News reports - December 2011

18 December 2011: Under 20 sprinters impress at Manchester

Both Eleanor Newton and Danny Driver took advantage of Sale Harriers' 2nd indoor open meeting of the season at the Manchester Sportcity indoor track. With the Northern Indoor Champs just a few weeks away, both athletes put down a marker that they are on track to do well.

Over 60m, Eleanor ran 8.49 secs, a new PB and a big improvement on her previous best of 8.63 from couple of years ago. Danny Driver was also on form and shaved a hundredth off his previous PB and club record time of 7.70 set last winter.

Danny set another PB in the flat 400m, not a usual distance for him but a very respectable time of 55.95 secs.

Eleanor had her second run in the 60m hurdles and here she ran 9.48. That's a big improvement on the 9.74 run at the EIS in January and just two hundredths off her PB set at the 2010 Indoor Championships.

Full results

11 December 2011: Junior Girls qualify for Sportshall Final

Another great turnout by the club's Under 11 and Under 13 Girls at the 3rd Round of the NW Sportshall Athletics League in Widnes has been rewarded with a place for both teams in the regional league final at Wigan on Sunday 12th February.

Up against Handforth, Liverpool,St Helens Sutton, Warrington, Halton & Frodsham and West Cheshire, the Under 11 Girls were 3rd behind Halton & Frodham and Wirral, the Under 13 Girls were also 3rd, behind Halton & Frodsham and West Cheshire, and our Under 11 Boys were 5th; not bad with just three athletes.

The eight Under 11 Girls were Alice Delaney, Lilly-Ann Grayson, Hollie Cliffe, Eleanor Kenney, Mollie Morris, Olivia Pines, Annabel Riding and Molly Riding. All the girls ran a 2-lap race with Alice Delaney the fastest in 28.6, Olivia just a tenth behind in 28.7. Alice was again fastest in the 4-lap race, in 64.7 with Molly our 'B' runner crossing the line in 64.7. Again on the track, the girls did well to finish 2nd in the 4 by 2-lap relay, the final event in these matches. In the field events, Olivia was our top scorer in the triple jump with a best of 4m 84, with Alice clearing a best of 4m 74. Lilly-Ann cleared 3m 99 and Mollie 3m 65. In the speed bounce, Olivia and Lilly-Ann both scored a great 47. Molly was our best in the chest push where she finished 2nd - our highest finish of the day - with a throw of 5m 50, Eleanor taking the 'B' points with 4m 75. Finally, in the long jump Alice took the 'A' points with a best clearance of 1m 71 with Hollie taking the 'B' points with 1m 53. Both Eleanor and Annabel cleared 1m 46.

Our Under 13 Girls were Emma Alderson, Lily Edwards, Sally Laughton, Nisha Kumari-Webster and Savanagh Morgan. Emma was once again outstanding, winning the 6-lap in 1:32.2 despite recovering from a testing cross country run at Chorley the day before! She was also our fastest 2-lap runner, in 27.1, she took the 'B' points in the long jump with 1m 91 and was our best speed bouncer with a score of 73. Newcomer Sevanagh had a great day too, finishing 2nd 'B' runner in the 6-lap in 1:40.6. Lily also competed very well on the day, taking a 2nd place overall in the long jump 1m 94, a 3rd place overall in the triple jump with 5m 72 and was our 2nd fastest 2-lapper in 27.6. An excellent set of results! Sally took the 'B' points in both the speed bounce (71) and the triple jump (5m 02) and Nisha took points in both the shot put (4m 46) and the 2-lap (31.4).

We had no Under 15 Girls.

In the Boys' competition, we had no Under 13 or 15s but three Under 11 Boys carried the colours for Southport Waterloo. They were Ben Apps, Joseph Grimes and Luke Suarez who did well to score 87.5 points between them, leaving them in 6th place in the League, just outside the qualifying positions for the regional final. Ben won the speed bounce with a score of 48 and was our fastest 2-lapper with 28.0. He also took the 'A' points in the long jump with a best clearance of 1m 65. Luke was our 'A' vertical jumper with 36 and was 2nd in the 'B' speed bounce with a count of 45. Joseph took the 'B' points in the 2-lap (30.1), the 4-lap (69.5) and the vertical jump (34).

Thanks to team manager Chris Henders and to all the parents who brought their children along to the Kingsway Leisure Centre in Widnes for another great afternoon's sportshall athletics.

Results Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 Full results for Round 3 Boys | Girls

10 December 2011: Final cross country outing before the Christmas break

My car radio on the way to Astley Park in Chorley was telling me that it was the coldest day of the winter so far but once again, the forecast was wrong locally and the 3rd round of the Mid Lancs Cross Country League was held in sunny conditions, with the rain holding off until it was time to take down the tent! Typical!!

