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11/05/08 County Track & Field Championship 11th May 2008

Gloucester athletes performed well at the Gloucestershire County Track & Field Championships coming away with 36 medals in total. Ashleigh Naylor won both the Junior Men’s (JM) 100m and 200m races making the number one junior sprinter in the county. Naylor also added another gold in the Triple Jump (JM) and a silver medal in the long jump (JM). Gloucester’s two top male Hammer throwers battled it out for Gold with Justin Sysum getting the better of Wayne Powell just by three metres. With no steeplechase in the county championship Steve Millward proved he has the speed over the flat winning the men’s 5000m with a fast time of 15:26.1

Ollie Cooper won the Triple Jump title for a second year in a row and collected silver in the Discus and bronze in the high jump.  U13 Girl Harriet Hunter collected gold medals in both the 100m and long jump and had a silver in the 70m hurdles. Lewis Cavanagh continues to show that he is an athlete to keep an eye out for the future winning both the U15 Boys 100m and long jump.

Ryan Preddy won a very keenly contested 400m in a time of 49.0 seconds showing that he is not far off his best. Other winners were Richard De Camps in the JM 800m., Amber Watson U15G 800m, Arthur Daley M55 5000m, Rachel Davies U15G shot putt, Marion Loveridge F45 shot putt, Scott Price UB hammer, and Tim Williams U15B hammer.

07/05/08

Stroud Beer Race 7th May 2008

Gloucester AC runners took part in the Stroud Beer Race over a very hilly 7.2 mile course which consisted of three loops. First home for the club in a finishing time of 44 min 36 seconds was Jeremy Mower placed 8th out of the 110 finishers. At the first mile Mower was up with the leaders but gradually dropped off as he found the pace to quick, however his strength enabled him to pull a couple of places back in the last mile. This all bodes well as Mower ran the race off some heavy mileage as he prepares to run for Wales on May 18th at Cardiff in the Anglo-Plate 100km Home International race. Second home for the club was Alistair Wakefield (21st) in 48:53, followed by Dave Spackman (28th overall, 3rd Vet 60) in 50:40 and Bogdan Jochym, Vet 50 (69th) in 58:45.

Mower to run for Wales at 100km.

05/05/08

Five Gloucester athletes travelled to Millfield on Monday night for the British Miler's Club meeting and all recorded new personal bests. The BMC use pace makers to enable athletes to run a certain time. Rich De Camps (U20) was supposed to be in a 1:57 race with 57/58 for the first lap but poor pace-making took them through the first 200 in 31 seconds. At 350m De Camps realised that it was too slow and he took it on and won the race in a new PB of 1:59 with negative splits of 61/58. Amber Watson, aged fourteen was second in her 800m race with a new PB of 2:17.59. After making his debut for the senior men's team two days earlier seventeen year old Ben Jones recorded a new 800m PB of 2:07.70. Gethin Richards, aged 14 years had a 800m PB of 2:20.7. Adam Thrall who at 12 years old was the youngest in his 1500m race came in first place with a PB of 4:46.23.

Andrew De Camps got through to semis at the BUSA championships and ran 1:54 in the 800m, he was reasonably satisfied as he had been down with a stomach bug the week before.

03/05/08 Midland Track & Field League Report

The eagerly anticipated Gloucester and Severn composite athletics team finally became a reality at Yate. Competing in the new Midlands Track & Field League Division Three, they stormed to victory in the opening fixture.

The team got off to an excellent start as Wayne Powell and Michael Tommey gained first places in the men's hammer A and B strings - the latter with a new personal best distance.

Nikita Morgan (PB) and Marion Loveridge then took first and second places respectively in the women's A and B competition.

As expected, the throwing events reaped ample rewards for the city unit.

Gareth Winter won the shot putt B event with his first ever throw over 10 metres, as did Justin Sysum in the discus B event and Leigh Pritchard in the javelin B.

Their victories were backed up by further second places from Loveridge in the women's shot putt and Beverley Jones in the women's discus.

On the track, Albert Gardiner showed he is on the road to recovery from illness and injury when he held on for victory in the men's 200m before cruising to an emphatic 400m win.

Steve Millward was a comfortable winner in the steeplechase with a PB, as were Lloyd Andrews in the 400m hurdles, Brendan Goss in the 110m hurdles and Richard de Camps in the 800m.

Special praise must go to the ladies who were depleted by non-availabilities, but they all rallied round and finished second ladies team behind a very strong Kettering ladies.

MIDLAND ATHLETICS LEAGUE DIV THREE, YATE: Gloucester & Severn 382, Kettering 364, Yate 355, Dudley & Stourbridge 292, Tipton 258, Corby 173.

