St Helens Sutton Athletic Club June 2005 Results

World Schools' Cup : Faro : Portugal : 27 June

David Forrester won a tactical 1500m event in 4.06 at the above event (Information from Paul Forrester) .

Penny Lane Striders 10k : Aigburth 26 June.

A small number of seniors had a run out in this event led by Ian Hayburn (36.44 : 25th), John Appleton (39.27 : 54th) and David Bradshaw (45.51 : 160th). Pam Appleton (48.28 : 3rd 050), Tony Hargreaves (51.18 34th 050), Tony Roche (52.26: 37th 045). Janet Holmes (54.07 :4th 050) and Julia Eccleston 67.02 running with her mother at the back of the field also completed the course.

National Young Athletes League : Warrington : 25 June

In a match affected by absences, especially, though not exclusively, by those who wanted to watch Wigan Warriors score no points at Knowsley Road, or even Saints score 75 at the same venue, the team finished third behind Warrington and West Cheshire but ahead of Pendle and still hold place in the top half of the table. That means we need a full turn out at the penultimate fixture at the same venue on Sunday July 17th.

Rebecca Keegan (javelin), Andrew McDonagh (400), Josie Barrow (high jump), Mike Ehlen (hammer), Anthony Marsh (discus) and Paul Nicolas (200) set club records of 27.10, 55.5. 1.56, 28.76, 23.20 and 27.7 respectively. Elliott Baron equalled the 75 hurdles record and the 4x400 team of Andrew, Anthony, Mike and Steve Clague knocked 12 seconds off the previous club best. Katie Waterworth made a welcome return to take Athlete of the Match by winning the B 150m in 20.3.

In the under 13's Laura Crook and Danielle Stevenson (shot putt), Nicola Gravener and Heather Leyland (hurdles), Jemma Shaw and Jenny Hamon(800), Joanne Sturgeon and Lauren Bradshaw (1200) took maximum points and were ably supported Ashleigh Backhouse & Natasha Le Surf.

In the under 13 Boys Dylan Riley and John Ashcroft won the high jump, Elliott Baron the hurdles with Paul Nicholas taking the 200. Patrick McCormick flew off to Australia after competing in the long jump and relay while Daniel Hughes was his sterling self in the sprints and shot putt. David T Griffiths contested the 800, Drew Atherton the hurdles while Tom Green and Jamie Webb make their league debuts.

Andrew McDonagh added qualification for the AAA's 400 to the 800 achieved at Trafford, Mike Ehlen won the high jump, Anthony Marsh and Matthew Pilling scored a whitewash in the discus, Steve Clague won the B hammer while Jake Healy and Adam Fackey set personal bests in wining the B string 1500 and 800. David Hill made an impressive debut against good opposition to record 4.36.6 in the 1500m to provide some relief for an under-strength under 15 team.

The under 15 girls were also under strength but Rachael Hutchinson picked up points all afternoon, including a win in the B Shot, Kim Bridge showed potential in the 300, Claire Tansley was excellent in her debut discus and Stephanie Leyland surprised herself by achieving a grade four in the javelin. There was a splendid debut from Holly Keenaghan who teamed up with Hanna Green the 100 and long jump while Sara McLoughlin competed in the 1500.

Vicky Davies (high jump) and Terri Cunningham (100 B) were the sole winners for the depleted under 17 squad but there were solid team contributions from Charlotte Dyer, Mellissa McLoughlin and Helen Grady who competed in two events and still had time to watch the rugby match.

With a team full of sprinters the under 17 men did well to cover the events they did. Alex Keen came within a hair's beadth of two club records on his untrained debut in the throws, Alex Helsby was his usual determined self winning the B string hammer, Dave Griffiths took second in the triple jump, Tom Kingsley "volunteered" to do the javelin, Paul Winstanley and Jason White contested the 200 and we turned out a sub 50 relay team which will get quicker as soon as they practice together.

The unscrutinised scores are Warrington 342.5; West Cheshire 324; St Helens-Sutton 292.5 & Pendle 237.

The club managed to turn out a full set of officials. Chris Dickinson & Dave Morley were track judges, John Irwin and Dave Green timekeepers, while Phil Thomas led the field team of Carl Bibby, Mike Hughes, Roseanne Hutchinson, Adrian Webb and Lyn Webb. Joe Ehlen team managed the Boys and Julia Hayes the girls.

The next match is a double header at Warrington on Sunday 17 July. All athletes are encouraged to train hard for it. (Report by Phil Thomas).

