Young Athletes League: Pendle : 27
June
Initial reports indicate that the club finished second behind
Deeside at Pendle but ahead of Hyndburn and
Burnley thus consolidating our position in the
division. The provisional scores are Deeside
384, St Helens-Sutton 284; Hyndburn 265; Burnley 81.
Full details will be provide as soon as possible but special
mention should be made of Helen Grady who broke her nose in the
high jump but still did the long jump and 800 metres.
Results
Northern Knock Out Plate Competition : 26
June
Having narrowly missed qualifying for last year's final the club
made no mistake this season by winning this year's qualifier at
Stretford with 46 points to spare ahead of Leigh with
Wirral third.
Michelle Murray started with a win in the shot putt and the
team, despite being without the unwell Lucy Mitchell, the
unavailable Peter Code, Nicola Quinn, who was
taking a rounders' coaching course and others who were working, built
on Michelle's solid foundations. Michelle added victory in the 200
metres, Sarah Lewis won the 100, Laura Davenport took
the 800 with a new club outdoor record and Julia Eccleston
pulled off a 1500/3000 double, with a personal best in the
latter..
Anna Sheffield won the hammer, Natalie Mullineux
weighed in with wins in the javelin and discus while both relay teams
were victorious. Caroline Morley took the 400 metres
hurdles, was second in the high jump, Anna taking second in the long
jump having stepped in as a last minute substitute..
The men's squad were as equally productive Craig Knight
& Steve Moran taking the 100 and 200 and contributing to a
fine 4 x 100 metres win. Dave Twigg won the 800 and 1500 before
storming home in the 4 x 400 metres as St Helens-Sutton A C
made a clean sweep of the relays.
Jake Davidson dominated the long and triple jumps. Phil
Robinson was in fine form, producing an unbelievable javelin
throw, unusual final hurdle in the sprint event, tackling the discus
and taking on Wirral's best in the high jump. Ray Vose played a
captain's part, arriving just in time to throw the hammer, putting the
shot and stepping in for the 5000 metres.
Greg Williams followed his steeplechase with a superb 400
metres while the club had the luxury of a counting and non-counting
competitor in the 10000 metres, Ian Hayburn scoring the
points and Ian White declaring his fitness for next week's
League match by running 36.52.8, finishing 12.5 seconds behind the
other Ian..
Phil Thomas acted as team manager, Dave Morley served
as track judge, Ray Vose helped out with the timekeeping
while George Mullineux and Jim Sheffield provided our field
judges. There was parental support from Hazel Morley, Jim & Sue
Sheffield, Mr Moran and Paul Davenport, who also did a stint as
marksman. Tony Raffle also turned up to cheer the team on.
Sue Lowrie was on hand to do the 400 metres but was pulled
out to save her for next week while Sarah Lewis volunteered to
substitute in the relay. The Eccleston family were present in
force, Steve posing the philosophical question of whether
agreeing to do an event while having one's arm twisted constituted
"volunteering." The matter is going forward to the United Nations for
further debate!!
Final scores were St Helens-Sutton A C 116; Leigh 70; Wirral A C
42, while Rossendale, Stockport and SouthportWaterloo failed to
score. A magnificent score for the club and a credit to all those who
took part.
Results
Trafford Grand Prix. 22
June.
Vicky Johnson set a new under 15 Girls hammer record of
33.95 in addition to throwing the discus 27.90 and
putting the shot 9.70.
Marathon Madness:
The club had three runners competing in marathons over the weekend.
Alan Davies (junior and Senior) ran round the Potteries
Marathon in Stoke. Davies the younger recorded 42 seconds over the
four hour mark in 220nd place and Davies senior, who is now over 60,
timed through at 6.34.00 as 456th to finish. At Blackpool 18 year old
Stephen Roberston, running for charity, recorded 4.35.11 in
436th position after being on target for a much faster time at 18
miles. Of course the marathon doesn't really start until 20 miles. The
medal was nice and Steve was walking on Monday morning. Mot very fast
but he was walking. Well done to everyone on their various
achievements.
National Junior League:Ormskirk:20
June.
On a day which threatened rain and ended in sunshine the club
produced a splendid team performance, the men finishing fifth and the
women taking fourth. It was a day for volunteers, Anna
Sheffield volunteering to give up a few hours of study time to
compete in the throws and setting a new junior record in the shot.
Layla Tapley and Nicola Quinn volunteered to run the 200
metres when Emma McCatchley injured herself winning the pole
vault. The pair joined Sarah Lewis and Taja Rundle to win their
heat of the 4x100 in a club record time.
