Welcome to St Helens Sutton Athletic Club

November Results 2004 

Salford Women's 5 mile:28 November

Nine ladies tackled this popular 5.1 mile course, including newcomer Elaine Ahearne. Julia Eccleston was first back in twentieth place, with Chris Dempsey (57), Chris Dickinson (80) and Janet Holmes (97) making the count for the team which finished ninth. Pauline Picton (109) had a great run, Dorothy Fairhurst (127) was third over 60    Jean Dearing (137), Karen Wright (179) and Elaine Ahearne (183) completed the field of 254 finishers.

The placings, however, don't tell the whole story. Julia was almost four minutes quicker than last year, Chris was one minute up on 2002, Karen Wright was six minutes faster than two years ago, Dorothy, despite being disappointed at finishing third was quicker than last year and Jean Dearing improved by two and a half minutes. Janet Holmes last ran this event in 2001 and was five seconds short of a two minute improvement while Pauline Picton produced a superb sprint finish. Chris Dickinson and Elaine Ahearne now have marks to beat in 2005. The City of Salford

College Capers: Leeds University Relays 27 November.

Two of our finest intellectuals, Steve Mayers and Cath Lambert, were in action at the Leeds Unversity relays. Steve, representing Liverpool, was thirteen on lap 1 while Cath, running on home soil,  was 23rd on the opening lap for the ladies. Also in Leeds, Dennis Wharton turned up the next day to compete in the Leeds Abbey Dash finishing 147th (7th 0/45) in 37.05.6.

Northern Indoor Meeting : Sheffield: 27 November:

A trio of club members competed in the first indoor meeting at Sheffield and produce two new club records. Craig Knight recorded 7.38 and 7.40 in the 60 metres, the latter the fastest ever produced indoors by a St Helens-Sutton runner and a new club junior record.   Thaddeus Amin-Somuah set a new under 17 200 metres record recording 25.0 in the heat and 24.4 in the final. Steve Moran also showed good form recording 7.79 and 7.8 in his two races.

Miscellaneous Results: 20/21 November

John Dumbell and Chloe Wilson were both in action competing in the Air Cadets championships. John, who was third in the Merseyside Schools' the previous day, won his race while Chloe was second in hers. Both have been selected to represent the Air Cadets at the next championship level. Andy O'Connor competed in the Gill Pimblott 5k at Tyldsley on Saturday, in a time of 18.14 which earned him fifteenth place overall and third over 40 veteran. Sarah Charnock had an easy 75.46 in the Preston 10, using the run as a warm down exercise after her exertions at Macclesfield. Don't worry Sarah it won't improve your start at the Christmas Handicap!!

In the Regional Sports Hall final at Wigan on Sunday the St Helens under 11 Boys team won and the under 11 Girls' team finished third. Had there been a combined award St Helens would have won it easily. Many congratulations both to the club and non-club members who made up the team and to team managers Joe Ehlen and Rose Hutchinson for all their hard work. That hard work has been noted elsewhere. Ron Scott, writing on the Southport Waterloo website commented," St Helens, Liverpool and Wirral did very well in this competition and are all, St Helens in particular, to be congratulated on their achievement." Thanks Ron and thanks, too, to Layla Tapley for acting as assistant team manager on the day. Results

Reebok Cross Challenge: Round 3 : London 20 November

Dave Forrester finished sixth in another close encounter with his national opponents and can rely on local knowledge when the next round takes place at Sefton Park on the first Saturday in December. David now has a 19 point lead after three matches and only needs to take part in one more race to complete his scoring for the season.

North West Women's League and Manchester Men's League : Macclesfield: 20 November

With snow on the ground and mud underfoot Macclesfield provided a good test for athletes on a day when the weather was warmer than it looked (well dressed in a top coat, pullover, long johns and wearing a bob hat it was). The under 13 girls team of Joanne Sturgeon (7), Heather Drillingcourt (20), Laura Crook (21), Katie Jolly (22) and Nicola Gravener (26) finished in fourth place and lie third overall.

Chloe Wilson earned a top twenty place in the under 15 while the senior quartet battled womanfully against the slutch to ensure we kept in the team competition thanks to Julia Eccleston (26), Sarah Charnock (29), Cecilia Fitzsimons (44) and Chris Dempsey (60). Sue Clague resisted all efforts to get her to turn out and while Pam Appleton may not recover from her appendix operation (and we all wish her well) in time for January's final fixture at Wythenshaw, hopefully the return of Louise Casey and Gill Bacon will give the club the extra place it needs to get in the medals.

