Welcome to St Helens Sutton Athletic Club

October Results 2004 

Kendal Duathlon 31 October

Karl Allender finished 37th male in this event which consists of a run, a bike ride and another run. Karl recorded 14.20, 32,42 and 16.51 for each stage for a total of 63.53.

Karimoor Mountain Challenge : Brecon Beacons : 30/31 October:

Barry Graney and Ray Vose continued their record of failing to finish the second day of this event after another journey round the Brecon Beacons. The omens weren't good the previous Wednesday when the pair managed to lose their way while training round Rainhill but, as with second marriages, hope triumphed over experience with Ray determined to match sister Lyn's record of completing the course. Sorry Ray, Lyn's still number one in the Vose family mountaineering stakes! On the other hand there are several universities which provide studies in map reading. Back to training at Sherdley Park - that's the one at the bottom of Elton Head Road!!!!!

Reebok Cross Challenge : Birmingham: 30 October.

Dave Forrester continued his Reebok series by finishing sixth in a close finish in Birmingham but adding a couple of notable scalps to his collection, including the ESAA champion and Nathan Bibby who dropped out. Dave now has a healthy lead in the competition having completed two of his required races.

James Farghar : Mid-Lancs League:

James is returning to fitness by representing his second claim club, Eden Runners, in the Mid Lancs League, finishing ninth in the first fixture at Blackburn and fifth in the second match at Burnley.

North West Women's & Manchester Men's League: Heaton Park, Manchester: 30 October.

There was an excellent turn out at the above matches. Nine senior ladies competed, Gill Bacon (4 : 27.07), debutant Sarah Charnock (21: 30.39), Julia Eccleston (26: 31.27) and Louise Casey (49: 33.49) making the count with 100 pts. Cecilia Fitzsimons (56: 34.42), Chris Dempsey(57: 34.59) Pam Appleton (61: 35.20), Janet Holmes (73: 36.59) and Pauline Picton (83: 40.01) provided backup. The senior ladies' team now lie third overall and the veterans quartet sixth.

Jourdan Cotter (8 : 19.29) was first back in the under 15's, supported by Chloe Wilson (17: 20.19), Sara McLoughlin (27: 21.24) and Kim Bridge (37: 23.29) for 79 pts. Lucy Cannon decided to compete on the day and finished two places after Kim in 24.49. The team finished fourth.

In the under 13's Joanne Sturgeon took fifth place (14.18) with excellent team packing from Laura Crook (23: 16.49), Heather Drillingcourt (24: 16.57) and Nicola Gravener (26: 17.08) to score 78 pts. Debutant Lauren Bradshaw (29: 17.16), Katie Jolly (31: 17.34), Carmella Finnigan (32: 17.34) and Jessica Thompson (34: 20.43) provided our best turn out with Amber Thompson also starting the race. The team finished fourth.

In the under 13 Boys' race Jake Healey was fifth and Joe Jameson fifteenth while John Appleton took thirteenth spot in the under 17 race and Tom Rigby exited early to concentrate on more training.

Team manager was Phil Thomas, coaches in attendance John Irwin & Danny McLoughlin with tremendous parental and family support in all age groups. The next match is at Macclesfield - 20 November when it is anticipated even more athletes will be competing. Results.

Liverpool & District League: Stadt Moors 30 October

The League season swung into action with a low key opening at Stadt Moors. Only 100 finishers completed the course and the future of the League is again under scrutiny. Marc Laithwaite(37.23 -7th) & Tony Smith (37.37 -9th) spearheaded a below strength men's team with Greg Williams(39.49 -20th), Ian Hayburn (40.37 -27th) and Dennis Wharton (42.47 -35th) making up the count. The team finished fourth with 179 points beating Liverpool Running Club by 90 pts and SouthportWaterloo who competed in the Mid-Lancs League instead. The first three were Liverpool, Wirral and LPS although we can beat all three with a full turn out in the championships. Results.