Taja added the discus to her javelin, Sarah set a
personal best in the discus & Lucy Mitchell took on the
burden of the javelin A string before shooting off for another shift
at work.
Ben Fisher threw the javelin over 58 metres for the second
day in succession, set a club record in the discus then,
together with Jake Davidson, Steve Moran and Richard Atherton,
set a club best 46.4 in the 4x100 relay. Jake added
the shot putt to his repertoire with a junior record 9.06,
skilfully coaching John Appleton to second place with a
personal best in the B event.
Tom Rigby ran superbly well in the 1500 and 3000 before
running gallantly on the third leg of the relay while Richard
Atherton equalled his own 100 and 200 metres records supported by
Steve Moran who took second place over the furlong.
John Irwin, Dave Morley, Joe Ehlen and Jim Sheffield were
our officials ably assisted by Kirsty Lewis who provided first
class administrative support trackside to make the meeting flow
smoothly.
Also in attendance were Mr & Mrs McClatchey, Mrs Lewis, Mike
Ehlen, Mr & Mrs Fisher, Mr Atherton, Mr & Mrs Moran,John
Appleton's uncle and Mrs Sheffield. Phil Thomas
acted as team manager.
The team spirit was excellent and the results saw the men defeat
Warrington, Wigan, Wirral and Bolton with the women
getting the better of Wirral, North Wales, Cheshire Tigers and
Warrington, mark a significant step forward for the club in its
first season in the League. Congratulations to everyone. Results to
follow when Barry Graney returns from holiday. A copy is
available by e-mail for anyone who wants them.
Mason Trophy Meeting: Birmingham 19
June
Vicky Johnson set a new under 15 girls' discus record with a
throw of 28.66 and putt the shot 9.90 for second place.
Vicky has now qualified for the English Schools' in both events.
Caroline Morley reduced the club 300 metres hurdles record she
recently set at Wigan by 0.05 of a second to also qualify while
Jourdan Cotter equalled the 1500 metres mark she set a week ago
at Bebington.
Mike Ehlen tripled jumped a personal best 10.44. Jake
Davidson recorded 12.54 in the inter
triple jump while sprinters Thaddeus
Amin-Somuah (12.8 & 25.4) and Sarah Lewis (13.6) both
benefited from the experience. Dave Twigg (4.14.8)
& Dave Forrester (4.27) narrowly missed qualifying, although
Dave has done the time already and still has a chance of
selection as Greater Manchester's leading junior 1500 metres
runner. Rebecca Keegan was disappointed with her javelin throw
but Joe Ehlen has videoed some of the athletes for teaching
purposes.
Northern Championships: Wavertree,
Liverpool 19 June
Ben Fisher's continued run of good form saw him finish fifth
in the Northern Senior Championships at Wavertree with a throw of
58.64 which constitutes both a senior and junior club record.
Men's next competition is the AAA Under20 Championships at Bedford
next weekend which rules him out of the Cup match at Trafford but he
carries our full support in his bid for a national medal.
Cheshire League :
Connahs Quay : 13 June
The club finished second in all three
competitions according to the early results from
team managers Joe Ehlen and Roseanne
Hutchinson. The men's team scored 175,
just fifteen less than Deeside with Bury
146, Manchester 69, Altrincham 56 and
Handforth 30. Deeside scored
177 in the ladies' competitions, St
Helens-Sutton 124, Bury 89, Altrincham 66,
Manchester 56 and Handforth 20. Bury 102,
St Helens-Sutton 94, Deeside 83, Altrincham 62,
Handforth 36 and Manchester 14 is the
provisional result from the under 11 contest. It
is understood there was a club record in the under
15 boys 4 x 100.
The official results indicate that St
Helens-Sutton A C (97) won the under 11's
ahead of Bury 96, Deeside 82, Alrincham
64, Handforth 36 and Manchester 6. The
official scores in the men's and women's matches
differed from those given originally. However, the
club has asked the Cheshire League secretary to
carry out further scrutiny as we have been able to
identify over half a dozen errors in both the
event and match points.
Results
Wigan Open Meeting 13
June
Laura Davenport made her return to
competitive running by winning the 800 metres at
Robin Park recording 2.21.6. Ben Fisher
threw 55.98 in the javelin while Vicky
Johnson won the shot (9.89), discus (26.48)
and was second in the javelin with a personal best
20.86. She also threw the 4Kg hammer 25.68.
Merseyside Schools
Championships : Bebington: 12
June
Ben Fisher and Jourdan Cotter set
new club records in winning the senior boys'
javelin and junior girls' 1500 metres at
Bebington. Ben's 57.17 has earned a place in the
county team for the ESSA Championships at
Gateshead but Jourdan will travel to
Birmingham next week to achieve the qualifying
time.
