Track & Field News
TAC Young athletes at UK School Games
03-Sep-09 Cardiff
The UK School games is a lottery funded event run over 4 days. This year TAC had 3 representing the WMids area (www.ukschoolgames.com)By Teresa Reynolds The UK School games is a lottery funded event run over 4 days. It is for the U17 age category. So if you are top in the area two years running you could go twice. This years is the 4th time its been held and was in Cardiff. The first one was in Glasgow, 2nd Coventry & 3rd Bath.The idea is part of the build up to the 2012 Olympics . The competitors are treated like Olympic athletes with and Opening Ceremony, special kit (this year sponsored by Adidas). The medals are awarded by various people including previous celebrities like Dennis Lewis and Jamie Baulch as in Aidan's case. The cost is nothing to us as parents apart from paying to stay near by in hotel etc. and buying programme as there are 2 complementary tickets for parents. There are representatives from the whole of the UK - Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England have representatives from each area with West Midlands being one of them. Athletics isn't the only sport it includes Swimming, Gymnastics, Hockey and this year they included Track Cycling. The invite to represent comes from the area UKA person not long after the English Schools Athletic Championships and it held around the end of September. This year TAC had 3 representing the WMids area - Aidan, Sophie Worrall(Long Jump- 5.15m ) and Hayley Butler (Pole Vault - 3m) Please see below some photos from the UK School Games of Aidan, Hayley Rubery & Sophie Worrall .Aidan Reynolds is in Black representing the WMids. |
Rubenis Takes Triple Medals At World Champs
07-Aug-09 by Tino Dummett
Telford Athletics Club’s Richard Rubenis took home two gold medals and a bronze in the
World Masters Athletics Championships in Lahti, Finland, last August.
The Telford track star began his cascade of medal-winning runs with a bronze
medal in the 400m. Rubenis was previously a 100m sprinter but has moved up to
400m this year. In July he broke the British Masters Championship record for
400m with 49.87 seconds, coming away with the gold. Representing Great Britain at the World Championships, he won his quarter- and semi-final rounds comfortably in 50.99 and 50.07.
“I was so tired as I had given everything but I was over the moon as I knew I had became World bronze medallist. I was so happy to stand on the podium with a world medal around my neck.”
Unlike in the 4x100m, in the 4x400m Great Britain was favourite for gold. It was a close race between the British and the Italian teams, but the Great Britain squad kept its composure and in the end just pulled ahead of Italy for the second gold relay medal. Their winning time, 3 minutes 22.71 seconds, broke the British Record by a massive 8 seconds. VictoriousLeaving the World Championships a triple-medallist, Rubenis’s only race left this season will be the Telford Games on 12 September, where he enters the 100m and 200m in a showdown against fellow World gold-medallist Jim Tipper, who will also be in the same events at the Games. The seasoned sprinter can enter the offseason training with new vigour ahead of next year’s European Masters Championships in Hungary. “I was so happy- in one week I had become a World Bronze medallist and Double World Gold medallist plus a British record holder. Hearing your national anthem while standing on top of the podium is a feeling I’ll never forget.” |
First place for Men’s team in Midland League
