Diary
for the week Tuesday 31st - normal training at Imberhorne
Thursday 2nd - normal training at Imberhorne
Saturday 4th - senior ladies and under 15 girls match at Wimbledon
Sunday 5th - under 13 match at K2 Crawley
Sunday, September 26th - 10km Race. Website www.EG10K.com
New
to the club? 2009
Primary Schools Cross Country Races Comments |
Sunday, August 29th
Next weekend sees the last league matches for the 2010 track and field season. On Saturday (September 4th ) the senior ladies and under 15 girls team go to Wimbledon Park for their match. We are lying third in the league (out of 8 teams) behind Thames Valley Harriers and Haywards Heath - with Ealing Southall and Middlesex AC in fourth place behind us. With school holidays over we hope to have lots of athletes and will be looking to finish the season on a high note - with lots of good performances to end what has been an excellent season. The team will meet at Imberhorne School at 10 am. Those going direct are asked to be at the Wimbledon Park track by 11.30.
Then on Sunday (September 5th) our Sussex Under 13 League team have the much shorter journey to Crawley’s K2 track for their grand final. We have had three midweek fixtures over the summer against 5 other West Sussex teams, and there have been other matches over the summer for the 5 teams from East Sussex. In this last match all 11 teams come together for the final. The first event gets under way at just after mid-day and the match finishes with a colourful parade of all the teams at about 4.30. With school holidays over we hope that we will be able to fill most of the events. Athletes are asked to meet at K2 by 11.45.
After these matches the following weekend (September 11th and 12th) sees the Sussex and Surrey Combined Events Championships at the Horsham track. If you want to enter there is still time – speak to Lester Medcalf in the next couple of days.
Monday, August 23rd
On a rather wet Sunday afternoon a few of our athletes went to Horsham to compete at the Horsham Blue Star Open Meeting yesterday afternoon. The highlight was a new club record from Natasha Barnes in the under 13 girls javelin. Her best throw of 26.87 metres beat the previous record of 25.46 metres set by Tara Webster in 1997. Chloe Hollamby may have also set a new club record in the under 15 girls 300 metres where she recorded a very good time of 46.0 seconds in her race. We think this is the first time ever that one of our under 15 girls has run a 300 metres race. There was also a good performance in the under 13 girls discus from Ellie Peadon who won the event with 14.24 metres.
Looking ahead
Normal training at Imberhorne School takes place in this coming week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. On Sunday Tom Gardner (high jump) and Tessa Martin (triple jump) will be representing Sussex in a big under 20 Inter-County match at the Copthall Stadium in North London. And on Bank Holiday Monday (August 30th) there is an Open Meeting at Crawley.
Looking slightly further ahead the first weekend in September sees our last two league matches of the 2010 track and field season. On Saturday, September 4th the senior ladies and under 15 girls team go to Wimbledon Park for their match and on Sunday, September 5th the under 13 team have their final match at Crawley’s K2. Letters to those athletes selected for these matches will be sent out this week.
Sunday, August 15th
Senior Ladies and under 15 girls match on Saturday, August 7th
Now that we have received the full results for the match I can give you more details of our ladies and under 15 girls match last week. We had a few athletes missing for this trip to the track at Wormwood Scrubs, but were still able to fill most of the events we normally fill. In particular in the under 15 section two of our under 13s made their first appearance in this league – Natasha Barnes and Lois Drummie – to join fellow under 13 Abby Beswick, who has competed all season in this league.
Natasha followed up her win in the Sussex Under 13 league last Thursday evening with an excellent win with the heavier under 15 javelin – her best throw was 23.84 metres. And Chloe Hollamby made it a double first in the javelin with a throw of 17.67 metres. In the long jump Lois (a first year under 13) reached 4 metres for the first time with a jump of exactly 4 metres. Abby Beswick also jumped a new pb with 4.56 metres. The club under 13 record is 4.67 metres – will Abby break that record before the end of the season ?
Among the rest of the under 15 girls the only other first place came from Izzy Turnbull in the B string 800 metres with 2 minutes 42.0 seconds. Ellie Killick-Bird’s 1.45 metres in the high jump gave her second place in the A string high jump and Amanda Lord’s 12.91 metres gave her a second place in the B string discus. Hannah Peadon found another couple of centimetres to record a new pb of 7.27 metres for third in the A string shot and was again over 18 metres for third place in the A string discus. The sprints were rather hard work for our athletes with Chloe Hollamby and Izzy Turnbull doing best with a couple of third places in their 200 metres races.
The senior ladies found things rather tough in their events. We weren’t helped by an early injury to Cat Shin in the 100 metres, although Laura McGarty in her first appearance of 2010 did her best to fill some of the gaps. The only win for the senior ladies came in the high jump. Jo Wykes jumped 1.35 metres before she had to disappear for the 100 metres hurdles, but it was enough for first place in the B string to support Sarah Killick-Bird’s 1.45 metres for third place in the A string. The triple jump brought us a third (Tessa Martin 9.87 metres) and second (Laura 9.22 metres) and Jo Wykes earned a second place in the sprint hurdles B string. Otherwise it was a question of picking up what points we could, especially in the throws.
However the under 17 hurdlers continued their successful run in the league this season. Sarah Killick-Bird won the opening track event - the 300 hurdles - and later in the afternoon she and Amy Hewitt doubled up for two wins in the shorter 80 metres hurdles.
It wasn’t a great surprise to find that we couldn’t quite maintain the performance of the last two matches where we finished first and second. Thames Valley won the match on their home territory with Haywards Heath second. Ealing edged ahead of us in the last few events to leave us fourth in the match (out of the 8 teams competing). Overall in the league, with one match to come, we are lying third.
Our fifth and last match of 2010 is on Saturday, September 4th at Wimbledon. We hope to finish the season with lots of athletes.
Looking ahead
A quiet week ahead with normal training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. However those of you looking for competition will find some at the Horsham Open meeting next Sunday, August 22nd. First field events at mid-day and track events from 12.30. This is always a good meeting – so let’s see lots of you there.
Sunday, August 8th
Sussex Under 13 League on Thursday, August 5th
A good turn-out from our girls with 10 athletes able to compete, while we had 5 boys taking part. And a very encouraging performance from all those who took part as we finished third out of the 6 teams – our best performance this summer. Crawley were first with 202 points, Horsham second with 154 – then came us on 120, Haywards Heath 108 Worthing 103 and Chichester 92.
There was a good double act in the girls javelin from 2 athletes appearing for the first time– Natasha Barnes throwing 23.18 metres in the A string and Lucy Hatswell providing excellent support in the B string with 15.51 metres (Natasha also picked up a win in the B string discus.). We also had a double first in the girls long jump with Abby Beswick jumping a pb of 4.34 metres and Lois Drummie 3.74 metres. (Both girls went even further two days later in the ladies match at Wormwood Scrubs – 4.56 and 4.00 metres respectively.) Abby and Lois also earned second places in their sprint hurdles. Cydney Richardson picked up good points in the 75 metres and discus, but all the athletes worked hard for their points.
