CLUBNEWS
3rd JULY, 2008
THE REASON FOR THE GAP
The Scribe apologises
for the three weeks’ or so interval since the last Clubnews, which was down to
two causes – a computer failure and one of his annual holidays. As he’ll be away for the first three
days of next week there may be another short hiatus – but he’ll do the best he
can. However, in order to ‘rush’
this edition out before going away again a number of things – including the Schools’ Regional Combined Events, for which full results haven’t got this far
yet – have been held over until
next time.
A COUPLE OF WORLD AND
EUROPEAN CONTENDERS
In the next week or so
A COUPLE OF MATURE
INTERNATIONALS
Two of our more Senior
members were selected for a Veterans’
International Match against
21/22 July – UKA
Under-23 and Under-20 Championships,
JAMES LEADS
PROPORTIONATELY HIGH COLLECTION
Only seven members of
the Club took part in these Championships – which makes the return in medal
terms of one Gold, two Silver and one Bronze quite a formidable one. There was a significant contrast in the
two days of the event; Saturday was reasonably calm is somewhat damp, but on
Sunday
There was one Sunday
performance, however, which wasn’t affected by the wind. Having qualified in the windiest heat on
the Saturday, Umar Hameed seemed to be favoured with the only two calm
spots of Sunday for his Semi-final and Final in the Under-20 200, and put up a
PB in both; he won the Semi with 21.85, and though not getting near Gateshead’s
Richard Kilty his 21.58 to pick up the Silver represented a massive improvement
over his previous best. Whatever
Ray Barrow’s been doing with him over the winter – to say nothing of Umar’s own
commitment – has clearly worked.
The three who took Under-20
medals on Saturday had far the better of the conditions. Hannah Evenden
had three bashes at medals over the two days, but her favoured event, the
Discus, was wind-affected and she ‘only’ (all things are relative) managed
40.81 and 5th; in the Saturday her Hammer was nearer her previous
best (44.43) but in an extremely strong field only made 8th. However, she found a good Shot (12.65)
which gave her the Bronze. Dan Gardiner didn’t do too much, restricting himself to
Long-jumping, and found a legal 7.13 for the Silver medal. However, above even the other good Club
marks it was James Wilkinson’s day; it’s an emphatic enough performance to
take a national title of any sort, but taking the Steeplechase by a margin of
over six seconds and lowering his Best into the bargain with 9.12.21 underlines
the form James has produced over the barriers this summer.
22ND June –
UKA Young Athletes’ League, Premier Division,
JOB ALMOST DONE IN THE
TEETH OF THE WIND
If it was as windy at
However, there’s
always somebody who finds any condition to his liking, and on Sunday the
somebody was Jake Armstrong. A
headwind can be an advantage to Discus-throwers, and Jake used it to add
another two metres to his Under-15
Boys’ record with 45.27. This was the highlight of a rousing
performance by this group of lads, which picked up a big chunk of points; Jake
had another win and PB in the Shot, there were striking improvements by Stephen Coles and Dylan Bradley in
the High Jump, Jacob Gardiner ‘maximised’ the Discus and improved in the
vault, and the quartet of Gordon
Benson, Jamie Higgins, Alex Hart and Elliot Todd dominated the middle-distances. (Any eyebrows raised at Elliot’s time
will come from those who didn’t see the manner of it. Matt Wagner rode
the wind in both Hurdles and Long Jump, Liam Braithwaite
did likewise in the sprints, Luke
Murray ran an excellent
relay leg in a winning 4x400 team
and Connor Morley was rewarded for his ‘sticking-plaster’
efforts (never easy for a first-year in any age-group) with a couple of PBs,
including quite a substantial Hammer improvement. The only disappointments were Jake G’s
disqualification in the Hurdles and Jack Mosley
suffering a recurrence of his hamstring problem in the 200.
If anything the Under-13 Boys did even better; certainly when a team of nine
lads covers everything and wins nine of 17 events it’s a mighty boost. There was some flying (if ‘windy’)
sprinting from Elliot Hurley (who also won the Long Jump) and Dylan George, and with Sean Flanagan
winning both the B 200 and Long Jump and a relay victory this area accounted
for a lot of the points. Brad Metcalfe was at both ends of fields, winning the B
Hurdles and finishing last in the A 800 – and in spite of the wind getting a PB
in the latter event; the Hurdles might have been a maximum had not the
vastly-improved Max
Ansell-Wood clipped the
last barrier with his ankle. Sean
also had a ‘last’ – in the 1500, where he and Ben Tootall
battled manfully with strong opposition and stronger gusts. Jack Gape
contribute his win in the B Shot,
and he and Chris Giff vanished indoors to High Jump; Brad scored
well in the A shot, he and Chris made up the relay quartet; and Daniel Harrison coped better with the 800 in spite of the
gale.
