Running and Athletics 2008

North Staffs Cross Country League 2008

After missing the pre-season opener at Uttoxeter through injury Louise turned in a comfortable win, ahead of Mollie Patrick of Newcastle, 2nd,  and Lucy Holt of Stoke, 3rd, in the first U13 girls race of the North Staffs League at Lyme Valley on 4th October. Her training partner Steph Reeves performing equally well to win her first race in the under 17 women category and lead the club team of Gina, Georgia and Joy into team gold medal position. When it came to the second race at Parkhall, Louise, who a couple of days earlier had been bed bound with a virus infection, ignored advise and decided to take part.  After finishing 9th in the UK Challenge at Liverpool 2007 when she was suffering a heavy cough, she seemed to think that she could run unaffected by illness. She soon learned that wasn't the case as she struggled round what is effectively her home ground to finish in 3rd place, the finishing order from Lyme Valley reversed.  Her efforts were enough to keep her in contention for the title, but further delayed her return to training and her preparation for the 2008 UK Challenge at Liverpool.  Steph, whose style is to move steadily through the pack, finished in 2nd place while still closing strongly on the front runner, a young lady, Rebecca Bray, from Stafford and Canock.  A few more metres might have clinched it for Steph, but she knows the Parkhall course extremely well and maybe just miss timed it.  Her consolation is that the team remains in leading position. By the third race at Stafford Common on 15th November Louise was in better shape although still without consistent training. In the extremely muddy, one could almost say boggy, conditions she again secured a comfortable win, with Mollie in 3rd place behind 2nd placed Amelia Ridgway from Stafford and Cannock. Disappointingly Lucy was not present to provide the full match between the three initial contenders. Steph again finished in 2nd place, leaving herself the challenge of winning the final race at Westwood to at least tie for the championship. She did it in grand style last year and so should not be underestimated. The under 17 team were again in full force and are now guaranteed the title if they turn up for the final. And so to Westwood.... Persistent rain through the night left the hilly and rough course at Westwood soft and spongy at best, but while just as testing on the legs, the bitter cold and biting wind of last year's final match was, thankfully, absent. Louise  turned in a convincing win, leading from almost the off she finished with a large margin over Amelia, second, and Mollie, third.  Louise took the overall title with Mollie 2nd and Amelia 3rd. Mollie's team from Newcastle also won the U13girl's team title with Stafford and Cannock second.   Steph was supreme in the under 17 women's event. Shortly after the start she found herself down the field as a result of losing a shoe but recovered quickly to regain the lead before the halfway point of the first lap. She was overtaken on the punishing hill approaching the end of the first lap, but she kept her steady pace and remained in touch as the two girls from Stafford and Cannock battled it out just a head of her. Expertly, Steph made her move off the top of the hill and within 150 metres had taken a commanding lead. She never looked back and steadily increased her lead throughout the 2nd lap, winning herself the series title. Her team mate Gina Podmore collected the bronze with second place going to Rebecca of Stafford and Cannock. Unfortunately the team was depleted and the all but certain gold medal position lost. The three girls weren't the only club members to come away with awards. Matt Allott running his first season in the senior event not only took the gold position in junior men but also finished 3rd overall. The senior men retained their title and the vet men also finished in the top three.  None of the young junior boys won any titles but they have gradually been improving their finishing positions as their training and increasing experience has started to show through. Just look at the determination. See full results from NSCCL web site. More pictures will eventually appear in our gallery.

