December 2005

Here is the list of Tamworth AC athletes and the events in which they are appear in the Top 10 Midlands Rankings.

U15 B - Steve Deeley - 3000m

U15 B  -  Mark Brookes  -  Javelin

U17W  -  Meghan Beesley  -  100m, 200m, 80H ranked 1st, 300H ranked 1st, Long Jump, Triple Jump ranked 1st, Heptathlon ranked 1st.

U17W  -  Hollie Owen  -  300m

U17W  -  Claire Perry  -   Javelin

U17M  -  Nathan Woodward  -  400m, 800m, 100mH, 400mH ranked 1st, 400mH senior height ranked 1st, High Jump, Octathlon ranked 3rd.

U17M  -  Juan de Leon Padmore  -  Long Jump ranked 1st

U17M  -  Brett Byrd  -  Javelin ranked 3rd

U17M  -  Nathan Jones Faulkes - Javelin

U17M  -  Alex Berrow  -  Hammer  ranked 2nd

U20W  -  Sarah Williams  -  Long Jump, Pole Vault

U20W  -  Alana Smetham  -  Hammer ranked 2nd

U20M  -  Adam Smith  -  Triple Jump

U20 M  -  Alex Berrow  -  Hammer/senior weight

U23W  -  Laura Langowski  -  400m

U23W  -  Amy Frith  -  400m

U23W  -  Jenna Lander  -  Hammer

U23M  -  Ricky Hallam  -  Pole Vault

Seniors

Mark Williams -  Walks (more details soon)

Sheila Owen  -  Walks (more details soon)

 For any changes or additions please email tamworthac@aol.com

Rodbaston College

December 2005

West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League

Tamworth AC’s young cross country runners have moved up four fantastic and well deserved places  from 9^th to 5^th position overall in the 2^nd meeting of the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League held at Rodbaston College, Staffs in sunny, dry but cold conditions.

Almost all athletes improved on their performances and two more club records were broken: the highest result ever achieved by the club and the most youngsters ever taking part in the WMYACC league competition

It’s not surprising that the Tamworth AC Under 15 boys team won their age group beating Birchfield Harriers into 2^nd place over the 4,000m course.

The full team of eight runners was led by Steve Deeley who came home in 5^th place in 11:58 even after getting boxed in at the back of the field at the start of the race. Gradually stealing ever closer to Deeley was team mate Joe Saddington who crossed the line in 11th in 12:23 in what is undoubtedly his best ever run to date.

Edging ever closer to Saddington was Matt Wood in 21^st in a time of 12:34 swiftly followed in 24th by 800m runner Steve Harris in 12:43. In 31^st was all rounder Craig Farrell in 12:56 with Sam Micklewright closely behind in 34^th in 13:05.

Completing the team were Jacob Hughes in 49^th place in 13:42 and track and field athlete Ben Horsley in 51^st place in 13:53.

The only runner in the U17 men’s race over 5,000m was Simon King who took a good 14^th position in 17:12 in the first race he has finished this season.

The five runners in the Under 13 boys took 5^th team position with Birchfield just ahead in 4^th.   

Stephen Parkes gave a strong lead to the rest of the team, despite competing with a broken wrist, when he finished 5^th in 10:04 with Luke Roughley close on his heels in 8^th place in a time of 10:13. Both runners have more petrol in their tanks!!

Robert Farrell and Adam McGee were next home for Tamworth in 46^th and 53^rd places respectively and in 66^th Curtis Cresswell ran well in his first cross country race for the club. Nathan Christian had to drop out during the race due to injury.

The nine strong team of Under 11 boys took an excellent  2^nd place overall in their race. This is one of the strongest teams the club has ever fielded in a cross country event and shows the level of strength and depth in this age group and the huge potential for the future.

Kristian Edwards make a valiant effort to go with the leader at the run up to the line hotly pursued by Anthony Parkes who almost caught him at the finish. Edwards took 3^rd place in 7:53 and Parkes 4^th in 7:54.

Meanwhile another battle was taking place between Ellis Cross and Oliver Wood with Cross pulling ahead to take 13^th place with Wood only 4 secs behind in 16^th .

Cousins Robert Stroud, who recently celebrated his 9^th birthday, and Ricky Hawkes crossed the line in 22^nd and 39^th places respectively.

Toby Jobburns, who ran hard to take 51^st place in only his second cross country race, was followed by two new club members, Andrew Brittan (56^th) and Riece Bruton (60^th) in their first race on the country.

