October 2004

Good Start to Cross Country Season Monday, October 18 2004
The West Midlands Young Athletes cross country league season began on a sunny but windy day at Pype Hayes Park, Birmingham.
21 athletes ran for Tamworth AC and for some of them this was their first real attempt at a full scale cross country competition.
The Under 11 girls was the first event and Laura Lewis led our athletes home in an excellent 21st place and was very competitive throughout. Hannah Owen and Gina Heseltine were both competing for the first time and did well to finish in 44th and 59th places respectively.
Mathew Wood was Tamworth’s only athlete in the Under 13 boys race and produced a very strong last lap to finish in 23rd place out of the 65 competitors. This too was Mathew’s first attempt at cross country and he acquitted himself extremely well.
Laura Lewis finished in 36th place in the Under 13 girls and was ably supported by Elyse Jinks in 50th and Emma Wileman in 75th place.
It was Abby Aubrey’s and Marianne Pritchard’s first year in the Under 17 ladies event and they both worked hard to compete against the older girls in the age group. Abby finished in 39th place with Marianne in 45th. Katherine Snowden began the race but a recurrence of a hip injury forced her to retire.
Simon King returned to cross country after a two year absence and showed that he is gradually returning to form and edging his way to the top with a very encouraging 5th place. James Langtree fished in 32nd place in his first race for the club and showed great promise for the future. Unfortunately Adam Gregory, on his first run out for the club, had problems with his asthma during the race and was withdrawn by his coach.
The Under 15 girls team included English Schools Multi Event champion, Meghan Beesley in her first attempt at cross country for the club. Meghan who was using the event as an opportunity to build up endurance for next summer’s track season, finished in a very creditable 34th place. Katie Barker had a very good run in 45th with Jenna Passey in 57th and Danni Webb completing the team in 59th position.
The final race of the day was the Under 17 men’s and Tom Adams showed a welcome return to the country with a hard fought and excellent 16th place. Adam Bache improves with every race and he was not far behind Tom in 24th place with John Jenkins and Michael Pierrepoint in 31st and 47th positions.
This was an excellent start to the season for the club’s younger cross country runners and the next race is the Reebok Challenge in Birmingham on October 30th.
Contact John at the club on 01827 260897 for further details.
Posted by:chris
First Heart of England Victory For Many Years Saturday, October 2 2004
Tamworth Athletics Club's Heart of England team were following in the footsteps of their fellow athletes in the Young Athletes League team when they won the final meeting of the season to claim the league title.
This is the first time for a number of years that a Tamworth team has won the tough eight club league, which includes Stratford, Solihull, Halesowen, Nuneaton and Rugby.
Competing at Tamworth due to problems with Rugby's track, the home side pulled out all the stops in front of a substantial crowd of spectators.
Honours on the day went to the under-15 and under-17 boys' teams who won both their divisions to secure first place overall for the boys team, and to Francesca Hughes in the under-11s girls who was awarded a bronze medal in the Mini-League for her overall performances in the 75m during the season.
Topping the bill was triple winner Megan Beesley who won the under-15 girls 200m A event in 26.6secs, the 75m A hurdles in 11.8secs and the A long jump in 5.34m.
Nathan Woodward followed Meghans lead in the under-15 boys events where he won both the 80m A hurdles in 12.3secs and the A high jump with a leap of 1.75m, and took second place in the 1500m A race in a time of 4:24.0mins.
Double winners were Justine Passey, who won the 100m A event in13secs and the 200m A in 28.6secs, and Mark Brookes who won the B shot with a throw of 8.18m and the B javelin with 34.06m.
More first places on the day went to Tom Challis and David Hudson (under-13s), Simon King, Juan de Leon Padmore and Nathan Faulkes-Jones (under-15s), John Jenkins and Michael Pierpoint (under-17s), Francesca Hughes (under-11s), Charlotte Elvins, Sophie Cash and Charlotte McDonough (under-15s).
Tom Challis took first place in the A 100m in 13.2secs, second place in the 200m A race with 27secs and second in the A long jump with 4.84m, and David Hudson won the A 80m hurdles in 15.5secs, took second in the 100m B event with 14.4secs and fifth place in the long jump with 3.77m.
Simon King ran hard to win the B 1,500m in 4.31.7mins, Juan Padmore leapt to first place in the long jump with 5.96m and clocked 12.1secs for second place in the A 100m, while Nathan Faulkes-Jones threw 35.29m to win the A javelin.
John Jenkins won the B 200m in 25.4secs, was fourth in the B long jump with 4.76m and sixth in the A 800m in a time of 2.10.4mins, and fellow athlete Michael Pierpoint won the B 100m hurdles in 20.1secs.
Francesca Hughes won the A 75m in 11.6secs and is one of the ones to watch for the future.
Charlotte Elvins finished first in the B 200m in 28.2secs and fifth in the A 800m in 2:36.5mins, Sophie Cash was first in the A high jump with a clearance of 1.45m, second in the 75m hurdles in 12.9secs and fifth in the A 100m in 13.7secs. Charlotte McDonough won the B long jump with a leap of 4.25m.
In the under-11 boys age group, valuable points were picked up by Sam Webb in 13.3secs and Brett Cash in 13.2secs in the 75m. Brett also did well in the long jump, leaping 2.99m, while Gareth Kavanagh did well in the 600m in 2:4.8mins and the long jump with a leap of 3.21m.
In the under-13 boys, Nathan Christian took third place in the A 800m in 2:44.2mins and sixth place in the B javelin with a throw of 11.01m. Ted White cleared 1.20m in the high jump and took seventh place in the A shot with a throw of 5.59m and threw 13.01m in the A javelin. Jordan Roach was fourth in the B 80m hurdles in a time of 17.8secs and sixth in the B shot when he threw 5.50m.
