This will be a bumper double issue this week as I catch up on things having been away. Hopefully I won’t miss anything out, I certainly haven’t forgotten the exploits of Dave Joynson and Gill Mitchell in the Stavanger Marathon but they only have results from 2023 at the moment so we’ll park that for the time being and there are also results from the Midlands Vets League that are a long time coming.
We’ll kick off with our final track and field meeting in the Midland Counties League Division 3NE at Burton where Psalm Roberts-Nash finished 3rd over 100 A in 11.6, Kyle Astley-Weah was 3rd in the 100 B in 12.1, Gabriella Okafor was 5th in the 100 A in 14.1, Mariama Foster was 4th in the 100 B in 14.4 and Veronika Foster was 2nd in the 100 C in 15.6. Over 200 there was a 3rd place finish for Psalm Roberts-Nash in the A race in 24.0, Kyle Astley-Weah was 1st in the B race in 24.2. There was a 5th place finish for Mariama Foster over 400 A in 78.8, Veronika Foster was 2nd in 72.0 in the 400 B and Gabriella Foster was 2nd in the 400 C in 75.5. Over 800 there was a 3rd place finish for Millie Williams in 2.30.9 in the A race. Over 1500 here was a 3rd place finish for Lucie Tait-Harris in 5.10.9 in the A, in the B race Louise Webster was 2nd in 6.01.8. Over 3000 there was a 3rd place for Tom Isherwood in 9.24.3, Ben Foster was 5th in 9.44.7. Lucie Tait-Harris finished 2nd in 11.19.6 over 3000. There was a 3rd place finish in the high jump for Theo Nicholls with 1.60, Theo also leapt to 4.82 in the long jump. Naim Awal was 5th in the B long jump with 3.72. Amelia Hancock took part in the A long jump placing 5th with 2.89m.
In the throws Lee Thornton placed 1st in the A shot with 12.22, Craig Hancock was 4th in the B event with 5.29, Louise Webster was 3rd in the A shot with 8.69, Amelia Hancock was 3rd in the B shot with 6.19, Lee Thornton was 3rd in the A discus with 34.11, Joe Deans was 4th in the B discus with 15.62 and Craig Hancock was 1st in the C discus with 13.23. Amelia Hancock was 5th in the A discus with 19.23, Louise Webster placed 4th in the B discus with 16.68. Matthew Sutton placed 2nd in the A hammer with 53.49, Lee Thornton was 1st in the B hammer with 31.60, Amelia Hancock was 3rd in the A hammer with 39.40, Louise Webster was 1st in the B hammer with 39.38. Lee Thornton was 3rd in the A javelin with 35.19, Naim Awal was 4th in the B javelin with 10.16, Joe Deans was 2nd in the C javelin with 20.58. Louise Webster was 2nd in the A javelin with 22.09, Amelia Hancock was 5th in the B javelin with 9.56.
There was club representation at the End of Season T&F Open at Nuneaton with Aupromeyo Mukherjee placing 1stin the heat in 25.12 and Samantha Agomoh placed 5th in 25.81 in their heat over 200. Over 100 Samatha placed 1stin her heat in 12.28, Aupromeyo Mukherjee was 4th in a heat in 12.26, James Crust was 5th in his heat in 11.97. Sam Thursfield placed 7th over 1500 in 4.29.81.
There was more track action in the Telford Games where Georgina Neilson was 3rd with 39.63, Amelia Hancock was 4th with 28.43 and Vienos Abdullah was 5th with 36.16 in the hammer. Thillana Owen was 1st in her heat over 100 with 13.90, and then finished 5th in the U13G final with 13.89, Samantha Agomoh was 1st in the 100 heat with 12.80, and then won the U15G 100 final with 12.53, with Michelle Okafor placing 6th in 13.44, Gabriella Okafor was 3rd in her 100 heat in 13.73, La-Taunya Samuels was 1st in her 100 heat with 12.45, Kyle Astley-Weah clocked 11.79 to take 3rd place in 11.79, Chyloh McKenzie won his 100 heat in 11.59, with Aupromeyo Mukherjee placing 4th in the same heat in 12.43. James Crust was 1st in this heat over 440 with 52.55, La-Taunya Samuels won her 400 with 1.00.33 with Freya Hooper 5thin the same race in 1.09.49. Aisha Abdulla won the U13G shot with 12.16, Ameillia Hancock was 5th in the discus with 22.52. Samantha Agomoh won her 100 heat in 26.21, Chyloh McKenzie won his 200 heat in 23.79, with Aupromeyo Mukherjee placing 4th in 25.07. Gabriella Okafor was 5th over 100 in 29.79, La-Taunya Samuels was 3rd over 200- in 26.07, and then placed 3rd in the Seniors/U20s final, 1st Senior, with 26.07, Kyle Astley-Weah placed 4th in the Senior final over 200 with 23.60. Sam Thursfield was 1st in his heat over 1500 with 4.23.93, Danny Malone placed 4th in the same race in 4.33.89, Samantha Agomoh was 1st in the U15G final over 200 in 26.34, Michelle Okafor placed 6th in 28.59, Chyloh McKenzie won the U15B final with 23.79 with Aupromeyo Mukherjee placing 4th in 25.07.
