Welcome to St Helens Sutton Athletic Club

July Results 2006

Cheshire League : Bebington 30 July

We hope to have full results from the Cheshire League later in the week. Early results include  U11 Girls: 75m: Chelsea Jarvis 11.2 , Lucy Renshall 12.3 , Chloe Rigby 11.5 , Chelsea Jukes 11.8 , Ailesha Cain 11.8 , Himarshi Nawinmana 13.9 .  Under 11 Boys 75m:, Andrew Prescott 12.5 , James Waterworth 14.9 , Under 13 girls 100m , Natasha Le Surf  14.6 , Sophie  Rigby 14.6 , Liane Bibby 14.8 , Tricia Spark , 15.3 , Louise Hayes 16.4,  Lucy Waterworth TNK;  JT Liane Bibby 18.83; Lucy Waterworth 18.26: Louise Hayes 11.86. Under 15 Girls: 100m  Katie Waterworth  13.7 , Heather Drillingcourt 13.7 , Joanne Prescott 14.7 , Lauren Bradshaw 15.0  HJ Shainy Nawinmana 1.25; Joanne Prescott 1.20; Sophie Rigby 1.35 (nc);

BAL Cup Match: Stoke : 30 July

The club had the tougher of the two draws at today's semi-final and responded by repeating its fifth place of a year ago but with the bonus of beating Blackpool who were eighteen points ahead in 2005. Gill Laithwaite set a new club 3000m record of 10.12.2, despite a 73 secs first lap, Gemma Connolly set a personal best 1500m  (5.03.2) and there were new figures in the pole vault for Phil Robinson (2.80).

Barry Graney set the ball rolling by taking the lead on the first bend of the 10,000m but wisely left the other 24 to the faster runners, biding his time to come home third. Tom Rigby, John Appleton and Greg Williams were joined by Steve Knowles for the 4x100 and Ray Vose for the 4 x 400. Earlier Greg saw off the highly fancied Stoke athlete to record 22 in the 110 m hurdles. John completed his warm up by running from Ray's car to the start line!! Steve Knowles was a veritable jazz musician jumping all afternoon in the high (1.85), long (5.73) and triple (11.91).

Natalie Mullineux tackled the discus, javelin and hammer, setting a personal best 20.21 in the latter in which she competed against GB Europa Cup representative Zoe Derham who threw a bit further. Josie Barrow had her first experience of senior competition in the high jump finishing fourth while Jessica Cretu was third in the triple jump (9.57), finishing her last jump and going straight to the third leg of the relay where she combined with Anna Howard, Stephanie Leyland and Jourdan Cotter for 55.9 in a relay made up of under 17's.

The final scores were: 1 Birchfield 320; 2 City of Stoke 212: 3 Charnwood 189; 4 Banbury 151; 5 St Helens-Sutton 141; 6 Blackpool 123; 7 Telford 94.

Phil Thomas was team manager and also managed to get to the venue in plenty of time- despite having received the wrong information from the host club - by following his own advice of assuming that whatever could go wrong, would go wrong, there would be road works, flash floods, a hurricane, all road signs would be changed in case of foreign invasion and being two hours early is far better than being one minute late.

Supporters today included Ian Pass (£5 still owed Barry), Mr Connolly, Lesley Cretu and dog and Emily Dickinson who stayed to the very end alongside Chris who posted a pb in the 800m. Results   Team Results

Northern Inter-Counties : Gateshead 30 July

Three weeks after setting a club record of almost 60m in the javelin, Ben Fisher beat the 60m barrier to win the Northern Inter-Counties title at Gateshead with a throw of 60.17m. David Forrester was also successful winning the 1500m in 4.03.34, Thaddeus Anim-Somuah took second place in the 100m in 11.42.  Samantha Fraser cleared a season's best 1.55 for sixth place in the high jump and took fifth place in the shot with 8.78. Andrew McDonagh was just 0.24 seconds shy of breaking two minutes in the 800 in which he finished fourth.

National U23 Championships : Bedford 23 July.

Ben Fisher finished sixth in the Under 23 championships at Bedford with a javelin throw of 56.23. Ben had a difficult winter with injury and is looking forward to hitting 60m before the end of the season starting with this weekend's Northern Inter-Counties at Gateshead.

