October 2006

The MCAA's Officials Conference is taking place on Sunday 19th November 2006. For full details and form to download go to the address below:

http://www.midlandathletics.org.uk/officials_conference[1].pdf

Tamworth AC's champion race walker Mark Williams chalked up his 30th victory of the season with an impressive performance at the Claire Powell Memorial Open Track and Field meeting.

Williams won the men's 5km race at Tipton in commanding style, leading a large field from start to finish.

His time of 22.34mins proved too good for Nuneaton's Simon Hambridge, who finished second in 24.48mins.

Tamworth's Beryl Chapman was 12th in the women's 3km walk in a time of 23.33mins.

Williams also took part in the 2km yacht handicap, where athletes start at stagger intervals with the fastest walker starting last.

In a large field, Williams started in last place but eventually pulled himself up to sixth in easily the fastest time of the day.

Williams, meanwhile, had overcome a midweek training accident to take an excellent victory for the Midlands in their annual match against the north and south.

The Welsh international thought he may have to miss the competition at Nunnery Wood Sports Centre in Worcester after picking up an ankle injury.

But he recovered sufficiently to clinch a 13 second win over the Isle of Man's Peter Kaneen with Aldershot's Nick Silvester taking third place for the south.

The Nuneaton duo of Steve Arnold and Mark Wall were sixth and eighth respectively.

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The first cross country fixture of the season in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League was held in perfect weather conditions in a sunlit Pype Hayes Park, Birmingham and was for athletes under the age of 17.

Tamworth Athletic Club have been improving in cross country for the past 3 years and this improvement continued on Sunday when the club finished in 4^th place overall just behind Birchfield Harriers.

For many of the club’s younger athletes this was their first taste of real cross country and they all acquitted themselves well in what can be a very demanding sport.

The under 13 boys had the best team result of the day in finishing in 1^st place as well as the individual performance of the day with Anthony Parkes winning the race in spite of being one of the youngest athletes in the race.

The team was so strong that only 30 seconds separated Anthony from Kristian Edwards in 4^th, Richard Mahoney 11^th and Jack Childs in 16^th. The four front runners were well supported by Ricky Hawkes 49^th, Sam Greenbank 54^th and James Thacker in 60^th.

The day’s proceedings got off to a promising start with the under 11 girls team completing the course in 5^th place in a very competitive field. Eloise Redfern ran strongly to finish in 6^th place with Jessica Hirst 21^st and Bethany Puffett 28^th having excellent races for first-timers. Samantha Lawton in 47^th and Jasmine Oliver 59^th finished some 30 places higher than last year. Sam Brady also competed in cross country for the first time and did well to finish in 81^st place.

Injuries had severely depleted the under 13 girls team but Lauren Bignall finished strongly to complete the course in 70^th ably supported by Leanne Lewis in 81^st and Sophie Oldfield 103^rd. The team needed 5 athletes to complete the course to count and if the club can get 5 girls out in future competitions they should fly up the league table.

The under 15 girls had a full team for the first time for many years and all 5 girls ran strongly to enable the team to finish 9^th out of the 19 teams that take part in the league.

Nicole King and Elyse Jinks had a battle throughout the whole race with Nicole eventual coming out on top in 51^st with Elyse in 53^rd. Amy Williams is beginning to come back to form and she  ran well to finish 59^th with Laura Lewis closing fast on her in 61^st. Lauren Mann completed the team scoring with a hard fought 72^nd position.

The under 17 Ladies team were 6^th out of the 19 teams and once again it was the first time the club has finished a complete team for some time. Megan Jacobs was 21^st with Jade Lepla finishing strongly in 27^th and Joanna Snowden showing excellent team spirit by finishing in 39^th even though she had to stop on the course because of sickness.

The first of the boys race was the under 11’s and they continued with the form that they showed at the end of last year when they finished in 3^rd place.

Oliver Wood 4^th, Robert Stroud 5^th and Ellis Cross 9^th had a tremendous tussle throughout the whole race with the final positions only being decided in a thrilling uphill final 25 metres. The 3 of them were ably supported by Ryan Christian in his first race in 39^th, Thomas Richards in 49^th, Oliver Williscroft 52^nd and Riece Bruton 56^th.

Luke Roughley had to be withdrawn from the under 15 boys race at the halfway point because of an  injury but the team still did remarkably well to finish 6^th and well within reach of the first team home. Stephen Parkes maintained last year’s form with 5^th place but Mathew Wood improved remarkably to finish 8^th. Simon Watson 32^nd, Jacob Hughes 45^th and sprinter Adam McGee 53^rd were the remaining members of the team.

A strong team lined up for the under 17 race and none of the members disappointed, with the team finishing 3^rd only just a few points behind first place. Simon King led the team home in 8^th but he was chased hard by Steve Deeley in 13^th with Steve Harris 19^th, Joe Saddington 25^th. Sean King did well in 41^st in his first race for the club. Sam Micklewright showed tremendous spirit to complete the course in 47^th in spite of suffering from a severe cold with Ben Horsley the final member of the club to finish in 52^nd.

The next race of the series is on November 12^th and it’s hoped that all athletes will be available to ensure that the club makes up ground on the teams above them.

For anyone interested in cross country training or competition at junior or senior levels contact Chris by email at tamworthac@aol.com.

Training sessions take place at the Marlborough Way Stadium every Tuesday and Thursday evening. Juniors aged 8-14 meet at 6.15pm and the Development & Senior squads meet at 7.15pm.

Please remember that all coaches must have their CRB checks signed off by the club verifier by the end of October. Disclosure checks are not transferable.

Contact John at tamworthac@aol.com or T 287177 if require more information

The Heart of England Track and Field League has just announced the names of the teams and individuals who have won awards for the 2006 season and Tamworth AC features strongly in this list.

Eight teams from around the Midlands battled it out over 3 meetings with Tamworth pulling out all the stops and showing real team spirit from all age groups in the last of these to take 4^th place overall.

Once again the Tamworth club has shown its team strength by winning the Under 11 age group overall and the Under 11 boys group overall with the Under 11 girls being runners up.

Overall individual awards from all 3 meetings and all 8 clubs will go to club members Eloise Redfern who took the top spot in the long jump with 3.99 and the 2^{nd place} in the 600m in 1.58.4, Robert Stroud who was the best performer  in the 600m with a time of 1.55.3, Sam McDonald with  2^nd place overall in the 75m in 11.3 and Jasmine Oliver for her performance in the 75m where she was placed 3^rd overall with a time of 11.1. Tamworth just beat Rugby and Northants AC to gain the best set of individual results from any club in the Under 11 section.

Team managers Caroline Woodward and Mandy Challis will collect the overall trophies and individual medals at the league’s AGM in November and these will then be presented to athletes back at the club. Well done everyone!