August 2004

Women's Team Clinch the Midlands Title Friday, August 27 2004
The Tamworth Athletic Club Ladies team pulled out all the stops in their final Midland Women's League fixture to win their Division at Tipton.
The squad became the third team from the club to take a league title this season, with half of the athletes recording personal bests.
They went to Laura Langowski (100m, 200m, and long jump), Justine Passey (100m, 200m), Hannah Alcock (100m, and shot), Katherine Snowden (80m hurdles), Sophie Cash (100m) Claire Free (100m), Sarah Williams (high jump), Claire Perry (javelin), Meghan Beesley (200m), Jenna Passey (1,500m), Gemma Rhodes (1,500m) and Jessica Thompson (triple jump).
Laura Langowski won the 400m in 58.6secs, took second places in the 100m and long jump respectively in 12.6secs and 4.58m and third in the 200m in 25.7secs.
Jenna Lander picked up three good first places in the throwing events, winning the hammer with a throw of 42.69m, the discus with 22.14m and the shot with 8.13m.
Also picking up three first places was Meghan Beesley, who won the 200m in 26secs, the 75m hurdles in 12.2secs and the long jump with a leap of 5.10m.
Justine Passey again picked up a sprint double when she won the 100m in 12.8secs and the 200m in 26.3secs.
Sophie Cash won her long jump with a leap of 4.18m, took second place in the high jump with a clearance of 1.45m and third in the 100m in a time of 13.4 secs.
Leah Moores won the 800m in 2:26.9mins, Claire Perry won the javelin with a throw of 22.99m and Reanne Wood picked up a good second place with a throw of 19.90m in the hammer.
Sarah Williams won the long jump with 4.59m, took second place in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.60m and third in the high jump with 1.35m.
Laura Hooper won her pole vault with 2.40m, took second place in the triple jump with 9.16m, another second in the 800m in 3:06.5mins and fourth in the 3,000m in a time of 14:44.9mins.
Claire Free picked up three second places with 13.8secs in the 100m, 46.3secs in the 300m and 3.56m in the long jump.
Jenna Passey finished in second place in her 1,500m in 6:17.1mins and in sixth place in the discus.
Katherine Snowden finished in second place in the 300m in a time of 46.4secs, fourth in the 80m hurdles in 15.8secs and fourth in the 400m hurdles in 75.2secs.
Danielle Webb took second place in the 75m hurdles in 16.8secs and fourth in the 800m in 2:48.5mins.
Amy Williams finished in second place in her 800m in a time of 2:54.9mins and third in the high jump with a clearance of 1.10m.
Two athletes gaining valuable points for the team were Rebecca Hallam and Gemma Wheelhouse.Rebecca finished in third place in the 400m hurdles in 84.7secs, third in the 400m in 68.8secs, the same position in the 100m in 14secs and fourth in the high jump with 1.10m.Gemma took third place in the discus with a throw of 25.82m, fourth in the shot with 8.29m and fifth in the javelin with a throw of 14.69m.
Abi Aubrey took fourth place in the 800m in a time of 2:40.5mins and fifth in the 1,500m in 5:53.7 mins.
Hannah Alcock finished in third place in her 100m in 14.2secs, third in the shot with 6.31m and sixth in the 200m in 30.6secs.
Jessica Thompson took fourth place in the long jump with a leap of 3.35m and fifth in the triple jump with 7.67m.
Gemma Rhodes finished in third place in the 1,500m in 6:5.3secs and fifth in the discus, with a newcomer to the team Helan Walker taking fourth place in the javelin with 12m.
Posted by:chris
Three TAC Champions At The AAA's Champs Monday, August 23 2004
Juan De Leon Padmore struck gold in the long jump at the AAAs Championships.
Juan produced a personal best jump of 6.04m to qualify for the long jump final. And he then produced no less than four personal bests in the final itself, with his last jump of 6.39m making him the champion.
He was one of six Tamworth athletes who took part in the championships, which included the top athletes from England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Meghan Beesley and Nathan Woodward also picked up championship medals.
Meghan gained a personal best when she qualified for the final of the long jump with her first leap of 5.34m.She then improved this to 5.43m in the final to gain the bronze medal, finishing just 3cm short of the silver medal position.
Meghan also took part in the 100m event, clocking a personal best equalling time of 12.63secs for third place in her heat.
In the semi-final, Meghan clocked 12.85secs for fifth place, just one place short of qualifying for the final.
Meanwhile, Nathan added to his already impressive list of top level performances for the season with a first time clearance of 1.75m in the high jump final, giving him the bronze medal.
Tamworth's other three athletes in these championships had all qualified for the event for the first time.