National Young Athletes League - Stockport 23 July

Jessica Cretu won the Athlete of the Match award with a third successive personal best of 9.63 in the triple jump as the club grabbed second spot behind hosts Stockport to consolidate our place in the top ten of division one (West). Jessica also won the discus and 300m hurdles while in the same age group there were wins for Alverty Chirwa (Hammer, Shot and Javelin) with Jessica Drillingcourt also setting personal best marks in her supporting role in the throws.

High jumpers Luke James and Sophie Rigby would have been in contention with their respective leaps of 1.44 but both had won at Wrexham and were excluded. Luke also took second places in the hurdles (14.9) and long jump (4.21), while Sophie won the B string 100m (11.4).

Thaddeus Anim-Somuah ran a blistering 11.4 in the 100m but as the judges' verdict went to the Stockport athlete it was he rather than Thaddeus who won the Athlete of the Match award. Thaddeus won the 200 in 23.1. Luke Williams also just missed out having tweaked his hamstring half way through a 200m which he still won with 25.3. Andy McDonagh won the 400m in pb 52.5 and ran the 100m B (12.2) as a warm down winning by five metres Ben Clough contributed second place points in the 3000 and hammer.

Adam Fackey (19.17) and Danny Hughes(19.12)  mopped up the field awards producing a hammer double, and a first and second in the discus and long jump. Paul Nicholas weighed in with a personal best 4.81 in the long jump.

The club benefited from the "have a go" spirit displayed throughout the team. Andy Harvey tackled the high jump and achieved a grade 4 standard (1.20) to win the B string. Jamie Webb volunteered to do the 200m when Michael Causer was delayed and stepped aside when Michael arrived to finish second in the 800 (2.31.9) before producing an astonishing win for a double with Michael in the shot putt.

Michael  won the 100m in 14.1. then joined with Matthew Grove, Chris Jackson and Andy Harvey for second place in the relay, a similar placing to that earned by the under 13 girls' quartet of Liane Bibby, Natalie Bannister, Lauren Sanders and Natasha Le Surf. Another one delayed by traffic was Elizabeth Mousdale who immediately volunteered to compete in the 1500m in which she finished bravely finished third.

Louise Hayes and Rachael Wlicock each set personal bests in the 1200m, Danielle McGifford (13.3) and Natalie Bannister (13.6) were convincing winners of the 70m hurdles. Tricia Spark and Emily Dickinson stepped into the breach in the 800m, Tricia later winning the shot putt (5.64) and Emily only just missing making it a clean sweep by one centimetre.

Emma Scott was joint winner of the under 15 girls' high jump, with Joanne Prescott (who ran the 800m at a moment's notice) winning the B string. Emma set a personal best 4.20m to win the B long jump, Samantha Fraser winning the A with 4.69, setting a new personal best 8.83m in the shot and winning the hurdles in 12.6. Katie Waterworth (6.94) was within ten cms of winning the B shot to add to her 200m win and 100m second place. Amy Pilkington won both B sprints then ran first leg as, together with Heather Drilliingcourt, Samantha Fraser and Lucy they won the 4x100 in 53.6.

Heather learned how to throw the discus on Saturday, won the B string 24 hours later and ran a season's best 2.34.1 in the 800. Danielle Coatsworth was second in the javelin and discus (setting a pb 13.76 in the latter). Jemma Shaw continues to improve with 5.16.1 in the 1500m.

The final scores were Stockport 398, St Helens-Sutton 280, Seaton 147, Leigh 123. This gives the club 13 points for the season, not too far behind the promotion places and well clear of relegation.

Our track officials today were Dave Morley (also referee) and Chris Dickinson. Janet Holmes and Frank Vose were the timekeepers while Phil Thomas and John Irwin (Field Referees), Andy Drillingcourt, Julia Hayes, Michael Hughes, Colin Sparks and Clare Fraser also offered their services as field judges. Phil Thomas was team manager.

The club is in the forefront of seeking changes to the League format and is pursuing a rationalisation of League structures to facilitate better overall development of athletics in general. We'll keep you informed. Results.

National Junior League - Warrington 16 July

Steve Knowles produced a club junior record in the high jump of 1.90cms, adding third place in the triple jump (11.74) and first B in the long jump (5.51). David Griffiths was second in the long jump (5.88) and won the B triple with 11.15. Stephanie Leyland joined the long list of ladies to equal the club junior record in the high jump while Jessica Cretu produced a personal best 9.12 in the triple jump.