Among the boys Thomas Beswick’s javelin throwing continues to impress as he went over 20 metres for the first time with 20.89 metres. He also picked up a good B string first place in the shot to support an excellent second place in the A string from William Jefferies (6.69 metres). It was also good to see Joseph Domingues competing for the club for the first time in a couple of fast races.
The results for our own athletes will be put on the notice board at training.
The team have a final match on Sunday, September 5th at K2 in Crawley and we will be hoping to field full teams in both the boys and girls events – school holidays should be over by then.
Southern Womens and Under 15 girls match on Saturday, August 7th
We don’t have the individual results from yesterday’s match at Wormwood Scrubs. Rather to my surprise none of the teams seemed to be badly affected by school holidays. With the benefit of a home match Thames Valley won the match with 325 points – their third win out of the 4 matches. Haywards Heath were not far behind on 310.5. We couldn’t keep up with that and our 256 points wasn’t quite enough to hold off Ealing Southall & Middlesex whose score of 264 pushed us into fourth place.
I’ll give more details of individual performances when I get the full results. The team has one more match this season – on Saturday, September 4th at Wimbledon.
Looking ahead
With no more league matches until early September we have a relatively quiet period, although some of the coaches will be busy this Wednesday, August 11th at the Ashurstwood and Forest Row sports day. We will be organising some athletics coaching at Michael Hall school.
Sunday, August 1st
Senior Mens match on July 31st
With two first places and one second place in the previous three matches it was extremely disappointing to find so few athletes available for the last match of the season at Hastings, especially as we were facing the top two teams in our division. And the weather for the first half of the match seemed a perfect match for this sense of disappointment – thick cloud, cool wind and bits and pieces of drizzle. However the weather did pick up over the last couple of hours as the sun came out.
We had no athletes at all in three of the track events and there were no B string athletes in another 4 track events – and so most of the points we scored came from the throwers. Indeed our hammer throwers got us off to a good start with two first places – Phil Spivey going over 50 metres for the first time this year and Eddie Vermeer with 33.30 metres in the B string. And these first places were our only first places until the very last event of the day when Colin King’s 26.50 metres won him the B string discus. On the track Will Rodgers again looked good in some fast sprint races with two second places – his 23.0 in the 200 equalling his pb from earlier in the summer.
Not surprisingly we finished fourth of the four teams, although only two points below Epsom in third place – we were both a long way behind Eastbourne and Dartford.
Looking ahead
This coming Thursday, August 5th the Under 13 team have their third match of the season at Horsham. Holidays will inevitably take their toll on all the teams – why on earth there is fixture for this age group in the summer holidays I don’t understand. Janet Hollamby had made every effort to contact athletes. If you can be there then meet at the Broadbridge Heath track by 6.15.
And on Saturday, August 7th the ladies and under 15 girls team travel to the Linford Christie stadium in West London for their fourth match of the summer. The team is meeting at Imberhorne School by 9.45.
Sunday, July 25th
Young Athletes League on July 18th
Let’s catch up with last Sunday’s match at Wimbledon – the last of the season for the Young Athletes. We had Joe Trigg and Conall Freeman making their first appearances for the club in the under 13 boys section – and Conall provided our only first place in that age-group with a win in the B string 75 metres hurdles. Well done to both of them and also well done to Andrew Easton who was on the track most of the afternoon, including a rather warm 1500 metres run.
In the under 15 boys there were a couple of personal bests for Daniel Rusling in the high (1.40 metres) and long (4.66 metres) jumps which got him B string first places. Ryan Spivey won the sprint hurdles and, for once, we had 4 athletes – Daniel, Ryan, Matt Rieley and Barry Ademujimi – for the sprint relay.
Wilem Fields-Jewell was again our only under 17 athlete and this was his last Young Athletes match – he will be too old next year.
Perhaps the best performance of the day came in the under 13 girls 70 metres hurdles where Lois Drummie won the B string race in 13.0 seconds – more importantly she managed 3 strides between each hurdle for the first time. Abby Beswick had already won the A string race and the two of them combined again to win two first places in the long jump – Abby jumping 4.19 metres. Abby completed a good day with a second in the A string shot (6.89 metres) supported by Sarah Hennessy’s second place in the B string with 4.73 metres.
The under 15 girls again produced a number of good performances. Sarah Rusling was close to her best to win the long jump with 4.75 metres and a surprising win came at the end of the day for Chloe Hollamby with 18.08 metres in the javelin. The other throws saw good efforts from Hannah Peadon with a new best of 18.84 metres for second place in the discus with Amanda Lord’s 13.30 metres winning the B string. The same two athletes earned second places in the shot with Hannah’s 7.24 metres one centimetre down on her best. Ellie Killick-Bird and Izzy Turnbull earned second places in the 800 metres and Ellie followed this with a 1.45 metres high jump.
Our two under 17 ladies earned new personal bests in the 80 metres hurdles – Amy Hewitt 13.3 and Sarah Killick-Bird 13.4 – and they picked up two first places in the longer 300 metres hurdles.
Overall we finished fourth of the 7 teams – the match was won by Sutton with Walton second and Hercules Wimbledon in third place.
Full results from the match will be pinned on the notice board at the track.
Club Championships on July 15th and 20th
The club championships took place in good weather conditions and we had an excellent turn-out of athletes, helpers and parents. For example we had 15 entrants for the under 13 girls 75 metres (although only 5 for the long jump for the same group), 10 entrants for the under 15 girls javelin and 10 entrants for the under 13 boys long jump. These are some of the biggest fields we have had for the club championships.
The under 13 girls high jump turned out to be an exciting competition with the top three girls all reaching 1.20 metres or more. And the under 13 boys long jump saw some exciting twists and turns in the last round. Perhaps the best performance of the two evenings came in the under 13 girls javelin when Natasha Barnes threw 24.93 metres – this is about the 20th best throw this year in the UK by an under 13 girl.
However we can’t all win and it was good to see so many athletes competing in all of the 6 events available to them, even those events they don’t really like. So well done to Sarah Hennessy, Lois Drummie, Abby Beswick and Natasha Barnes who did all 6 events in the under 13 girls: to Adam Lord, Conall Freeman, James Telfer, Joe Trigg, Joseph Domingues, Michael Turnbull and Thomas Beswick in the under 13 boys who again did all 6 events; and Amanda Lord, Charlotte Bidgway, Chloe Hollamby, Ellie Killick-Bird, Izzy Turnbull, Sarah Rusling and Matt Rieley in the under 15 age-group.