02-Aug-09 Birmingham Rowheath By Tino Dummett 2 August saw the final meeting of the 2009 Midland Senior League, hosting by Birmingham Rowheath. The other clubs in the League are Halesowen, Wolverhampton & Bilston, Yate & District, and Tipton Harriers. On points, the men’s team came first and the women’s team fifth, with Telford AC coming third in the overall points. Telford achieved three double-victories, where the club wins both the a- and b-string competitions in each event. The first of these was the 100m. Ben Simons, Telford’s fastest new sprinter, faced the English School’s 110m hurdles bronze medallist Alex Nwenwu from Wolverhampton and Midland under-20 200m champion David Lima in the 100m. Ben won in a time of 10.8 seconds, behind Lima (10.9) and Nwenwu (11.0). Santino Dummett, the Welsh Junior bronze-medallist, won the b-string for Telford in a time of 11.1 seconds. The other two double-wins were in the throws. Ian Taylor won the a-string shot putt with a distance of 12.00m, and Jamie Wilkinson won the b-string with 11.45m. The next furthest throw in both strings was 10.63, showing Telford’s dominance in the event. The other double-win was in the javelin, where James Hopley, with a throw of 61.23m, and Jamie Wilkinson with a throw of 50.02, easily beat the other club’s competitors. The next furthest throw was 44.09m, far behind the distance thrown by Telford athletes. Ian Taylor and Jamie Wilkinson both put in tremendous effort over the day- Jamie went in four events, coming first in the shot putt and javelin, second in the discus with 27.89, and third in the hammer with 18.93. Ian Taylor, one of Telford’s star athletes, won all three of the a-string events he competed in- the shot putt, the discus with a throw of 43.57, and the hammer with a throw of 38.17. In each event, he won by a huge margin over the rival athletes. Two athletes put in just as much effort for the club. Helen Ferguson came out of retirement to compete in the women’s hurdles races. In the 100m hurdles b-string she came fourth with a time of 20.9, and in the 400m hurdles a-string she came sixth in 89.1 seconds. Malcolm Dawes Jnr. was asked to do the 110m hurdles at the last moment and won the b-string race in a time of 19.2. Malcolm also won the 400m hurdles b-string with a time of 61.1 and came third in the a-string high jump with a jump of 1.70. Telford also asked several of its young athletes to compete for them. Bethan Partridge, a member of the England Senior squad and ranked a clear first in the UK for her under-20’s age group, won the high jump effortlessly with a 1.75m clearance. Laura Gibbons achieved an impressive PB of 13.1 seconds while coming third in the b-string 100m and looked very impressive during the 4x100m relay on third leg, and Sophie Worrall won the 400m b-string in 62.4 seconds. Hayley Rubery came joint-first in the a-string pole vault with 2.80m and came third in the a-string discus with 31.87. Sophie, Laura and Hayley are each in the under-17’s age group. Telford were favourite to win both men’s relays, but sadly didn’t quite pull off victories in either. Telford won the 100m a- and b-strings, and had two other experienced sprinters completing its 4x100m team. Pete Whitehouse ran a fast first leg to hand it to Telford’s star sprinter Ben Simons. Telford were leading the race until the start of the final bend, where there was confusion on the ‘go’ signal and the changeover to Santino Dummett was ruined, allowing other teams to pass. Santino ran the bend, overtaking some teams that had overtaken and handed it over to Ben Riekstins, an English School’s 200m finalist, who ran the anchor leg. Telford finished fourth due to a