Independent Schools Association National Championships - 22 June, Birmingham

Thaddeus Anim-Somuah and Michael Collins were selected to represent the Northern ISA team at Birmingham. Thaddeus won three medals coming 2nd in the long jump, 1st in the 200m and 2nd in the 4x100m relay. Michael ran in the relay team, along with Thaddeus, that came 2nd.(Report from Thaddeus Anim Somuah).

Miscellaneous Road Running:

Denis Wharton (107) and Martin Howard (367) recorded 1.32.36 and 1.48.53 in the Blackpool Half Marathon on 19 June. The same day Christine Dempsey anchored the De La Sale school team into 16th place in the Knowsley Corporate Challenge in 23.24. Apparently Chris was the fastest for her team - a run inspired by the thought of reaching the Corporate Hospitality tent first!

Grand Prix Meeting : Stretford 21 June

Stan Erlam ducked under 11 minutes for the 3000 (10.59.17), while Andrew McDonagh knocked over eight seconds off his personal best with 2.07.83 over 800m. At the meeting on 24 May, Steve Mayers was timed at 1.57.04.

National Junior League : Connahs Quay : 19 June

Craig Knight, Tom Griffiths and Jake Davidson set new club records but it was the girls who produced the better team result in a closely fought National Junior League Match at Connahs Quay. Craig knocked one tenth of a second of his previous best 100m legal time for a win in 11 secs, Tom reduced Matthew Davenport's 1998 record by 13 seconds in the 3000m and Jake's second placed 6.15m was a new junior best long jump mark.

Steve Knowles equalled his own high jump record, Ben Fisher weighed in with victory in the javelin, Thaddeus Anim Somuah set a personal best 54.2 in the 400m, Alex Helsby also reducing his personal best in the B race. John Appleton was the winner of the B string 3000 and took third place in the A steeplechase. The lads finished fifth, although this would have been fourth had we been able to get out our full quota of officials. Many thanks to Joe Ehlen, George Mullineux and Dave Morley for acting as our field event judges today.

There were victories for Lucy Mitchell and Emma McClatchey in the triple jump, Emma also finishing joint first in the pole vault and Jourdan Cotter won the 1500m. Emma and Jourdan joined Rachael Price and Helen Grady to come within two seconds of beating the club's 4 x 400m record. Vicky Davies' shot putt and high jump continue to prosper and Nicola Quinn was only centimetres short of beating her own hammer record.

Caroline Morley successfully returned to high jumping in addition to winning the 400m hurdles and running an excellent leg of the 4x100. The girls grabbed third spot despite lack of numbers.

A special thank you must go to those who provided transport - Kwashie Anim-Somuah, Joe Ehlen, Lucy Mitchell (who missed work to compete and take people home), Derek McClatchey who took half the girls' team to the venue and was willing to come back for them if we ran short of vehicles. The Helsbys and the Quinns collected their offspring while Maurice Cotter took several athletes on the return journey as did team manager Phil Thomas and George Mullineux was on hand for anyone who might have been left behind. We didn't leave anyone behind did we? Did we? I thought he was with you!!!

Inter-Counties Meeting : Birmingham: 18 June

Four club members took part in this meeting, Thaddeus Anim-Somuah recording 24 secs in the 200, Mike Atkinson throwing the discus 25.82, Becky Keegan taking third place in the shot (9.37), Mike Ehlen finishing fifth 20cms behind Phil Thomas in the triple jump (I kid you not!!!) with 11.67 but taking second spot in the high jump with a new club record of 1.78. Well done to everyone.

Dunham Massey 5k : Altrincham 17 June

Stan Erlam and Julia Eccleston continued their respective races to fitness, Stan finishing second over 60 in 66th place (20.14) and Julia tenth lady (94th in 21.42).

Race For Life: Sherdley Park 15 June

The club marshalled and provided lead runners (Dave Twigg, Greg Williams, Tom Griffiths, John Appleton and Steve Mayers) for this event. The marshals, organised haphazardly by Phil Thomas and brilliantly by Dennis "Is there no end to this man's talent?" Wharton, included Tony Roach, Tony and Chris Hargreaves, Dorothy Fairhurst, Rosie O'Hagan, Jean Dearing and Chris Dempsey while Pam Appleton and Janet Holmes somehow contrived to come away with goody bags at the end!!!!!!

Jemma Shaw was an outstanding second with Jenny Hamon and Catherine Lambert in the first ten in a field of 2300. Michelle Murray took part as did Mrs Jameson (mother of John and Joe), Julie Moran (a former member from more years ago than she would like me to mention). Elaine Ahearne and Amy Shaw were also amongst the finishers as was Sheila Jackson who was seen warming up very enthusiastically beforehand . Sue "I've done seven miles already" O'Hanlon was on hand to applaud all the competitors who were running for Breast Cancer Awareness, through to the finish.

