Well done to all of the Cannock & Stafford AC athletes who completed the London Marathon on Sunday.

Lee Rogers ran 2:58.06 to be the first of our runners to finish. Matt Craen was next in 3:06.37 and Harrison Hardy-Smith finished in 3:11.03.

Malcolm Down finished in 3:32.53 and Natalie Boswell in 3:45.54. In a change from her normal 400 and 800m races, Emma Hollinshead completed the 26 miles 385 yards in 5:12.36

Congratulations to the four Cannock & Stafford athletes who completed the Manchester Marathon on Sunday.

Jon Biddle dipped under 3 hours, finishing the course in 2hrs 58.22. Jez Redler came home in 3:11.40 and Chris Perrin 3:13.58, despite suffering from cramp.

Ann Robinson also successfully completed the race in 4:57.28

Please read this item and DON’T IGNORE as it contains important information.

At each league meeting (YDLs, Senior League, Vet’s League) our club has to provide officials for field events and track judges and timekeepers. This duty has been undertaken by, pretty much, the same small group of officials for a number of years now. However, due to illness, retirement or changes in circumstances, we are now left with only an extremely limited number of qualified officials to fulfil our requirements.

We therefore now urgently need a number of parents, athletes or coaches to qualify and help officiate at the club’s meetings. I know the easy option is to leave it to ‘someone else’ but ‘someone else’ may be thinking exactly the same as you!

If we are not in a position where we are able to fulfil our requirements at the meetings then we may well find ourselves being thrown out of the leagues in which we compete.

We are not asking for a massive commitment. Ideally what we are looking for is around 6 people to qualify as field officials, two track judges and two timekeepers – more would be great. If we can achieve this then duties can be shared to suit when you are available at the meetings you are already at.

The sport is in great need of officials. Without officials, athletes will be unable to compete so you can help. England Athletics have recognised this and have made qualifying easier than it was previously. You can read how to qualify at https://www.englandathletics.org/coaches-and-officials/officiating-journey/ but, basically, you do an online course, health and safety modules, complete a DBS and upload a photo – simple!

The Club will pay any course fees after you have passed and helped out at your first meeting so it won’t cost you anything, just a little of your time.

You never know, you might enjoy it and want to progress up the officiating ladder but the main thing at the moment is being able to help YOUR club out.

If you are willing to help, please let me know.

Our Senior Men came 19th of the 57 teams that completed the Relay at Sutton Park on Saturday (23rd). This is an improvement from the 22nd position achieved last year.

Tom Eustace ran the first of the four 'long' legs in 28.49 and handed over to Matt Craen in 22nd place. Matt ran 30.10 and was followed by Phil Wolfe (30.59) and Chris Perrin (29.46). Bill Chesters began, and finished, the first of the 8 'shorter' legs in 20th place, running 17.12. James McCann (17.25) gained one place and C&S remained in this position for the remainder of the race thanks to Connor Mills (17.57), Jon Biddle (17.56), Jordan Barrett (18.02), Robbie Gorman (18.15), James Perrin (18.39) and Malcolm Eustace (19.04).

John Kirby had a successful week in Poland competing in the European Masters Indoor Championships, qualifying for both the M35 400m and 200m finals.

Representing Ireland, John finished second in his heat in 50.31 on Sunday (17th) to qualify for the M35 400m final with the third fastest time overall. In the final, on Tuesday, John came fourth with a time of 51.20.

He was back in action in the M35 200m on Thursday, winning his heat in 23.16 before, later the same day, finishing third in his semi-final in his second quickest ever 200m time of 22.66 to qualify for the final as a fastest loser.

In the final on Friday, John finished fifth in 22.81.

Six Cannock & Stafford athletes represented Staffordshire in the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Pontefract on Saturday.

Ben Allen was the highest placed of our runners finishing in 50th place in the Inter Boys race. Jack Hadley came 165th in the same race.

Beth Beeson finished 263rd in the Junior Girls event and Brandan Smart came 258th and Charlie Cresswell 271st in the Junior Boys.

Georgia Griffiths was part of the Inter Girls team but didn't finish the race.