The Under-17 Lads had
their moments, though some of them were asked to do rather a lot; Danny Davies’ ‘Chase, for instance, suffered from doing an
earlier 3000, and Rob Torch had done his bit in the 800 before filling the
1500, while both Tobin
Carey-Williams and Mark Fuszard had full ranges, though Mark won the B Long
Jump. Mike Wood also had a tricky double, but while he was
outgunned over 3000 he took the 1500 with a piece of tactical finishing that
even Martin Roscoe would have been proud of. The sprints again scored well, though it
can be argued which was the more significant – Tom Mosley’s
assured double or the splendid return to form (both here and in the Long Jump)
of Harvard Jefferson. Tom Webber showed a ‘windy’ improvement over 200, Sam Lowry embarrassed The Scribe by setting another PB
in the gale, newcomer Danny
Brownbill made a promising
debut, and Lee Allsopp showed a lot of fight by taking a close
decision in the B 800. Out in the field Ben Sleigh and Tom Connor
dominated the Javelin (most of the throwers did well to keep it between the
lines!), both doing other things; while Jonathan Foster
was within an inch of his hammer best and Karl Evenden put
a chunk on his. All four did other
things as well to pick up valuable points; Andr‚ Parker-Laing
coped well with the wind in the 400 Hurdles, and Jake Hatfield – who basically comes to train with his mates
– contributed his points in unaccustomed events.
The weakest section of
the team is undoubtedly the Under-17
Women, where there are
considerable gaps – but nobody can criticise the spirit of the girls who turned
out, and ironically on this occasion there were a good proportion of wins to
counter some of the problems. In
view of the Schools Combined the following week Amy and Katy Marchant only did one event each, plus relays, but both
contributed a win (Long Jump and Hurdles respectively; Rosie Trudgen did rather more, winning the High Jump, but
missed out on the 300 due to a misunderstanding (something The Scribe intends
to take up with the League). Rosie Bridger also made a good contribution in points, and Carrie Simpson and Stacey Evenden
‘maximised’ the Shot, Stacey adding a sound Hammer effort. Rachel Sidebottom,
Chloe Gordon and Lauren Cahill
put up some quick sprinting, and Lauren surprised herself with the Javelin; but
perhaps the surprise of the day was Olivia Todd. For somebody who only originally
came to the Club because her brother was running, a contribution of nine points
from three events, including a Javelin win and a very fair first competitive
Hammer-chuck, wasn’t bad at all.
The Under-15 Girls didn’t contribute quite as many wins, but they
had a full if very small team (just ten) and covered everything. It did help to have Fran Coldwell doing her ‘usual trio’ and all to good effect,
and to have another remarkable combination from the versatile Emily Robinson; and in points terms the trio of throwers
contributed massively, with only Laura Smith not
actually setting a PB (both the much-improved Katie Radcliffe,
a double winner, and the steadily-progressing Charlie Nicholson
picked up a pair.) Chloe Harley was unusually beaten in a tough 800, but also
contributed as a hurdler; Kaisha
Holmes ran her best 200
with a little help from the breeze; and as ever India Wilson was wherever required, including on a quick if
cobbled-up relay squad. In
the 1500 Caitlin Regan and Georgia Yearby,
out for the first time this year, battled both wind and strong opponents.
The eight Under-13 Girls also had some tough opposition, and being
mostly pretty small the wind was again a factor, but again there was no lack of
effort and a good degree of success.
Alyssia Carr had an A-string and two B-string wins,
combining in the sprints with Lana
Morgan, who had a good day
for times. (The 150, incidentally, wasn’t as fast as shown; starter Mick Hewitt
just happened to have one round in his gun which didn’t ‘flash.’) Millie Parkinson contributed to a
maximum in the High Jump, while both Melissa Fletcher
and Nicola Sawyer mixed track and field events, and were
rewarded for battling with the wind on the track with PBs in the field. (As
Nicola’s 1200 was a debut she got one there as well!) Their track partners had tough races; Gemma Kier boldly took on a girl considerably bigger and
stronger than herself, while Grace
Coburn once again whittled
her PB down. Last, but with seven
points out of a possible eight from her pair of events by no means least, Amena Abdelaziz filled in two B events well.