The full results will be pinned on the notice board at the track but the top three placings were:
Under 13 girls 75 metres: 1st Abby Beswick 10.9 2nd Natasha Barnes 11.6 3rd Rachel Didon 11.7
Under 13 girls 800 metres: 1st Natasha Barnes 3:12.9 2nd Sophia Gabrielides 3:15.1 3rd Abby Beswick 3:17.4
Under 13 girls discus: 1st Natasha Barnes 16.65 2nd Abby Beswick 13.65 3rd Cydney Richardson 13.57
Under 13 girls javelin: 1st Natasha Barnes 24.93 2nd Lucy Hatswell 12.34 3rd Becky Saffery 11.81
Under 13 girls long jump: 1st Abby Beswick 4.28 2nd Lois Drummie 3.78 3rd Natasha Barnes 3.43
Under 13 girls high jump: 1st Abby Beswick 1.28 2nd Lois Drummie 1.23 3rd Lucy Bycroft 1.20
(Please note that as Natasha was not a club member at the time of the events she entered the events as a guest.)
Under 13 boys 75 metres: 1st Joseph Domingues 11.2 2nd Michael Turnbull 11.7 3rd Joe Trigg 11.7
Under 13 boys 800 metres: 1st Joseph Domingues 2:42.4 2nd James Telfer 2:57.6 3rd Joe Trigg 3:03.2
Under 13 boys discus: 1st Conall Freeman 18.91 2nd James Telfer 14.82 3rd Joseph Domingues 12.89
Under 13 boys javelin: 1st Thomas Beswick 18.67 2nd James Telfer 17.92 3rd Joe Trigg 15.27
Under 13 boys long jump: 1st Joseph Domingues 4.02 2nd Peter Jenkins 3.84 3rd James Telfer 3.81
Under 13 boys high jump: 1st James Telfer 1.30 2nd Josh Drummond 1.25 3rd Michael Turnbull 1.20
Under 15 girls 100 metres: 1st Chloe Hollamby 13.6 2nd Sarah Rusling 14.1 3rd Gemma Akehurst 14.7
Under 15 girls 800 metres: 1st Izzy Turnbull 2:42.2 2nd Ellie Killick-Bird 2:45.0 3rd Chloe Hollamby 2:52.2
Under 15 girls discus: 1st Amanda Lord 13.55 2nd Emily Deville 13.33 3rd Sarah Rusling 13.18
Under 15 girls javelin: 1st Sarah Rusling 17.90 2nd Emily Deville 14.66 3rd Chloe Hollamby 14.43
Under 15 girls long jump: 1st Sarah Rusling 4.56 2nd Izzy Turnbull 3.87 3rd Ellie Killick-Bird 3.81
Under 15 girls high jump: 1st Ellie Killick-Bird 1.35 2nd Sarah Rusling 1.30 3rd Amanda Lord 1.20
Looking ahead
This coming Saturday, July 31st sees the senior mens team in action for the last time this season when they travel to the seaside at Hastings. The team currently lie in fourth place in the league (out of 16 teams) but in this last match we are up against the top 2 teams (Eastbourne and Dartford) as well as Epsom & Ewell. As always much will depend on who is available – but it makes a nice change not to have to worry about relegation this year.
The following week sees the Under 13 team in action on Thursday, August 5th at Horsham, and the ladies and under 15 girls team at the Linford Christie Stadium on Saturday, August 7th.Monday, May 10th
The cold weather made this weekend’s County Championships rather unpleasant for both the athletes and for those judging the various events. It was good to see an increase in the number of our own athletes taking part – and an increase in the number of medals that we won.
Most of our athletes were at the Sussex Championships at Crawley’s K2 and within the first couple of hours on the Saturday morning we had our first two medals. In the senior ladies triple jump Cat Shin was not at her best after recent injury problems but her jump of 10.27 metres won her third place. In the under 20 Ladies triple jump Tessa Martin nearly spoiled her day with her first two jumps being fouls – but she qualified for an extra three jumps and won the event with a best jump of 10.18 metres.
Later in the sand-pit Ryan Spivey brought home a medal when his 4.90 metres earned him second place in the under 15 long jump – this at much the same time as Sarah Rusling’s 4.35 metres was winning a third place medal in the under 15 girls long jump in the Surrey Championships in Kingston.
A fifth medal came along when Hannah Peadon added a few more centimetres to her previous best in the shot putt – her 7.25 metres gaining her third place. And medal number six arrived in the under 20 ladies 100 metres when Yasmin Rashid came third in 13.0 seconds.
Near misses came from Abby Beswick in the under 13 minithon. She came fourth place overall but with a long jump of over 4 metres at last – 4.14 metres. Lois Drummie, a first year under 13, also took part in the minithon and performed well with 3.65 in the long jump and 5.65 in the shot.
The weather on Sunday might have been drier but it was probably colder. One of the first track events of this second day brought us another medal when Sarah Killick-Bird came third in the under 17 ladies 300 metres hurdles – her time of 51.4 seconds broke her own club record. Ryan Spivey added to the medal haul with another second place – this time in the 80 metres hurdles (12.9 seconds). And our final two medals came in the high jump events. Firstly Tom Gardner in the under 20 event where his only clearance of 1.90 metres gained him second place. And then Ryan Spivey in the under 15 high jump finally gained a first place with a personal best jump of 1.66 metres – Tom Gardner’s under 15 club record of 1.69 must be in danger.
Peter Jenkins and Liam Rieley both did well in the under 13 boys minithon, as did Liam’s bother Matt Rieley in the under 15 boys javelin in fourth place with 18.55 metres. Amy Hewitt was close to 5 metres again with 4.95 metres for fifth in the under 17 ladies long jump – she was also fifth in the 200 metres. Emily Deville and Chloe Hollamby both threw 16.93 metres for fifth and sixth place in the under 15 javelin and Eleanor Killick-Bird took a large chunk off her previous best 800 metres when running 2 minutes 38.4 seconds in the under 15 girls event. And Alex Pownall improved on his previous bests with 5.19 metres in the long jump and 11.35 in the triple jump.
And from Kingston came news of two new bests for Daniel Rusling in the Surrey Championships with 4.52 metres in the long jump and 1.35 metres in the high jump.
Looking ahead
This Tuesday evening we have invited parents of our junior athletes to come along to Imberhorne – not to do the training but to see what their children do when they come training. It will be an opportunity for parents to talk to the coaches and to the club’s administrators. The session will last a little longer than normal – from 7 to about 8.15. Senior athletes will train as normal but mainly out on the field.
This coming weekend sees the senior mens team in action in their second league match of the season at Woking against Crawley, Horsham and London AC. The team will hope for a few more athletes for this match, although it will again be a difficult match. The Young Athletes team – for school years 6 to 11 – are due to have their second match although final details are not yet known. We will keep you informed on the website and at training.