Road and Fell Running: 12 June

Gill Bacon set a club marathon record when she recorded 2.53.46 in finishing sixth at the Edinburgh Marathon. This is over five and a half minutes quicker than her previous best time over the distance. Two of the women ahead of Gill were Russian, not that Gill was talking it easy! James Farghar finished second in the under 17 category of the Helm Hill Fell races in Cumbria, his 14.31 just eight seconds slower than the winner.

Cheshire League : Macclesfield 12 June

Just being there was in itself a success following the impact of the Merseyside Schools the day before. Roseanne Hutchinson and Andy Drillingcourt acted as team managers with great success.

Andy also acted (reasonably convincingly) as an athlete. Our senior men's 200 metres quartet was Steve Knowles (25.3), Andy 31.6, Carl Bibby 30.8 and Mr James (31.8). Watch out senior sprinters Craig Knight, Steve Moran et al your places are under threat!!!

We understand Steve Knowles won the long jump with Andy leaping 4.02 which would earn him fourth reserve for the under 15 Girls' team. Joe Ehlen came to watch and threw the discus 19.63, Carl Bibby making his debut with 14.56.

The under 11 girls saw excellent performances in the 75/600m from Rose Hindley (11.9), Danielle McGifford (12.8/2.28.5), Leanne Bibby(12.5/2.40.1) and Chelsea Jarvis (12.6/2.00.7). All four combined to run the 4x100 in 63.9. There were long jumps by Rose 2.79, Danielle 3.25 and Chelsea 3.12 while Leanne and Rose threw the soft javelin 10.04 and 8.21 respectively. Andrew Hutchinson was our only under 11 boy recording 2.13.03(600) and 1.99(long jump).

Drew Atherton, Luck James, Owen Davidson and James Evans tackled the Under 13 sprints, Daniel Hughes running as a guest. The foursome edged out Salford Met in the 4x100. Drew and Luke won the long jump, Drew and James taking a double first in the discus.

The under 15 girls saw a personal best from Joanne Prescott in the javelin and fourth place in the 200. Joanne was also fourth in the long jump in which Rachael Hutchinson was second in the A string.

For the under 13 Girls Laura Crook and Danielle Stevenson took the shot putt, Joanne Sturgeon and Laura the high jump, Joanne won the 800 while Laura, Natalie and utility girl Emily Dickinson competed in a variety of events. The relay team was a superb fourth.

Mike Ehlen and Lee Taft competed in the high jump and shot, Lee also taking third in the 100. Rachael Hutchinson the long jump and our lady sprinters included debuts from Terri Cunningham and Charlotte Dyer alongside Christine Dickinson and Rachael Price. Terri battled round the 800 for third, Karen Jarvis winning the B string, Karen tackling the 3000 with Chris. Terri and Rachael each took second in the shot before the four sprinters grabbed second place in the 4x400.

Many thanks to our "volunteers" who learned how to get free refreshments, Loz Jarvis, Christine Hughes, Michael Hughes, Sandra McGifford and Paula James. Our latest potential field event judges!!! Their contribution summed up the entire afternoon and giving it a go and enjoying ourselves. That's what the Cheshire League is about.

Men 1 Salford Met 215; 2 St Helens-Sutton 133; 3 Manchester 124; 4 West Cheshire 89; 5 Vale Royal 53.

Women: 1 Salford Met 174; 2 Manchester 164; 3 St Helens-Sutton 146; 4 West Cheshire 103; Vale Royal 33.

Combined: 1 Salford Met 389; 2 Manchester 288; 3 St Helens-Sutton 279; 4 West Cheshire 192; 5 Vale Royal 86.

Under 11's 1 Salford Met 118; 2 St Helens-Sutton 65; 3 Manchester 52; 4 Vale Royal 29; 5 West Cheshire 24.

Merseyside Schools' Championships : Bebington 11 June

There were notable performances from club members at the above championships. Laura Crook won the year 7 150(20.2 in her heat) and shot (8.01). In the same age group Joanne Sturgeon was second in the 800 (2.32.2) and Lauren Bradshaw 8th (2.46).

Paul Nicholas and Daniel Hughes both reached the final of the 100 in 13.9 and 14.4 respectively, finishing sixth and eighth, John Ashcroft took second in the 800 (2.28.3) and Daniel was fourth in the shot putt (7.87).

Josie Barrow's championship debut saw her finish fourth (1.45), Becky Keegan set a new club record with 28.07 in the javelin and was second in the shot (8.68). Rachael Hutchinson was fourth (7.89) and qualified for the 100 final with 13.7 in her heat.