Emma McClatchey returned to competition with a win in the pole vault, took fourth places in the javelin and discus culminating in second place in the triple (8.59).It was good to see Caroline Morley (Hurdles, High Jump, 200 and relay) ease her way back into competition after a month off studying while Helen Grady also had a brief run out to test her fitness (800).

Tom Rigby improved his 800m time by four seconds, Anna Howard was at her ubiquitous best, turning her hand to the throws as well as her usual sprints. Alex Helsby, as ever, was very supportive to the rest of the team. Andrew McDonagh contested the 400 recording 53.3.

The club finished a splendid fourth on the day and, tied with Wirral on fourteen points for the season, defeating the Bebington club by 3 match points to clinch fourth place.

The club's official worked in the heat of the day (and it was a hot one today), Dave Morley on the track judges' stand, Pam Appleton and Janet Holmes as timekeepers, Roger McCall, John Irwin, Tony Raffle and Julia Hayes were on the field while Christine Demspey learned how to input results into the software programme thanks to the teaching ability of Wirral's Doug Hanna who was first class throughout the afternoon. Results Positions

Sefton Corporate Cup: Victoria Park Southport 11 July & Other Races

Sarah Charnock was the first lady to finish in this competition recording 19.44 and Chris Dempsey, who shopped her to the website authorities, recorded 23.37. The following day Trevor Prescott was the first over 75 to finish in the Horwich Races, recording 49.50 for the course. Trevor now heads the category for the series. On Sunday 16th Robbie Marsh (12:31.06) and Billy Mousdale (29:33.59) competed in the Burtonwood 5 mile race. Andy O'Connor won the Fun Run in 10.48.

Northern Plate Semi-Final - Blackpool Sunday 9 July

One club record was broken and three others were equalled as the club beat Leigh by four points to qualify for the Northern Plate Final at Cudworth at the end of August. Ben Fisher came within 3cms of 60m in the javelin with 59.97 for a club senior javelin best, Holly Keenghan equalled the club's senior and under 17 high jump records with 1.50 ihile fellow high jumper Steve Knowles downed the Northern Under 17 champion to equal his own junior best of 1.85.

It was a day in which we never out of the top three as Phil Robinson produced a season's best 2.70m in the pole vault, came within 2 metres of the hammer record with 33.24m, cleared 31.79m with the discus and ran the last leg of the 4x400m for fun. Holly Keenaghan set three personal bests in the long jump (4.11), high jump (1.50) and triple jump (8.83) before anchoring the 4x100m relay to a crucial win over Leigh.

Gill Laithwaite looked relaxed in winning the 3000m, Gemma Connolly's 5.15 (1500) was an excellent performance while Chris Dickinson (800) was solid in support, as was Anna Howard who contested the 400 in which she was third and both relays. Natalie Mullinex won the discus then joined Anna, Holly and the fast improving Stephanie Leyland in the relay.

Winners included Steve Moran (100), Ian Cooney (400), David Griffiths (triple jump) who were then joined by Alex Helsby who anchored the 4x100 team to victory.

County Champion Julia Hayes took on sizeable opposition in the hammer (20.35), Tom Rigby slightly improved on his best 800m time while Ray Vose showed touches of the style he portrayed as a teenager for second place in the 1500. Barry Graney took on the burden of the 10,000 and Julian Corfe competed despite injury for third place in the 5000.

Equally as crucial was the role of our four officials, Tony Raffle (track), Frank Vose (timekeeper), George Mullineux (Field) and John Irwin (Field) who each earned five crucial points to cement the win.

Phil Thomas quietly went about the job of team manager with gentle calls of encouragement to the team whose collective efforts on and off the field of competition was superb. Congratulations to everyone, now for the final. Results.

Burnden 10k : July 9th

Robbie Marsh (21st : 40.50), Chris Levy (61st : 43.30) and Jo Marsh (111: 51.47) all took part in this testing event near Bolton.

ESSA Championships : Gateshead 7/8 July

The first day of the championships brought mixed fortunes for club members. David Forrester (4.00.11) qualified for the final of the Intermediate 1500m and Josie Barrow made it through to the final of the Junior high jump finishing fifth in her pool with 1.55m.