Monday, May 3rd
After the friendly weather we had for the ladies match last week it has been rather unkind for this weekend’s matches. In fact the weather for the mens match at Sutcliffe Park on Saturday wasn’t too bad. We must have been the only place in the South of England which didn’t see any rain on Saturday. Lots of dark clouds from time to time and quite cool when the sun disappeared. But it kept dry. But for the Sunday match at Sutton for the Young Athletes the weather was miserable – heavy rain for the first two hours followed by a strong cold wind.
Back to the mens match on Saturday, which was rather marred by an accident to Graham Taylor. Graham did the London Marathon last weekend and started the mens match with a first place in the B string pole vault, as well as helping in the hammer and the shot. However in the 110 metres hurdles Graham fell awkwardly and broke his wrist. After help from the first aid people at the track he was taken away to hospital. We wish Graham a full recovery but we know it will take time. For those of you who don’t know Graham he won’t mind me telling you that he is 58 years old !!
The mens team was rather short on athletes with many not available, although the position was helped by the late availability of Gareth and Scott Owens. They secured an excellent double first in the high jump with Gareth clearing an outstanding 1.93 metres – the third best jump by one of our athletes. Gareth also helped in the javelin and 1500 metres while Scott long-jumped well and also did the 400 metres. In his first match for us Will Rodgers also produced some excellent results. A win in the B string 100 metres was followed by a winning 12.41 metres triple jump – the step phase, which he has been working hard on, really flowed – and then he was just pipped in the last few yards in the 200 metres. Phil Spivey won the hammer as usual, but surprised himself by making it a double first with Graham Taylor in the pole vault. You can find the full results by clicking on here. The gaps you will see meant that – despite the above excellent performances and the whole-hearted work by the other athletes – we were going to struggle. And unfortunately we ended up fourth against teams who managed to fill many more events than we were able to do.
The Young Athletes match suffered very much from the weather, although the indoor facilities at Sutton were used for many of the field events – but the track people had to do their events outside where the wind was blowing strongly into the faces of the sprinters. We had a reasonable number of athletes available with many of the under 13s taking part in their first match for the club – well done to them. I’ll put up the full results when we have them. Overall we came third out of the 7 clubs performing and that represents a good performance. It was good to see Hannah Peadon going over 7 metres in the shot for the first time, while Sarah Rusling high-jumped 1.40 metres – both of these indoors. Ryan Spivey did a good 1.60 metres in the high jump – his event taking place outside in the wind and the rain. But all of the athletes who battled with the conditions deserve praise.
| Southern Mens League | Match: | 1 | ||||
| Venue: | Sutcliffe Park | Date: | 01-May | |||
| A string | B string | |||||
| Name | Posn | Perf | Name | Posn | Perf | |
| 100m | Lincoln Campbell | 4th | 12.3 | Will Rodgers | 1st | 12.0 |
| 200m | Will Rodgers | 3rd | 23.8 | Lincoln Campbell | 3rd | 25.1 |
| 400m | Tim Ivorson | 3rd | 56.4 | Scott Owens | 3rd | 59.0 |
| 800m | Wilem Fields-Jewell | 4th | 2:11.4 | Lance Quirico | 4th | |
| 1500m | Gareth Owens | 4th | 5:29.6 | Lance Quirico | 4th | 6:11.0 |
| 5000m | Lance Quirico | 4th | 21:06.0 | |||
| 3000SC | ||||||
| 110H | ||||||
| 400H | ||||||
| LJ | Scott Owens | 3rd | 5.55 | Alex Pownall | 3rd | 5.10 |
| TJ | Will Rodgers | 1st | 12.41 | |||
| PV | Phil Spivey | 1st | 2.60 | Graham Taylor | 1st | 2.20 |
| HJ | Gareth Owens | 1st | 1.93 | Scott Owens | 1st | 1.75 |
| Shot | Phil Spivey | 2nd | 10.31 | Graham Taylor | 4th | 7.94 |
| Discus | Phil Spivey | 3rd | 29.60 | |||
| Hammer | Phil Spivey | 1st | 48.80 | Graham Taylor | 4th | 17.17 |
| Javelin | Gareth Owens | 3rd | 33.52 | |||
| 4*100m | disqualified | Lincoln, Tim, Alex, Will | ||||
| 4*400m | 2nd | 4:05.2 | Alex, Scott, Gareth, Tim | |||
| Match Result | ||||||
| Cambridge Harriers | ||||||
| Bracknell | ||||||
| Tunbridge Wells | ||||||
| East Grinstead | 58 | |||||
Sunday, April 25th |
This coming week
The coming weekend sees two league matches. On Saturday, May 1st the Senior Mens team start their season with a match at Sutcliffe Park in Eltham. They compete against Cambridge Harriers, Bracknell and Tunbridge Wells in what looks like a difficult opening match. On Sunday, May 2nd the Young Athletes team for school years 6 to 11 have their first match – although the venue is not yet known.
To All Members
I have had considerable problems with my computer lately and, as a result, lost all my e-mail address books. So I have built up a new EGAC Members e-mail address book and am testing it out. I would appreciate it if you could acknowledge that you have received this e-mail. Please also let me know if there is a more appropriate e-mail address that I should be using.
Annual Membership
Many of you have already renewed your membership as at 1st April. However if you haven't yet renewed could I ask you to do so by the end of April. Fees are £26 if you are in full-time education and £31 if you aren't. (Special family membership fees are available - ask Jenny Medcalf if you would like to know more.) These fees include an amount of £5 that we have to pay to UK Athletics. Please note that if you do not pay fairly quickly we may not be able to renew your membership.
Summer's nearly here
Just a reminder that the competitive athletics season is not far away. This coming Saturday, April 24th the Senior Ladies and under 15 girls team have their first league match at Perivale. All athletes that have been selected for the match have been contacted by now. If you haven't heard anything and would like to take part in the match please let Jill Ely know on 01342 314323.
The Senior Mens team start the following Saturday, May 1st with a match at Sutcliffe Park in South East London. But the match that will involve many more of our members will take place on Sunday, May 2nd at Wimbledon with a match for everybody in school years 6 up to 11. Further details of this match will soon be available.
Your coaches and club officials wish you a successful summer season and hope to see lots of personal bests - otherwise known as PBs.
(Can we just remind you that we expect our members to compete in most of our league matches. If you are unable to do so without good reason, we may not be willing to renew your membership in 2011.)
Training on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Just a reminder that training continues on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Imberhorne School and will do so until the end of the summer.
Any questions or queries arising from this newsletter should be addressed to me.
Lester Medcalf.