Tom Hardman recorded a throw of 42.93m for 12th place in the javelin final after travelling back from Sri Lanka the previous day.
Sarah Williams also interrupted her holidays to finish in 14th place in the pole vault final with a clearance of 2.50m and Sophie Cash finished in the same position in the high jump, just a couple of places short of the final with a clearance of 1.50m.
Richard Bown also reached the qualifying standard for these championships for the first time but was injured a fortnight ago and was unable to take his place in the 200m.
Posted by:chris
Wilkins Win Helps Town To Third Spot Monday, August 23 2004
Tamworth Ac Men's B Team ended their Midland League season by clinching third place in their division in the final fixture of the season.
Nick Wilkins won his 400m in 57.5secs and took second place in the 200m in 25.5secs and fourth in the 100m in 13.3secs. Meanwhile, Richie McCabe finished in second place in his hammer event with a personal best throw of 24.80m.
He was third in the shot with 8.89m, fourth in the javelin with a throw of 22.10m and then completed a busy afternoon with a leap of 4.09m for sixth place in the long jump.
Matt Hargreaves took third place in the 800m in a time of 2:11.9mins and sixth in the javelin with a throw of 27.26m.
David Levett took second place in the shot, fourth in the hammer with a personal best throw of 29.85m, and another fourth and personal best of 24.30m in the discus.
Kirk Allen picked up three fourth places in the sprint events, clocking 13.1secs, 25.0secs and 1:0.1mins in the 100m, 200m and 400m respectively.
Michael Pierpoint finished in fourth place in the pole vault, equalling his personal best of 2.40m.He was fourth in the 3000m steeplechase in 12:53.0mins and sixth in the 3000m in a time of 11:52.9mins.
Ian Miller was fifth in his 800m in a time of 2:31.4mins and claimed a similar finish in the discus with a throw of 17.46m.
Posted by:chris
Tamworth AC Men Clinch Promotion Saturday, August 14 2004
Second place in this final Midland Men's League match of the season was enough to give Tamworth the Championship and promotion to the top Midland Division for next season.
Top performance of the day went to youngster Neil Rudd, who was making his debut in the first team. He recorded 51.1secs in the 400m as he finished in second place.
The Midland steeplechase champion Simon Hall recorded two individual wins in the 800m (2:01.4mins) and 1,500m (4:17.0mins).He then teamed up with David Lines, Nick Spargo and Chris Smith to win the 4x400m relay in a club record time of 3:29.1mins.
Chris Smith clocked a season's best to win the 800m in 1:57.0mins and Adam Smith won the triple jump with a jump of 12.73m. Adam also took fifth place in the high jump to equal his personal best clearance of 1.65m and was sixth in the long jump with a leap of 5.18m.
Gavin Showell, as usual, picked up a lot of good points for the team in his five events.He won the pole vault with a clearance of 4m, took third place in the hammer with a season's best throw of 23.96m, fifth in the shot with 10.01m, eighth in the long jump with 5.37m and the same position in the discus with a throw of 21.49m.
Phil Clamp produced two good performances as he finished second in the 1,500m and third in the 3,000m.
Howard Bush took second place in his 3,000m race in a personal best time of 9:36.3mins and Phil Owen was fifth place in the javelin with a throw of 33.93m.
Matty James made a valuable contribution to the team's effort when he took part in six events.Matty finished third in the 100m hurdles in a season's best of 20.2secs, fourth in the high jump with 1.50m and fifth in the triple jump with a season's best jump of 11.12m.He was also fifth in the discus with another season's best of 20.05m and sixth in the hammer with a personal best throw of 14.88m as well as the 400m hurdles in 1:05.7mins.
Nick Spargo and Greg Richards picked up good places in the sprint events.Nick took second place in the 400m in a season's best of 52.0secs and fourth in the 200m in 23.9secs.Greg clocked 11.5secs for third place in the 100m and a personal best of 23.1secs for the same position in the 200m.
Meanwhile, Lines made a promising first team debut with fifth place in the 400m hurdles in 1:02.8mins and sixth in the 110m hurdles in 20.1secs.
John Culshaw took third place in the shot with 9.40m and fourth place in the javelin with a throw of 38.62m.
Neal Hurst finished in fifth place in the 3,000m steeplechase in 13:55.5mins but Tom Orton was unfortunately injured in the same event.
Posted by:chris
Depleted Squad Still Produces The Goods In The Young Athletes League Wednesday, August 11 2004
With a team decimated through holidays and injuries, Tamworth were reduced to fourth place in the final Young Athletes League match of the season on home soil, but produced some fine individual performances with 20 winners and 35 personal bests.
