The busy weeks keep coming thick and fast for athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, at the moment if we haven’t got some representation on the track then we’ll have someone on the road or even running up and down a hill somewhere. This week we managed all three.
Beth Rawlinson travelled the relatively short distance, for her, to take part in the Stiperstones Fell Race, part of Mercia Fell Runners midweek summer series and was rewarded with a win. Beth crossed the line as first lady and 11th overall covering the 6.6k and 390m of ascent in 34.55.
There was another win for the ladies in Bromsgrove on Saturday evening at the Timberhonger 10k, before anyone asks what a Timberhonger is, it’s the lane of the lane that the race runs down and back, it also seems to be where they keep all the hills in Bromsgrove as the course took in some brutal ascents. The 30 degree heat certainly didn’t help. Holly Baddeley showed that her consistent training and a good coaching plan are paying dividends claiming victory in a time of 44.09 and placing 35th overall. Dave Norman continued his return to fitness in 11th place, and 2nd in his age group in 41.12.
There was track action for two of our younger female athletes with Louise Hackett taking part in the England Athletics U20 Championships at Bedford where she finished 2nd over 1500m in a time of 4.31.59. And Isobelle Jones pulled on an England vest in the SIAB Schools Track and Field meeting in Belfast when she also raced over 1500m, also finishing 2nd in a new PB of 4.27.68, only 2 seconds behind the winner.
The Seniors travelled down the M5 for their track action at the weekend and stopped at Bristol for the Midland Track and Field Division 3 meeting at Yate, with both the men’s and ladies teams finishing 6th on the day. Naim Awal was 5th in the 100A race in 12.11 and Marcus Facey-Dell was 4th in the B race in 13.15. Naim also recorded 25.81 for 6th place in the 200m A and Marcus was 4th in 27.08 in the B. Tom Pryor ran 54.62 to place 3rd in the 400m A race and also raced over 800m finishing 3rd again in 2.02.58. Anthony Parkes ran in the 800m B race and clocked 2.03.93 for 2nd. Jack Bonser crossed the line in 4.09.00 for 3rd place in the 1500m A race. Over 300m Richard Wright was 4th in 10.21.99 in the A race.
In the field there was a 4th place finish in the long jump for Nacardo Lewis with a leap of 5.60 in the A competition and Lloyd Hudson-Smith jumped 3.65 to finish 4th in the B event. Lloyd also tried his hand at the throws with 7.90 in the shot for 5th place and 6th in the discus with a 16.54 metre throw. Craig Hancock had a busy and sunburnt afternoon with 5th place in the shot with a throw of 5.47, 5th in the javelin with 9.25, 7th in the hammer with 10.05 and 6th in the discus with 13.06. It’s clear that Craig must like chucking stuff.
For the ladies there was a 2nd place for Tammy Saunders in the 100m A race in 12.02, and another 2nd in the 200m A race with 25.62. Audrey Wilson made a long-awaited comeback with 5th in the 800m in 3.01.34and then clocked 6.12.45 in the 1500m B race. Louise Webster was 6th in 6.12.45 in the A race. Louise was then 3rd in the shot with 9.07, 4th in the javelin with 29.67, won the A hammer competition with 41.30 and was 3rd in the B discus with 17.69. Amelia Hancock confirmed that throwing runs in the family with 3rd in the shot with 6.46, won the hammer with a throw of 35.15 and was 2nd in the discus with 22.67.
In the non-scoring events Nacardo Lewis was 5th over 100m with a time of 11.90 and 2nd in the 200m with 24.63.
Dave Norman