Sunday, April 18th This coming week
Sunday, April 11th This coming week sees training as normal, but with an additional all-day Training Day on Wednesday, April 14th at Imberhorne School for our junior athletes. Each athlete will do 5 different events during the day. The day, which will cost athletes £3, starts at 9.30 and will finish at about 4.30. There are still some places available – if you’d like to come then contact Lester Medcalf. Tuesday, April 6th. I have some results for you from a couple of recent Open Meetings, but before I do that I can bring you news of further success in indoor athletics. In the UK Masters Championships held at Lee Valley Lincoln Campbell earned himself a bronze medal in the over 45 60 metres final in a time of 7.49 seconds. We have had a successful indoor season with a number of excellent performances. But we are now getting towards the proper season for track and field athletics – the outdoor summer season. At this time of year it’s too much to hope for proper summer weather but conditions haven’t been too bad for the Crawley and Tonbridge Open meetings. Last week at Crawley (March 28th) a number of our younger athletes took part. Sarah Rusling won the under 15 long jump with 4.45 metres and also ran a strong 150 metres in 21.60 seconds. She completed a good day’s work by equalling her best of 1.30 metres in the high jump. Chloe Hollamby also did the 150 metres and in her race she recorded 21.85 seconds. Both Gemma Francis (3.97 metres) and Abby Beswick (3.89 metres) came close to the 4 metres barrier in the long jump. Daniel Rusling won his 300 metres race in 46.36 seconds and Wilem Fields-Jewell was close to his best time in the 800 metres in 2 minutes 15.13 seconds. The Tonbridge Easter Monday (April 5th) meeting was held in a rather blustery wind which blew across the long and triple jump runways. Alex Pownall marked his first appearance in club athletics with a long jump of 4.77 metres and a triple jump of 10.14 metres. Tessa Martin started her season with 4.62 metres in the long and 9.80 metres in the triple. Cat Shin produced a good 10.57 metres with her first triple jump, but wasn’t able to improve on that. Amy Hewitt found the wind awkward in her hurdles race but later produced 4.49 metres in the long jump, while younger brother Will ran in the under 13 600 metres race – though I don’t have the details of his performance. Looking ahead A reminder that we carry on training at Imberhorne School on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the school Easter holidays. We are holding a training day at Imberhorne on Wednesday, April 14th from 9.30 to 4.30. Places are still available. If you would like to come then please speak to Lester Medcalf – there is a charge of £3 for the day. And a reminder that the league season for our various teams is getting ever closer. The senior ladies and under 15 girls team have their first match in a couple of weeks – Saturday, April 24th. And the senior men and the Young Athletes league start the week after on May 1st and 2nd respectively. We now have news of the National Under 20 Indoor Championships from Birmingham. Tom Gardner earned himself a bronze medal with third place in the high jump. He also jumped a personal best and beat the 2.00 metres he jumped in the same competition last year - this year he cleared 2.03 metres. Get out a tape measure and see how high that is. So congratulations Tom - well done.
Tom will be jumping at the Sussex Indoor Championships this weekend.
Sunday, March 21st A quiet week behind us, but a busier week ahead of us – as the summer season gets closer and closer. In particular we see the club’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday evening at Imberhorne School. The meeting will be preceded by the presentation of medals and trophies for our successful athletes from 2009. The Presentation part of the evening will begin at 7.30, and we expect this to be completed by about 8pm. In addition we start Tuesday evening training at Imberhorne for those who normally train at 7.30. The following Tuesday (March 30th) training will also be available to the junior athletes who normally train at 7.00. There are further signs next weekend that summer is coming. Firstly the clocks go forward next weekend – this means that we will it will be lighter for longer in the evenings. And secondly there is an Open Meeting next Sunday (March 28th) at Crawley’s K2. There will be further Open Meetings as we go through April and all athletes should try and do one or two Open Meetings before the league season starts. And the league season starts in just under 5 weeks for the Womens Team (which includes under 15 girls). The summer athletics season will soon be here. Sunday, March 14th After last weekend’s activity it has been a much quieter week. However there is one performance from last week that I need to catch up on. Cat Shin’s triple jump at Cardiff last weekend was 10.65 metres while representing Bath University. However there have been a couple of important mailings during this week. If you haven’t had them then please contact Lester Medcalf on lestermedcalf@btinternet.com. Firstly you should have all received details of the club’s Annual General Meeting at Imberhorne School on Wednesday, March 24th. Immediately before this meeting we will present the club’s various awards for the 2009 summer season. The second mailing was to the Thursday evening junior training group. This mailing is to tell you about a Training Day which we will be running during the school Easter holidays – on Wednesday, April 14th at Imberhorne School. Again if you haven’t had this mailing please contact Lester Medcalf on lestermedcalf@btinternet.com. Lester Medcalf has had some recent computer problems. If you have sent him an e-mail using lester@egac.co.uk in the last two weeks he will not have received it – his other e-mail address as above is OK. So if you did use lester@egac.co.uk can you please send your e-mail again to the btiinternet address. Monday, March 8th We had a successful couple of days at the Sussex and Surrey Indoor Championships over this last weekend at Sutton. Tom Gardner got us off to a good early start when he won the Sussex Under 20 high jump with 1.95 metres – he’ll be a bit disappointed that he didn’t make 2 metres. The Rusling twins have a keen long jump rivalry and at the close of last season Sarah’s best was a little better than Daniel’s. Daniel was the first to jump in the Surrey Under 15 boys event and he took the opportunity to overtake Sarah with a best jump of 4.48 metres for 6th place. Would Sarah be able to respond when the Surrey under 15 girls event came along a bit later ? Well yes she could as she jumped 4.56 metres to take the lead in the Rusling household – however even better news was that this enabled Sarah to win the Surrey title. In the last jumping event of the first day another medal came our way in the Sussex Under 13 girls event when Abby Beswick jumped 3.99 metres to come third – another centimetre would have been great. Our three sprinters were less successful, with none of them progressing from their first round races. The Sunday saw us with only two athletes, but they both brought home a medal. Emily Deville was first up in the Sussex Under 15 girls shot putt where her 5.54 metres gained her third place. Later in the day Tessa Martin, who is now an under 20 lady, came second in the triple jump with 9.93 metres. Meanwhile in Sheffield Ryan Spivey was taking part in the National Under 15 combined events championships and he brought home a medal as well – a third place bronze medal. An excellent achievement. His 5 individual performances were as follows – 60 metres hurdles in 9.86 metres, a 5.12 metres long jump and 1.63 metres in the high jump. However the shot putt saw him over 10 metres for the first time with 10.07 metres and another personal best came in the gruelling final event – 2 minutes 21.99 seconds in the 800 metres. This gave him total points of 2375. Cat Shin was competing for Bath University in Cardiff but I don’t have any details as yet. Sunday, February 28th I need to catch up with last week’s Sussex Cross-Country league match at Lancing Manor. The senior mens team was missing a few athletes but we still had 5 people running. Simon Moore was our first athlete to cross the finishing line in 43rd place (34 minutes and 51 seconds). Lance Quirico followed in 63rd place (37:06) and then we had three athletes in the 80s. Tim Best celebrated his 40th birthday in 81st place (40:42) and then Tim Ivorson in 85th and Graham Taylor just behind in 86th place. All this meant that the A team came 6th in division 2 of the league, the place they have held for the last 3 or 4 years. This ensures another year in division 6 when the 2010/11 winter season starts. In the under 13 age-groups we had four athletes making their first appearance in the league – we had a number of our more usual runners on school ski-ing trips. In the girls race Emma Garner and Lauren Nightingale took to the mud for the first time and ran sensible races to finish 31st and 32nd respectively. While for the boys it was Peter Jenkins and Liam Rieley – who both ran in the primary schools cross-country race at East Court last October – who tasted club cross-country racing for the first time. Keeping each other company they finished in 30th and 31st places respectively.