Both Thaddeus Anim-Somuah (23.20) and Luke Williams (24.78) were drawn in fast heats of the 200m and Andrew McDonagh was sixth in his heat of the 800m with 2.05.4 but has the same advantage as both Thaddeus and Luke of competing in the same age group again next season.

On day two Josie improved to 1.58 and finished tenth in the final, Mike Jukes was tenth in the junior boys' triple jump (11.85), Luke Williams formed part of the relay team which was third, Thaddeus, who had a slight muscle strain, was in the relay team which took fourth place and Dave Forrester was on the podium for the third successive year with a time of 3.56.11 in fourth place. Results

Forest Park Ladies' 5Km: Wednesday 5 July

Chris Dempsey was our only representative this year finishing 37th in 24.28 (5th over 45).

Other Fell Races:

Tony Smith been in action on the Fells in recent weeks. On June 21st he was 3rd in The Druid Fell race at Llanferres, on July 2nd he took third place in another North Wales Fell Race and hot footed it up Famau on July 5th to claim second place. This should give Tony a form stamina base for cross country running in the winter.

From the opening event when Ray Vose and Phil Robinson scored maximum points in the pole vault (2.10) which they quickly followed with two seconds in the hammer (24.27 & 20.79) we knew we had a chance to win the match and we did – although there was only ten points in it at the end.

Dave Twigg won the B 400m hurdles (63.7), half a second shy of Jon Calder's record and came second in the steeplechase (10.57.4) , Ian Hayburn taking the B string chase (11.04.9). Ray Vose was second A in the high hurdles (22.8), Greg Williams (23.3) taking the B, Ray adding a discus double (23.37) with Phil Robinson (30.92) who also provided the B string (34.56) win to captain Ben Fisher's javelin (56.73), who in turn won the B string high jump(1.75), Steve Knowles clearing 1.85 to win the A. Steve recorded 12.11 for a win in the triple jump, Phil won the shot (9.66) and Michael Hughes (8.21) gained second B. Steve Moran, fresh from two weeks swimming, competed in the sprints (12.0 and 23.5), Ian Cooney stepped up for the B string in addition to his 54.7 in the 400m and two splendid relay legs. Andy McDonagh (53.7), Dave Forrester (1.57) and (4.03.6) had testing runs in preparation for Gateshead next week, Andy half a second from breaking Wayne Joyce's long standing under 17 400m record.. Matt Cullen and Ian Costello again contested the 5000m against quality opposition, Matt third in 16.25.5 and Ian fifth in 17.55.1.

The girls also played their part Holly Keenaghan clearing 1.45 in the high jump, Jessica Cretu (9.04) in the triple jump, Gill Laithwaite winning the 3000 (11.06.) in the centre of a middle distance treble alongside Sarah Charnock (11.40.7) victorious on her return from injury. Natalie Mullineux won the B hammer (18.17) and was well supported in the javelin by Alverty Chirwa who recorded 19.77 for second B. Julia Hayes was just three centimetres short of 21m in the hammer.

Team Captain Sue Lowrie stepped to support the rest of the girls, running a remarkable 4x400m leg which was maintained by Anna Howard in her debut over the one lap distance. Chris Dickinson provided the middle distance support role over 800 and 1500, completing a fine afternoon's work by running the 4x400. Jourdan Cotter contested the 400 and 4x400 while Stephanie Leyland was third in the long jump (4.19) and ran an excellent 200m and 4x100 relay leg.

The final scores were: 1 St Helens-Sutton 446; 2 Stockport Harriers 435.5; 3 Altrincham 396.5; 4 SouthportWaterloo 380; Wirral 347; 6 Warrington 238. This means the League positions are 1 St Helens-Sutton 18 (1247.5) 2 Stockport Harriers 15 (1171.5); 3 Altrincham 11 (980); 4 SouthportWaterloo 7 (917.5); 5 Wirral 6 (853.5); 6 Warrington 6 (805).

Many thanks today to the officials, Paul Forrester and Julia Hayes (track), timekeeper Frank Vose, John Irwin, George Mullineux and Tony Raffle (field). Phil Thomas was the calm and unruffled team manager and there was plenty of parental support. However, the last word is reserved for the team who who were willing to change events in order to bring the benefit of a win to the club with the promise of better competition next year and a really hard winter's work to look forward to. Thank you.  Results