In the girls competitions Eloise Redfern showed her determination when she bettered her previous race position by finishing 13^th in the Under 11 girls race over the 1500m course.

She was followed by Jasmine Oliver in 53^rd, first time cross country runner Abbie Louise Malin in 57^th and Samantha Lawton in 6oth ensuring their team position of 5^th  in this age group.

Chloe  Williams in the green and white vest for the first time on the country was 68^th, with Sophie Oldfield 71^st and new country runner Charlotte Weston in 73^rd.

The team of nine ended up two short in the final count as Rebecca Bradford couldn’t complete the course due to sickness and Roseanne Childs was withdrawn before the start due to a back problem.

Megan Jacobs (17^th in 12:49) and Marianne Pritchard (20^th in 15:18) maintained their positions from the start when Tamworth AC’s Under 17 women’s team took 7^th place in the team competition. Both girls bettered their team positions from the previous race. Completing the team of four runners were Katie Barker in  30^th and Jo Snowden in 33^rd in their first race of the season.

All four runners in the Under 15 girl’s race over 3000m worked hard for their 12^th team place. Quiet and determind, Elyse Jinks moved up five places from the last race to take 24^th in 14:48 showing her gradual yet consistent improvement this season. Finishing together in 55^th and 56^th places respectively were Amy Williams in 16:51 and Laura Lewis in 16:52. Rebecca Pate finished 65^th in 17:56 in spite of a stitch at the end of the race.

The Under 13 girls moved into 11^th place in their team competition with the five Tamworth AC athletes acquitting themselves well over the rough grass course at the agricultural college.

Emma Farrell was 69^th, Sophie Kelly 72^nd , Leanne Lewis 80^th, Sarah Dryhurst  86^th in her first completed course and Gina Heseltine in 89^th.

Tamworth AC have moved up from 9th to 5th place in the league thanks to the fantastic efforts of our young athletes.

Cannock and Stafford are in 4th place, Birchfield in 3rd, Tipton in 2nd and Sutton Coldfield in 1st.There are 19 teams in the league.

Full report available in the results section on the left hand side of the site.

Congratulations to all sixteen of the TAC athletes who appear in the Top Ten Midlands Rankings.

Check out the site for the full details - well worth a look!

http://www.midlandathletics.org.uk/top_ten_ranking_nov_05.pdf

Any amendments or additions to the rankings contact both the club at tamworthac@aol.com and nochime@hotmail.com ASAP

Birmingham Men’s Cross Country League Division 3 and

Midland Women’s Cross Country League

December 2005

Burbage Common, Nuneaton

Tom Orton, Tamworth AC’s men’s cross country team manager, led his team to victory with a win against Dudley and Stourbridge in the 2^nd competition of the year in Division 3 of the Birmingham Men’s Cross Country League held at Burbage Common, Nuneaton.

  Tamworth AC’s A team performed exceptionally when they  took first place on the day putting them 3^rd in the league table and not to be outdone the B team took 2nd place on the day and  2^nd overall against the 12 other club teams.

   Tom Orton is in 5^th place in the Leading Seniors table with all three Tamworth AC juniors appearing in the top 5 of the Leading Juniors table.

   The Tamworth AC athletes were not to be deterred by the extremely wet and boggy conditions following several nights of heavy rain.

  First runner back for the club was Tom Orton who showed his excellent form by staying in the leading pack throughout the men’s race and finally finishing in 4^th place  and 1^st counter for Tamworth, in a time of 39:28  on the notoriously demanding 10k parkland course.

 New club member Jonny Mason who has returned to running after a long break from the sport pulled out all the stops to clock a time of 40:38 when he took 13^th place overall and 2^nd counter for Tamworth AC in his first race for the club.

 The next four runners home represented a mixture of Tamworth AC’s youth and experience and played their part in accomplishing a win for the A team .

Adam Bache in only his 2^nd ever race over this distance continued his consistent improvement taking 21st place overall and 2^nd place in the parallel Junior race  in 41:37.

  He was closely followed by senior runner Howard Bush in 29^th place, who, despite making a dramatically late appearance on the start line (arriving only minutes before the race began) achieved his best result to date (42:19).

 John Jenkins , who despite suffering with knee problems, ran a strong race and was next to cross the line in 31^st place overall and 3^rd counter in the separate Junior event in 42:34. Nine seconds later came Paul Tasker, who showed impressive form in his first race back after an ankle injury stopped the clock in 42:43 for 37th place thus completing the counters for the A team.