I also have some indoor news. Catherine Shin was representing Bath University in a match in Birmingham on Wednesday and she added a couple of centimetres to her previous best triple jump with 10.75 metres. And Tom Gardner has been competing in the high jump in the National Under 20 indoor championships, again in Birmingham. However at the time of writing these notes I don’t have any details. This coming weekend (March 6th and 7th) sees the Sussex and Surrey Indoor Championships at the Sutton Indoor Arena and we hope those of our athletes competing have a successful time. Ryan Spivey will be travelling slightly further for his weekend activity as he is taking part in the National Under 15 Combined Events Championships in Sheffield – again we wish him well. For those not competing there will be Sunday morning training at Imberhorne School. Sunday, February 21st First there’s a bit of catching up to do. Last weekend (February 14th) saw the Southern Counties veterans indoor championships taking place at Lee Valley. In the male over 45 category Lincoln Campbell ran in the 60 metres and 200 metres. Second place in the 200 metres in 25.26 seconds was good going but was bettered by his gold-medal winning performance in the shorter sprint which he won in 7.54 seconds. The Sussex Cross-country League had its last match yesterday at Lancing, but I don’t have all the results to hand. I’ll let you know when I hear more. Looking ahead February 24th is the closing date for entries to the Sussex Indoor Championships – so please send the forms NOW. A sign that the summer season is getting ever closer is that the Sunday morning groups who have been training on the hills at East Court since the end of September will move to Imberhorne School from next Sunday. This Sunday training at Imberhorne will continue through March and April in preparation for the summer season.
Sunday, February 13th This coming Saturday, February 20th sees the last Sussex Cross-Country league match of the season – the match will take place at Lancing Manor. The fact that it is the last match of the season can only mean that the summer track and field season is getting ever closer. A reminder that, even though the coming week is half-term week, all our training sessions go ahead as normal – in particular the Thursday session at Imberhorne. And another reminder of the Sussex Indoor Championships which are to be held on March 6th and 7th at the Sutton Indoor Arena. Entries have to be in by February 24th.
Sunday, February 6th We’ve had a quiet week. All the training groups went ahead as normal, including the new Saturday morning session for long and triple jumpers. Indoors Tom Gardner went to the indoor track at Eton and came away with a win in the high jump. Last week at Lee Valley he jumped 1.90 metres but this week he went higher with 1.95 metres – and came extremely close to going over 2.00 metres. The coming week All the normal activities this coming week. And a reminder, ahead of half-term week, that all the sessions continue over the school break. This includes the Tuesday weights session at Sackville and the Thursday evening sessions at Imberhorne School.
Sunday, January 31st News from indoor meetings held over last weekend (January 23rd and 24th) reached us too late to include in last week’s news. A couple of weeks after telling you about Ryan Spivey’s success in the South of England Under 15 pentathlon I can now tell you about another gold medal performance – this time in the British Over 35 indoor pentathlon championships held at Lee Valley. Wayne Gadd was our successful athlete here and he lead from the first event. 9.75 seconds in the 60 metres hurdles was followed by a 5.26 metres long jump and 9.11 metres in the shot. This was followed by the high jump with 1.60 metres with the 800 metres the final event of a busy and gruelling day. A time of just over 3 minutes and 10 seconds was enough to give Wayne the gold medal. Meanwhile Ryan and his dad Phil were busy down in Bath in an Open meeting. Ryan did 5 events. He just beat his previous 60 metres sprint best with 8.46 seconds and followed this with 9.65 seconds in the final of the 60 metres hurdles. His long jump of 5.20 metres and shot putt of 9.48 metres were a few centimetres down on his best, but an excellent high jump of 1.63 metres beat his previous best by 5 centimetres. Phil was also active down in Bath with 4.75 metres in the long jump and 1.41 in the high jump. He added 2.77 metres in the pole vault but his best performance came in the shot where he threw 11.25 metres – the first time he has gone over 11 metres since joining the club. Ryan and Tom Gardner were also in action last Thursday evening in the Horsham indoor meeting but at the moment I don’t have any details of how they did.
The coming week Usual activities this coming week. Let’s hope the weather looks after us. Sunday, January 24th Sussex Cross-Country League The third meeting of the Sussex Cross-Country League was due to be held on January 9th, but the snow and ice put paid to that. So they re-convened last Saturday afternoon (January 16th) at Bexhill on a surprisingly muddy course. The girls under 13 race was the first off and our three girls were not looking forward to the mud. However after a slow start they began to move through the field. Eleanor Killick-Bird was our first runner home in 16th place in 13 minutes and 46 seconds with Chloe Hollamby a minute behind her in 25th place. Gemma Francis wasn’t 100% well but struggled round the course in 15 minutes and 30 seconds for 36th place. The senior men had 6 runners taking part. Tony Crossley (34 minutes and 30 seconds) was 50th with Simon Moore two places behind. Lance Quirico was the third finisher in 82nd place in 39 minutes and 19 seconds and Tim Best completed the A team in 92nd place in just over 42 minutes. Graham Taylor and Tim Ivorson completed the race a little bit further behind. The results meant that the A team maintained their 6th position in the second division of the league. The fourth and last race will be held on Saturday, February 20th in Lancing. The coming week We look forward to another week free of snow and ice with the normal training sessions. It was good to see the healthy numbers at training at Imberhorne School last Thursday.
Sunday, January 17th Another week of cancellations except for the Sunday morning session which we moved to Imberhorne School – East Court was very very wet but the snow had disappeared at Imberhorne. And with the sun shining on a mild morning it made for good training conditions. The weather looks as if we will be kinder to us this week – and we expect that all our sessions will go ahead this week. Sussex and Surrey Indoor Championships We now have information about this year’s Sussex and Surrey Indoor Championships. The two counties get together to hold both of their championships at the Sutton Indoor Arena. This year the championships will be held on Saturday, March 6th and Sunday, March 7th. These championships are open to everybody to enter and your coaches will give you more information over the next few weeks. It would be great to get a large number competing. 13th January 2010 Due to snow and ice there will be no training this Thursday 14th of January at Imberhorne School.