mistimed hand-off on the final changeover, which cost the team more valuable time. In the 4x400m relay, Telford again looked to produce another exciting last-second victory, having won most of its 4x400m relays this year. Mike Dickens, Telford’s second-ranked senior 200m runner this year, ran a solid first leg before handing it off to Pete Arnold near the front of a high-standard field. Pete worked hard to stay in second place and handed the baton to Ben Riekstins. Ben went off fast and pulled into first and continued to increase the gap, but fatigue set in coming off the final bend and the experienced Tipton, Yate and Halesowen athletes slipped past, putting Telford in fourth. Ben handed over to Toby Birtwhistle, Shropshire’s best junior 400m runner, who couldn’t quite make up the ground on the Halesowen athlete, crossing the line fourth. For most athletes, this would be the last event before the Telford Games. Overall, the men came first and the women fifth, giving a combined placing of third. Telford were relegated after this final league meeting, but with just seven more points it would have been Yate & District that would be relegated. Telford AC Results 100m- a) Ben Simons, 1st, 10.8; b) Santino Dummett, 1st, 11.1; a) Helen Martin, 4th, 13.2; b) Laura Gibbons, 3rd, 13.1. 200m- a) Santino Dummett, 2nd, 22.5; b) Ben Riekstins, 3rd, 23.7; a) Sophie Worrall, 4th, 27.2; b) Naomi Farquharson, 6th, 30.2. 400m- a) Tobi Birtwhistle, 5th, 51.6; b) Pete Arnold, 5th, 52.8; a) Cerian Lancaster, 4th, 64.1; b) Sophie Worrall, 1st, 62.4. 100mH- a) Zoe Davies, 5th, 21.3; b) Helen Ferguson, 4th, 20.9. 110mH- a) Iain Moody, 5th, 19.7; b) Malcolm Dawes Jnr., 1st, 19.2. 400mH- a) Iain Moody, 5th, 62.6; b) Malcolm Dawes Jnr., 1st, 61.1; a) Helen Ferguson, 6th, 89.1; b) Zoe Davies, 5th, 89.2. 800m- a) Chris Carter, 3rd, 2’00.5; b) David Cains, 3rd, 2’04.6; a) Cerian Lancaster, 3rd, 2’25.0; b) Tamsin Sankey, 5th, 2’42.8. 1500m- a) Chris Carter, 5th, 4’15.7; b) Jamie Davies, 4th, 4’25.8; a) Catherine Ansell, 3rd, 4’50.0; b) Holly Climo, 3rd, 5’06.6. 3000m- a) Paul Ward, 4th, 9’01.2; b) Chris Bagshaw, 2nd, 9’16.9; a) Catherine Ansell, 1st, 10’16.7; b) Chloe Murphy, DNF 3000m s/c- a) Simon Vines, 3rd, 11’23.0; b) Colin Lancaster, 2nd, 11’55.0. Long Jump- a) Ben Simons, 2nd, 6.80; b) David Samuels, 6th, 4.48; ) Sophie Worrall, 5th, 5.12; b) Naomi Farquharson, 4th, 4.11. Triple Jump- a) David Cains, 6th, 10.74; b) Pete Whitehouse, 5th, 9.75; a) Naomi Farquharson, 6th, 7.89. High Jump- a) Malcolm Dawes Jnr., 3rd, 1.70; b) Saul Millhouse, 6th, 1.50; a) Bethan Partridge, 1st, 1.75; b) Amelia Reynolds, =2, 1.35. Pole Vault- a) David Samuels, 2nd, 3.50; b) Saul Millhouse, 5th, 2.30; a) Hayley Rubery, 2nd, 2.80. Shot Putt- a) Ian Taylor, 1st, 12.00; b) Jamie Wilkinson, 1st, 11.45; a) Amelia Reynolds, 2nd, 9.73; b) Becca Fagan, 1st, 9.68. Discus- a) Ian Taylor, 1st, 43.57; b) Jamie Wilkinson, 2nd, 27.89; a) Hayley Rubery, 3rd, 31.87; b) Jade Fletcher, 4th, 18.56. Hammer- a) Ian Taylor, 1st, 38.17; b) Jamie Wilkinson, 3rd, 18.93; a) Zoe Davies, 6th, 18.89; b) Hayley Rubery, 5th, 16.52. Javelin- a) James Hopley, 1st, 61.23; b) Jamie Wilkinson, 1st, 50.02; a) Chloe Murphy, 5th, 23.85; b) Amelia Reynolds, 4th, 21.29. 4x100m Relay- Men’s 4th, 45.2; Women’s 4th, 53.3. 4x400m Relay- Men’s 4th, 3’29.1; Women’s 4th, 4’24.0.Overall- Men’s 1st, 191; Women’s 5th, 141.5; Combined 3rd, 347.5. By Tino Dummett |
National Junior League
26-Jul-09 by Tino Dummett
Telford Athletics Club was one of 6 athletics clubs that competed in the National Junior
League, for athletes in the under 20’s age group, on Sunday 26 July.