I rate the Astley Park course as one of the best the Mid Lancs League has to offer. In fact it was February 2007 when we last visited Chorley and so many of our younger runners had not experienced the course. Indeed, for many it was the first time they had run through water.

Starting and finishing close to St Lawrence School, the course covered the top playing fields, rather wet in places, including a dip down to a boggy stream, before descending into Great Wood, through the river before clambering up a steep incline. A final loop through the woods took the runners back to the top field via a very steep hill before, on the final lap, turning in to run 200m to the finish. To say the least, its a tough course; but real cross country, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Overall, we had 40 senior runners at Chorley and a better turnout by juniors although quite a few young endurance runners didn't make the trip. They will have missed a brilliant cross country opportunity! We had 8 individual top ten finishes: Emma Alderson was 8th Under 13 Girl, Ellie Roberts 8th Under 15 Girl, Michael Panes 6th Under 15 Boy, Andrew Kershaw 8th Under 15 Boy, Lauren Clarehugh was 9th Under17 Woman, Niall Cullen 5th Under 17 Man, Joe Vis 1st Under 20 Man and James Tartt 3rd Senior Man!

Lily Ann Grayson was our only representative in the Under 11 Girls race where she finished 34th in 9:01 for 1.8 kms, a faster time than at Burnley.

In the Under 11 Boys' race, we doubled our numbers to two! Max Davies was 31st in 9:05 and Charlie Warrington 34th in 9:41, again for 1.8 kms.

Just one runner again in the Under 13 Girls but a great run from Emma Alderson brought her home in 8th place of 30 girls in 12:08 for the 2. 7 kms for the small plus medium lap.

There were just two boys in the Under 13 Boys' race over 3.2 kms. Fraser Garner was 32nd in 15:23 and Chris Rimmer 36th in 15:38.

Maintaining the pattern of previous races, we were back down to one in the Under 15 Girls' race but again it was a quality run from Ellie Roberts over a tough large lap that took in all the features of this course. Ellie was 8th of just 28 girls today, in 14:12 for the 3.2 kms.

The club was better represented in the Under 15 Boys' race with 6 runners in Southport Waterloo vests. Following the same finishing order as the boys ran at Burnley, Michael Panes was first home for the club, 6th of 30 runners in 15:49 for the 4.1 kms small plus large lap course. Andrew Kershaw came home in 8th place in 15:56, Luke Tyson was 15th in 16:27 and Thomas
Lodge 21st in 17:07. Adam Cullen covered the distance in 18:20 and Tom Shearer in 18:32. The boys took 2nd team spot behind Preston Harriers.

With race numbers thinning in the older teen agegroups, we were back to one runner in the Under 17 Women's race. Lauren Clarehugh was 9th in the 4.1 kms race in 21:03. But in the Under 17 Men's race we had five which compares with none in this age group in the 2010/11 season! Niall Cullen led the team home, 5th overall in 23:40 for 6.2 kms. Liam Ellis was next, 12th in 25:27, and Jonathan Foster was the final team counter, 14th in 25:51. The team was 3rd behind LPS and Preston Harriers. Owen Williams covered the course in 27:34 and Gary Clark in 28:11.

In one of the best results of the day, Joe Vis won the Junior Men's race, within the Senior race, in 38:27

We had 11 in the Senior Women's race, excellent participation levels and great to see so many enjoy the benefits of cross country running. Once again, Clare Constable led them home, 15th of 115 ladies in this race, in 28:34 for 6.2 kms. Michelle Spencer, in her first cross country of the season, was next in, 42nd in 30:50, and Sue Cooper was the final team counter, 55th in 31:50. Carole James, looking increasingly at home in cross country, covered the distance in 33:15, Sarah Grayson, in 33:37, Paula Davies, in 35:57, Helen Lodge, in 36:00, Christine Cutner, in 36:07, Sue Stewart, in 36:20, Elaine Sutton, in 38:11, and Jane Blacklin, in 39:55. The vet teams did well with Clare, Michelle and Sue C taking 6th over 35 team spot, Sue C, Carole and Christine, 3rd L45 and Sue C, Christine and Sue S 1st L55. Clare Constable was 6th L35 and Sue Cooper was 2nd L55.

Finally, despite a fixture clash with the Liverpool & District League, no fewer than 30 Southport Waterloo runners lined up for the start of the Senior Men's 10.1 kms race. As defending champions, our seniors have given unstinting support to their team manager, Steve James, in going for a third successive title but Barrow, too, were out in force at Chorley and, with a 1st, 6th and 7th place finish, they were well on the way to their 2nd team win of the season with Southport Waterloo 2nd team.