(We will wait until the weekend to decide if Sunday morning training can go ahead at East Court.)
Here is some excellent news about one of our athletes. Ryan Spivey entered the South of England Under 15 Indoor Pentathlon championships at Lee Valley in North London last Sunday (January 10th). And I am pleased to tell you that Ryan came first. Included in the 5 events Ryan produced a couple of personal bests - in the long jump he went over 5 metres for the first time with 5.25 metres, and in the shot he threw 9.50 metres.
So congratulations to Ryan. In March he will take part in the UK Indoor Pentathlon Championships in Sheffield.
January 2010 The Sussex Cross-Country Championships were held on Saturday on a sunny but very cold day in Brighton’s Stanmer Park. Much of the course had benefited from the effects of the sun, although some parts were still frozen. The under 13 girls race was first and we had two athletes taking part in a race over 3,000 metres. Gemma Francis finished 28th in a time of 16 minutes and 53 seconds with Eleanor Killick-Bird 33rd in 17 minutes and 28 seconds. We only had one runner in the mens race – Tony Crossley. Tony is twice the age of many of the athletes taking part and 67th place out of 109 finishers was a good result. This race was held over 12,000 metres (about 7 and a half miles) and Tony finished in 55 minutes and 46 seconds.
Looking ahead After the Christmas/New Year break we start training again this week. The weights group re-start on Tuesday evening at Sackville School and we will be back at Imberhorne School on Thursday evening. The weather is due to remain very cold all week and so you should remember to wear plenty of warm clothing at Imberhorne – gloves and a hat are recommended as well as your normal training clothes. Our cross-country runners find themselves back in action this coming Saturday when the third match in this season’s Sussex Cross-Country League takes place in Bexhill.
Calendar for this week Tuesday – weights group at Sackville School Saturday – Sussex Cross-Country League at Bexhill Sunday – East Court training 10.30 to 11.45
Sunday, November 29th, 2009 (4:45pm) The Sussex Cross-Country League match at Plumpton saw a wet course, although one that was not quite as muddy as had been feared. The senior men were able to field two teams of 4 athletes each. Tony Crossley was our first runner home in 60th place (36 minutes and 55 seconds) with Ben Ivorson 69th (37:45) just ahead of Simon Moore in 72nd place (38:01). Lance Quirico was the fourth runner in the A team in 99th place (40:27). The B team's runners were Steve Warner (123rd), Tim Best (124th), Graham Taylor (132nd) and Tim Ivorson (135th). In earlier races Gemma Francis was 22nd and Chloe Hollamby 31st in the under 13 girls race, while Izzy Turnbull was 13th in the under 15 girls race. Earlier in the week I was able to attend a Sportshall indoor athletics
match at Sackville School between 5 of the local primary schools.
This was organised by Jake Endersby from Sackville School and some
of our own members who go to Sackville School were there to help
the primary school children. It was a fantastic 90 minutes as the
primary school children took part in a number of relay races, and
then in a range of field events designed for an indoor sports hall.
The noise coming from the children as they cheered on their team-mates
bounced round the hall. The enthusiasm that was shown was hugely
encouraging - how as a club could we harness that enthusiasm ?? Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 (9:00pm) This coming Saturday, November 28th sees the second round of matches in this year's Sussex Cross-Country League. This fixture takes place at Plumpton and is normally a rather muddy course - after all the recent rain another muddy afternoon looks likely. Further information about this match is available from Lance Quirico for the senior mens team and Alf Smart for the other age-groups. We are having to put a temporary hold on new athletes joining our
junior group for Thursday training as the numbers currently attending
are as many as we are able to handle. We will put any new prospective
new athletes from school years 6, 7 or 8 onto a waiting list - and
will contact them when space becomes available. Monday, November 16th, 2009 (8:30pm) Last Thursday saw the first bad weather of this year's winter training when we had a wild wet and windy night at Imberhorne School. Nevertheless we had 20 junior athletes and15 older athletes turn up for the sessions in which everybody got soaking wet. Let's hope we all got a nice hot bath when we got home. In contrast to the above (and the continued bad weather on both Friday and Saturday) the Sunday morning groups at East Court had some warm sunshine to train in - and there were 11 athletes in Alf Smart and Malcolm Green's group. Looking ahead This coming Friday, November 20th sees the under 13 athletes from
the summer of 2009 (and some of the under 15 athletes) getting together
for an end-of-season celebration. Details available from Janet Hollamby. Monday, November 9th, 2009 (8:00pm) Six of the club's road runners took part in the Reigate Priory Cross Country Relay yesterday on a glorious sunny autumn day and finishing in 27th place. This is the first time in many years that we have been able to field a team. The runners were Simon Moore (16 minutes and 40 seconds), Dan Thomas (21:08), Tim Best (19:23), Lance Quirico (18:07), Steve Warner (20:15) and Tony Crossley (17:02) - making a total time of 1 hour, 52 minutes and 35 seconds. So well done to them and let's hope for similar numbers at the
next Sussex Cross-Country league match at the end of November. Sunday, November 1st, 2009 (7:00pm) I'm writing this just after coming back from this morning's training session at East Court - pouring with rain and horribly windy. While I sat in the car 6 of our younger athletes - Hannah and Ellie Peadon, Izzy and Michael Turnbull, Amy Hewitt and Sarah Killick-Bird - together with Izzy and Michael's mum and dad went for a 30 minute run through the East Court woods. They all arrived back with a healthy glow and very wet feet. Well done to all of them - and when you produce some personal bests next summer you will be able to look back on today as one of the main reasons. While we expected last week's half-term school holidays to have
an effect on the numbers at Imberhorne School for Thursday's training
we were surprised at how many of you couldn't be there. Maybe you
assumed we wouldn't be training…… well we were. Sunday, October 25th, 2009 (8:00pm) The first of this season's Brooks Sussex Cross-Country league matches took place on Saturday at Goodwood on the South Downs. The races for the young athletes took place in a very heavy mist - so thick was that a Land Rover with all its lights on had to drive round in front of the runners to show them where to go. By the time the adult athletes were running the mist had disappeared and so the older athletes were able to run in reasonable conditions. We don't have the full results yet. We had Gemma Francis in the under 13 girls race, Michael Turnbull in the under 13 boys race while Izzy Turnbull and Charlotte Bidgway ran in the under 15 girls race. In the very difficult conditions all four athletes finished their races and are to be congratulated on doing so - especially for Charlotte who ran for us for the first time. The other three junior athletes competed for us regularly through the summer. The senior men found themselves well down on numbers. In the last match last winter we had 8 athletes. But for a variety of reasons we were only able to field three athletes - Tim Best, Tim Ivorson and Graham Taylor. Looking ahead Many of you will be on half-term holidays this week (and some of
you may be on holiday). However training continues as normal with
weight training on Tuesday, Imberhorne School on Thursday and East