UK Cross Challenge - Liverpool 29th November 2008

On a freezing day with freezing fog this was going to be a challenge for both runners and spectators. The ground was heavy and in places resembled a quagmire. When the under 13 girls race started visibility on the main field was about 10m, but as Louise emerged through the fog after the starting straight and round the first bend she was well positioned, tucked in to the leading pack. For once she must have had a good start. She disappeared into the mist again. At about 2km she looked to be flagging and went passed us in 6th place about 20 seconds down on the leaders, soon to drop to 7th. We next saw her about 400m from the finish and she had clearly recovered and, moving strongly was back in 6th place. We were urging her to make her break, but she hung back until the final bend with about 150m to go. She surged forward, moving into 5th place, gaining rapidly on the 4th and 3rd placed runners but  she ran out of course finishing 5th, 14 seconds behind the winner and 4 seconds in front of 6th. Only 2 seconds separated her from 3rd place. It was a good run and a relief to her supporters who had been concerned that so far this season she hadn't shown either the attitude or race brains needed to repeat her successes of last season. On this performance and if she can settle into regular uninterrupted training which has been missing so far this season, she has every hope of achieving some major successes. It was a very successful day for the club with all the runners turning in credible performances,  but the climax came when Alex, who was only just twenty, ran in his first major race as a senior (under23) and finished 6th securing himself a place in the GB team for the European Championships on 14th December in Brussels. The fog had lifted somewhat and visibility was much improved by the time the race started. Alex began well and never outside the top twenty had moved into 12th position by the half way point of the 10k race. He steadily advanced through the field,  always looking strong to his eventual 6th place and GB vest. Well done Alex. For full results see UK Athletics UK Cross Challenge Liverpool.

SMAC Summer Series 2008

Tittersworth 5th June - A pleasant Summer evening saw the first event of the season. Forty-five juniors aged 11 to 16 lined up for the start of the approximate 1.5 mile course a few minutes after 7:30. Some competitors like Becky, pictured left, were running in the junior event for the first time after moving up from the minis, others were seasoned "veterans" running in their last series before transferring to the senior race. Louise, in her second season, was starting as defending champion as was club mate Kyle (right). Kyle stormed ahead from the off and held a commanding lead throughout, leaving no doubt of his domination over the field despite the excellent performance of Jack, 2nd and winner of last Saturday's Wincle Trout. Louise held fourth place for the first half the race but slipped to a finishing poistion of overall fifth and first girl ahead of Steff. A few pictures here.  Results are posted on the SMAC site. Roaches 12th June - No pictures of the junior event. The photographer (Tony) was roped into duties on the finishing line for the mini's race and the reporter (Mum) was running in the senior race and so both missed the junior race. Louise was sure she had managed to improve by one place to fourth, but the results say otherwise and she was again 5th behind the same four boys. Shuttlingsloe 19th June - Louise gave this one a miss after the night before at Shugborough, but Mum had to turn up and run to map the route on the GPS for download to the club website (something Tony is keen on providing). Oakamoor 26th June - well this was a wet one. Although the senior course is hilly, the juniors run a flat out and back course through the valley. Louise ran a slower time than last year. The school events, this series the parks series and other ah hoc events together with the distruption to her training are beginning to take their toll. Buxton 3rd July - a hilly course for juniors and seniors. The weather despite the quite cold wind was much better. Louise complained she was struggling and felt slow but as the course was slightly different from last year we couldn't compare times. She was annoyed that a boy whom she overtook on the last steep hill sprinted past at the end. Time for a word with the coach.....  ... after the "chat" Louise has to decide whether to continue running in all the local races or to concentrate on working towards more major events such as the Uttoxeter,  the Midland and the National Championships. After her promising start in major competions last year Louise has decided to concentrate on training for the cross country season ... well almost. She needs three more Summer Series races to qualify for a prize (she likes winning prizes)... and three of the remaining races are club junior championship events. She will do them but only try as much as she needs to stay just in front (assuming she can) - no really hard running against the boys, no trying to win by large margins. She has to be able to do the hard, structured training and at the moment the races are making her too tired. Rudyard 10th July - raining and wet again. 1st race under the new regime of "taking it steady". Her challenger from Buxton wasn't there but Steff was. It was an out and back somewhat flooded and flat 4km course. She took it steady but on the return leg slipped and pulled a muscle in her ribs, making breathing painful - good thing she was taking it easy! With about 400m to go she noticed Steff on her shoulder and was forced to run faster - she thought it would be harder to live down being beaten by Steff than explaining why she had run the last bit fast. Her time was almost three minutes slower than last year and oddly she seems to have slowed down the whole race. There were others running who should have been able to beat that time. Biddulph July 24th - sticking to her training regime, Louise had to miss this one as it wasn't one of the agreed "seven to count". Once again Mum had to turn up to run the three lap, hilly route in hot and humid conditions to record the route on the GPS unit so that Tony could publish the course route on the club web site. Birchall July 31st - Louise ran this, but on the return section, lying in 3rd overall place and out of touch with the leading two she was unsure of the route and ran too far down a hill, only to have to turn round and climb up again, but was relieved  to see another runner on the right track. She wasn't so pleased that he passed her and she ended up fourth overall in a slightly slower time then last year. Parkhall, August 7th - Home ground. The only problem here was that the juniors set off too soon after the seniors and quite a few of the leading runners were hindered by the slower seniors at a couple of pinch points. Louise felt she had a good run finishing third overall and still feeling comfortable. She was shocked that her time was a few seconds down on last year until she realised the course was a little longer (detour last year to avoid a flooded section) and of course that she had to make allowance for the hindrance of the the seniors! This will be her last race - seven is enough - and it is back to training next week. Cheddleton, August 14th - Neither Louise nor Kyle, the overall winner of the boys event, ran this one.

