2011 Track & Field Club Awards
Gloucester Athletic Club concluded their 2011 summer track & field season with an awards presentation evening at the Royal British Legion club in Hardwicke on 30/09/11.
Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Garry Hunter, told the large gathering that the event and richly-deserved awards were the icing on the cake of what had been, without doubt, one of the most successful seasons in the club’s long and illustrious history.
The award recipients were as follows:
Club athletes who represented the County Schools in 2011:
Dayna Willoughy, Kelly Constable, Lurenda Mudd, Laurence Leat, Tim Campion, Alex Runciman. Dominic Tutton, Alice Conquest, Harriet Hunter.
Club athletes who represented the County team at representative matches in 2011:
Dayna Willoughy, Kelly Constable, Lurenda Mudd, George James, Laurence Leat, Shya Pinnock, Sean Beckett, Nico Constanti, Dominic Tutton, Richard De Camps, Simon Fortnam, Chloe Jones, Jennifer Hayward, Mason Tonks, Kate Davies, Katharine Chadwick, Ollie Cooper, Gareth Winter, Tim Campion, Anna Robertson, Lucy Humphreys, Mike Tommey, Jacob Lange, Charlotte Stallard.
Leading points scorers in the 2011 National Young Athletes League, by age group:
U13G - Chloe Jones 45pts; U13B - George James 36pts; U15G - Ellen Thrall 44pts; U15B - Dominic Tutton 62pts; U17L - Harriet Hunter 66pts; U17M - Alex George 54pts.
Leading points scorers in the 2011 Avon League, by age group:
U13G - Hayley Ralley 56pts; U13B - Luke Hill 90pts; U15G - Catherine Hardy 67pts; U15B - Joe Beckett 56pts; U17L - Harriet Hunter 101.5pts; U17M - Alex George 40pts; SL - Alex Purcell 81pts; SM - Tim Campion 91pts.
Top performer, U11G - Jude Dowdeswell; Top performer, U11B - Jack Holdsworth;
Leading points scorers in the 2011 Midland League (seniors only):
Ladies – Anna Robertson 71pts; Men – Steve Millward 97pts.
Most Improved Athletes in 2011:
Junior Female – Lucy Humphreys; Junior Male – Alex George;
Senior Female – Harriet Hunter; Senior Male – Gareth Winter.
Services to Gloucester AC in 2011:
Female – Paula Whitcher; Male – Richard Blackwell.
Terry Sysum Memorial Award:
Kate Davies.
In addition, awards were presented to the Club’s U15 Girls and
Senior Ladies teams of 2010 that won their respective categories
in the 2010 Avon League.
08/10/11 Gloucestershire Cross-Country League
Alex George was Gloucester Athletic Club’s stand-out performer in the opening Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture of the 2011-12 season at Guiting Power on Saturday.
Running in the U17 Men’s race, the City youngster stormed to a splendid second place, behind Alex Carter of Team Bath with Kyran Hale of Severn AC down in 3rd place. George’s brother, Tom, was involved in a tight finish and took 5th place, whilst Andrew Bowers finished 18th.
In the senior men’s race, Luke Herbert was the Club’s first finisher in 22nd. Team captain Dave Gresswell was next home in 43rd, closely followed by Steven Haines whose 47th place was a league best. Peter Lloyd and Jeremy Mower were neck and neck at the finish, with Lloyd getting the nod in 68th place. Omar Alim completed the Gloucester scoring team in 78th place to give the squad 7th place on the day. Further down the field, Matt Aspinall finished in 80th place, Matt Powell 89th, Mark Thrall 107th and Paul Loveridge 157th.
The senior ladies race was notable for the number of newcomers running in the red & white of Gloucester. Established member Becky Summers led the city ladies home in her first senior cross-country race, in 57th. Emma Jeffery was next home in 59th and Christine Campbell continued her recent run of good form when finishing in 66th. Beryl Sampson made a return to racing, finishing in 72nd, whilst newcomer Lyndsey Hollands placed 75th. Helen Davies was next home for the Gloucester team, finishing in 80th, with another cross-country debutante Paula Jones crossing the line in 95th place to complete the scoring.
In the U15 boys race, Ryan Hearn took an encouraging 6th place to get his winter season off to a good start and Hannah Jones finished in the U15 girls race.
