Welcome to St Helens Sutton Athletic Club

March Results 2006

Wirral Seaside Run March

Ian Costello won the first Wirral Seaside Race of the year in 16.52 and took some notable scalps along the way. In the ladies' race Lisa Scully was 13th (26.18) and mentor Dorothy Fairhurst 14th (26.33). This races is a good sharpener at this time of year and especially good for anyone wanting to get ready for the track.  Results

Morecambe 20 Mile Race 26 March

Carl Parry recorded 2.04.44 to take tenth place at Morecambe.

ESAA Cross country Championships - Mansfield 25 March

Dave Forrester finished a creditable sixth in the Intermediate Boys' event while Jake Healy was  Merseyside's second counter in the junior boys' race in 70th place.

Northern Road Relays : Heaton Park, Manchester: 25 March

On a day when the club fielded a record 29 athletes it was the ladies who came up with the goods, finishing 21st and providing an incomplete B team. Gill Laithwaite came back third on the first lap and for the first time in the history of the race the club was still ahead of Liverpool when Gemma Connolly finished lap two in sixth place. Julia Eccleston slipped to 13th on the third lap, three places adrift of the  Liverpool (which will disappear when we get Sarah and Jourdan fit and running) while Sue O'Hanlon, Joanne Marsh and Louise Hogg all did that was asked of them against quality runners. To finish so high with three debutants was an excellent performance. In the B team Chris Dempsey  showed there was life in the old dog yet (her phrase not mine) while Chris Dickinson got the better of Karen Jarvis as the team bowed out at the half way point in 39th position.

There were heroes but no villains in the men's teams even though both were disqualified. Lol Jarvis gave up buying mother's day presents to compete for the B team and was unfazed when the lads were disqualified. Ian White ran with two torn calves (he didn't know they were torn until he started running), Tony Smith and Darren Henderson produced the two fastest laps of the day. Unfortunately, each had breached the rules in doing so and the teams did not figure in the final results although everyone received a time (though not necessarily the correct one).

If the outcome was disappointing the effort certainly was not. To have fielded one complete team was superb, to have almost managed two was magnificent. And to have created such depth in numbers over such a short period of time is first class. Matt Cullen, Marc Laithwaite and Gavin Rogers on the long legs know the quality of performance they need to aim for at this level. Youngsters Dave Twigg and John Appleton promise a bright future, Mark Glynn has come on leaps and bounds while newcomers Julian Corfe and Matt Shillabeer (who reckons his actual time was 19.42 rather than the 22.17 given in the results) slotted into the team in the absence of regulars Steve Mayers and Tom Griffiths. Regulars Barry Graney and Ian Hayburn were separated by only five seconds.

Although the B team was incomplete so were the A teams from Stockport, Rossendale, Barnsley, Heanor, SouthportWaterloo, Swinton, Longwood and Askern, so to get eleven out on the day was excellent. Praise for Dennis Wharton completing first leg before dashing off to watch the Latics lose to West Ham, Andy Boyack for competing at all, Paul Johnson for a performance which has him looking for promotion to the A team. Long leg runners Robbie Marsh, Chris Levy and Paul Burgess remarkably recorded times within 14 seconds of each other, Ian Pass and Tony Raffle were solid as usual while Nick Bennett continues to improve. Newcomer Darren Henderson was unlucky to have misunderstood the rules in his first race but the fault was not his, it was the team manager who should have noticed. Now who was in charge, Marc Laithwaite? Ian Hayburn? Phil Thomas? Alright then it was Thomas's fault!!!

We have set the marker for next year. Hard training, two minutes faster from everyone all round and we won't simply be going to the National we'll be going for the medals. Many thanks to Ian and Marc for all their pre-event work in getting so many runners out and to everyone for turning up and competing. Let's build on it and utilise the great team spirit that was evident on the day. Results

Carnegie Cup Meeting: Leeds - 22 March

The Carnegie Cup followed the correct script with Leeds Met easing to victory over Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds University, Sheffield and Edge Hill by a margin of over 100 points. Steve Moran (whose at which University - one guess)  won both 100m and 200m B races in 12.1 and 23.6, the latter representing an outdoor p.b. over 2005. Amongst Edge Hill's competitors was Ben Fisher who scored a double with a 52m javelin and a 1.80m high jump, despite not being allowed to measure his run up. Report from Steve Moran - Leeds Met - additional material Ben Fisher -Edge Hill.