Malcolm Eustace won gold in the M65 race at the British Masters Cross Country Championships in North Wales on Saturday (16th). Malcolm completed the 6k course in 26:24 to finish 17 seconds ahead of the second place athlete.

Christine Kilkenny came 3rd in the W70 category, finishing the same course in 36:52 but Sue Kneill-Boxley just missed out on a medal in the W55 category, finishing 4th in 32:25, only 10 seconds behind the bronze medal winner.

Cannock & Stafford had 13 athletes who represented Staffordshire at the CAU Inter Counties Championships at Wollaton Park on Saturday.

In the U13B race, Finlay Stanton came 82nd of the 297 finishers. Brandan Smart came 109th and Charlie Cresswell 129th.

Beth Beeson finished 182nd and Lily Crompton 194th in the U13G and in the U17W, Ella Beeson came 247th.

Jack Hadley came 88th of 295 finishers in the U15B event and Callum Pearson 259th. Ben Allen unfortunately failed to finish.

In the U20W race, Natasha Lee finished in 81st and Caitlyn Disley 156th and, in the Senior Women, Nina Skilton came 207th.

Tom Eustace was our only Senior Man competing and he finished 259th.

Congratulations to you all on your selections!

Andy Weetman was the sole C&S athlete competing in the EMAA Inter-Area Challenge at Lea Valley on Sunday (25th).

Andy represented Welsh Masters and came 4th in the M60 60m in 8.64 seconds and third overall in the M60 200m in a time of 28.67.

We only had one athlete competing at the BUCS indoor championships this year. Katie Burney ran a pb of 11:18.61 in the 3000m to finish 6th in her heat.

The ECCA have announced that the National Cross Country Championships, due to be held tomorrow at Weston Park, have been postponed.

Their statement reads:-

"The ECCA very much regret to announce that despite every effort possible being made, we are unable to hold the National Championships at Weston Park on Saturday.

Thursday saw torrential rain for many hours, and much of the Park including parking areas are underwater. Falling on already saturated ground, this made conditions impossible for parking.

We have spent the last 24 hours exploring every possible alternative, but we have not been able to solve the parking issues.

We will now explore all possible options, to hold our Championships at a suitable future date.

We sincerely apologise for all the logistical and financial problems that this will cause to Clubs and individuals.

Further announcements will be made as soon as we can do so with any certainty"

Andy Cotterill ran an impressive season opener at the British Masters indoor Championships in Lee Valley. His time of 2:14.40 in the 800m was less than half a second outside his pb and earned him 7th place in the M45 final.

There were pbs for Joyella Jeffries and Callum Pearson on day 1 of the England Athletics Indoor U15/U17/U20 Championships at EIS, Sheffield on Saturday.

Tilly Perry was the first of our athletes in action. In the U20W 60m, Tilly came 5th in 7.84 seconds.

In the U17W 300m, Joyella Jeffries smashed her pb by 0.9 seconds to finish 3rd in her heat with a time of 41.08. Later in the afternoon, in the semi-final, Joyella came 4th in 42.11.

Mia Wainwright ran 61.01 in the U20W 400m, finishing in 6th place before Callum Pearson had a fantastic run to finish 3rd in his U15B heat, lowering his pb by over 2 seconds to 2:06.82 and qualifying for Sunday's final.

On Sunday, Noah Glover just missed out on progressing from his 200m U15B heats, finishing 3rd in 24.70. Sophie Hulse was unfortunate to be drawn in lane 1 but ran well to finish 4th in her U17W 200m heat in 26.65.

Calum Pearson then put in a great performance to win bronze in his 800m final, gradually moving away from the three athletes behind to record his second pb in consecutive days in 2:05.49.

Our Senior Men finished their Birmingham & District Cross Country League season with their best performance of the season to finish second on the day and a comfortable 7th overall in the division in the meeting at Worcester.

Ryan Ashforth came an impressive 6th on the day and was followed home by Tom Eustace in 10th place. This also gave Tom a 10th place finish overall for the season in the individual rankings.

Bill Chesters came 27th, Phil Wolfe 29th, Harrison Hardy-Smith 33rd and Jon Biddle 54th. Craig Pearson finished 101st, Malcolm Eustace 107th and Tom Orton 124th. Malcolm's performance gave him first place overall in the individual M60 category, having finished first of the M60 athletes in each of his three races.