EVENTS (A STRING FOLLOWED BY B): 100m Men - 4 Ashleigh Naylor 11.6, 5 Albert Gardiner 12.5; Women - 3 Cleo Lamber 13.3, 2 Rosalia Gombera 13.7. 200m Men - 4 Ashleigh Naylor 23.7, 1 Albert Gardiner 23.3; Women - 5 Cleo Lambert 28.8, 3 Rosalia Gombera 29.1. 400m Men - 2 Nico Constanti 52.6, 1 Albert Gardiner 51.0; Women - 5 Alex Purcell 69.2, 5 Amy Whitcher 76.7. 800m Men - 2 Nico Constanti 2:02.5, 1 Richard de Camps 2:05.1; Women - 5 Emma Jeffery 2:51.1, 4 Ann-Marie Edwards 3:04.2. 1500m Men - 3 Steve Millward 4:16.1, 3 Richard de Camps 4:29.3; Women - 5 Emma Jeffery 5:54.9, 3 Ann-Marie Edwards 6:16.1; 5000m Men: 3 Peter Stephens 16:29.8, 4 Simon Fortnam 17:25.4; 3000m Women - 4 Michelle Stark 14:00.5, 2 Fiona Roberts 14:44.7. 110mH Men - 1 Brendan Goss 17.5 (PB), 3 Nick Walker 24.4. 100mH Women - 3 Sarah Williams 21.6, 2 Rosalia Gombera 22.8. 400mH Men - 4 David Hoskins 64.3, 1 Lloyd Andrews 65.9; Women - 4 Sarah Williams 81.8, 1 Amy Whitcher 86.8; 2000ms/c Men - 1 Steve Millward 6:07.1 (PB), 2 Simon Fortnam 6:44.3. Shot Putt Men - 4 Wayne Powell 11.25m, 2 Gareth Winter 10.36m (PB); Women - 4 Beverley Jones 8.84m, 2 Marion Loveridge 7.50m. Discus Men - 3 Wayne Powell 37.66m, 1 Justin Sysum 32.46m; Women -3 Nikita Morgan 21.43m, 2 Beverley Jones 20.31m. Javelin Men - 3 Justin Sysum 44.03m, 1 Leigh Pritchard 43.74m; Women - 4 Amy Whitcher 15.29m, 4 Paula Whitcher 14.42m. Hammer Men - 1 Wayne Powell 52.25m, 1 Michael Tommey 45.77m (PB); Women - 1 Nikita Morgan 45.05m (PB), 2 Marion Loveridge 33.58m. Long jump Men - 2 Brendan Goss 5.91m, 3 Ashleigh Naylor 5.54m; Women - 5 Alex Purcell 4.20m, 3 Amy Whitcher 3.64m. Triple jump Men - 1 Ollie Cooper 12.52m. High jump Men - 4 Brendan Goss 1.65m, 3 Gareth Winter 1.55m; Women - 5 Sarah Williams 1.30m, 3 Cleo Lambert 1.30m. Pole vault Men - 2 Nick Walker 3.15m, 3 Brendan Goss 2.10m. 4 x 100m Men - 2 L. Pritchard, A. Naylor, L. Andrews, A. Gardiner 46.5; Women - 3 A. Purcell, A. Whitcher, R. Gombera, C. Lambert 55.8; 4 x 400m Men - 2 N. Constanti, B. Jones, D. Hoskins, A. Gardiner 3:39.4; Women - 5 S. Williams, M. Stark, F. Roberts, A. Purcell 5:15.5.

NATIONAL RANKINGS update 21/04/08

The recently released national  rankings for indoors athletics show that February was a golden time for Gloucester AC. Veteran Keith Short shows twice in the Over 55 age group 2nd with 2:15.29 in the four lap 800m on 17 Feb 08 in Birmingham  and a 2nd place ranking at 1500 in 4:38.84 on 23 Feb 08 in the  Midland masters Championships  with a personal best. On the 23rd February Keith Short finished in 3rd place in 800m at the British Masters Indoors Championship Over 55 age group in a time of 2:15.78

Earlier in the month Amber Watson ran 2:20.38 at 800m at the Birmingham Games to gain 5th place in national ranks. On the same date, 3 Feb, Sarah Hopkinson ran 4:29.76 to become 2nd under 20 at 16 years old in the Celtic Cup. This fine performance also gives her 20th rank overall.

Last weekend Gloucester AC and Severn AC held a joint training session two weeks before their first Midlands Men and Ladies Track & Field match where they will compete as a composite team. The event was held as a get to know each other better with athletes and officials invited. As part of the session some time trials were taken to shake off some of the rustiness from the winter. The weather was appalling with rain and strong winds. The two most notable times were by Ashleigh Naylor and Brendan Goss who both recorded 11.5 seconds for the 100 metres into a head wind. Naylor also ran 24.2 sec for 200 metres and Goss 24.6 sec in a rare outing at this distance. New signing 17 year old Ben Jones recorded the fastest 400m of the day in 57.6 sec and Severn AC's Mark James recorded 2:18.8 for 800m which was a good time in the conditions and as he ran it solo.