The rival teams for Telford were Wolverhampton & Bilston, Tamworth, Derby, City of Stoke and Team Arrows. Many Telford athletes won their competitions, and others obtained new lifetime bests. Chloe Murphy, asked to run for Telford almost every week, achieved a PB in the 800m b-string and the 3000m, winning both. She ran 2 minutes 33.8 for the 800m and 11’51.6 in the 3000m. She was also in the javelin, in which we threw 24.91m for third place. The other successful female athletes included Bethan Partridge, Telford’s best female athlete, who won the high jump and triple jump by large margins. She cleared 1.74m in the high jump and jumped for 11.29m in the triple. Hayley Rubery, who is in the under-17’s age group, won the women’s pole vault with a height of 2.90 as well as coming third in the discus with 29.94 and second in the javelin b-string with 23.16. Amelia Reynolds won the b-string competition in 2 of her 3 events. In her first ever 3000m race, she won the b-string in 12’07.9. She won the discus b-string with a throw of 25.74, and came second in the shot-putt b-string with 8.95m. In the men’s competition, two athletes won their a-string events. Malcolm
Dawes won the 400m hurdles by more than 4 seconds, with a time of 65.0. Santino
Dummett won the 200m in 22.9 seconds, and also came second in the 100m with
a time of 11.3. The times were very slow because there was a strong headwind
at the track. Other athletes that did well are Cerian Lancaster, who came second in the 800m with a time of 2’31.6. Malcolm Dawes, the winner of the 400m hurdles, also came second in the high jump with 1.75 and third in the 110m hurdles with 18.0. Danny Baeriswyl came third in the javelin with 39.38, and fourth in the hammer with 22.50. The full list of athletes that competed for Telford are:100m- a) Santino Dummett, 2nd, 11.3; b) Tobi Birtwhistle, 1st, 12.3; a) Laura Gibbons, 5th, 14.1; b) Naomi Farquharson, 4th, 14.5. 200m- a) Santino Dummett, 1st, 22.9; b) Ben Riekstins, 1st, 23.9; a) Sophie Worrall, 4th, 28.2. 400m- a) Tobi Birtwhistle, 2nd, 52.1; b) Ben Riekstins, 1st, 54.0; a) Lucy Ferguson, 4th, 68.6. 800m- a) Cerian Lancaster, 2nd, 2’31.6; b) Chloe Murphy, 1st, 2’33.8. 3000m- a) Chloe Murphy, 1st, 11’51.6; b) Amelia Reynolds, 1st, 12’07.9. 110mH- a) Malcolm Dawes, 3rd, 18.0 400mH- Malcolm Dawes, 1st, 65.0 High Jump- a) Malcolm Dawes, 2nd, 1.75; a) Bethan Partridge, 1st, 1.74; b) Sophie Worrall, 3rd, 1.35 Pole Vault- a) David Samuels, no jump recorded; a) Hayley Rubery, 1st, 2.90 Long Jump- a) Sophie Worrall, 3rd, 5.17; b) Laura Gibbons, 2nd, 4.77 Triple Jump- a) Bethan Partridge, 1st, 11.29; b) Naomi Farquharson, 2nd, 8.61 Shot putt- a) Ed Dawes, 4th, 9.55; b) Alessandro Dummett, 3rd, 9.31; a) Becca Fagan, 2nd, 9.82; b) Amelia Reynolds, 2nd, 8.95 Discus- a) Ed Dawes, 3rd, 24.14; b) Alessandro Dummett, 3rd, 21.49; a) Hayley Rubery, 3rd, 29.94; b) Amelia Reynolds, 1st, 25.74 Hammer- a) Danny Baeriswyl, 4th, 22.50; a) Amelia Reynolds, 5th, 16.75; b) Jade Fletcher, 3rd, 11.02 Javelin- a) Danny Baeriswyl, 3rd, 39.38; a) C |
The Arno Story - Meeting Usain Bolt
25-Jul-09
TAC club members Peter Arnold and Phil Shotton attended the recent
Norwich Union Grand Prix at Crystal Palace to see Bolt in action.Telford AC’s MVP Pete Arnold traveled to London to watch Bolt in action... “TAC club members Peter Arnold and Phil Shotton attended the recent Norwich
Union Grand Prix at Crystal Palace accompanied by Wolves and Bilston 2007 Midlands
silver Medalist Ross Edgely. The atmosphere over both days was amazing, with Jamaican flags everywhere. The crowds has come to see Bolt and he did not disappoint ... his showmanship had everyone on up and dancing to his tune. It was also nice to see former athletes such as Linford Christie, Colin Jackson and Iwan Thomas mingling with the crowds. In true Telford AC style our boys ventured into to crystal place to sample the nightlife and what other attractions were on offer, apart from the star studded track line up.... Pete and Phil highly recommend the Black Sheep bar for a good beer and show what dance combinations you have. It was a great weekend and they boys would highly recommend all to see that man that has changed the face of athletics and get involved in the carnival atmosphere that he generates. If that’s not enough a cold pint in your hand always helps. Hopefully this trip will have inspired two of TAC's most dedicated athletes to great things over the winter and next season.... Watch this space!” |
Telford Athletic Club Shines In BAL Cup
18-Jul-09 Tamworth by Tino Dummett
Telford AC men’s team came second in The British Athletic League (BAL) Cup Semi-final, held
in Tamworth on 18th July, with the women’s team coming third.
