02/09/11
Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters have been in medal-winning form at recent open meetings.
The city squad amassed a total of five gold medals at the Cheltenham meeting.
Harriet Hunter gave further signs of her hurdling potential when winning the U17 ladies 80m hurdles at the Cheltenham Open Meeting in impressive fashion, clocking 13.0 seconds. Mason Tonks also took gold, in the U15 boys 80m hurdles. In his first attempt at the event, he won in a time of 13.6 seconds. He followed this up with another win in the 200m, clocking 26.1 seconds.
Further wins went to Catharine Hardy in the U15 girls 100m in 13.3 seconds and Dominic Tutton in the U15 boys 800m, in a time of 2:14.7.
Silver medals were won by Alex George (U17 men 100m hurdles and 800m), Kelly Constable (U15 girls 200m), Oscar Davies (U17 men 100m), Lucy Humphreys (U15 girls shot putt) and Jarret Tonks (U13 boys shot putt), with bronze medals going to Tom George (U17 men 200m and 100m hurdles) and Jarret Tonks (U13 boys 75m hurdles).
At the Yate Sprint and Hurdles meeting, Harriet Hunter followed up her win at Cheltenham with a second place in the U17 ladies 80m hurdles in 12.98 seconds.
Newcomer Luke Hill won the U13 boys 400 metres in 62.39 seconds in his first attempt at the distance.
Lurenda Mudd won the U17 ladies 200 metres and then took a 3rd place in the U17 ladies 300 metres.
Further medals came Gloucester’s way with Hayley Ralley taking 2nd in the U13 girls 100m and Ellie Morgan was 3rd in the U13 girls 200m
Young Athletes team manager, Garry Hunter, said after the Yate event “With just one more match to go, this has been the busiest and most successful season for our youngsters. They’ve been competing and improving since April and will be looking forward to a couple of weeks’ rest before we start our winter training in October.”
04/09/11 Cheltenham Half Marathon
Dave Gresswell was the leading Gloucester AC runner in Sunday’s Cheltenham Half Marathon, placing 13th overall in 1hr 24mins 46 seconds. By his own admission, Gresswell has had a very busy racing schedule in recent months and this was, perhaps, one race too far.
Newcomer Simon Long was the next Gloucester runner home, in 61st place overall, in 1:39:42. Mark Rickard ran a personal best 1:48:49 in 27th place and Pam Storey, in a rare appearance in a Gloucester vest, ran 2:35:10 for 401st place.
10/09/11 Apperley Quarter Marathon
Gloucester Athletic Club’s ‘super veteran’ Dave Spackman competed in the Apperley Quarter Marathon on Saturday.
A popular fun run in its heyday in the 1980s before suffering from the over-saturation of local road races, the run has now been resurrected and this year’s event attracted over 150 runners.
Spackman finished 37th overall and 2nd V65 in 445:50.
10/09/11 Autumn 5 (Sandhurst)
A return to form saw Gloucester Athletic Club’s cross country captain Dave Gresswell take 3rd place and first M45 with 29:23 in the Severn AC-organised Autumn 5 mile race at Sandhurst on Saturday. Gresswell has been the Club’s most prolific and successful road runner this year and is now fine-tuning his preparations for the 2011-12 Winter season which shall see his team attempt to regain their place in Division One of the Birmingham Cross-country League.
Steven Haines finished 7th, taking a minute off his personal best with 31:16 and Ian Summers celebrated his first race as a M45 with 8th place and 32:18. Helen Davies returned to racing with 41:27 as 2nd W40 in 13th place.
11/09/11 Avon League
Gloucester Athletic Club’s talented youngsters brought the curtain on the Club’s most successful season for many years at the final Avon League match on Sunday.
Leading the way was Jacob Lange in the U17 men’s hammer. A new member of Lorraine Shaw’s hammer coaching group this year, his winning throw of 50.43m was his first time over 50m and an improvement on his previous best by over three metres.
On the track, young sprint starlet Catherine Hardy finished her season in style, winning the U15 girls 100m in 12.9 seconds and placing 2nd in the 200m in a new personal best 26.9 seconds, an improvement of over one second. She also set a new personal best 4.21m in the long jump.
Harriet Hunter took a well-deserved win in the U17 ladies long jump with 4.81m and followed this up with a 4th place in the 100m in 13.2 seconds.
Alex George was less than half a second outside his personal best when clocking 4:25.0 in the U17 men 1500m, with twin brother Tom slightly down, running 4:31.5.
In the senior age groups, Ollie Cooper won the men’s triple jump with 12.40m to go into his winter training programme on the back of a short, but consistent season whilst there was a debutante in the ladies events when Kathryn Ralley competed in the 100m and long jump.
11/09/11 Bristol Half Marathon
At the Bristol Half Marathon on Sunday, Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alistair Wakefield finished 61st in 1hr 31:48 and Christine Campbell 1845th in 1hr 44:53, a personal best by two minutes.
Gloucester Athletic Club youngster, Luke Hill, was in record-breaking form at the recent Sprints & Hurdles Challenge meeting at Yate.
In the 100m, 12 year-old Hill, who is a member of Garry Hunter’s training group, clocked 12.8 seconds to set a new Club U13 age group record. The previous best had belonged to Bryn Hemming since 1986.
He then went on to win the U13 400m in 62.39 seconds, bettering the 2003 mark set by Richard Farrow by over 1.7 seconds.