Personal bests were gained by Michael Pierpoint (300m, 1,500m steeplechase and pole vault), David Levett (hammer and discus), Ian Findlay (shot, 400m and 80m hurdles), Hannah Smith (high jump and 75m), Rebecca Findlay (80m hurdles), Sarah Williams (80m hurdles), Claire Free (300m), Faye McCabe (discus), Joanne Cooper (shot), Elyse Jinks (1,200m), Megan Jacobs (1,500m), Danielle Webb (800m), Georgia Lorraine (100m), Michaela Webb (75m) Tom Adams (400m), Daniel Grogan (400m hurdles), Mark Brooks (high Jump), Juan Padmore (long jump), Nick Crawford (400m), Nathan Woodward (80m hurdles), Simon King (1,500m), Ashley Smetham (1,500m), Chris Smith (discus), Tom Challis (200m), Jordan Roach (200m), Adam McGee (800m), Stephen Parkes (1,500m) and Ted White (shot).
Top winners of the day were Meghan Beesley and Juan Pad-more with three first places each.
Meghan won the 100m in 13.1secs, the 200m in 26.5secs and the 75m hurdles in 12.3secs, while Juan won the 100m in 12.3secs, the long jump with a leap of 5.99m and the 200m in a season's best of 24secs.
Nathan Woodward won the 80m hurdles in 12.4secs, the high jump with a clearance of 1.81m and took second place in the 800m in 2:08.6mins.
Nathan Jones-Faulks picked up a couple of first places in the throwing events, winning the discus with a throw of 24.48m and the javelin with 34.03m.
Michael Pierpoint continued his improvement with first place in the 300m in a time of 11:04.3mins, second in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.40m and fourth in the 1,500m steeplechase in 5:37.2mins.
Ian Findlay won his 400m in 59.1secs, took second place in the shot with 9.64m and fourth in the 80m hurdles in a time of 15.9secs.
David Levett had one of his best days of the season in the throws when he won the hammer with a throw of 36.95m, took second place in the discus with 28.17m and third in the shot with 9.49m.
Chris Smith Jnr also did well in his throwing events winning his discus with a throw of 20.05m and taking second place in the hammer with 14.01m.
Justine Passey once again picked up good points in the sprints winning the 200m in 26.8secs and taking second place in the 100m in 13.1secs.
Rebecca Findlay won her 300m hurdles in 55.4secs, took second place in the 80m hurdles in 15.1secs and third in the high jump with 1.45m.
Mark Brooks won his shot with 7.96m and gained two second places in the javelin and high jump with 35.15m and 1.45m respectively.
Megan Jacobs gained an impressive win in the 1,500m in a time of 5:12.5mins and Simon King also gained a good win in his 1,500m in 4:38.2mins.
Ashley Smetham, as usual, took maximum points from his hammer event with a throw of 31.10m and took third place in the 1,500m in 6:46.4mins.
Tom Challis won the long jump with a leap of 4.67m, took third place in the 100m in 13.6secs and another third in the 200m in a time of 27.5secs.
Completing the impressive list of winners was Sarah Williams who won the 300m hurdles in 51.1secs, took third place in the long jump with 4.65m and fourth in the 80m hurdles in 14.9secs.
Nick Crawford picked up two good second places when he clocked 57.4secs in the 400m and jumped 4.77m in the long jump.
Faye McCabe gained second place in the shot with 5.91m and third in the discus with a throw of 17.35m.
Elyse Jinks took second place in the 1,200m in a time of 4:36.1mins, second in the 70m hurdles in 16.3secs and third in the long jump with a jump of 3.05m.
David Hudson picked up second place in the shot with 5.69m, third in the long jump with 3.74m and another third in the 100m in a time of 14.0secs.
Daniel Challis finished in second place in his 100m in a time of 13.3secs and Adam McGee took the same position in his 800m in 2:45.8mins.
Charlotte McDonough took second place in the long jump with a jump of 4.15m with Charlotte Elvin second in the 200m in 28.1secs and fourth in the 800m in 2:33.5mins.
Jenny Evans finished in second spot in the shot with 5.20m, third in the long jump with 3.46m and fourth in the 150m in a time of 23.9secs.
Laura Lewis took second place in the 1,200m in 4:45.2mins and fourth in the 70m hurdles in 16.0secs.
Adam Bache finished in second place in his 3,000m in 10:22.7mins, third in the 1,500m in 4:47.3mins, and another third in the javelin.
Alex Elson took second place in his 800m in 2:35.3mins and third in the 200m in 27.9secs.