The meeting, known as the 10 in 100 Cup, holds 10 track and field events in 100 minutes. Other clubs vying for qualification into the finals were Rugby & Northampton AC, Tamworth AC, Shrewsbury AC and D.A.S.H. (Dudley and Stourbridge Harriers).
Malcolm Dawes, 400m hurdles, 2nd, 61.4 Dale Wilkinson, 800m, 4th, 2’09.5 Richard Rubenis, 400m, 1st, 50.1 Ben Riekstins, 200m, 2nd, 23.8 Santino Dummett, 100m, 1st, 10.8 Chris Carter, 800m, 1st, 4’08.6 Men’s Medley Relay Team: Pete Arnold, Michael Dickens, Ben Riekstins, Santino Dummett, 2nd, 2’31.7 Chloe Murphy, 800m, 4th, 2’40.3 Cerian Lancaster, 400m, 3rd, 63.3 Naomi Farquharson, 200m, 29.7 Helen Martin, 100m, 3rd, 13.1 Chloe Murphy, 1500m, 4th, 5’38.9 Women’s Medley Relay Team: Naomi Farquharson, Cerian Lancaster, Helen Martin, Sophie Worrall, 3rd, 3’05.7 Ian Taylor, Discus, 1st, 44.81 Ben Cocker, Long Jump, 2nd, 6.03 Jamie Wilkinson, Shot Put, 4th, 11.16 Sophie Worrall, Long Jump, 1st, 5.60 Becca Fagan, Shot Put, 2nd, 9.87 Naomi Farquharson, High Jump, 4th, 1.20 Jade Fletcher, Discus, 2nd 19.48 |
Telford’s top athletes impress in Midlands League
04-Jul-09 By Tino Dummett Saturday 4th July saw Telford
Athletics Club host the Midland Senior Athletics League. Telford was against Halesowen, Wolverhampton &
Bilston, Birmingham Rowheath, Yate & District, and Tipton Harriers. Telford had several nail biting performances in both the track and field. The most exciting race of the day was the 4x400m relay, which saw the lead change 4 times during the course of the race. Telford AC prides itself on its sprint squad, and today sent out one of its best 400m relay squads. Phil Shotton started on first leg and handed the baton over in second place to Pete Arnold, just ahead of the Halesowen team and just behind the Tipton team. Pete ran an excellent leg to stay in second against one of Tipton’s fastest 400m runners, and handed it over to Ben Riekstins having pulled ahead of the Halesowen team in third. Starting his lap 5 metres behind the experienced Tipton athlete, Ben sprinted the first bend to overtake, putting Telford in first place. After a lightning fast run, Ben handed the baton to Toby Birtwhistle clearly in first place, but with Tipton and Halesowen’s best runners chasing him down. Tobi kept his cool for the first 300m of the last lap, allowing the competitors to catch him up, before sprinting over the last 100m to stay just ahead of the two teams behind. Crossing the line a vest’s thickness ahead of Tipton, Telford won in 3 minutes 31.2 seconds. Tipton were so close they had exactly the same time of 3’31.2, and Halesowen were third in a time of 3’31.3, all three teams finishing within 0.1 seconds of each other. Over the day, Telford’s excellent sprint squad had more success. In the 100m, Midland Counties 100m silver medallist Ben Simons ran an amazing 10.7 seconds to win the a-string, far ahead of the nearest competitor. In the b-string race Santino Dummett also won a long way ahead of the nearest opponent with a time of 11.0 seconds. Just before the successful 100m double victory, Malcolm Dawes Jnr. ran a huge lifetime best to win the 400m hurdles b-string in 61.1 seconds. Malcolm also won the b-string high jump with a clearance of 1 metre 75 cm. Sophie Worrall won the women’s 400m b-race in 63.4 seconds, and the long jump with a jump of 5.53m. Naomi Farquharson won the women’s b-string long jump, jumping 4.62m. The 800m featured Chris Carter, the England under-20 Indoor 1500m champion, who won comfortably in a time of 1 minute 56.9 seconds. Paul Ward won the 5000m by 12 seconds in a time of 15’30.3 seconds, with Chris Bagshaw winning the b-string in 15’53.9. In the shot putt Ian Taylor won by an incredible margin of over a metre, with a winning distance of 11m 94cm, and also won