You’d think with a four day Bank Holiday weekend that I’d have had plenty of time to keep on top of things but it’s been quite the opposite. So, it’s about time I tried to catch up with everyone and fill people in of what’s been going on far and wide for those wearing the Wolverhampton & Bilston vest.
Let’s start by going north to Scotland where our distance duo finished yet another marathon, this time in Edinburgh, with Dave Joynson confirming his title as Mr Consistency finishing in 3.10.54 in 561st place and Gillian Mitchell bagged another race towards the target of 200 marathons coming home in 7018th place in 5.03.57. Sarah Thurley finished 1st lady and 17th overall in the Grasmere Gallop 10k trail race in Cumbria finishing in 48.40 (also bagging a 20.14 parkrun PB, although as it’s not a race this doesn’t count), and Rob Edwards was 90th in 43.32 at the Alcester 10k.
A large group travelled to Solihull for the UK Youth Development League Upper Midland North/East C meeting. Eugene Kyei came 4th in 12.2 in the 100 U20M A race with Nathan Kabeya coming home in 3rd in 12.7 in the 100 U20M B race. Henry Boakye was 3rd in the 100 U17M A race in 12.5 and Callum Bee was 1st in 12.8 in the B race. Rita Amune was 3rd in 13.6 in the 100 U20W A and Elizabeth Amune was 5th in 15.1 in the 100 U17W event. Over 200 metres Henry Boakye was 2nd in 25.4 in the 200 U17M A race and Callum Bee finished 2nd in 26.7 in the B race. Jessica Yang was 5th in 29.7 in the 200 U17W A and then came 4th in the 800 U17W A race in 2.46.8. Noah Sandland came 4th in 4.38.5 in the 1500 U20M A and Joe St Quinton was 2nd in 4.54.4 in the B race. James Neilson was 1st in 4.32.1 in the 1500 U17M A race. Charlotte Higgins crossed the line in 2nd place in 13.5 in the 80H U17W A race and Josef Koren was 1st in the 100H U17M A event in 23.1. And in the relays the U20 mens team came 3rd in 53.9.
In the jumps there was a 4th place finish for Henry Boakye in the U17M A long jump leaping 4.21, Rita Amune jumped 4.09 for 4th place in the U20W A event and Elizabeth Amune finished in 5th place with 3.56 in the U17W A competition.
In the throws there was a win for Josef Koren in the 1.5k discuss for U17M A with a throw of 14.30 and another win for Callum Bee, in the B event, with a throw of 12.13. Charlotte Higgins claimed a win in the 1k discuss for U17W with a throw of 12.04 and Josef Koren was 3rd with a throw of 16.09 in the U17M A javelin.
As we moved into the big Bank Holiday there was a big event in Bedford at the BIGish Jumps & Throws Fest where Finley Powell gained some great experienced rubbing shoulders with some international jumpers looking for European and Commonwealth qualification. Finley struggled a little with the speed of the track as it was far quicker than he was used to, which impacted his run up and take off point but still won his age group with a jump of 1.65.
The club were amongst the medals as the Midlands Master Track & Field Championships with Greg Asbury showing what a week away training with Ross Jones’s group in the Forest of Dean can produce claiming the gold medal over 1500m in a time of 4.51.75 (to be confirmed as official results are slow).
And on Sunday the club pulled together to host a home game in the Midland Track & Field Division 3 competing against Stratford upon Avon, Bromsgrove & Redditch, Cheltenham & County Harriers, Yate, Worcester and a one man team from Sutton in Ashfield. In the 100m Naim Awal ran 12.4 in 6th place in the A race and Nacardo Lewis ran 12.3 in 4th place in the B race. In the 200 Mark Carnaghan was 5th in 25.8 in the A race and Stefan Dumiitrache was 4th in 26.1 in the B race. There was a 4th place finish for Mark Carnaghan over 400m finishing in 58.9 in the A race. Anthony Parkes finished a fine runner up in the 800 A race with a time of 2.03.2 and Greg Asbury was 4th in 2.17.1 in the B race. Jack Bonser ran a superb tactical race to claim victory in the 1500m A race stopping the clock in 4.12.2 and Noah Sandland was 2nd in the B race in 4.39.3. There was another win in the 3000m with Pravesh Patel breaking the tape in 9.28.0 with Dan Turner finishing runner up in the B race in 9.50.7. There was another win in the 110m hurdles as Alex Nwenwu travelled from Loughborough to represent the club finishing in 16.2. The mens team finished 4th in the 4 x 100 relay, the team of Samuel, Carnaghan, Deans and Lewis clocking 52.8.
Lloyd Hudson-Smith dusted off his spikes to claim 6th place in the long jump with a leap of 3.86. Chris Sandland was 6th in the shot with a throw of 8.90, Mark Carnaghan was 6th in the javelin with a throw of 28.99 in the A competition and then claimed 6th in the discuss with a throw of 20.00. Chris Sandland recorded 19.09 in the javelin B event and Craig Hancock was 4th in the B discuss with 12.92.
In the ladies competition Rita Amune was 5th in the 100m A race in 13.7 and Tammy Sanders was 2nd in 13.1 in the B race and then claimed 5th place with a time of 27.2 in the 200m A race. Joanne Hackett said that the last time she had raced on the track it was made of cinders before placing 6th over 400m in 91.2. Louise Hackett was 2nd over 800m in the A race in a time of 2.14.3 and Abi Wells-Day was 1st in the B race in 2.45.6. Louise then went on to win the 1500m A race in a time of 4.42.7 with the ever-reliable Louise Webster finishing 2nd in the B race in 6.14.9. There was a club double over 3000m with Beth Tabor crossing the line in 1st place in 10.40.9 in the A race and Holly Baddeley winning the B race in 11.30.7.
In the jumps there was 4th place finish for Rita Amune with a jump of 4.53 in the A competition.
In the throws Louise Webster finished 4th in the shot with a throw of 8.70 in the A event and Amelia Hancock was 3rd with 6.63 in the B event. Louise then finished 6th in the javelin with a 20.23 throw and then won the hammer with a distance of 37.71 with Amelia Hancock winning the B competition throwing 36.39. Amelia then threw 23.45 for 2nd place in the A discuss with Louise taking on the B event and also finishing 2nd throwing 18.39.
As guests running in non-scoring events, over 100m there was a win for Josiah Johnson in 12.2 and a 3rd place for Nathan Kabeya with 12.3. Over 200m Naim Awal was 1st in 25.7, Michael Deans 2nd in 26.1, Nathan Kabeya 3rd in 29.2 and Thomas Machin 4th in 40.7. Beth Dyall took part in the 1500m finishing in a time of 5.04.9. Richard Wright ran 9.51.4 in the 3000m and Ella Semple won the 3000m as a guest in a time of 10.20.4
And finally a continental trio took part in a marathon in Hamburg with Phil Evans finishing in 3.45, Clive Barrett in 5.10 and Jo Lane in 5.47, however that’s not the whole story as the marathon was only the conclusion to a long day in the Hamburg Ironman Triathlon, a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike section and the small part of a full marathon to finish. I wouldn’t normally include triathlon results as we’re not a triathlon club but by special request Phil crossed the line in a total time of 11.37.02 in 14th in his age group, Clive finished in 13.26.47 and Jo stopped the clock in 14.53.41.
Dave Norman