In the U11 girls race, Charlotte Sprason finished 10th.
15/10/11 National Road Relays (Sutton Park)
Gloucester AC finished three teams in the National Road relays championships at Sutton Park at the weekend with the senior men, under 17 men and the women’s team all in action.
The best performance of the weekend came in the under 17s men’s race where they finished an excellent 34th overall. Thomas George (12:44) led off on the highly competitive first leg and handed over to his twin brother Alex in 23rd place. Alex tore through the field with 12:30 gaining nine places and getting the 33rd fastest individual time of the day. Andrew Bowers (15:06) ran the last leg to bring the team home in 34th.
The men’s team finished a creditable 74th and fourth county team behind Stroud, Cheltenham and Cirencester AC over the 6 x 6km lap. The competitive first leg was run by Andy Renfree (19.25) who improved his Midlands relay time by 20 seconds to hand over in 71st place. Richard De-Camps ran a strong second leg (19.27) to finish in 66th, an improvement of 58 seconds on his Midlands time. Luke Herbert (20.47) equalled his Midland time but lost four places to 70th. Dave Gresswell (21.29) passed on to debutant Steven Haines (22.19) in 73rd. Haines held this position on leg five and team manager Simon Fortnam (21.36) brought the team home, losing one place on the way.
The women’s team finished 69th in the 4 x 4.3km race with some good performances. The team was led off by Michelle Stark (19:29) who handed over in 88th. Jane Leckebush (19:49) on her return to the team after a long injury gained eight places on leg two. Christine Campbell (19:22) ran the team’s fastest leg of the day and gained seven places before handing over to Helen Davies (21:06) who finished things off passing four teams on the way.
Results:
Under 17 men:
34th Gloucester AC 40:20
Thomas George 12:44; Alex George 12:30; Andrew Bowers 15:06
Men:
74th Gloucester AC 2:05.03
Andy Renfree - 19:25; Richard De-Camps - 19:27; Luke Herbert - 20:47,
Dave Gresswell - 21:29; Steven Haines - 22:19; Simon Fortnam - 21:36.
Women:
69th Gloucester AC 1:19.46
Michelle Stark - 19:29; Jane Leckebush- 19:49;
Christine Campbell - 19:22; Helen Davies - 21:06
23/10/11 Stroud Half Marathon
Gloucester Athletic Club runners were out in force in this year’s Stroud Half Marathon at the weekend and recorded a host of personal best times.
There was a close tussle for the honour of first city runner home between Tony Marshall and Peter Lloyd. Marshall is a new member of the Gloucester club, having recently joined from Forest of Dean AC, and prepared for this race whilst on services duty in the deserts of Afghanistan. He obviously found the Stroud course to his liking as he finished in 72nd position in a time of 1:25:35 to Lloyd’s 1:25:46 (74th).
In 84th place, Matt Aspinall showed good pace judgment as he reduced his personal best to 1:26:45, holding off training colleague Matt Powell, who also set a new personal best of 1:26:57 in 89th place. Just four places and eight seconds behind was ultra-distance runner Jeremy Mower, a remarkable run given that he had run a 24-hours race just one month previously.
Next runner home was Mark Thrall in 148th place, just dipping inside his pre-race target of 1:30 by the narrowest of margins with a personal best 1:29:58.
Two more members of Arthur Daley’s training group were the next city runners to finish.
Omar Alim finished in 162nd with 1:30:45, with Steven Haines continuing his current run of
good form in 171st, recording a new personal best 1:31:21.
Club stalwarts Terry Onions and Humphrey Phillips were next in; Onions recorded a time
of 1:42:57 in 477th place and Phillips ran 1:45:52 in 566th. They were both followed in by
newcomer Nick Bishop, who was clocked at 1:48:44 for 651st
Lyndsey Hollands, running her first half marathon, was timed at 1:52:50 and Helen Davies
continued her return to running, recording 1:58:58.
The Gloucester contingent was completed by ladies cross-country captain
Michelle Stark, accompanying her husband Francois, with both stopping the clock at 2:00:30.
There was success for the Gloucester club in the supporting Silver Mile race when Alex George
won from his brother Tom in a very close finish. Alex’s winning time of 5 mins 25 was just
one second ahead of Tom. Youngster Harry Wells took second place in the U13 age group,
recording a time of 6:29
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Tom George
Alex George
29/10/11
Six months ago, running coach and former county cross-country runner Kerry Newell paid a chance visit to a Gloucester sports shop. She now heads up what is probably the most talented group of young runners in the area.