The WMYACCL held their final league meeting of the season at Aldersley on Sunday.

Finlay Stanton came 3rd in the U13B race which earned him an excellent 3rd in the overall standings for the season. In the same race, Brandan Smart came 12th to finish in 11th overall.

Georgia Griffiths was another who had a successful day with her 3rd place finish in the U15G race meaning she came 4th in the overall standings. Aimee Waters finished in 36th.

Our U15B have had a good cross country season and Ben Allen came home in 4th, Jack Hadley 7th and Zach Bent 30th. Jack's position gave him 10th place overall.

Hugh Cartlidge made his debut for C&S in the U11B, finishing 140th and, in the U13G, Katherine Grainger came 37th and another debutant, Phoebe Segrove finished 57th. 

Thank you to everyone who paid their membership before the end of the prompt payment discount period that ended last night. It helps the administration of the club considerably.

A reminder that members pay track fees of £2 per session and non members track fees of £3 will be payable for non members and those that haven't yet renewed.

Congratulations to Malcolm Eustace who became the British Masters M65 Indoor 3000m champion on Sunday at the EIS in Sheffield. Malcolm's time of 10:38.79 was also a new club record for his age group.

At the same meeting, Mitch Blundell came 4th in the M35 race, also breaking the club's age group record. Mitch ran 9:16.15

Finlay Stanton won a silver medal in the U13B race at the Midland Cross Country Championships in Leamington on Saturday. Fin's performance came out of a field of 67 runners with Brandan Smart finishing 16th in the same race.

Lily Crompton came 15th in the U13G race out of 65 competitors that completed the course and Georgia Griffiths finished 5th out of 76 in the U15G race.

Our U15B team of Ben Allen (7th), Jack Hadley (15th), Callum Pearson (25th) and Zach Bent (65th) won a deserved team silver.

In the Midland Masters Cross Country Championships that were incorporated into the main event, Sue Kneill-Boxley won silver in the W55 age group (88th overall in the SW race) and Christine Kilkenny gold in the W70 (118th overall). There were 178 women who completed the course.

For those who haven't yet renewed their membership, please note that the prompt payment discount of £10 ends at midnight on Wednesday (31st January).

After this date, full non members track fees of £3 will be payable for anyone that hasn't paid their membership until it is renewed.

Our presentation evening took place at Stafford Rangers FC on 13 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 younger athletes are having the best cross country season that they’ve had for a long time. In the North Staffs League, our U13 Boys won team gold and Finlay Stanton won individual silver. Our U15 boys team were just pipped to gold by 1 point and Callum Pearson won bronze and Natasha Lee won individual silver and Caitlyn Disley bronze in the U20W.

Eight of our athletes represented Staffordshire at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, Ella Beeson, Natasha Lee, Caitlyn Disley, Georgia Griffiths, Jack Hadley, Callum Pearson, Jake Weavell and Luca Keeble.

Our Senior Men had success when they won the Midland 7s Championships for the first time in the club’s history so congratulations were given to Chris and James Perrin, Tom Eustace, Phil Wolfe, Ryan Ashforth, Jon Biddle and Craig Pearson.

Nina Skilton was selected to represent England in the British & Irish Masters Cross Country International. This is one of the few Masters competitions where you have to be selected to represent your country.

Track and Field

In track and field we had five athletes who represented Staffordshire at the English Schools Track & Field Championships:- Tilly Perry, Mia Wainwright, Sophie Hulse, Noah Glover and Olivia Riley.

At veteran’s level Emma Hollinshead, Vici Browning, Stephen Terry-Short and Malcolm Down all won medals as part of GB relay teams at the European Masters Championships in Italy.

Malcolm Down, Darrell Wilde, Craig Carr, Vici Browning, Sue Kneill-Boxley and Emma Hollinshead all won medals at British Masters Championships and Stephen, Darrell, Andy Weetman, Mark Shepherd, Rob Law, Nigel Haycock, Emma, Vici and Ann Robinson 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. None of our coaches receive any money for coaching at the club and Shaun mentioned how much a small thing like being thanked at the end of the sessions is appreciated. He thanked all of our coaches for their commitment.

