Here are the list of the top point scorers in the Midland Senior League, Youth Development League - Upper Age Group, Youth Development League - Lower Age Group and Midland Veterans League from last season.
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![]() It was another full weekend of cross country action as our Senior Men and young athletes took part in their respective leagues.
On Saturday, in the Birmingham and District Cross Country League at Bromsgrove, our senior men came ninth on the day to lie tenth overall this season with one meeting remaining.
Tom Bill, making his debut for the Cannock & Stafford team, was our first athlete to finish in 36th place. Tom Eustace and Jon Biddle were close to each other at the end of the race in 45th and 46th respectively. They were followed home by Phil Wolfe (51st), Craig Pearson (54th), Lee Rogers (105th) and Paul Lester (136th).
Our young athletes competed at Nuneaton in the West Midlands Young Athletes League on Sunday.
Sam Mensing came 39th in the U17 and, in the U17W, Natasha Lee finished 16th and Angel Wood 43rd.
Will Hadley came 73rd in the U11B whilst his brother Jack was 31st in the U15B race. Also in the U15B, Jake Weavell finished 36th and Zach Bent 68th.
In the U13G, Beth Beeson is in 10th position in the overall individual standings after a 12th place finish on the day and Harriet Penn came 61st in the same race.
Alfie Blackett (70th) was our only U13B competitor whilst Georgia Griffiths finished second on the day and lies second overall in the U15G age group. Ella Beeson also competed in the U15G (38th) as did Delilah Dempsey (43rd) and Aimee Waters (45th)
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Our presentation evening took place at Stafford Rangers FC on 7 January.
During the evening, acknowledgement was given to the following, with apologies for any achievements that may have been missed.
We had a large number of medal winners at County and Area Championships last season – too many to mention individually but congratulations to everyone who won a medal in those events.
Cross Country
Our Senior Women’s cross country teams retained their place in the first division of the North Staffs Cross Country League with Sue Kneill-Boxley taking second place in the W50 age category. The Senior Men are currently battling to stay in Division 2 of the Birmingham and District Cross Country League but they did have some individual success last season with Chris Perrin finishing joint top scorer in the division.
In the younger age groups of the North Staffs League, Georgia Griffiths recently won the U15 girls competition and Finlay Stanton finished second in the U11 boys.
Five of our athletes represented Staffordshire at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, Ella Beeson, Natasha Lee, Georgia Griffiths, Jack Hadley and Luca Keeble.
Track and Field
In track and field, this year, we had three athletes who represented Staffordshire at the English Schools Track & Field Championships:- Tilly Perry, Mia Wainwright and Georgia Griffiths (so Georgia represented the County in both cross country and track & field)
Three of our athletes were invited to compete in either the British indoor or outdoor Championships Amy Pye in both and then Natalie Griffiths and Chloe Wilde in the outdoor Champs, although Chloe was unfortunately unable to take part due to injury.
Amy also won a silver medal in 400m hurdles in the National U23 Championships.
At veteran’s level, Carl McMullen, Mitch Blundell, Malcolm Down, Vici Browning and Emma Hollinshead all won medals at British Masters Championships and Tunde Adeyemo, Darrell Wilde, Malcolm, Carl, Mitch, Mark Shepherd, Sue Kneill-Boxley and Emma Hollinshead all represented their Areas in either the Masters Indoor or Outdoor Inter Area competitions.
Prior to presenting the awards to the athletes, our Chairman, Shaun Ainge, thanked the following.
Firstly, all of our coaches. They all give up their time and don’t get paid, in fact it costs some a considerable amount of money to come and coach our athletes. Also our Committee who keep the club going and our 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.
Shaun also thanked Alyson for her work in looking after all of our young athletes and senior track and field teams, preparing the numbers for each athlete and organising any changes on the day, as well as doing the results at the vets meetings.
Finally he thanked Sandi Thompson and Allee Rigby who organised the presentation evening.
The following awards were then presented:
Men's Veteran's League Winners Trophy - Collected by Rob LawWomen's Veteran's League Winners Trophy - Collected by Emma Hollinshead Veterans Male Athlete of the Year - Darrell Wilde Veterans Female Athlete of the Year - Vici Browning Young Athletes Lower Age Group, Leading Male Point Scorer - Thomas Stephens Young Athletes Lower Age Group, Leading Female Point Scorer - Sapphire Wainwright Young Athletes Upper Age Group, Leading Male Point Scorer - Henry Heathcote Young Athletes Upper Age Group, Leading Female Point Scorer - Mia Wainwright Senior League, Leading Male Point Scorer - Allee Rigby Senior League, Leading Female Point Scorer - Natalie GriffithsSenior League Division 2 Most Valued Athlete (voted by all of the division's team managers) - Natalie Griffiths
AAA Certificates were also presented to Development Group athletes who had achieved them during the season.
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.
Bob Hughes, presented the trophy to Rob Law.
Rob coaches with the Development Group on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as working with a group of high jumpers before those sessions start. He also runs a sprint group with Stephen Terry-Short on Monday and Wednesdays and has co-managed the men’s vets team, along with Craig Pearson. Rob has also helped out officiating at a number of the club’s meetings over the last 12 months.
David Sunderland Memorial Award Dave Sunderland was coach to a number of international athletes and was also a great supporter of schools athletics as well as being a coach at the club. When he died in 2014 we were given a trophy to present each year in his memory.
For his work with Staffordshire Schools athletics, both for cross country and track and field, the winner was Matt Mayne.
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. Sixteen coaches voted and the winner was Jack Hadley.
Jack has been a regular competitor for the club in both the YDL and cross country. He lowered his 800m pb by over 21 seconds from 2:34.8 in 2021 to 2:13.20 in 2022 and his 1500m improved over the course of this season from 4:56.6 at the start to 4:45.3 at the end. |