Shugborough Relays - 18th June

A good night out for many of the club members both senior and junior, men and women. The format of the race once again allowed Louise and Steph to run in a mixed team with some of the older and faster runners. The Moorlands Under 64 Mixed All Stars comprised Alex (1st leg), Louise (2nd), Steph (3rd) and Andy (final leg), total age 62. Once again the unusual composition of the team fooled the officials who tried to prevent Louise entering the change over pen with the leading men as she prepared to take over from Alex, home in 2nd place (9' 40''). Louise was aiming to run the two miles in under 12 minutes. A target which should have been well within her capability. Unfortunately the glamour of the moment went to her head and she took off too fast in chase of the leading man. After half a mile she realised her mistake but it was too late; nevertheless she battled on and despite fading badly over the last half mile finished her leg in 12' 08''. Steph ran a fine third leg finishing in 12' 58 and Andy running his leg in 10'29, a superb performance, brought the team home in 45' 15''.   SMAC's junior mixed under 64 team comprisng Matt, Becky, Lauren and Jamie (total age 52 - just too old for the youngest category) finished 2nd in category with a time of 54' 30''.  Pictures from our gallery;  Results (from Stafford Harriers)

Midlands Track Championships - Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, 24th -25th May

For her second appearance in 1500m track Louise ran up an age group in U15girls at the Midland Counties Championships. For the first time in a major competition she was faced with heats and unlike the day of the county championships it was cold, wet and a little windy. Louise was in the 2nd of the two heats. The first heat ran a very quick 1st lap and Louise was scared, but when all but the front runner went through the 2nd lap no faster than her target time, with many slower, she relaxed a little. For the first 300m of her heat Louise was at the back, but she stuck to her race plan and by the end of the third lap had moved into third place which she held to the end. In the final she also started at the back, but panicked a little and moved forwards maybe slightly too fast. After briefly edging into third place, she was pushed into fourth and the three front runners opened a significant lead. Louise held on to fourth place for almost two laps until about 1100m but then her too early burst had its effect and she couldn't hold off the challenge from behind and eventually finished in 5th in a time of 5' 03.12'', slightly slower than her heat time (and PB) of 5' 02.24''.  Day 2 results. Two of her club colleagues ran on day 1: Jon 1st in U17M 1500m and Kyle 5th U17M 3000m. Day 1 Results.

City Parks Grand Prix

Longton Park - 13th May.  Some good results for the club juniors with Louise finishing first girl in the Junior (and U13s) race running the 2km in 7'01'' (which we think might be a course record) with Lauren Hancock 3rd in U11 category and Molly Chataway 3rd in U15 category. Vinnie Martin and Steff Reeves won the 3K U17 race with Joy Hawley putting in a fine run to finish 2nd behind Steff. Some of the other  U17s chose to run in the senior race and  Andy Marsden did particularly well finishing in 12th overall position. Full results and photos of Senior race from Bryan Dale. Some photos of the juniors in the gallery.