 First to cross the line for the B team was ex international canoeist Dave Williams in 42:53 for 41^st place improving on his 1^st meeting performance with a strong run out.

  Mark Waplington soon joined Dave Williams as the second scorer in the Tamworth B team, in a well earned 57^th place in a time of  43:59.

Promising athlete Aidy Hall finished in 73^rd place in 45:17, Michael Pierrepoint  in 88^th in 46:24 and 4th Junior counter  and James Gwther in 90^th in  46:32  in his second race in the green and white vest. All ran outstandingly in the tough conditions and provided the valuable points needed to secure the position in the league.  They were soon joined by Steve Deegan in 106^th and marathon runner Mark Trigger in 125^th, who ran well and completed the outstanding Tamworth line-up.

 Tamworth AC’s first complete women’s team for many, many years was comprised of Cardiff University student Rebecca Hallam who took 88^th place , race walker Sheila Owen who crossed the line in 93^rd position and team manager Sarah Williams in 104th with Kat Snowden and Claire Warburton unable to race due to injuries.

 Cross Country at Tamworth Athletic Club is on the up with team managers Tom Orton and the effervescent Sarah Williams running the men’s and women’s teams respectively and John Graves leading the junior team. 

 The men’s team can surely start to aim towards promotion to division 2 and the club can only guess at what is possible if the full team is out in force for the next race in the new year. Promotion to Division 2 could be around the corner and prove to be yet another first for the club.

 If anyone is interested in training, competition or coaching at Tamworth AC please email Chris at tamworthac@aol.com or visit the club website at tamworthac.co.uk.

Following the success of the 2005 clubs:future awards, the sport is again set to recognise and reward those individuals and clubs that have shown dedication, innovation and drive towards the development of athletics across the UK. A series of regional awards will be reflected nationally with categories covering the Volunteer, Club Officer, Coaches, Officials and Partnerships.

Tamworth AC won one of  the first West Midlands regional awards last year . Let's make sure the club wins at least two awards this year. It certainly deserves to! 

 The forms etc are on the UKA website at http://www.ukathletics.net/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,4854-171087-188305-nav-list,00.html

Check out the website for all the latest results on Tamworth AC's athletes in the Birmingham Cross Country League, Division 3 . Full report coming soon.

http://www.birminghamccleague.co.uk/

Tamworth Athletic Club secured a superb trio of titles last weekend at the final fixture of this year's Midland Winter League Race Walking Series, held at Tamworth Athletic Stadium.
  Welsh international Mark Williams claimed both the 5km and 10km men's titles, while Sheila Owen won the women's 10km title.
Williams won the opening race of the day, the men's 10km, in 49.17mins.
  The Tamworth man already held a commanding lead in the series following victories in the opening two fixtures and he headed the leading group of Nuneaton trio Steve Arnold and twins Simon and Mark Hambridge over the opening 2km before pulling well clear of the rest of the field to record a comfortable victory.
  Tamworth fielded a strong team in the race, with John Culshaw Jnr performing well to come home in 12th in 1:01.40hrs.
  John Culshaw Snr finished 21th in 1:07.04hrs and Gordon Chapman produced his fastest time in the series to finish 25th in 1:10:02hrs.
  Williams was back in action in the men's 5km event to record his second win of the day in 24.54mins, and secure his second title. His victory meant he claimed both the 5km and 10km titles by winning all six races - only the second time the feat has been achieved in the league's 60 year history with Williams himself having done this feat for the first time last season.
  Williams, having won the double back in 2001, is also the only athlete to have achieved the success in the same season.
  Team-mates Phil Evanson and Gordon Chapman had a race-long battle before Evanson just edged out Chapman in the closing stages to take 21st place in 5.06mins, two seconds ahead of Chapman in 22nd place.
  Sheila produced an excellent walk in the women's 10km, winning the race in 59.52mins.
  Owen's fine run of form of late paid dividends with strong performance in the final two races which helped her claim a well deserved series title ahead of Dudley and Stourbridge's Julie Bellfield.
  Tamworth's Anne Ashton produced an excellent race to finish seventh in the 5km race in a personal best time of 33.23mins.
  After a great start, Ashton went through a rough patch before recovering for a strong finish.
  Beryl Chapman had another good walk to finish 12th in 39.56mins. Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day.