So where does that
leave the team? Just take a look at
the table – and then bear in mind that at Wigan on July 20th it’s a
straight head-to-head (with some ‘interference’ from Wirral and Wigan) with
29th June –
National Junior League, Northern Premier Division, Grangemouth
IN THE SHADOW OF THE
MULTI-EVENTS
Every year for ages
the fourth Young Athletes’ League meeting has seen the team lose several
members to the clash (which can’t be avoided somewhere) with the Regional
Schools’ Combined Events; This year, however, the Schools moved on a week due
to the leap year, so it was the Junior League team which caught for it. It’s one of the disadvantages of having
a lot of multi-talented people; they can’t be everywhere, and they have to have
the opportunity of exercising their versatility. Allowing for that, and the long weekend
trip to
There were big gaps in
the Women’s team, not made any easier by Sophie Waterhouse
not being able to run due to injury (though she was there, and ‘did a
bit’). In addition the opposition
in the Division is formidable, which is particularly hard on the likes of Jessica Best, who fills in a lot, and Jessica Cooper and Lucy Turner, who
are both racing better but were simply outclassed in an A race. It wasn’t surprising that there were
only five wins - nor that Hannah
Evenden was responsible for
three of them, including a Shot maximum with Carrie Simpson
and two close calls on PBs with the others. The other came from Kadena Cox, who was responsible with Rachael Speight and Danni Carr for
some fast sprinting, even though a fair bit of it had over-limit wind
assistance – you’ve still got to run it to get the times, wind or no wind. Once again Liz Best and Jess Dobson –
both of whom picked up a season’s best during the afternoon – contributed well,
while the Evenden Stack of Points gained a further contribution
– notably in the Hammer – from Stacey.
The Lads also had gaps
which the multi-eventers would have filled – notably leaving Tom Lindsay on his own in several events. As he has done all year, he managed good
efforts in all and a PB in one – the 400m Hurdles. There was also – after a wind-assisted
100m PB – the re-emergence (for one day only, if Ray has anything to say about
it!) of Umar Hameed the thrower and A PB Shot probably made it
feel worthwhile. Throws
contributions fro Stuart Smith and Karl Evenden
helped rack up points, as did a double contribution ‘on the flat’ from James Wilkinson (it’s all good for the main event) and a
sterling effort from James
Lavin which included a
relay leg. Tom Roberts equalled his best 400 of the season, only to
be upstaged by Sam Lowry knocking over half a second off his PB in the
B event. Tom Casey sprinted better than last time out and put in
a good Hurdles, Tom Wagner went well in his speciality, and Alex Davy sliced ten seconds off his season’s best
3000. Another Club tradition was
maintained by slinging Eddie
Mason in at the deep end
for his first Steeplechase, after an earlier 800; judging by his practice
attempts the week before he was in the great Dell/Cheseldine tradition of Leeds City ‘chasers, but judging
by his time it could be worth a second go at least.
ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS
OF RECENT EVENTS
It’s obviously not just the able-bodied
athletes who suffer from the wild winds.
Paul Moseley reports that when “two of our wheelchair racers, Nick Smith
and Matty Hickling, competed on Saturday the 14th at the third CP Grand Prix
in Nottingham, times were always going to be difficult to achieve with a
varying wind. However, there were
two very impressive PB's in the 400m. Matty pushed round in 1:23.60, smashing
his PB by 5 secs, whilst Nick came home in 1:53.70, beating his PB by 1.2 secs.
In the 200m, Matty pushed close to his PB even though the wind gauge was
reading -2.8, but unfortunately for Nick, who was in the next race, it moved to
-4.1! making it very difficult for him to even finish.”
Elsewhere among the
Club’s ‘special’ members, Paul reports that at the Mencap National Athletics Championships on the 28th, Nathan Wells had
an excellent day, taking Gold medals in the 100m and Long ump and Silver over
200m. He didn’t have the times, but
it’s the result that counts; congratulations to Nathan, whose contribution to
Club teams are well-known.
The mainstream was
also well represented on the same day in the BMC Grand Prix
at Solihull, where something happened that The Scribe can’t recall since the
‘great days’ of the 1970s (and he’s not even sure it ever happened then) – five
Club members going under 15 minutes for 5000m on one day. In the first of at least two races Simon Deakin (who in the word of Lunchtime O’Surf “seems to
be working up to the AAAs”) ran 14.06.55, his second-best recorded time, while James Walsh went one better and cracked his PB with
14.09.26 (there won’t be many quicker blokes going up German mountains!) Dave Webb is
still not back to his best, but improved on his Northern effort with 14.32.07. The second race saw Adam Grice turn in 14.25.02 (a season’s best) and Martin Gostling produce 14.44.32. In an earlier 800 Mike Salter clocked up 1.56.32.
Two of our more Senior
members were selected for a Veterans’
International Match against
Sunday saw a couple of
good performances on tarmac, though Darran Bilton
wasn’t able to lower his record in the Humber Bridge Half-Marathon (he set it in better weather conditions last year). He was in fact over a minute
slower with 68.31, but he reports that “this year,
a frenetic start that included runners from
A name not seen around since London is that of Trevor Clough; but the lad came out of enforced inactivity with “a dodgy which took a while to correct” to take part in the Rainton 10k on Sunday. He reports that he “came 12th overall and 1st Over-50 in 37.36, so I was happy with that given I nearly missed the start due to traffic on the A1 and I hadn't raced for a while. John Mace also ran, finishing in 44.22 (99th).”
OOPS DEPARTMENT!
The Scribe got a right
royal roasting in certain quarters for the omissions he made from his report on
the