the discus by almost 9 metres, with a throw of 42.89 metres. The b-string discus was won by John Currie of Telford with a throw of 33.19m. In the women’s shot putt Rebecca Fagan won with 9.62m, and in the discus Hayley Rubery won with a throw of 34.41. The fourth a-string b-string double win for Telford was in the javelin, where James Hopley threw one of the biggest distances ever seen in the Men’s league of 63.51m. It is thought to be a League record, but this is unverified. Rob Millar won the javelin b-string in 44.35. Telford AC had an impressive 18 victories, but there were many others who tried their hardest when given a place on the Telford AC senior team. These were: 100m- Ben Simons, 10.7; Santino Dummett, 11.0; Helen Martin, 13.2; Sinead Johnson, 12.9. 200m- Michael Dickens, 23.8; Ben Riekstins, 23.9; Sophie Worrall, 26.8; Naomi Farquharson, 30.0. 400m- Tobi Birtwhistle, 51.6; Peter Arnold, 53.0; Lucy Ferguson, 65.3; Sophie Worrall, 63.4. 400mH- Phil Shotton, 58.7; Malcolm Dawes Jnr, 61.1. 800m- Chris Carter, 1’56.9; Holly Climo, 2’26.7; Amelia Reynolds, 2’45.2. 1500m- Dale Wilkinson, 4’18.7; Jamie Davies, 4’22.0. 3000m- Chloe Murphy, 12’03.7; Tamsin Sankey, 15’13.6. 5000m- Paul Ward, 15’30.3; Chris Bagshaw, 15’53.9. 2000m s/c- Simon Vines, 7’12.4. Long Jump- Ben Cocker, 6.30; Malcolm Dawes Jnr, 4.56; Sophie Worrall, 5.53; Naomi Farquharson, 4.62. Triple Jump- Ben Cocker, 12.30; Malcolm Dawes Jnr, 9.65; Naomi Farquharson, 8.60; Tamsin Sankey, 8.24. High Jump- Ben Cocker, 1.80; Malcolm Dawes Jnr, 1.75; Tamsin Sankey, 1.25; Chloe Murphy, 1.25. Pole Vault- Saul Millhouse, 2.20; Hayley Rubery, 3.00. Shot putt- Ian Taylor, 11.94; Graham Pitt, 8.17; Rebecca Fagan, 9.62; Jade Fletcher, 5.43. Discus- Ian Taylor, 42.89; John Currie, 33.19; Hayley Rubery, 43.41; Jade Fletcher, 19.74. Hammer- John Currie, 31.27; Robert Millar, 10.16; Hayley Rubery, 21.01; Amelia Reynolds, 16.26. Javelin- James Hopley, 63.51; Robert Millar, 44.35; Amelia Reynolds, 23.91; Chloe Murphy, 23.78. |
Midland Counties Senior and under-20s Championships
21-Jun-09 by Tino Dummett Many of the best athletes of Telford Athletic Club competed on Sunday 21 June at the Midland Counties Senior and under-20s Championships. The weather was cold and at times wet, but the athletes refused to allow their spirits to be dampened. The first Telford athlete to race was Phil Shotton in the under 20 men’s 400m hurdles. Phil came first last year in the under-17’s race, but the first year in the under-20’s age group is always a tough one. He came fourth in a time of 57.98, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal. Next to run was Chris Carter in the under-20 men 800m final. Chris is the England indoor champion at 1500m, a title he won in February 2009. He managed a fifth place finish against a tough field, including the England under-20 800m champion Adam Cotton. Chris’s time was 1 minute 57 seconds. After the 800m was the 100m. In the under-20 100m heats Santino Dummett qualified for the under-20’s final in 11.23 seconds. In the senior 100m heats 22 year-old Ben Simons qualified for the senior’s final in a time of 10.96. At the other end of the stadium, athletes were preparing for the toughest of sprint events, the 400m. Telford’s Toby Birtwhistle and Ben Riekstins were in the first heat, which would prove to be the fastest. Ben had a fantastic start and was leading for the first 200m of the race, but fatigue set in around the final bend where the runners more experienced at 400m still had energy left. Ben is a former medallist at the 200m in the English School’s Championship and the AAA’s Championship, the two toughest youth competitions in the UK, but has recently started running the 400m. Toby Birtwhistle, one of Telford’s best 400m runners, battled through