Sports Hall: Crewe 24 October

Provisional results from Crewe indicate the under 11 Boys won their competition as did the under 13 squad of Adam and Lee Taft, John Ashcroft and Andrew Armson. The under 11 quintet on this occasion were Drew Atherton, Luke James, Patrick McCormick, Elliott Barron and Andrew Hutchinson. Thaddeus Amin-Somuah continued his varied winter by competing in Sports Hall helping the under 15's into second place with Mike Ehlen and Anthony Marsh. The under 11 quartet of Louise Hayes, Emily Dickinson, Lauren Boyle and Lucy Waterworth were fifth, the same as the under 13 trio of Josie Barrow, Laura Crook and Katie Waterworth.  The under 15 quartet of Helen Grady, Rebecca Keegan, Hannah Green and Rachael Hutchinson were third. Results

National Road Relays : Sutton Coldfield 23 October

The ladies team contested the National title for the second year in succession improving seven places & three minutes 25 seconds over 2003. On lap one Gill Bacon finished 35th (our highest placing in the event to date) in 15.47 and while Julia Eccleston couldn't maintain the placing, her time of 18.11 was 2mins 13 secs faster than last year in 52nd position. On stage three Cecilia Fitzsimons recorded 20.08 to come home in 60th place, briefly putting us ahead of Wirral A C who were third after lap one. Chris Dickinson held 60th on the final circuit with a time of 21.18 although Wirral A C just managed to finish ahead of us on the run in. With a similar improvement in individual stage performances in 2005 the club will make the top 40. Aim high, it's the way to succeed.

Results :-  Women   ( courtesy of www.race-results.co.uk )

Chester Zoo 10K & Great Cumbrian Half Marathon : 17 October

John Appleton led a small band of club runners in the Chester Zoo 10k finishing 80th in 39.17. Janet Holmes 50.15 (554), Lisa Bluett 52.26 (672), Pauline Picton 54.46 (778) and Dorothy Fairhurst 55.57 (835) also completed the race which had 1194 finishers. Ritchie Bradshaw ran 1.48.15 in the Great Cumbrian Run, John and Geoff Hamon recorded 1.49.09 while Cecilia Fitzsimons was seventh over 50 in 1.49.25. Until consistency with the use of microchip procedures is established we've taken the gun time as the more accurate.

St Helens-Sutton Races for Secondary Schools : Sherdley Park : 16 October.

Sherdley Park was bathed in sunshine as the club staged secondary school races for the first time in many years. Over fifty runners from eight local schools took part and each of the race winners was a club member. Joanne  Sturgeon (Rainford) and John Ashcroft (De La Salle) were year seven winners, the year eight victors were Stephanie Marsh (St Aelreds) and Jake Healey (Sutton High) while Kim Bridge (Cowley) and John Dumbell (Rainhill) won the combined years nine and ten races. A third of all finishers were club members and there are potentially winning teams at a number of several schools once local teachers become involved.

The team awards were named in honour of people who had contributed to the history of Sutton Harriers since its foundation. They were national and international cross country champion C J Straw, national and international medalist Sam Welding, founding member James Morris, whose great grand-daughter competed today, the Maleedy trophy, life member Trevor Prescott and Sutton itself. Rainford won two trophies, Rainhill one, Sutton two and one was shared between Broadway and Sutton.

The aggregate trophy was named in honour of club President Bill McMinnis to whom we all wish a speedy recovery from his recent eye-surgery. Fittingly the first winners were Sutton High.

John Irwin, Janet Holmes, Julia Hayes and Joe Ehlen set out the course. Janet then joined Mrs Cretu, John and Pam Appleton, Sue Lowrie, Steve Eccleston and Danny McLoughlin in marshalling. The hares were Marc Laithwaite, John Appleton and Dave Forrester. Dave Morley was referee while Joe Ehlen and Julia Eccleston were in charge of disc distribution. The results team of Julia Hayes and Sue Clague ensured the presentation was made within five minutes of the last runner completing the course. Who needs chips? Results:

Liverpool Half Marathon and 10k: 10 October

A dozen or so members took part in this over-priced event some of whom are not listed in the inaccurate results which appeared on Run Liverpool website. Barry Graney recorded 84.34 (41) in the half marathon, just ahead of Gill Bacon (45) who was credited with 83.04!!! It is clear that Gill was fourth female overall. Gill's time beat her own previous club record by 26 seconds.  Ian Pass was 56 seconds under the 100 minute mark(400), Ritchie Bradshaw recorded 106.29(898) & Rosie O'Hagan 1.55.57, having just returned from France the day before. We understand from Claire Newing that she had a chip time of 1.56.13 and an official time of 2.02.40 for the Half Marathon. The procedures for recording the gun and chip times were so chaotic that we're taking gun times.