Tunstall Park - 3rd June. An exciting race with all the leading girls running exceptionally well despite a start which saw some of them boxed in by an unwelcome bicycle. Louise finished first in 7' 07'' with Lucy Hayes (now running for Stoke) 2nd in 7'21'', halving Louise's winning margin from Longton, and Newcastle team mates Molly Patrick 3rd (7'24'') and Sophie Plant 4th (7'25'') battling it out to the line. For SMAC Lauren Hancock was first under 11 while Becky Higton was 3rd under 13. SMAC once again had success in the U17s race with Vinnie Martin leading home the boys and Steff Reeves clear winner in the girls race. Full results and photos of the Junior race from Bryan Dale. A few more photos here.

Fenton Park - 8th July. Another exciting race. Louise was running on heavy legs and looked uncomfortable most of the way although she took and held the lead she faded fast in the last 200m; finishingin 7' 15", 10 seconds ahead of Mollie it was her narrowest win yet. Acknowledging that Mollie had run well, Louise was nevertheless disappointed with her time and concerned by the tiredness she felt during the race. It confirmed her decision after the Buxton Summer Series race to reduce the number of remaining summer races and begin her preparation for the more important winter cross country season. In the under 11 race Lauren finished 3rd setting up an exciting final for Hanley as she is in overall 2nd only one point behind the leader. In the under17s race Vinny and Steff maintained their unbeaten positions and Joy is lying second.  Results and  pictures from Bryan Dale and a few more pictures here.

Hanley Park - 19th August. The final! Starting three points clear of  their nearest rivals it was unlikely, barring a disaster to them, that anyone would dislodge either Louise (U13s) or Lucy Hayes (U15s) from their top spots although that wouldn't stop Mollie (U13) and Sophie (U15) having a good try to finish this last race in 1st place. The real excitement was in the U11's race.  Lauren starting only one point behind her rival, Lydia (Stoke AC) needed to finish at least two places ahead to get a clear win. In the event Louise was back in better form and stormed around the course to retain her unbeaten record and overall 1st position. Mollie and Sophie battled it out to the end with Mollie (Newcastle AC) just taking it on the line after sprinting past Sophie in the finishing straight; a good run consolidating Mollie's 2nd place behind Louise.  Lucy (Stoke AC), suffering from jet lag and still travel weary, finished in fourth and although conceding this one race to Sophie, picked up 1st place for U15s with Sophie (Newcastle AC) 2nd. In U11's Lauren ran her best race of the series and finished well ahead of her rival to clinch the title. Congratulations also to the boys from Stoke AC who have turned out in strength for each of the four races and given excellent performances in all the age groups. As expected Steph and Vinnie retained their unbeaten records in the U17's competition and Joy took second U17 ladies place. In their first season in the senior ladies race Sammi and Kelsie also picked up prizes finished 4th and 5th respectively.

Staffs County Track Championships - Northwood, 10th May

Apart from the 800m at Wenlock and a few sprints while in the junior school, Louise had never run on the track but had always fancied it, so when asked whether she would like to enter the 1500m at the county championships (the longest race she was eligible for) she jumped at it. A few days before the race she went with her coach to have a trial run - the one and only time she ran the distance on the track before the actual race. Race day was hot and almost no breeze. There were only 5 girls in the U13s. Jade was there but on the track she is in the U15s category. Louise ran a steady race. She took an early lead which by the final lap was about 100m. Her time was 5' 5.1''. Not too bad for a first attempt. Louise was the only girl from the club but there were a number of young men and between them they came away with a host of medals including Jon Turnock 1st and Kyle Fowler 2nd in U17 1500m; Matt Clowes 2nd in U20M 1500m and Myles Barret (U23) 2nd in senior men 400m and 1500m. See full results: Men Women More pictures in the gallery.

