon World Championships in Holland. The Icosathlon is a double decathlon over 2 days and Carl had to compete in the following events:- Day One  - 100m, long jump (5.99m), 200m hurdles, shot put, 5000m (21 mins 4 secs). A short break for dinner then 800m, high jump, 400m (57.35 secs), hammer and a 3k steeplechase. Day two started with 110 hurdles, discus, 200m (24.42), pole vault, 3000m (12:41.92), dinner, 400m hurdles (65.72), javelin, 1500m, triple jump (11.04m) finishing off with a 10000m (48:42).

 

In September, Nina Skilton became the W50 English Fell Running Champion after competing in 2 races of 4.5 and 22.1 miles in the Lake District, a 9 mile race on the Isle of Man and a 4.7 mile race in the Yorkshire Dales.

 

In track and field there were medals at British Masters Championships for Carl McMullen and Paul Edwards at the indoors, Per Kristian Lundby and Carl at the British Masters Pentathlon Championships and Kristian, Paul and Martin Roberts at the outdoor championships.

 

Sue Kneill-Boxley, Chris Hollinshead, Paul Edwards and Terry Faulkner all represented the Midlands in the Inter Area competition in Solihull.

 

Dot Fellows was selected to represent England in the British & Irish Masters Cross Country International and came home with a silver medal.

 

Chris Hollinshead and Craig Pearson won individual medals at the British Masters 10 mile Championships and Owen Hurcombe joined them to win gold in the team event. In the 5k Road Championships, Dot Fellows won an individual silver and two C&S teams won medals. Craig, Chris and Tim Kelly in one and Emma Hollinshead, Natalie Boswell and Hazel Cane in another.

 

Cross Country

 

Moving onto other age groups, eleven of our athletes represented their county at the English Schools Cross Country Championships. Tom Brownshill, Iris Davies, Allegra Soutar, Giorgia Chattwood, Matt Bonney, Connor Mills, Sam Bagley, Molly Shermer, Thando Hart and Jasmine Lovatt represented Staffordshire and Jazmin Maddocks was selected for Shropshire.

 

Our Senior Women’s cross country teams retained their place in the first division of both the Midland Women’s and North Staffs Cross Country Leagues and, in the North Staffs League, Nina Skilton won individual gold in the W50 competition with Sue Kneill Boxley winning silver.

 

Our Senior Men’s team gained promotion to the First Division of the Birmingham and District Cross Country League last season by finishing third in Division Two and Chris Perrin came first in the individual standings.

 

In track and field, this year, we only had four athletes chosen to represent Staffordshire at the English Schools Track & Field Championships:- Bethan Rees, Amy Pye, Jack Turner and James Malpass. Beth won gold in the javelin.

 

Six of our athletes were invited to compete in either the British indoor or outdoor Championships – All female!:- Olivia Walker, Megan Davies, Natalie Ainge, Gabi Burton, Amy Pye and Beth Rees.

 

Beth had another good season. She won a bronze medal at British Champs and, during the season, she was also selected for GB U20 and U23s and Welsh Senior teams as well as taking gold at the England U20 Championships.

 

Chloe Wilde and Amy Pye represented Staffordshire in the Senior Inter Area competition and Chloe was also selected to represent England Midlands in the Welsh International.

 

Before presenting the awards to the athletes, our Chairman thanked all of our coaches, officials and other volunteers for the work that put in during the season. Without these people giving up their time we simply wouldn’t have a club.

 

He also thanked Sandi Thompson who, as well as officiating at almost all of the club's meetings last season, organised the presentation evening.

 

Thanks was also given to Derek Fellows who retired at the end of the track season. Derek’s been with the club for donkey’s years and has been the club President, team manager of the Women’s Senior team and team manager of vet’s team. He is also been a well-respected track official, often called upon to be the track referee at meetings. The club had already made a presentation to Derek appreciation was shown for his many years’ service to the club.

 

Veterans

 

The club has a very strong group of veterans (or Masters) athletes and, this season, against Birchfield, Stoke, Telford, RSC and Tamworth, our men’s and women’s teams both won their leagues.

 

Stephen Terry-Short was called up to accept the League winners shield and he gave a short review of the season and made the award to the Veterans Male Athlete of the Year. Emma Hollinshead then accepted the Women's League winners shield and then presented the award for the Veteran's Female Athlete of the year.

 

The following awards were presented: 

 

YDL Upper Age Group Divisional Winners Trophy - Collected by Bill Chesters who appeared in each of the team's meetings last season.

Midland Senior League Division 2 Winners Shield - Collected by Alyson Ainge who looks after our young athletes and seniors teams, preparing the numbers for each athlete and organising any changes on the day.

Veterans Male Athlete of the Year - Geoff Kitching

Veterans Female Athlete of the Year - Natalie Boswell

Young Athletes Lower Age Group, Leading Male Point Scorer - Tom Larkin

Young Athletes Lower Age Group, Leading Female Point Scorer - Lucy Richardson

Young Athletes Upper Age Group, Leading Male Point Scorer - Jack Turner

Young Athletes Upper Age Group, Leading Female Point Scorer - Chloe Wilde

Senior League, Leading Male Point Scorer - Allee Rigby

Senior League, Leading Female Point Scorer - Natalie Ainge 

 

Chloe Wilde and Amy Pye were presented with a memento for being part of the winning U20W 4x100m relay team in a race at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting. Charlie Peters and Hannah Malpass were the other members of the winning quartet.  