The under-15 boys showed their usual strength and reliability in competition. Dan Challis finished in second place in the B 100m in 12.1secs and second in the A 200m in a time of 25.3secs. David Collier took second place in the B 80m hurdles in 14.3secs and sixth place in the B 400m in 63secs. Nick Crawford took second place in the B long jump with a leap of 4.59m followed by a third place in the B 200m run in a time of 25.3secs.
All rounder Iain Findlay threw 9.25m for fourth place in the A shot and ran a time of 62.00secs in the 400m. Ashley Smetham threw 3.19.2m in the shot and Alex Elson, returning to the club after a break, clocked 2.36.7mins for the 800m.
The under-17 B team throwers made their mark as usual. Alex Berrow, or Big Al to his friends, threw 11m for second place in the shot and 27.34m for the same position in the B javelin. Tom Hardman was second in the A javelin with a throw of 51.48m. David Levett also took a second place when he threw 9.90m in the B shot and went on to gain valuable points when he came fourth in the B 100m in 13.1secs.
Daniel Cash was third in the A 200m in 24.9secs and in the A high jump with 1.65m. He then went on to take fourth place in the long jump with a leap of 5.31m.
Michael Pierpoint ran the B 800m in 2.23.2mins for third place and Tom Adams finished third in the B 1,500m with 5.01.4mins and ran the A 400m in 1:04mins.
Also running the 400m was Adam Bache who clocked 59.7secs for third place and took fifth place in the 1,500m with 4.33.9mins. Tom Burton gained more club points when he was fifth in the 100m hurdles in 16.1secs and seventh in the 100m in a time of 13.1secs.
In the under-11 girls team, the point scorers were Sophie Fairfax-Steadman with a second place in the 75m B event in a time of 12.1secs, a sixth place in the A 600m with 2:15.5mins and third in the long jump with 3.10m.
Leanne Lewis leapt 3.15m for fifth in the A long jump and took sixth place in the B 600m with 2.14.6mins.
The under-13 girls events were led by Hannah Sargeant who took second place in the 70m hurdles in 13.3secs and fourth place in the A long jump with 3.79m. Sophie Hetherington took third place in the B long jump with 3.45m and seventh place in the A 100m with 15secs.
Endurance athlete Michaela Webb ran the B 1,500m in 8:11.2mins to take fourth place and Amy Williams was fifth in the A 800m in 2:46.5mins, sixth in the A 200m in 31.7secs and seventh in the a high jump with 1.10m.
Joanne Cooper threw 9.46m for fifth place in the B javelin and 5.85m for seventh place in the A shot. Millie Kellyman took sixth spot in the B 100m with 15.3secs and Hannah Owen took the same position in the B shot with a throw of 5.14m. Laura Lewis finished fifth in the B 70m hurdles in 16.2secs, seventh in the A 1,500m in 6:04.8mins and eighth in the a javelin with 8.33m.Rebekah Chamberlain took two seventh places for the B 200m in 36.2secs and the B 800m in 3:13.9mins.
A good team effort was made by the under-15 girls with second places going to Jo Snowden in the B 800m in 2:47mins and to Danny Webb for the B javelin with a throw of 13.42m. Danny also took sixth place in the A 1,500m with 5:59.5mins.
Hannah Alcock took a third in the B shot with 5.96m and sixth place in the B 100m in 14.4secs. Fiona McCabe, one of Tamworth's newer members, gained two fourth places in throwing events with a 7.36m throw in the A shot and a 14.96m throw in the A javelin. Emily Davis was fifth in the B 1,500m in a time of 6:00.6mins.
In the Combined Ladies events, Claire Free finished first in the B 200m in 28.6secs and in the 800m, Katherine Snowden was second in the A event in 2:31.8 and third in the B long jump with a leap of 4.10m. Sam Day, one of the club's second claim athletes, was third in the B event in 2:37.8mins.
The throwers were represented by Claire Perry, who was second in the A shot with 7.29m and fourth in the A javelin with 23.13m, and Reanne Wood who was third in the B shot with 6.04m and sixth in the B javelin with 13.90m.
In the under-17 80m hurdles, Sarah Williams finished fifth in the A event in 14.6secs and Rebecca Findlay was sixth in the B event in 15.5secs. Sarah also finished third in the A long jump with a leap of 4.66m and fifth in the 400m in a time of 66secs.
Rebecca took third position in the A high jump with a clearance of 1.45m and fifth place in the B 100m in a time of 14.3secs. Rebecca Hallam, athlete and coach, was third in the 400m B event in a time of 1:06.9mins.
The Tamworth relay teams did very well. The under-13 boys 4x100m team of David Hudson, Tom Challis, Nathan Christian and Ted White took second place in 57.1secs, the under-15 boys 4x100m team, of Nick Crawford, Dan Challis, Nathan Woodward and Juan Padmore took first place in 48secs, the under-15 girls 4x100m team of Meghan Beesley, Sophie Cash, Charlie Elvin and Hannah Alcock took first place in 54.5secs and finally, the under-17/women's 4x100m team of Sam Day, Justine Passey, Claire Free and Sarah Williams finished in second place in 53secs.
The Heart of England league provides the ideal opportunity for many of the younger athletes to experience their first taste of real competition and Tamworth athletes who competed in the under-11 non-scoring events were Liam Chamberlain, Chloe Saunders, Lauren Saunders, Hannah Owen and Becky Evans.
Team managers Mandy Challis and Caroline Woodward were justifiably proud of their team's efforts.
"We are absolutely delighted to have won this league which is due to a huge team effort this season," they said."Our thanks go to all athletes who tried their best, especially those who agreed to do extra events when gaps were evident in the team sheet due to injury and holidays. Well done to everyone that competed and here's to next year."
Posted by:chris