Claire Free finished in third place in the 300m in a good 45.0secs, another third in the 100m in 14.3secs, and fourth in the long jump with a jump of 3.46m.
Hannah Smith picked up three fourth places in the 75m, 150m and high jump with 11.5secs, 23.8secs and 1.15m respectively.
John Jenkins took third place in the 800m in 2:11.2mins, fourth in the 400m in 1:2.0mins and another fourth in the 200m in 25.7secs.
Tom Adams finished in third place in the discus with a throw of 14.68m, third in the javelin with 13.91m and fourth in the 400m in a time of 1:01.9mins.
Daniel Grogan picked up a useful time of 1:03.8mins for third place in the 400m hurdles and Jordan Roach clocked 30.1secs for third place in the 200m.
Stephen Parkes took third place in the 1,500m in 5:16.4mins and Ted White filled the same position in the shot with 6.12m.
Matthew Wood finished in third place in his 1,500m in a time of 5:36.9mins with Joanne Cooper also in third in the shot with 5.97m.
Nicola Tarver gained third place in the discuss with a throw of 13.71m, another third in the long jump with a jump of 3.56m and fourth in the shot with 6.04m.
Georgia Lorraine finished in fourth place in the 100m in a time of 15.1secs and Michaela Webb was fourth in the 75m in 13.0secs, and the same position in the 800m in 3:48.8mins.
Emily Davis gained third place in the 1,500m in 5:52.1mins and Amy Williams was fourth in the 800m in 2:58.2mins.
Danielle Webb finished in third place in the 75m hurdles in 19.4secs and fourth in the 800m in a time of 2:44.4mins.
Posted by:chris
Town Girls Secure Another League Title In The NJL Wednesday, August 11 2004
Tamworth Athletic Club picked up their first league title of the season when they won the Trent Division Ladies match of the National Junior League at Rugby.
The win gave the Tamworth team the title with an unbeaten record and a place in the Northern Premier Division play-offs next month.
The Tamworth men's team also gave a good account of themselves in their final match, finishing in second place to City of Stoke, and second in their Division overall for the season.
For the ladies, Jenna Lander, as usual, put in good performances in the throws, winning the hammer with a throw of 41.15m, taking second place in the discus with 23.21m and third in the shot with 7.91m.
Alana Smetham kept her unbeaten record in the B hammer competition when she won her event with a throw of 36.71m.
Sarah Williams also picked up her usual good points in the jumping events, winning the pole vault with a clearance of 2.45m, taking second place in the triple jump with a personal best jump of 10.35m and fourth in the long jump with another personal best of 4.81m.
Rebecca Findlay won the 400m hurdles in 1:24.3mins, took second place in the 100m hurdles in a personal best time of 21.1secs and fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.45m.
Amy Frith played an important part in the team performance with second place in the 400m in a time of 1:1.4mins, another second place in the 200m in 28.1secs and fourth in the 800m in 2:24.0mins with Leah Moores picking up a useful second place in the B 800m in a time of 2:26.9mins.
Gemma Wheelhouse took second place in the discus with a personal best throw of 28.34m, third in the shot with 7.55m and the same position in the javelin.
Justine Passey, as usual, gained good points in the sprints when she gained second place in the 100m in a time of 13.2secs and third in the 200m in 26.9secs.
Rebecca Hallam took second place in the 400m in 1:06.8mins and Abi Aubrey finished in the same position in the 1,500m in 5:33.9mins.
To complete an excellent all round team performance, Claire Free took third place in the 100m in 14.3secs and Laura Castledine was fourth in the javelin with a throw of 19.11m.

In the men's match, Tamworth also produced some excellent performances.
John Jenkins picked up a good win in the 800m in a time of 2:08.0mins and second place in the 1,500m in 4:45mins.
Tom Hardman gained his usual good win in the javelin with a throw of 44.43m, his best throw with the heavier javelin.
Tamworth picked up maximum points from the 400m event. Chris Smith made a welcome return to win the A 400m in 51.8secs and took fifth place in the 100m in 12.4secs.
Neil Rudd gained an impressive win in his 400m in 52.4sces and finished in fifth place in the 200m in 24.4secs.
Adam Smith played an important part in the team effort, recording three personal bests during the afternoon. He took second place in the triple jump with a personal best 13.01m, third in the high jump, equalling his personal best of 5.80m, and fifth in the 100m in 12.7secs.
Ricky Hallam won the pole vault with a clearance of 3.40m and took third place in the 100m hurdles in 20.2secs.
Simon Smith finished in second place in the 2,000m steeplechase in 7:03.5mins and third in the 800m in 2:10.7mins.