Our first finisher was James Tartt, 3rd overall - is that his highest placed finish in this League? - in 36:45. Joe Vis was our second finisher, 11th overall in 38:27, with Ben Johnson (17th in 38:50), Richard Shearer (21st in 39:39), Matt Thompson (22nd in 39:42) and Steve Wilkinson (28th in 40:16) making up our 'A' team. The 'B' team were David Hamilton (35th in 41:00), Rob Berry (41st in 41:25), Gerry Lenehan (48th in 41:50), Rob McGrath (70th in 43:57), Steve McLean (75th in 44:19) and Steve Lewis (76th in 44:21). With such a strong supporting team it was not surprising that they took 1st 'B' team place! Other finishers were Neil Adshead (44:52), Rob Johnson (45:16), Rick Bowker (45:23), Matt Goddard (45:37), Keith Lunt (47:13), John Sprackland (47:34), Phil Bailey (47:47), Andrew Hudson (50:06), Martin Sutton (51:08), Tom Peacock (51:17), Neil Silcock (51:26), Terry Hanley (52:33), Mark Davies (52:49), Steve James (53:58), Phil Baxendale (55:38), John Vis (55:45) and Rob Cosgrove (56:11). I think there were also a couple who didn't finish and one who didn't start!

Richard Shearer, Matt Thompson, David Hamilton and Rob Berry took 1st team place in the Vet 40 category; Steve McLean, Neil Adshead and Rob Johnson were 2nd team in the Vet 50 category; and Phil Bailey, Terry Hanley and Steve James won the Vet 60 team competition. Some good individual vet positions as well with Richard Shearer 4th Vet 40 and Phil Bailey 3rd Vet 60.

We had a great day's cross country at Astley Park and I for one hope its not another 4 years before we're back! In the meantime, this season's fixtures continue with the Merseyside county championships at Sherdley Park, St Helens, on 7th January and the next Mid Lancs fixture is the following weekend, Saturday 14th January at Wilson Playing Fields, Hyndburn. Those wanting to run in the county, Northern or National championships need to make sure they tell their team managers so than an entry can be made.

Full results. And there are more photos of today's action on the XC page of the Mid Lancs web site.

8 December 2011: Sefton athlete's 'unbelievable' Olympic torch honour

7 December 2011: Everything but the cuddly toy (by Trace Peters)

Two very successful raffles took place last weekend during the Awards Night on Friday 2nd and the Seniors' Christmas Meal on the Saturday 3rd December with a whopping £349.10 made over the two nights!

Being one of my first assignments as the newly appointed Fundraising Secretary of SWAC, I made it my mission to make both raffles truly spectacular and with the tremendously kind donations from local businesses as well as the generosity of fellow club members there were some absolutely fabulous prizes on offer including a £275.00 Yaffe Photoshoot, £40.00 Molly Maid Voucher, 8 x £36.00 Victoria Leisure Vouchers not to mention tons of restaurant, hairdressing, beauty and sports prizes up for grabs!

The Saturday also had some rather brilliant hampers on offer containing plenty of tasty treats to tantalize the tastebuds over the festive period.  Again, I am so grateful to all the people who contributed making this year’s happen the best yet!

I just need mention all the businesses who helped make both raffles possible and thank them once again for their contributions.  They are as follows:-

Victoria Leisure, Sarah Hall, The Latin Lounge, Michael’s Restaurant, Elixir Hair & Beauty, Birkdale Cycles, Will Run Preston, Essential Moments, Natterjack Running Centre, Birkdale Cheese Centre, Tim Cullen Photography, Majestic Wines, Sitting Pretty, VIP’s Hair & Beauty, Stanley’s Fruit & Veg, The Tea Rooms, The Retreat, Inspired Flowers, Just Flowers, Molly Maid, Serenity Spa, Volvare Italian Restaurant, Vue Cinema, Premier Bowl, Bella Italia, Vitality Sports Massage, Birkers, The Park Hotel, Gillions, Broughs the Butchers & Yaffe Photography.

Also thank you to all who bought tickets over the two nights and I hope all who won enjoy their prizes (especially Steve Wilkinson who won not one but two hair vouchers to help keep his rather minimal tresses in tip top condition!)

Finally huge appreciation goes out to chairman and general nice guy Steve McLean for both my chauffeur and PA throughout the prize generating process – a true legend!

Here’s to the next fabulous fundraising event in the near future…WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

3 December 2011: SWAC runners in English Schools XC Final (by Mark Panes)

Four Southport Waterloo under 15 athletes took place in the English Schools Cross Country Finals at Princethorpe College, Rugby, upon the 3rd December, representing Range High School, Formby. This is the first time that a team from the school had qualified for the finals and upon Friday the 2nd December all six boys had been invited by the school principle into the school staff room were they had received a standing ovation from all the teachers.

Running in the Intermediate boys race the team finished a credible 11th out of 24 competing on the day.