As she explains, “I needed some new running shoes, so went into a shop in town to buy some and started speaking to Steve Millward, who owned the shop. I told him that I had recently passed my coaching exams and was looking to get into coaching.”
“Steve told me that his running club, Gloucester Athletic Club, happened to be looking for a new coach to take over their junior middle distance group so I had a discussion with Bob Purcell, the club’s coaching co-ordinator, and the rest, as they say, is history!”
Newell took up the Gloucester club’s offer in April and immediately made her mark by bringing in some new training ideas as well as some structure and discipline to the sessions.
“There were a few youngsters who would turn up for training every now and then and who didn’t really have much of a racing programme. Everything was a bit hit-and-miss, so I sat down with the kids and drew up some training and racing schedules. I also told them that if they wanted to improve, they had to come along every week and do the training that was set for them.”
The youngsters obviously listened because their performances and fitness levels improved considerably over the summer – most notably the George twins, Alex and Tom, who are making quite a name for themselves locally in the Under-17 men’s age group.
Newell continues “Alex, especially, and Tom have really come on well but they are being pushed all the way in the training by the likes of Andrew Bowers, Dominic Tutton and Ryan Heard. These lads will all be giving the club’s seniors a run for their money in the next year or so. I’m also hoping that a couple of the older girls, Hayley Malsom and Alice Conquest, make a breakthrough before too long.”
Newell’s group trains from the Gloucester AC headquarters at Black Bridge, Tuffley, every Thursday evening and from the Cranham Junior School every Sunday morning during the winter. More details can be obtained by ringing Kerry on Gloucester 813611.
29/10/11 Chocolate Biscuit 4 mile (Plock Court)
Gloucester AC's oldest competitive athlete was the club's first finisher in Severn AC's Chocolate Biscuit 4 mile cross country race at Plock Court on Saturday. Starting at a steady pace Dave Spackman used all of his racing experience to make a conservative start before overtaking several younger athletes over the latter stages of the 3 lap course. He eventually finished 14th overall and first M65 in 28:30. Mike Anderton finished 16th in 38:21 and gained first M55 prize.
Gloucester AC's Christine Campbell took an astonishing 31 seconds off her personal best at the Bridge Inn 5k in Bristol coming home in 100th position with 21:53. Women's Cross Country Captain Michelle Stark, returning after a lay off due to a broken arm, showed that she still has speed but needs to work on stamina after a fast first mile followed by two consistent 7:09 miles finishing 10 seconds ahead in 95th place. Their coach Arthur Daley completed the out and back course in 19:11 for 44th place and first M60 award.
The County AAA held its Cross Country Relay 2 miles Championships in conjunction with Severn AC in blazing summer weather. Gloucester AC's new middle distance young athlete's coach Kerry Newell presence is being felt for the first time for many years the club had a team in the U17 men's group. Lead off by Alex George (9:36) the team came home on the first leg in third place. Andy Bowers (10:57) lost one place to Cheltenham H men's team whilst Thomas George (10:03) brought them home level at the end of the third stage. Ryan Hearn U15B (10:32) running up an age group brought them home 5th team overall and in silver medal position for the U17M. Alex George and Ryan Hearn ran the fastest leg in their age groups.
Luke Herbert (09:56) brought the senior men's team home on the first leg 20 seconds and one place behind the youngsters and Matt Aspinall recent emphasis n speed work is showing a benefit with 11:37 for 7th place on leg 2. Steve Haines and Dave Gresswell ran almost identical times (10:46 and 10:44) on the third and fourth legs to bring the team home in 7th place. Gloucester AC Cross Country Captain Gresswell was the fastest M45. Ian Summers ran the third leg for a composite City club team of 11:19 gaining one place.
Arthur Daley lead off the the Gloucester AC/ BRR M60 team producing the fastest leg time for that age group of 11:49 and handed over to Dave Spackman who in turn produced the fastest M65 time of 12:26. Norman Lane (BRR) (13:27) completed the team bringing them home first M60's. Daley then ran the third leg (12:31) for the composite Bourton RR/ Glos AC M50 team maintaining their silver medal M50 position.