John Appleton completed the 10k in 40.05 (57), followed by Louise Casey 47.00(324), Cecilia Fitzsimons 47.50 (440), Pam Appleton 50.15(529), Janet Holmes 51.40(604), Lisa Bluett 53.05( 760) and John Irwin 53.39 (708). How accurate the times and positions are remains to be seen but the organisers have assured us that they will be corrected. That hasn't happened but we have learned  that Pam Appleton was second over 50, Cecilia Fitzsimons second over 55 and John Appleton third over 50. Congratulations to all three. Team results indicate the club finished third on chip times, although that would have been second had the gun times been taken. That's shields for Louise, Cecilia and Pam.

Reebok Cross Country Series: Falkirk: 9 October.

Dave Forrester had an excellent debut in the Reebok cross challenge series, finishing second in a sprint finish with Nathan Bibby and pushing the Preston lad to the Athlete of the Day award at Falkirk.  According to the Press Association report, "Those still in the leading group right up to the final hill were David Forrester (St Helens Sutton AC) Curtis Pearce (Blackburn Harriers), Graham Scobie (George Heriots), Andrew Doherty (North Belfast Harriers) Nathan Bibby (Preston Harriers), Shaun Collins (Enfield and Harringey) & Christian Booker (Halesowen). Pushing hard up the hill and along the flat of the final 1000meters David, Nathan and Andrew, managed to gain a small lead on the rest of the field. Turning into the final 150m straight Nathan and David stretched away and raced stride for stride to the line, Nathan eventually taking the winners' spot by just one second." Dave plans to do another three in the series with the final one being the Inter-Counties at Nottingham in February. Congratulations on a fine performance.

Northern Young Athletes Road Relays: Stockport ; 3 October:

The club's young athletes made an impact at the Northern Young Athletes road relays, Dave Forrester recording joint fastest time in the under 15 boys' race, Jake Healey recording the fastest time by a county runner in the under 13 event and Joanne Sturgeon coming home as the second fastest county runner.

The under 13 girls were eighteenth, Joanne Sturgeon finishing eleventh (11.25) on the first lap, Laura Crook recording 12.36(18) and Heather Drillingcourt holding her position with 13 mins. For the B team Katie Jolly had her fastest run to date with 13.00 (35) with Nicola Gravener finishing 37th (14.18)

Kim Bridge (13.05) led the under 15 girls back in 43rd place, Lorna Forrester picked up three places with 13.51 and Sara McLoughlin returned to competition in 12.50 (35)

Jake Heeley (10.52) was sixth for the under 13 lads, Joe Jameson finished eleventh (12.04) and John Ashcroft brought the trio home in 13th place with 33.15. John Jameson (11.57) was 20th after the first lap.

Dave Forrester (9.06) led the under 15 boys' first lap and recorded equal fastest time while our weakened team finished 13th, after Ben Clough (12.04) and late sub. John Seddon (12.16) showed good form.

John Appleton was in 20th place (11.22) after the first circuit of the under 17 race but decided not to do all three legs on this occasion. Results.

Road Races:

Julia Eccleston competed in Larry's 5 miler at Southport, on Sunday 3 October covering the course in 34.31. At Mold John Appleton finished the Flintshire 10k in 39.24 (41st), Pam Appleton in 50.10(199th)       and Louise Casey in 53rd place (53.35). It is understood Dennis Wharton, Cecilia Fitzsimons, Richard Bradshaw and Dorothy Fairhurst ran in the Great North Run but no results are available to date.