Mow Cop Killer Mile - 24th April

Well, what to say? Louise ran up the killer hill in 8' 58'' and finished first girl in her event (school years 7 to 10) behind only five older boys. She posed for photos, collected her gold medal and was interviewed by the press. Will they publish anything? Her training partner Steph (year 10) had entered the club runners race by mistake not realising it was intended for adult runners and while Louise (a mere year 7) was occuppied with the press Steph was out beating the club ladies to win in a time of 10' 02''. Nice going girls. Two golds for the club.  Louise now had her eyes on a bigger prize - she had spotted an array of trophies and went to ask what they were for.  The conversation went something like this: "Fastest lady of the night and fastest man of the night." "Does that include the girls in year 7 to 10?" "Yes everyone who did the full mile" . "How am I doing?". "Why? Do think you might win?" "Might do". "Are you serious?" "Yes! how am I doing now?" They  took her name and went to consult the results in so far. "Oh, it IS you. Well there are a few more races yet, but well done so far" and one of the ladies said she'd keep her fingers crossed. Louise went to watch the other races. None of the ladies looked dangerously fast. She cheered on fellow club runners including her former teacher who finished 3rd in the adults' race (8' 24''). The first lady seemed a long way behind him. Only the veterans left.  She went back to the race HQ to collect the 3rd medal for "Sir". We sat down and waited. The veterans had finished, they were collecting their medals. Nothing happened. Eventually Louise went to ask again. The organisers had been looking around for the fastest lady. They remembered someone asking earlier but couldn't agree that it was Louise they had seen. Some had recognised her, others were looking for someone older. But she had won and she was presented with the trophy. At 12 years old, the youngest ever winner. Mustn't forget the boys. Matt and Mike ran with Louise and finished a few seconds behind her; Andy, who chose to run with the adult club runners rather than the "teens" finished well inside the top 10 making him well placed for future years. An excellent set of performances from the youngsters. Louise commended Andy who took charge of the warm-ups for the youngsters at the bottom of the hill and helped them keep warm while waiting for the delayed start.  Results from MCRA. (Pictures: Louise, Matt, Andy, Steph. Sorry Mike the photographer missed you). More pictures.

Inter-County Championships - Wollaton Park, Nottingham 15th March

Louise joined her team mates Jade Bird, Lucie Farrell, Lucy Hayes, Ellie Howat,  Kay Oakley, Mollie Patrick and Eloise Redfern at Wollaton Park to represent Staffordshire's  U13 girls in the Inter-county cross country championships. Depite forecasts of heavy rain, the day and, more significantly, the course were dry. The going looked fast and Louise was very nervous. Vests matched for size, numbers pinned, tags fitted, spikes screwed in, face paint applied, warm ups finished the team was ready for the race. After a slightly delayed start the girls were off. Louise was 2nd in the pen behind Jade, but as usual she appeared to go backwards at the gun and was one of the last Staffs girls to get going. By just past half way round she had recovered to about 25th place, slightly behind Jade. She continued to pull forward and with 500 metres to go had moved just ahead of Jade and into 19th position.  About 50 metres from home she was still in 19th place but by the line had faded slightly to finish in 22nd place with Jade a few seconds behind in 26th place.  Ellie (112) and Kay (169) completed the team counters while the other four also ran hard to push their competitors further down the finishing order. The team came home in 16th position out of the  40 counties that achieved a team score.  Well done to all the girls. Full Results. More Pictures