He then thanked our officials and 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.

All of the work that the Committee, team managers and other volunteers put in during the season is greatly appreciated.

Finally he thanked Sandi Thompson and Allee Rigby who organised the presentation evening.

Men's Veteran's League Winners Trophy - Collected by Rob Law

Women's Veteran's League Winners Trophy - Collected by Emma Hollinshead

Veterans Male Athlete of the Year - Tunde Adeyemo

Young Athletes Lower Age Group, Leading Male Point Scorer - Noah Glover

Senior League, Leading Female Point Scorer - Natalie Griffiths

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 Shaun Ainge.

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 Bob Hughes.

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 Sophie Hulse.

Sophie had a very successful season. In the long jump, she improved from 4.58m last year to 5.19m this, the 100m 13.16 last year to 12.44 this, 300m 43.68 last year to 41.4 this, and 200m 27.91 last year to 26.4 this (although she also ran a wind assisted 25.53!)

Both our Senior Men and young athletes were in cross country action again last weekend.

On Saturday (13th) our Senior Men raced at Bromsgrove in the third round of the Birmingham & District Cross Country League and finished seventh on the day to move a further place away from the relegation zone.

Tom Eustace is in a great vein of form and finished in an excellent seventh place to move to seventh in the individual standings. Phil Wolfe came 30th, Harrison Hardy-Smith 37th and Bill Chesters 45th. Jon Biddle was the next C&S athlete to finish in 68th, Craig Pearson 104th, Malcolm Eustace 129th and Tom Orton 137th out of the field of 206 runners.

At Nuneaton on Sunday (14th), our young athletes took part in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League.

In the U11G race, Cora Beeson came 42nd, Poppy Brisco 55th and Daisy Watson 84th.

Beth Beeson finished 19th in the U13G and Katherine Grainger 33rd whilst, in the U13B, Finlay Stanton finished as our joint highest placed athlete of the day in 3rd and Brandan Smart came 14th.

Georgia Griffiths also came 3rd in the U15G race and was supported by Aimee Waters in 36th.

Ben Allen continued his good recent form with a 4th place finish in the U15B and Jack Hadley (11th), Callum Pearson (21st) and Zach Bent (27th) also ran in the same race.

Our only competitor in the U17 age group was Ella Beeson who finished in 39th.

It was a successful day for Cannock & Stafford athletes at the County Cross Country Championships at Betley Court on Saturday (6th).

The U13 Boys won team gold with Fin Stanton taking the individual gold, Charlie Cresswell finishing 6th and Brandan Smart 9th.

The U13 Girls took home team silver. Lily Crompton was our first athlete to finish, in 6th place and she was supported by Beth Beeson in 9th, Katherine Grainger in 12th and Rae Beaton-Brown in 18th.

Georgia Griffiths won individual gold in the U15 Girls and Aimee Waters came 10th in the same race whilst Ben Allen won the U15 Boys race and, supported by Jack Hadley (bronze), Callum Pearson (4th), Zach Bent (10th) and Luke Cresswell (15th), they took home team gold.

The U17 saw one C&S entry in each of the Men's and Women's races with Sam Mensing finishing 7th and Ella Beeson 6th.

Natasha Lee was the first of our Senior Women home in 13th (4th in the U20 category). Nina Skilton (18th), Sue Kneill-Boxley (30th) and Caitlyn Disley 52nd - 9th in the U20s) helped the team to 5th overall.

We had a good turnout of Senior / Masters Men at the Championships. Tom Eustace came 9th, Bill Chesters 20th, Phil Wolfe 21st, Harrison Hardy-Smith 30th and Jon Biddle 32nd. Wes Southall was next to finish in 41st, Craig Pearson in 51st, Malcolm Eustace 59th and Darrell Wilde 61st.

Tom, Bill, Phil, Harrison, Jon and Wes counted as scorers in the Senior team competition and won bronze medals. Phil, Jon and Wes' performances also counted towards the Masters team competition and, together with Craig, Malcolm and Darrell, they won silver medals in that category.