Martyn Naughton gained second place in the 300m in a time of 9:27.1mins and Tom Adams third in the 400m hurdles in 78.5secs.
Michael Pierpoint took second place in his triple jump with a jump of 10.05m, a personal best, second in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.15m and third in the 2,000m steeplechase with another personal best of 8:03.3mins.
David Lines worked hard for the team with third place in the 200m in a personal best of 24.5secs, third in the 100m hurdles in 19.5secs, another third in the 400m hurdles in 1:00.8mins and fourth in the long jump with a jump of 5.14m.
Adam Bache finished in seventh place in the 1,500m with a time of 4:36.9mins and throwers Alex Berrow, David Levett and Ben Jones played their parts in a good team effort.
Alex took third place in the shot with 9.20m, fourth in the discus with a throw of 24.99m and fifth in the hammer with a personal best of 35.83m.
David produced a personal best throw of 27.24m in the discus and took third place in the hammer with a throw of 23.06m, and Ben set a season's best of 10.02m in the shot for fourth place.
Posted by:chris
Williams Stays On The Pace Wednesday, August 11 2004
TamworthAC race walker Mark Williams justified his selection in the Midlands squad for the UK Athletics inter-territorial match against the North and the South at Solihull.
The Welsh international has been in fine form over the past months and was looking for another strong performance, on his return to the Midlands team in the 3km walk.
He kept pace with Midlands team mate Luke Finch and British internationals Matt Hales and Andrew Goudie and snatched second behind Finch in the closing stages.
The Midland duo had not only scored maximum points for their team but Williams had smashed his personal best by 24secs, recording 12:53mins, a new club record.
The Midlands team finished as runners up in the match behind the Southern Area team.
Posted by:chris
Tamworth Herald Sporting Decathlon -100m at TAC Wednesday, August 11 2004
Here is the report that appeared in the Herald following the visit of Rob Tanner and Michael Beardmore to Tamworth AC.
Amy Frith was in charge of 'warming up' and the two athletes took part in a 100m cheered on by all at the club. Certificates were presented at the finish.
The Report - Reporter MICHAEL BEARDMORE takes a 5-3 lead in the sporting decathlon after his battle with CIN sports editor ROB TANNER hit the track for the 100m sprint.

BEARDMORE: AH, running. The oldest sport known to man – apart from maybe fighting and throwing. Two men battling it out to see who can reach the finish line the fastest. It took me back to the glorious sports days back at Alumwell Junior School when I was a youngster. You don’t become 100m
champion three years in a row by being a tortoise. Granted, my sprinting abilities have waned since those glory days but I can still go a fair pelt. My tactic was the same as it always used to be; pretend there’s a madman behind you and run like hell. Never fails. I was fairly happy with my time of 13.4 seconds, although I remember running under 13 seconds when I was younger. Rob is clinging to the fact that he was ‘only’ 0.6secs behind but in a 100m sprint, that is a lifetime. There must have been a full moon because the Wolfman was flying! Much credit to Tamworth
Athletics Club who put on a great show for us. I must admit I was incredibly nervous with quite a large crowd watching. It’s now 5-3 to me overall and I am on the brink of victory.

TANNER: MY sprinting is legendary – mainly because, just like those other legends King Arthur and trains that run on time, it doesn’t really exist. When it comes to covering the ground, I can handle most distances – just bring some
knitting with you if you are waiting for me to finish. When I used to play football and we did sprints during pre-season training, I was always trailing at the back to calls of ‘get that rucksack off your back Tanner’. So when Michael picked the 200m (which he changed at the last minute to the 100m for some unknown reason), I didn’t hold out much hope. In fact, I joked to our photographer Paul Barber that instead of a quick speed lens, he would have enough time to do an etching to capture me in action. I toyed with the idea of cheating by tying Michael’s shoe laces together and planned to jog backwards down the track as he scrambled to undo the knots but, as he is from Walsall, I figured he probably didn’t know how to tie laces and would probably wear slip on trainers. After all, he can’t swim or ride a bike! However, I surprised myself and only trailed behind Michael by 0.6 of a second. I finished in 14secs flat, just a few metres behind the so called ‘Speed Machine’. I really enjoyed the experience. Tamworth AC pulled out all the stops with Ray Lloyd dressing in his official starter outfit and club chairman John Graves giving commentary over the tannoy, although he seemed to concentrate more on my portly frame than the race. The other athletes all stopped training to shout encouragement and we were presented with certificates at the end. Thanks also to Amy Frith for her expert warm-up, which was probably a good idea considering the shape we were in. Our thanks to them all for making it such an occasion and, hey, at least I came second.

Posted by:chris