Mike Ehlen qualified for the high jump winning in 1.73 and also won the triple jump with 11.10. while Jake Healy set a personal best 4.47.2(4) in the 1500m. Anthony Marsh jumped 4.77 (4) in the long jump and reached the final of the 200 (26.4). John Dumbell was second in the 3000 in 10.53.9. Mike Atkinson made a welcome return to competition with a winning discus throw of 26.62.

In the seniors a smiling Caroline Morley won the 400H (74.5) and was second in the 100H (17.3) Thaddeus Anim-Somuah having had a hard competition the day before grabbed fourth in the 100 (11.6) and second in the 200 (23.8).

First glance suggests that Rebecca Keegan (javelin), Mike Atkinson (discus), Mike Ehlen (high jump) and Caroline Morley (100H) all set new club records. (Information provided by Joe Ehlen)

Greater Manchester Schools Championships : Stretford 11 June

Dave Forrester renewed his battle with Ross Millington and defeated the Stockport in a time of 4.01. The versatile John Appleton secured a late entry to the senior 1500m and came away with a silver medal in 4.41.(Information provided by Paul Forrester).

Independent Schools Association:Northern Athletics Championships:Robin Park, Wigan10 June

Michael Collins finished 2nd in the 1500 final running just over 5min 20 and Michael came 3rd in the triple jump with 10.70 metres. Thaddeus Anim-Somuah won the long jump with 5.80 metres and the 200 in 23.59. He ran a good 100m and it resulted in personal best of 11.37, coming second by less than 0.1 seconds. Michael Collins and Thaddeus Anim-Somuah both ran in Tower College's winning 4x100m team to top off a sunny day in Wigan. (Report by Thaddeus Anim-Somuah)

Bowden 5k : 8 June

Three intrepid senior ladies took part in this fast race and all came away with personal bests. Sarah Charnock 18.26(65), Julia Eccleston 20.14 (109) and Chris Dempsey 22.37(153). They were ninth, thirteenth and twenty-fourth respectively, Chris taking fourth place in the over 40 category which she intends to leave on 1 August.

National Young Athletes League : Bury 4 June.

Those who survived the trauma of the match at Bury suggested we were either first or second (had it been for points for officials running the match we would have won hands down). Initial impressions were proved right and we won the match ahead of North Cumbria, Bury and Oldham.

Our under 17's did very well despite lack of numbers on this occasion Thaddeus Anim-Somuah getting a Grade 2 (100), Grade 3 (long jump) and Grade 4 (200). Alex Helsby set a personal best in the hammer and David Griffiths produced a grade 3 in the 100 before limping out with a foot injury. Rachael Price discovered she could throw the discus, Mellissa McLoughlin that she could run again while Vicky Davies produced an excellent shot putt in addition to winning the sprints with Rachael.

Liam Houston weighed in with a 9.17 shot putt for the under 15's, Jake Healey and Alec Fackey won the A & B 1500m, Mike Ehlen the high jump, Anthony Marsh and Mike Jukes the long jump, Andy McDonagh made it two wins out of two in the 800 and there were solid contributions from Alex Shaw.

Hannah Carrick was a revelation in the 300m and teamed up with Anna Powell, who also won the 100, for maximum points in the long jump. Stephanie Marsh won the 100, 800 and high jump, the latter in support of Josie Barrow who set a personal best 1.40 and made a winning debut in the hurdles. Becky Keegan (Shot) & Rachael Hutchinson (75m Hurdles) each achieved grade 3 performances. There was a win too for Sara McLoughlin (1500).

Paul Nicholas dominated the under 13 sprints, Daniel Hughes won the shot, Dylan Riley set a new club record in the high jump with John Ashcroft taking the B string and there was a double for Drew Atherton and Luke James in the long jump. Elliott Baron remains our fastest hurdler and David T Griffiths continues to produce fine supporting performances in the 1500 where Alec Harrison was able to compete as a guest. Jim Berry made a winning debut in the 800m.

The under 13 girls produced good performances, Natalie Le Surf learning how to high jump and win the B string in one go. Joanne Sturgeon won the 1200, Jemma Shaw set a personal best to win the 800m and Natalie Bannister returned to hurdling with some success. Danielle Stevenson learned how to shot putt on Thursday and how to win the B string on Sunday! Emily Dickinson was drafted in at the last minute to run two laps and finished second. Lauren Atherton took the long jump.

The provisional scores give us a 16 points winning margin over Team Cumbria but an initial examination suggests we may have a greater margin of victory and will move into the top six with promotion to the Premier Division a distinct possibility if we can get a full turn out at the next match on Sunday 26 June at Victoria Park against Warrington, West Cheshire and Pendle. Results