The boys well against Mancunian opposition. Jake Healey was third in the under 13's with Joe Jameson (16) and John Ashcroft (20) also running well. Ben Clough took fifth place in the under 15's with Mike Burke making a very welcome return in 11th position and Steve Clague running better than ever in 17th spot. James Farghar got up at 5 a.m., travelled two and a half hours from Penrith to Macclesfield and was rewarded with a fine third place in the under 17 race before making the return journey in borrowed socks and shoes. Tom Rigby battled round in 18th place, a big improvement on his DNF at Heaton Park.

Ian White, Denis Wharton and John Irwin threatened to run in the senior men's race, Ian pulling out with an injured calf just before the start. John beat three of the field in 153rd place and received a wave from Denis who was on his way home at the time. Denis finished 66th after 9500 metres of what he meant to describe as " an exciting experience". The rest of the results will be published when known. Many thanks to all the parents who provided support and transport. Results

Sports Hall League: Widnes: 14 November

The under 11 Boys maintained their position at the head of the League with another comprehensive victory over arch-rivals Warrington, scoring maximum points in all events other than the speed bounce where the Victoria Park team beat them by half a point. The nine strong squad of Patrick McCormack, Elliott Borron, Drew Atherton, Luke James, Dylan Riley, Tom Green, James Evans, Ryan Marsh and Dominic Garner scored nine first and three second places in their victory.

There were ten under 11 girls whose joint efforts took the club into second place with victories in the chest push and vertical jumps. The full team was Louise Hayes, Emily Dickinson, Natasha Le Surf, Lauren Atherton, Sadie Healey, Ashleigh Backhouse, Lauren Sanders, Nicola Hamon, Rose Hindley and Lucy Waterworth.

The under 13 Boys squad of Paul Nicolas, Adam and Lee Taft, Daniel Hughes and Andrew Armson finished second to Macclesfield scoring three wins. The under 13 Girls team consisted of Laura Crook, Jenny Hamon, Heather Drillingcourt, Lauren Bradshaw and Katie Waterworth who notched up four victories in clinching second place.

The quartet of Rachael Hutchinson, Rebecca Keegan, Hannah Green and Helen Grady grabbed third place in the under 15 contest while the boys' trio of Mike Ehlen, Thaddeus Anim-Somuah and Anthony Marsh were equal second.

The club is now within striking distance of several places in the Regional finals if they score well in the last fixture which is scheduled for 23 January 2005. The venue for this match has yet to be confirmed. Results.

Liverpool & District Race: Beacon Park, Skelmersdale. 13November.

It's doubtful whether the runners appreciated the panoramic view from Beacon Park to Blackpool in the north and the Welsh hills in the south but the hill proved a super vantage point from which to watch an excellent race over a tough course. By finishing fourth the club restored some pride and ensured that, provided they can get a team out in the final match, they will hold their place in division one in 2005.

Steve Mayers (9th) ran a cracker finishing in the top ten, two places ahead of Barry Graney (11th) who was similarly on top form. Greg Williams recovered from a mid-race crisis to grab fifteenth place while Ian White came home 30th, closely followed by Denis Wharton (40) and Ray Vose (44).

Gill Bacon was the first lady to finish the race and had there been a three to count team event Sarah Charnock and Julia Eccleston would have won it. Karl Allender finished just behind Gill with Tony Raffle four places behind Julia Eccleston in what many thought was his best race for some time.

Dave Forrester ran with the referee's permission and would have taken 20th spot had he been allowed to count. Captain Ian Hayburn, unable to run with a chest infection, was on hand to deal with the team manager's duties. Marc Laithwaite produced entertainment from the side of the hill in the form of a cow bell. Phil Thomas minded the keys and various others provided physical support. Results:

Derwentwater 10 : Keswick. & Langley 7 Macclesfield : 7 November

New member Sarah Charnock felt the benefit of recent track training sessions equalling her personal best of  69.00 minutes precisely on this tough course, finishing eighth female and 126th overall. Meanwhile, Denis Wharton was 32nd in the Langley 7, recording 44.33 and finishing eighth over 45.