March 2005

Tamworth Athletics Club improved on their final position in last year's West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League when they finished tenth out of 19 teams following this season's final meeting in Wolverhampton.
Leanne Lewis finished in 36th place in the under-11 girl's race, giving her a solid 14th position overall for the season.
There were four Tamworth athletes in the under-13 girl's section. Elyse Jinks was 34th, Laura Lewis 43rd, Amy Williams 45th and Rebecca Pate 72nd.
Meghan Jacobs continued her improvement in the under-15 girls' race with 20th place, Katie Barker was 53rd and Joanna Snowden 61st.
Both Katherine Snowden and Sarah Williams ran their final races before moving into the seniors and they finished 24th and 25th respectively.
Nine-year-old Kristian Edwards ran superbly in his first under-11s race to finish seventh while Oliver Wood was 32nd after falling at the start.
There were five Tamworth runners in the under-13 boys' race. Craig Farrell had his usual steady run in fourth but Tom Challis ran him close in tenth with Stephen Parkes in 17th, Matthew Wood 21st and Sam Wotherspoon 60th.
Simon King's seventh place in the under-15's meant that he finished in fifth overall for the season, which earned him a well deserved trophy for his efforts.
The final age group to run was the under-17s. Tamworth's men's team of four took fourth place overall, the club's best position for many years.
John Jenkins got the better of Adam Bache this time in 15th, with Bache two places behind. Tom Adams is recovering from injury and came 29th and Michael Pierpoint 43rd.
The next event is the English Schools Championships and Tamworth's Martin Naunton, Meghan Jacobs and Adam Bache will be representing Staffordshire Schools, while Katherine Snowden is representing Warwickshire Schools in Norwich on Saturday.
Sarah Williams had also been picked to represent Staffordshire Schools but is unable to race on that day.

Southern Area Men's 20km Race Walking Championships Held at Imber Court, East Molesey, Surrey Saturday 26 February 2005

Tamworth Athletic Clubs' Welsh International Mark Williams took a huge stride closer to realising his ambition of representing his Country at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia - when he became the Club's first ever athlete to achieve a qualifying time for such a Major Championships at the weekend, and in doing so became the first British Walker to achieve the qualifying standard.

Williams competed as a guest in the Southern Area 20km Championships in Surrey with the aim of putting in an opening mark for the distance and test his race fitness ahead of a challenge to achieve the qualifying standard in future races. The Tamworth man headed south believing that there would be a top class field and hoping that the weather would be kind. He got the first; six Great Britain internationals took the start line, unfortunately the weather was not so kind. Rain, Sleet, snow, high winds and freezing cold temperatures all took it in turn to batter the athletes throughout the duration of the event, making fast times look almost impossible.

On the athletes side is that, under normal conditions, the course is known to be quite fast, and one that Williams likes to race on. The race proved to be a battle amongst a leading group of six walkers, the Steyning trio of Don Bearman, Nick Ball and Matt Hales, Surrey's Chris Cheeseman and Andrew Goudie representing Belgrave Harriers, along with Williams.