Thaddeus Amin-Somuah's 12.0 in the 100
metres and 24.8 over 200 metres, in which he
was second, puts him firmly in line to attack Sean
Harrison's 1996 records for both distances. Richard Atherton
equalled his club best in the 200 metres, which he
won, and was second in the 100 metres
Blustery conditions hampered many events but
did not prevent Emma McCatchley from
winning the pole vault with 2 metres. Sarah
Lewis continued her fine run of form by
winning the 100 metres, Lucy Mitchell is
the senior triple jump champion and Vicky
Johnson took both the junior shot and discus
titles. Caroline Morley may have to
cancel her attendance at her school's leavers'
dinner to travel to the North East after taking
the 300 metres hurdles title.
Becky Keegan will be travelling to
Birmingham after finishing second in the javelin,
third in the shot and second in the hammer.
Rachael Hutchinson returned after her
recent injury to take third place in the hammer
and reach the final of the 100 metres. The
distances appear short but the hammer was 4Kg
instead of the proper 3.25Kg!!
Mike Ehlen took second place in the
triple jump and sixth in the high jump.
Laura Savage cleared 20 metres in
the discus and Jessica Cretu reached the
final of the 75metres hurdles which she missed as
it clashed with her 200 metres heats in which she
recorded a season's best 27.7. Also in the junior
girls Kim Bridge recorded 2.49.6 in the
final of the 800 metres.
Tom Rigby was eighth in the final of the
800 metres while Michael
Atkinson took second places in the
shot putt and long jump in the year seven
competition. Jason White had his first
experience of schools' competition over the 200
metres. High jumper Steve Knowles did not
realise he had been entered in the wrong age group
but still managed to finish third with a personal
best 1.70.
At the Greater Manchester Championships Dave
Forrester missed the ESSA entry standard by an
agonising one-tenth of a second, recording 4.22.1
in winning the 1500 metres.
Dave Twigg won the Cheshire Schools 1500
metres at Macclesfield in just over 4.20 while
Jake Davidson was second in the triple jump
with 12.54. Both will be competing at Birmingham
next Saturday.
Results
Grand Prix Meeting:
Trafford : 8 June
Vicky Johnson set new under 15 records
for the hammer (32.16) & discus (27.39) at the
Stretford Grand Prix Meeting. Vicky also set a
personal best in the javelin and won the shot putt
with 20.82 and 9.94 respectively.
Young Athletes
League:Blackburn : 6 June
Initial reports indicate we
finished second behind the host club thanks to a
fine effort from all athletes who turned up with
magnificent parental support. The YAL website
gives the score as Blackburn 340, St
Helens-Sutton 319, Oswestry 263, Leigh
248. As a result we have five points and lie
handily just behind the divisional leaders. The
result was tinged with sadness when it was
learned that Denis Fulton, who acted as
timekeeper for the club, died the following day
aged 52.
There were two new club
records, Graham Coombs being credited with
5.50 for the under 15 Boys' long jump and the same
age group's 4x 100 relay quartet of Anthony
Marsh, David Forrester, Thaddeus Amin-Somuah
and Graham Coombs, lowered the previous best
by just under a second.
Vicky Johnson was
initially awarded female field event athlete for
her 9.88 shot but rightly pointed out that she had
already won her award for the season. The male
field event athlete went to Mike Atkinson
for his 4.20 in the long jump. Blackburn kindly
gave an additional t-shirt to Caroline
Morley for her 300 metres hurdles
win.
Each age group competed to
its best: Tom Griffiths & John Appleton
taking full points in the 3000 metres
for the under 17s. Philip Webb made a
winning debut in the 400 B race while Tom
Rigby ran even time over the one lap.
Jake Davidson scored a double
victory in both jumps with Ryan Tapley
winning both B strings.
Sarah Lewis produced
a sprint double for the under 17 women,
Caroline Morley was close the the short
hurdles record while Melissa McLoughlin
tackled the 800.
The club scored heavily in
the under 15 Boys' short sprints while Mike
Ehlen and Ben Clough produced a
whitewash in the hammer and discus. Jason
White won the 200 and 400 in tandem with
Thaddeus Amin-Somuah and Dave
Forrester. Graeme Morley took third
place in his favourite event, the
javelin.
Kirsty Lewis took on
the mantle of leading our under 15 girls' 100
metres with Pam Robinson in support.