A couple travelled to the Lake District to take part in the Lakeland Trails Keswick 15k, a semi fell race up and down the valley with some thigh shredding climbs and gravity defy descents. Dave Norman took part in the Derwentwater Trail Challenge coming 45th in 1.43.29 and Pete Hood was 26th in the Derwentwater Trail Race in 1.26.00 claiming 1st prize in his age group.
There was plenty of criticism over the Wolverhampton 10k and half marathon however that didn’t stop athletes from the club making the best of the situation with Alex Kelly claiming a momentous win over 10k with 36.56 and over the half marathon distance there was a win for Lorna Hulme who was 1st lady and 17th overall in 1.30.20 and Lucie Tait-Harris “fresh” from a double track outing 24 hours earlier placed 2nd lady in 21st in 1.32.11. Also, Steve Newman placed 9th in 1.24.11, Dave Joynson was 39th in 1.37.30, Adam Guy was 41st in 1.39.12, Rob Edwards was 65th in 1.44.32.
Elsewhere Tony Cheema produced a massive PB in the Cheshire Half Marathon with a 32nd place in 1.20.41 to take 3rd in his age group. Also over the half marathon distance there was a 211th placed finish for Dylan Illidge in a rapid 1.18.23, Phil Evans placed 2492nd in 1.37.11 and Rob Carrington placed 9292nd in 1.51.04 in the Great North Run.
There was more action on the tarmac at the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon where Luke Maskew placed 4th in 1.10.43, Alex McVie was 36th in 1.21.5, Paul Dean was 46th in 1.23.33 and Dave Newport placed 136th in 1.36.02. And there was a win for Dan Maskew in the Brewood Woggle 10k who crossed the line to take victory in 34.46, almost 3 minutes clear of the runner up, Lee Pearson placed 4th in 40.05 to take 1st place in his age group, Paul Rogers ran his first race for the club finishing in 7th and winning his age group with 41.01, Veronika Foster was 3rd lady, 1st in her age group and 27th overall in 48.35
And finally, we had either the culmination of the last cross-country season or the start of a new one with the rearranged Saucony National Cross Country Championships at Weston Park. Delayed from its original end of February date the rearranged renewal took place in glorious sunshine on a lush green course, rather than a muddy brown one. Numbers were down from the usual date in the calendar but there were still plenty of club athletes in attendance with the race on the doorstep. Megan White placed 45th in 21.34 in the U17W race, Fred Jones was 18th in 14.01, Jack Stockton was 29th in 14.09, Will Hughes 52nd in 14.32 and Sam Southall place 149thin 15.56 in the U15B race with the team placing 9th. There were plenty out in the U13G race with Kiki Guest coming home in 58th place in 13.07, Phoebe Bridgen was 154th in 14.27, Kaleah Moulder was 163rd in 14.39, Maya Rosa Jelic Ramesh was 166th in 14.43, Amira Moulder was 171st in 14.50, Clara Butler-Montero was 173rd in 14.51, Gracie Billett 183rd in 15.07, Alice Cattell 189th in 15.07, Evelyn Haines 192nd in 15.10, Adelaide Southall 224th in 16.12, with the team finishing in 18th place. In the U13B race Theo Ulfig placed 72nd in 11.59, Nahum Worrall was 159th in 13.04 and Harry Monkton was 171st in 13.21. Zoleka Mzuku was 46th in the U15G race in 16.58. In the Senior womens race there was a 130th place finish for Emily Simmonds in 42.11, Vanessa Landreau Barnes was 155th in 43.39, Danni Braine was 226th in 52.14, Imogen Harley placed 244th in 56.23 and Julia Condon was 257thin 1.03.03, to finish 27th team. James Neilson was 38th in the Junior mens race in 38.20. And in the Senior mens race Jon Hart finished in 97th place in 43.42, Ben Foster was 184th in 48.12, Gary Worrall placed 211th in 49.22, Ashley Atkinson was 216th in 49.40, Paul Marson 234th in 50.30, Derrick Milligan was 358th in 57.32, Pete Hood 367th in 57.49 and Phil Evans 406th in 1.00.47. This was good enough to place the team 12th in the country.
Dave Norman