Hill’s 200m 26.47 seconds clocking at the same meeting also bettered the existing Club mark, but will not be validated as a record as it was wind-assisted.
Gloucester Athletic Club’s Midland senior 800m champion, Andrew De Camps, showed his versatility when competing in the final Avon League match of the 2011 season at Yate.
Treating the match as a light-hearted end-of-season run-out, De Camps placed 3rd in the senior 100m in 11.6 seconds before clocking the fastest 400m hurdles time by a Gloucester athlete this year, 58.6 seconds.
Gloucester Athletic Club’s, Jeremy Mower, produced his best-ever ultra-distance in the Commonwealth 24-hour Road Race Championships at Llandudno, north Wales at the weekend.
Although he holds the record number of Welsh appearances at ultra-distance races having represented the Principality on eight previous occasions, this was 46 year old Mower’s first attempt at the 24-hours event and he acquitted himself well, finishing in 11th place covering 208km and helping the Welsh team take a surprise silver medal behind the English squad.
The conditions were not ideal as the race was held on a one-kilometre circuit that seemed to bear the brunt of a strong sea breeze as well as a road surface which took its toll on many runners due to its camber.
Mower was running smoothly for the first half of the race and at 12 hours was lying in 25th place out of the 29 runners. A tactical rest and massage at this stage seemed to re-invigorate the Gloucester runner and he was able to put in a hard effort between hours 12 and 18 at a time when his body’s levels were at their lowest and sleep deprivation was taking effect.
Mower gradually moved through the field to finish in 11th overall, an excellent performance in his first attempt at the event, though his exertions earned him a visit to the medical team on the course as he suffered with exhaustion at the end.
After he had recovered, Mower said “I am delighted with this run. Because I normally race up to 100kms, I had to really step up my training for this race. I’ve lost over half a stone in weight in recent weeks and have been on a strict diet which included cutting out alcohol, so I’m dying for a pint!”
Results:
Men’s Team Race
1. England 668.335 km (Pat Robbins, Chris Carver, Richard Quennell)
2. Wales 664.244 km (John Pares, Sean McCormack, Jeremy Mower)
3. New Zealand 661.624 km (Bryan MacCorkindale, Alex McKenzie, Wayne Botha)
4. Australia 661.125 km (David Kennedy, Anth Courtney, John Pearson)
5. Canada 595.093 km (Wayne Gaudet, Bruce Barteaux, Dave Carver)
6. Scotland 490.296 km (Steve Mason, Bill Sichel, Richard Cunningham)
24/09/11 Midland 6-stage road relays (Sutton Park)
Gloucester AC’s men’s team qualified for the National six stage road relays in dramatic style at Sutton Park on Saturday.
The team got off to a good start when Andy Renfree (19:45) returned from a long injury break to bring the team home in 27th place. Steve Millward improved five places to 22nd with 19:32, the teams fastest leg of the day. Richard De-Camps (20:25) lost two places on leg three but Luke Herbert (20:47) gained them back on leg four. Andy De-Camps, brought in as a late addition to the team, lost two places with 21:38 but at this point the team were still comfortably within the qualifying zone. Mark Ingram ran the final leg after being called into the team the night before. Despite lacking race fitness he bravely tried to keep the team within the top 25 A teams to ensure their place in the Nationals. Despite losing 10 places he managed to hold on to the final qualify spot by just 17 seconds as the team finished in 34th place overall.
Afterwards team manager Simon Fortnam said “That was very close and we almost missed out. Hopefully we can bring some athletes back into the team for the Nationals and improve on our performance.”
34 Gloucester AC 'A' 2:05:10
Andrew Renfree (27) 19:45
S Millward (22) 19:32
R DeCamps (24) 20:25
Luke Herbert (22) 20:47
A DeCamps (24) 21:38
Mark Ingram (34) 23:03
25/09/11 Cirencester 10km
Evergreen Peter Lloyd led the small Gloucester AC contingent home in Sunday’s Cirencester Park 10km race.
Lloyd finished in 20th place overall and 2nd in the V50 category in 38 minutes 30 seconds.
Matt Powell finished in 28th place in 39:32, with Dave Spackman (V65) placing 75th in 43:12.
Terry Onions (V55) was next City runner home in 104th place, clocking 45:27, and Christine Campbell was the first Gloucester lady home in 143rd place with 47:57.
The next two Gloucester runners to finish were both newcomers. Becky Amor recorded 51:01 in 200th place, with Natasha Poole clocking 51:31.
Michelle Stark, running her last race as a V35, finished in 263rd place with 54:07 and the team was completed by another newcomer, Joanne Brown, in 325th place with 58:26.
25/09/11 Midland Young Athletes Road Relays (Sutton Park)
Gloucester Athletic Club’s young athletes team, all members of the Kerry Newell training group, took 11th place in the Midlands Young Athletes Road Relays at Birmingham’s Sutton Park on Sunday.
Alex George, running the opening leg, brought the team home in 6th position, clocking an excellent 12:35 for the two miles leg, before handing over the Andrew Bowers. Bowers, making a return to racing after having missed much of the summer through injury, ran an encouraging 14:24 to finish his leg in 11th position.
Tom George then took over on the third and final leg, running 13:38 to bring the team home in 11th place overall and first county team.
Team results:
1st Bristol & West AC 36:22
2nd Coventry Godiva 37:30
3rd Leicester Coritanian 37:49
11th Gloucester AC 40:37
30/09/11 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.
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.