East Grinstead & District AC

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Izzy Turnbull found the under 15 girls race over 4,000 metres hard-going and she finished in 24th place in 25 minutes and 13 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.

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.

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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 ??

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
In the championships held at Horsham we had three under 13 girls competing - Eleanor Killick-Bird, Chloe Hollamby and Gemma Francis - and they found the going hard in their 5 event pentathlon. Ryan Spivey, a first year under 15, has had a difficult year with injury but did well to earn third place in his pentathlon. Sarah Rusling has a Surrey qualification, rather than Sussex, and took part in the Surrey under 15 girls pentathlon being held alongside the Sussex event.

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 !

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.

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.

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.