North West League Final - Wigan 18 March

The under 11 girls lived up to their pre-event billing as favourites with a 16 points victory over West Cheshire A C to win the League trophy. There were victories for Rose Hindley (Chest Push), Alice Pike (Speed Bounce) and Gabrielle Large in the vertical jump. Danielle McGifford was second in the standing triple jump as was Tara Herbert in the Chest Push. Chelsea Jarvis (Speed Bounce) and Lianne Bibby (javelin) each earned fourth places. The relay team also won while Lucy Renshall competed in the vertical jump. The names of the other two competitors are not currently available but will be added as soon as possible. In the under 15 Boys' events Anthony Marsh won three out of his four events. Results:

Winter Track Meeting - Blackpool 18 March

A number of hardy souls decided to have a day out by the seaside at Blackpool and produced a number of interesting performances. Luke Williams won the under 15 80/200 in 10.2/25.1 & Chelsea Jarvis the under 11 80/600 12.7/1.58.8 and added second in the long jump 3.32. Lucy Renshall was also in action in the same events recording 13.7, 2.14.8 and 2.93. Katy Waterworth was second in the 100 and 200 (11.4 & 29.0), Karen Jarvis third in the 3000 (13.47.6) just ahead of Christine Dickinson (14.02.6) who also threw the javelin 16.42. Emily Dickinson recorded 39.5 (200), 2.38.6 (600) and 5.12 (shot) while Daniel Hughes produced 29.6, 1.46 and 8.40 in his trio of events.

Inter-Counties Championships : Nottingham: 11 March

Nine club members represented Merseyside (it would have been ten but Dave Forrester had a chest infection and wisely pulled out). In addition, Ray Vose and Julia Hayes acted as team managers with Sue Clague providing invaluable support on the day to the younger, inexperienced, athletes.

Tony Smith turned up to represent the county although the absence of several runners, who were selected despite not turning out in the county championships, left the County with an incomplete team.

Gill Laithwaite had a splendid run for 24^th position in the senior ladies’ race and Tom Griffiths was pleased with being second Merseyside counter home in 39^th spot. John Appleton was the County’s third counter and a fine example to those who stick at the sport. You can make it if you keep trying and keep training.

Jake Healy was 118^th in the Under 15 Boys, John  Dumbell was 202 while David Griffiths (136) and Jourdan Cotter (137) – in different races by the way – were in the top half of their respective fields.

Jemma Shaw was third counter for Merseyside while Heather Drillingcourt gained valuable experience from representing the county.

Congratulations and well done to every one. Full results once they are available. Thanks to Terry Shaw, John Dumbell, Ray Vose and Jourdan Cotter for information provided to date.

Indoor Round Up:

Quite a few of the club’s athletes have been in action recently. Andrew McDonagh recorded 53.84 at the Midland Open, Steve Moran recorded 7.57 and 23.82 at Sports City, improving his 200m time to 23.57 at the BUSA championships later that week. Andy also competed at the Sports City meeting recording 54.6 over 400m ahead of Anthony Marsh who ran 56.97.

In the AAA’s at Birmingham Luke Williams recorded 24.55 to reach the final of the 200m, finishing fifth in the final in 24.94. Thaddeus Anim-Somuah set a personal best 23.53 to reach the final of the under 17 200, finishing fourth in the semi-final in 23.74.At the same championships Josie Barrow was 13^th in the high jump with 1.50 and Sam Fraser equal 19^th with 1.45. 

Phil Robinson was only 38 points short of collecting a bronze medal in the British Master's Pentathlon at Cardiff. Phil scored 1957 points thanks to a 13.66 60m Hurdles, 4.99 long jump, 9.97 shot putt, 1.47 high jump and a 3.13.33 for the 1000metres.