 

David Sunderland Memorial Award

Dave Sunderland was one of the country’s top middle distance coaches and a great supporter of schools athletics. It was again decided to award this trophy to a longer distance runner, Allegra Soutar. Allegra raced at every one of the club’s U20 and Senior meetings, more often than not in more than one race. She made big improvements in her performances over the year, knocking almost 2 seconds off her 800m time, over 6 seconds off her 1500m and a massive 22 seconds off her 3000m time.  

 

Most Improved Young Athlete of the Year 

This award is voted for by the club’s coaches and is presented to the athlete who, in the coaches’ opinion, has improved the most over the year. Seventeen coaches voted this year.

 

This year there was a clear winner - Jack Turner.

 

It’s been a fantastic season for Jack achieving no less than 13 pbs in the throwing events this year. In his main event, the 5kg hammer, Jack increased his distances consistently over the season improving last year’s pb by over 7m to 59.31m (moving him to 8th in the UK rankings). He also improved his discus by over 4m and made his debut for the C&S Senior team where he threw with a 7.26kg hammer but still won with over 45 and a half metres!

 

 

Presidents Cup This trophy was introduced by our past President, Derek Fellows, and is awarded to a person, or persons, who the President feels has provided great service to the club over the past 12 months.

 

Our current President, Bob Hughes, made the presentation to Helen Walker and Steve Jones.

 

Helen does a great job as membership secretary, sorting out any problems with England Athletics and keeping me and Bob up to date on who has paid their membership so we can select them for competitions.

 

Steve has taken over the organisation of the Development Group from Lynne Boulter. He attends a lot of school meetings in search of any new talent and also coaches a long jump group before his main Thursday sessions.

 

 

                                                                                                           

13-01-19 Weekend Cross Country Round Up

This weekend, our athletes were in action in the Midland Women’s Cross Country League, the Birmingham & District Cross Country League and the WMYACCL.

 

In the third meeting of the Midland Women’s League at Burton Dassett Hills in Warwickshire, our senior women came tenth. Nina Skilton was the first of our athletes to complete the course in 31st place and was well supported by Allegra Soutar (45th), Emily Griffiths (57th), Sue Kneill-Boxley (61st), Rebecca Brown (72nd) and Lisa Knight (97th).

 

Our senior men raced at Abington Park in Northampton. Chris Perrin finished in 17th place to currently lie in 6th in the overall individual standings. Bill Chesters is 6th overall in the Junior Men’s positions after coming 62nd. Josh Ward was close behind in 63rd and with James Perrin in 94th, Phil Wolfe 102nd, Craig Pearson 129th, Connor Mills 135th, Tom Orton 170th and Sam Bagley 199th, the team finished 12th of the 16 teams in the division.

 

On Sunday, also at Abington Park, there was a poor turnout of C&S athletes for the WMYACCL fixture. Isabelle Beckett came 99th in the U13G, whilst Harry Beckett finished 40th in the U13B. Emily Pearce was 58th in the U15G race.

 

                                                                                                           

07-01-19 C&S Mobile Phone App

We now have a club mobile phone app through Teamapp.

 

To get this app, go to your app store and download Teamapp. Search for Cannock & Stafford and then sign up with your email. If you are a club member, you can request access to one or more of the available groups.

                                                                                                           

07-01-19 Staffordshire AAA Cross Country Championships - Stafford Common - 5 January 2019

There was a large turnout of C&S athletes at the County Cross Country Championships at Stafford Common on Saturday with success in both team and individual events.

 

Our U20M team came first with Bill Chesters finishing 2nd, Matt Bonney 3rd and Sam Bagley 11th and our Women’s Veteran team also won with Sally Gray in 6th, Nina Skilton 7th, Sue Kneill-Boxley 8th, Natalie Boswell 21st and Dot Fellows 33rd.

 

The U20 and Veteran athletes races were incorporated into the Senior races and Bill (9th), Matt (11th) and Sam (39th) helped our Senior Men to third place overall with Craig Pearson finishing 18th, Phil Wolfe 23rd, Tom Orton 37th and Geoff Kitching 98th.

 

Our Senior Women also came 3rd with an excellent third place in the individual classification for Giorgia Chattwood (2nd in the U20W category), Sally 16th, Nina 18th, Sue 20th, Emily Griffiths 24th, Rebecca Brown 30th, Natalie Boswell 39th, Lucy Berry 45th and Dot 52nd.

 

Thando Hart was a bronze medal winner in the U17W race and our U15G team of Jasmine Lovatt (8th), Olivia Ball (9th), Lucy Richardson (11th) and Dawn Riley (22nd) also came third.

 

Thomas Lemmon (13th) led our U15B team to bronze, supported by Christian Roe (14th), Thomas Brownsill (18th) and Harry Davenport (22nd) and Ethan Eisenhauer finished 23rd in the U13B race.

 

Louise Gathergood finished 12th in the U13G race with Lucy Wain 29th and Isabelle Beckett 31st.