Jeremy Mower Gloucester AC's Mens Track & Field Team Manager said these are exciting times for the city in Track & Field, for the first time in over a decade we will have on show the best talent in Gloucester all in one team. The new league structure means that men and woman will all compete in one match as one team. Mower is hopeful that some athletes may come back to Gloucester AC or Severn AC now they see that we are together for Track & Field matches. Mower of Gloucester AC can be contacted on 01452 506174. In particular specialists such as hurdlers, pole vaulters and high jumpers are required for both men and women. This of course is mainly down to the fact that Gloucester has had no training facility for these events for over ten years, apart from the time when Severn AC bought a high jump facility only to have it destroyed by fire from vandals only a few months after it was installed. At the time this led to a young Mark Graham dropping out of the sport despite being one of the top high jump prospects in the country. Top ranked 400m hurdler John Cuff was another athlete who quit the sport as he did not have adequate facilities for his event. It has been hard work for the athletes and coaches at both clubs to get to where they are today with such poor facilities. Had things been better who knows Gloucester may have been in the National Leagues by now.

17/04/08

The Weston Prom Runs are an annual series of 9 five-mile races covering two laps of the famous Weston-Super-Mare promenade.  Weston AC is currently celebrating the 25th year of these events for this series.

A particularly strong easterly breeze dominated the race, which was more than evident on the return legs; this did not however thwart the 206 strong runners from competing, nor did this prevent some fine performances by the Gloucester AC runners.

First home for Gloucester AC in 5th place overall was Dominic Malsom (MV35), with a new Vet M35-39 club record of 27:58. This beats the clubs previous record set by Malsom at the Pilot Inn in January this year by an incredible 1½ minutes. Malsom was hotly pursued by Dave Gresswell (MV40) during much of the race; however Malsom’s stamina into the head wind over the final 1½ miles allowed a gap of 30 seconds to develop.  Meanwhile Gresswell finished in a very strong 9th overall position in a time of 28:31, just 4 seconds slower than his PB and club record for Vet 40-44.

Lee Smith (MV35) managed his first official sub 30 minute 5-mile race to come in 16th in 29:30, taking almost 2 minutes off his previous PB at this distance, and coach Ian Summers (MV40) keeping a strong sub six minute pace throughout, came in 18th position in a time of 29:39.

The results are testimony to the effort and hard work employed by Summers as endurance coach.

13/04/08 Flora London Marathon

Tom Randles was Gloucester AC’s first finisher in the London Marathon beating his only other run at the distance by 21 minutes. Randles training had been going quite well, and he knew he was stronger, fitter and faster than his previous attempt. He was aiming to go under 3 hours, and managed to keep a fairly steady pace throughout. He felt reasonably good and was on course for most of the race, despite the heavy downpour as he reached Canary Wharf, but he started getting slight signs of cramp at about 21 miles, which continued to become stronger and stronger until he had a full blown cramp attack in both legs at 24 miles exactly. Randles was completely immobilised, and struggled to make it to the hoardings. Randles said “Two Marshalls had to massage my calves for 4 minutes with me gritting my teeth and propped up against a lamp post before I could consider carrying on, and I was very concerned about being pulled out, but we managed to get my legs going again, and I ran the last two miles at a reasonable pace, and dug-deep to manage some sort of a sprint finish. I think I would have broken 2:50 comfortably had I not had any problems with the lactic acid build up”.

Overall, Tom found the race and atmosphere fantastic, the crowds really helped him, particularly when they were encouraging him to get back into the race during treatment. His family and friends of the other Gloucester runners were very vocal in their support, as his friends who had come along to support him were a huge help when the going got tough. All bodes quite well for the summer race-calendar, as Tom plans to get some speed work in. Randles will be going for the double when he tackles the London Triathlon in August.

Second home for Gloucester AC was Vet 40 Pete Lloyd, who although not as fast as in previous years, still had a good run to finish in 3 hrs 18 mins. Matt Wade finished in 3 hrs 36mins, a time which he more than deserved after a long winter putting in big training mileage in preparation. Two marathon first timers completed the course in very respectable times. Dave Edwards who was inspired by his wife's efforts at the same event last year, ran a sub-4 hour time. Cath Nicoll, who wanted to run the marathon as part of her list of things to do when you turn 40 years old, ran sub-5hours. Nicoll managed to keep an even pace throughout the 26 mile course, and finished strongly in the last few miles as others around her started to struggle. Although all the runners were looking for personal best times, they also all raised money for a variety of different charities.

Local Vet 40 lady Jane Leckebusch who has only recently joined Gloucester AC ran a new PB for the distance beating her previous best by 3 minutes. Jane was pleased with her PB but a little disappointed she did not break 3½ hours due to being held up by slower runners at the start which can always be a problem with the big city marathons. Jane only took up running four years ago and already she is one of the best ladies in the County at the marathon distance. She had been injured recently so her time was very encouraging and no doubt she will break 3½ hours later in the year.

A name from the past running for Gloucester AC for the first time in a number of years was Dave Dowdle. Now a Vet 50 Dowdle is a legend amongst ultra runners. Dowdle still holds the European Record for 24 hours, which was a world record when he set the distance of 274.480 km in 1982.

  

Position Age position Name Age Time 616 19 Thomas Randles M20 2:53:23 2733 412 Peter Lloyd M45 3:18:36 501 109 Jane Leckebusch W40 3:32:54 5137 903 Matthew Wade M30 3:36:31 5390 401 David Dowdle M50 3:38:08 8337 254 Terence Onions M55 3:54:23 8544 1636 David Edwards M35 3:55:16 6249 1041 Catherine Nicoll W40 4:52:21