Court on Sunday morning. Sunday, October 18th, 2009 (7:00pm) Our road-runners have been busy over the last few weeks as they prepare for the winter season ahead. So far conditions have been good, but we know that rougher conditions lie ahead in the coming months. The Lewes Downland 10 mile race saw 5 of our athletes taking part. Tony Crossley was our first runner to finish in 68 minutes and 58 seconds - first vet 55 and 30th overall. Lance Quirico next in 74 minutes and 17 seconds for 70th place with Tim Best in just over 86 minutes. Steve Warner, back racing after breaking his shoulder, was round in 89 minutes and Graham Taylor completed the squad with a time of 97 minutes. Dan Thomas made his first appearance in club colours in the London Royal Parks Half Marathon - a race taking the runners through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, St James Park and Green Park. Dan set a new personal best of 1 hour and 53 minutes. More locally the Forest Row 10 kilometres race saw Lance Quirico in fourth place with Colin Day close behind in sixth place (with a new pb of 41 minutes and 52 seconds). Tim Best was 16th in just under 47 minutes. Looking ahead This coming Saturday the Brooks Sussex Cross-Country League starts
with the first match at Goodwood. The senior men will be well represented,
we hope, and Alf Smart will be encouraging younger athletes to take
part. Sunday, October 11th, 2009 (7:20pm) 2009 Primary Schools Cross Country Races Another hugely successful and enjoyable afternoon at East Court for this year's East Grinstead Primary Schools Cross-Country Championships with students from Sackville and Imberhorne Schools helping the club to make the afternoon run smoothly. Cloud and occasional very light rain meant that it wasn't as warm as we have had in many of the recent years - and probably made for better running conditions for the athletes. The full results can be found here and you will see that it was again Notre Dame who came out on top in both the boys and girls races. So very well done to them. Two of our own athletes earned fourth places - Dannique Duggan in the girls race running for Lingfield School, and Peter Jenkins in the boys race running for St Marys. And a big vote of thanks to our own members who made everything happen as well as it did. Sunday, October 4th, 2009 (6:15pm) This coming Sunday, October 11th sees us again organising the East Grinstead Primary Schools Cross-Country championships at East Court. The girls race is at 2pm with the boys starting half an hour later at 2.30. We need help throughout the day, starting at 10 am when we begin to mark out the course. Then the athletes will start to arrive shortly after 1 o'clock and we need helpers to make sure the athletes have got their numbers and are ready for their races. And a number of marshals need to be in place round the course to make sure the runners know where they have to go. This is always a great afternoon and let's hope the weather is on our side again. We will aim to get the full results on the website by 8pm next Sunday. We have over 130 entrants in both races. Before the 2009 summer season disappears some late action from Exeter where Ryan Spivey included two big personal bests in a late season pentathlon - 4.83 metres in the long jump and 1.57 in the high jump. Looking ahead Training is now following its winter pattern. This Tuesday, October 4th the weight training group start their winter work at Sackville School, starting at 7.30pm. Normal Thursday training at Imberhorne School follows and the Sunday groups at East Court will still train even though some of the coaches will be busy with the preparations for the Primary School Cross-Country. Looking further ahead the club's Presentation Evening to celebrate
the successes of the 2009 summer season will be held on Wednesday,
November 18th at Imberhorne School. More information in the
next couple of weeks. Monday, September 28th, 2009 (8:45pm) The 2009 summer track and field season is just about at its end
with the Sussex (and Surrey) Combined Events Championships bringing
the competitive season to its end. Phil Spivey was competing in the veteran men's pentathlon and after a reasonable javelin throw an injury forced him out of the competition as he was preparing for the long jump. And finally Tom Gardner took on 10 events spread over the two days in his under 20 decathlon. Tom spent some time two days before the event learning the basics of pole vaulting and he did well to come fourth in the event. His pole vault pb is now better than his high jump pb. Away from these championships Tessa Martin took part in an Open Meeting at Twickenham and set a new club record in the under 17 ladies' triple jump. Her 10.52 metres beating Heather Driscoll's record from 2001 by one centimetre ! Looking ahead Training is now moving to its winter pattern. This coming Thursday, October 1st we will see a number of new school year 6 members coming along for the first time, joining in with our existing under 13 athletes from 7 pm to 8 pm. At the same time year 9 and 10 athletes will move to the later 7.30 to 8.45 session. Next Sunday, October 4th sees the start of winter training at East Court. We meet at the mansion in East Court for a 10.30 start. While all athletes are welcome the training is intended for those wishing to take their athletics seriously, and wishing to train all of the winter, regardless of the weather !! A reminder of the primary schools cross-country races to be held
on Sunday, October 11th at East Court. Your help is needed
- in the morning getting the course ready and then in the early
afternoon in helping the various school teams get ready for the
races. Plus we will be running a tea bar for athletes and parents.
So please do your best to help us on the day. Sunday, September 13th, 2009 (6:15pm) The ladies and under 15 girls team started the season at Wimbledon at the end of April and finished it last week at Wimbledon. With wins in the previous 4 matches we wanted to be greedy and make it a clean sweep. And with 7 senior athletes and 9 juniors we had our biggest team for some time. The juniors in particular were able to field A and B strings in all 10 of their individual events - I cannot ever remember that happening before although I suspect one or two older members will remember previous occasions. The seniors again couldn't fill the longer races but we filled all the throws and jumps. Our full results can be found here. The highlights for me came from another strong run by Izzy Turnbull in the junior 800 metres and Hannah Peadon's junior discus throw win. Plus Sarah Killick-Bird's high jump pb, Chloe Hollamby in the 100 metres and a new pb from Sarah Rusling in the high jump - if only we can get Sarah to do the flop rather than scissors !!! All in all a good afternoon and we came out on top by a substantial margin to complete an excellent season for the ladies and girls. Hannah McGarty started the season by doing the first throw in the first event in April and finished it by running the last leg of the 4 x 400 metres relay in this last meeting in September. The Under 13 team had their Sussex league final on Sunday at K2 in Crawley. We had 9 girls, but only 4 boys, and it was good to see the encouragement our athletes gave each other. Full results are available here. Looking ahead With the track and field season more or less at its end we are now training only on Thursday evenings. Many of the senior athletes are taking a rest at the moment and will start their winter work in October. The Tuesday evening weights sessions starts at Sackville School on Tuesday, October 6th and the East Court Sunday morning sessions re-start on October 4th. And while we are talking about October the primary schools cross-country races will be held on Sunday, October 11th and - as ever - we will need help with this event. In the morning getting the course ready and then in the early afternoon in helping the various school teams get ready for the races. Plus we will be running a tea bar for athletes and parents. So please do your best to help us on the day.
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