Jessica Cretu won the 200 metres and
hurdles while Kim Bridge, Chloe Wilson, Sarah
McLoughlin and Lorna Forrester swapped events
this time round. Helen Grady made her debut
as a long jumper, taking second place and Vicky
Johnson combined with Becky Keegan to
provide five wins in the throws events. Sammie
Nicholls cleared a personal best 1.30 in the
high jump and took second place in the
hurdles.
Mike Atkinson and
John Ashcroft had a double victory in the
under 13 Boys' long jump, the Taft brothers
(Adam and Lee) covered the sprints with
Sam Wilson in support, joining with
Mike, Adam and Lee for a relay victory.
John and Joe Jameson ran the
metric mile while Alex Thow also
built on the 800 metres debut he made at
Warrington.
The under 13 Girls were
rarely out of the top two Laura Crook (shot
putt). Zoe Woodward (1200m), Katy
Jolly (long jump) and Carmella Finnigan
(hurdles) amongst the winners. They were ably
supported by Nicola Gravener, who was
second in the 800 and hurdles before contributing
to a narrow win the in the relay.
Dave Morley and
John Irwin were amongst those who took on a
second match in successive days but we
do not have to hand the names of those volunteers
who made sure the club received its full quota of
points for providing the requisite number of
officials. Julia Hayes and Roseanne
Hutchinson acted as team managers.
Many thanks are due to
those parents who travelled in support, especially
those who had only just returned from holiday or
cancelled other arrangements so their offspring
could represent the club in this important match.
Thanks too to all those who provided transport.
The next match takes place at Burnley on
Sunday 27 June when victory would
consolidate our position in the division ready for
an active promotion push.
Results
Northern League:
Bebington : 5 June
A magnificent club
performance by a depleted team saw St
Helens-Sutton AC finish second at Bebington
and move into second place in division three.
There were notable victories for hammer throwers
Anna Sheffield and Julia Hayes and a
triple jump win for Lucy Mitchell. Sarah
Lewis produced a personal best in the 200m,
Natalie Mullineux gave a superb supporting
role in the throws and turned back the clock in
the high jump. Track captain Sue Lowrie
surpassed herself by competing in five
events. Julia Eccleston and Louise Casey
carried the burden of the middle distances
with style and a personal best for Julia in the
800 metres. Nicola Quinn responded to
disappointment in the triple jump by claiming
second place in the javelin and anchoring the
4x400 metres team home.
Ben Fisher put the
opposition in its place in the javelin and Ian
Hayburn took the B string steeplechase, while
Jake Davidson scored maximum points in the
triple jump in support of Richard
Atherton who cut short his holiday to take
part. Sprinting partner, Steve Moran,
defied injury to take the scalp of the
experienced Trevor Painter in the 100m. Phil
Robinson fulfilled his quota of events with a
string of second places while Ray Vose was
also productive on an afternoon which saw him
compete in both relays in addition to running the
800, shot putting and throwing the hammer.
Peter Code continued
his leadership of the pole vault squad by claiming
third place, Sheru Gulati eagerly competed
in every event he was asked to, taking the
plaudits on the final event of the day. Andy
O'Connor overcame the ghosts of Macclesfield
to battle round 5000 in support of Barry
Graney. Greg Williams put recent illness
behind him to finish third in the steeplechase and
run the 4x400 metres.
For the second meeting in
succession the results which were announced were
incorrect but scrutiny by club officials confirmed
St Helens-Sutton were a clear second
and now move ahead of Liverpool into the
second promotion spot.
Thanks to the club's
officials Pam Appleton (Timekeeper),
Dave Morley (Track), John Irwin, Denis
Fulton, George Mullineux and Mr Sheffield
(Field). Team manager, Phil Thomas, got
four things wrong - much to Ms Hayes'
delight but has promised to take a team
management refresher course before the next
match.
Thanks to Tony
Raffle and Barry Cunliffe for being
available if required and to those who came to
support, Frank, Mr & Mrs Fisher, Ben's
girlfriend, Frank Vose, Mr and Mrs Moran,
Natalie's boyfriend, Mr Atherton, Mr & Mrs
Mitchell and Roger . A special thanks to the
athletes for meeting their financial obligations.
Next League match Wavertree 4 July. Phil's
birthday. A win would be a nice
present.
The divisional secretary
has provided the following revised score. 1
Wigan 381.5; 2 St Helens-Sutton 330.5;
3 SouthportWaterloo 297; 4 Wirral A C 258; 5
Liverpool H 252; 6 Macclesfield 231. The
League positions remain the same although the
match points differ
slightly.