National Championships - Alton Towers 23rd February

Our club, Staffordshire Moorlands was organising the race, so although Louise had never run there or seen the course until the day of the race, it was the next best thing to being on home ground. She finally realises that she has some potential in this sport and told her coach that he must kiss her feet if she won. He offered to polish her toe nails too (if he's seen them he must have been confident she wouldn't win), but she was psyching herself up and making herself believe she could win. We arrived and all started well. She walked the course and noted the state of the ground, the optimum path, and the ups and downs, but then she saw the stall selling  National Championship hoodies and purchasing one and discussing the merits of the various colours (should she have pink or blue? pink, definitely - but which shade?) became her main priority.  But eventually she was in her kit and warmed up heading to the start line.   For a relatively experienced runner, you'd think she would know which way to face on the start line .... but no. She inists she was facing the right way when the gun went, but needless to say she had a bad start. However, she recovered quickly and was soon within the first 20. She continued to move up through the field and by half way round she was running strongly in 5th place but then lost several places on the steep hill. She complains that we think she is good on the hills but she doesn't agree. This, she said, was the 2nd time Jade passed her on the hill (See Staffs County Championships) and this time so did several others, five or six she said. From the top of the hill she battled on for the last kilometer and although she later said she felt as though she was standing still and couldn't understand why no one was passing her, she still looked to be running strongly. She couldn't have lost any more places and maybe she even recovered a few because she finished in 10th place with a time of 12 minutes dead for the tough 3.2km course. She was disappointed and thought she had a poor run, but her coach told her she ran well and she needed to acknowledge that on the day there were nine people, including Jade who was one of her targets, who ran better. For the club juniors, each with his or her own personal target, there were some successess and some disappointments. After her race Louise went off to make use of her discounted entry into Alton Towers theme park and didn't stay to watch the other races while we went to take our turn as race marshalls so there are not many race pictures although there are a few in the gallery.  Results from the English Cross Country Association.

Staffs Schools County Championships - 2nd February

The club juniors were split between two opposing teams today as they ran for their school districts, some Moorlands and some Stoke, in the Staffordshire Schools County Championships at Staffordshire University.  Louise, having recovered from her cold had a comfortable run and increased an early lead to take gold in the year 7 girls event ahead of Ellie Howat from Cannock Schools. Both girls are still too young for the English Schools event but fortunately both have been selected to represent Staffordshire in the Inter Counties. Lucie Farrell pushed herself hard in the year 8&9 girls race, battling to maintain third position until close to the end when with a final burst she sprinted ahead gaining another place to finish in silver medal position behind Jade Bird. Steph Reeves ran her usual, strong race moving gradually up through the field picking of the places one by one to finish in second place behind Kate Holt and comfortably take the silver medal. Pictures: left, Louise; right, Steph; below, Jade (blue and white), Lucie(yellow/green and Lucy (maroon with red T shirt). For more pictures see the gallery

Staffs County Championships - 5th January

Still suffering from a cold and irritating cough, it was a toss up wether Louise's legs were running as fast as her nose for the opening race of the year!! Yes it really is a gross as it looks. Although not on top form Louise was well rested after her disappointing run at Westwood and determined to qualify for the Inter-counties by claiming one on the first four places in the Staffs county championships at Lyme Valley. Uncertainty about the effect of her cold and memories of her accident here in October, Louise was very nervous as she arrived, but relaxed once the race started. After taking an early lead her lack of fitness showed on the hills and she was pushed into second place by a young lady from Cannock and Stafford with whom she had shared the podium at Uttoxeter last year. The Cannock girl pushed on, fighting hard and ran to a well earned victory. Louise took the silver and team mate Lucie the bronze. Star team runner of the day however must be Antonia who, urged on by the crowd of her supporters, put on a final spurt to gain one place a few yeards short of the line and so clinch the gold medal for the under 13s girl's team by one point.  Louise and Lucie expect they will be joined in the county team by  one or two of their friendly rivals from Newcastle AC who also turned in good performances, finishing second in the team event. In the other races Steff and Gina both finished 7th (U15 and U17 girls respectively) and the U17 girls took the team bronze. The U17 boys had 3 finishers in the first 7 but were held to silver position by a very strong Birchfield Harriers team. In U15 boys Jack Ross, finally shaking off injury, started the year well with  a strong 7th and Matt Clowes also had a brilliant race. More pictures in the gallery. Full results.

See also Running and Athletics 2005  2006 2007 2009

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