the race to come fourth with 52.20 seconds, and Ben came sixth with 54.04. Another Telford athlete that has moved up to 400m from the faster sprints this year is Richard Rubenis. In the last 50m of his senior men 400m race he was doing well, catching the runners in front of him, but sadly missed out on the final by just 0.04 seconds. He came fourth in his heat with 50.26. Colin Lancaster earned a bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase, with a time of 11 minutes 53 seconds. His daughter, Cerian Lancaster, would go a step further, winning a gold medal in the under-20 women’s 800m, with a time of 2 minutes 34 seconds. In the 200m, two Telford athletes were entered. Toby Birtwhistle ran 23.90 in his heat of the under-20’s race, while Jim Tipper, a veteran relay world record holder with the UK team, ran 23.37 after suffering an injury in his right leg before crossing the finish line. His time would have been much faster if he hadn’t been injured. It was time for the 100m finals, and Telford had an athlete in both the under-20’s final and the senior men’s final. In the under-20’s, Santino Dummett had a terrible start and finished seventh, with a time of 11.27, much slower than his season’s best of 10.9 seconds. In the senior’s final, Ben Simons ran a superb race to claim second place with a time of 10.78 seconds. Also, Shrewsbury’s Andy Jones, a former UK long jumper, came seventh with 11.09. The winner of the under-20’s race was Birmingham’s Antoe Walters with a time of 10.71, and the senior’s was won in 10.60 by Coventry’s Joel Fearon. In the field events, Telford’s Ben Cocker came seventh in the senior men’s long jump with 6.38 metres. Bethan Partridge, last year’s English School’s gold medallist in the high jump, easily won the under 20 women’s high jump with 1.75 metres, 10cm clear of her nearest competitor. Being one of Telford’s most versatile athletes, she also came second in the under-20 women’s triple jump, jumping 11.56 metres. Coming first was Laura Samuel, the winner of the Aviva England under-20 Championships’ triple jump, who set a new Championship record. There was only one PB ran on the day- the 10.78 100m run by Ben Simons, which was even more incredible because the day was wet and cold. Athletes taking home medals were: Bethan Partridge, gold in the u20 high jump and silver in the u20 triple jump; Cerian Lancaster, gold in the u20 800m; and her dad Colin Lancaster, who had a bronze medal in the senior 3000m steeplechase; and Ben Simons, silver in the senior men’s 100m. |
TAC hosts National Junior League
14-Jun-09 Telford by Tino Dummett A total of 100 Personal Bests were smashed in the June fixture of the Midland division of the National Junior Athletics League, held at the Telford Athletics Stadium. The League division sees Telford AC face off against City of Stoke, Derby AC, Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, Tamworth AC and Team Arrows. The Junior League is for athletes in the under-20 age group.
800m- Chris Carter, James Wilkins, Jessica Bailey, Chloe Murphy 1500m- James Wilkins 3000m- Chloe Murphy 400m- Tobi Birtwhistle, Ben Riekstins 400m hurdles- Phil Shotton, Malcolm Dawes, Lucy Ferguson 200m- Tobi Birtwhistle, Santino Dummett, Sophie Worrall, Lucy Ferguson 100m- Santino Dummett, Mitchell Jenderko, Laura Gibbons High Jump- Malcolm Dawes, Bethan Partridge, Sophie Worrall Pole Vault- David Samuels Long Jump- Mitchell Jenderko, Malcolm Dawes, Sophie Worrall, Laura Gibbons Triple Jump- Bethan Partridge Shotputt- Alessandro Dummett, Ed Dawes, Amelia Reynolds, Bethan Partridge Discus- Alessandro Dummett, Ed Dawes, Amelia Reynolds, Jade Fletcher Hammer- Danny Baeriswyl, Amelia Reynolds, Jade Fletcher Javelin- Danny Baeriswyl, Robert Miller, Amelia Reynolds, Chloe Murphy |