First home for Range, in 14th Place, was Andrew Kershaw in 16.25, back to his best. Second counter, in 19th place, was Michael Panes in 16.38, third counter Tom Lodge in 55th place and final counter was Adam Cullen in 109th place. The two other team mates were Callum Larkin and Jonathan Baker who both performed very well on the day and if not already members of a running club would benefit from joining Southport  Waterloo. I think the above achievement reflects very well on the training that Ron and Steve give our kids and a big thank you should go to them.

2 December 2011: Sally, Drew and Owen:Performance Trophy Winners; Brian Davey the club Volunteer of the Year

This year's club Awards' Evening, followed by a Xmas disco, was again held at the RAFA Club in Freshfield. The certificates and trophies were presented by the club President, Steve James. Gary Clark and Andrew Kershaw helped us award the junior certificates.

Proceedings commenced with the Bishop awards, named after after one of the founding members of the club, Ray Bishop. Certificates were presented to all U11s, U13s, U15s and U17s who had competed for the club in sportshall athletics, cross country and track & field. Based on points earned for their club, rather than personal achievement. The certificates were graded merit for non-scoring Under 11s; gold, silver and bronze for the other age groups.

Individual 'Bishops' were awarded to the top scorers in each of the three disciplines. For the girls, the individual age group sportshall top scorers were Sally Laughton and Jessica O'Brien with Jessica O'Brien taking the girls' sportshall award. In cross country, the age group top scorers were Lucy Hunter, Ellie Roberts and Ellon Hart: with Ellon Hart again taking cross country award; and in track & field the top scorers were Emma Alderson, Lucy Hunter and Sally Wareing. Lucy Hunter took the girls' track & field 'Bishop'.

For the boys, in Sportshall Athletics Joseph Grimes and Jamie Tipping were the age group top scorers with Joseph Grimes the sportshall winner. In cross country, top scorers were Gregor Gordon and Andrew Kershaw. Last year's winner Andrew Kershaw took the award for top scorer in cross country. In track & field, age group top scorers were Harry Peacock, Andrew Kershaw and Graham Boreham. Graham Boreham emerged as the winner of the T&F Bishop.

The Team Manager awards (previously known as Endeavour awards) are awarded to a boy and to a girl in recognition of a young athlete’s contribution to athletics or special team effort. particularly in the Young Athletes League. Both of this year’s winners are regulars at training and in all levels of competition and the way they approach their sport shows a clear love for athletics and a keen desire to compete in a fair and friendly way.  Both are great team players and a real help to their team manager when it comes to team success.  The winners are Emma Alderson and Luke Tyson.

The George Bebbington Memorial Trophy for Junior Athlete of the Year was presented next. This is a junior improvement award and reference was made to the progress made by Lucy Hunter, Abby Sutton, Elle Grosz, Ellie Roberts, Tom Lodge, Andrew Kershaw and Niall Cullen. For significant progress in two events, this year’s winner of the George Bebbington Memorial Trophy, the Junior Athlete of the year, is Andrew Kershaw.

In terms of junior performance, the club first recognized a group of our young athletes whose level of performance enabled them to be selected to represent Merseyside at the English Schools’ National Championships, in Gateshead. Drew Warnock-Dumbell (JB 100m), Tom Lodge (JB 800m), Andrew Kershaw (JB 1500m), Sally Wareing (IG 300m), Niall Cullen (IB 1500m), Beth McBride (SG 100m and relay), Eleanor Newton (SG 100m hurdles and relay) and Jordan Kelly (SB long jump) were presented with a memento of their achievement.

36 individual performances by club athletes earned them top 20 North West rankings on Power of Ten, 21 of them in the top 10 - one more than last year. The achieving athletes were Elle Grosz, Sally Wareing, Eleanor Newton, Drew Warnock-Dumbell, Andrew Kershaw, Michael Panes, Luke Tyson, Niall Cullen, Patrick Cullen, James Armstrong, Danny Driver and Jordan Kelly.

Individual performance was also seen in the new junior T&F club records set in 2011, including those set by Ellie Roberts (U15 1 mile), Danny Driver (U20 60m), James Armstrong (U20 100m and 200m), Andrew Kershaw (U15 800m and 1500m), Niall Cullen (U17 800m, 1500m and 1 mile) and Jordan Kelly (U20 high jump).

Mention was also made of Owen Fennell-Rutherford, an U20 CP sprinter who has been regularly placed in the top 3 in disabled competition and is rankled 4 in GB and 32nd in the world rankings over 100m and 3rd and 34th respectively over 200m.

Turning then to the Eddie Hechle Performance trophies, for a junior boy and girl, a difficult decision was again needed to select the winners. For the girls, the winner had 3 Power of Ten NW top ten rankings, the best 4th for both 200m and 300m. The Eddie Hechle Performance Trophy for girls was awarded to Sally Wareing. It was also announced that Sally had won the Lancashire Cup, presented by Merseyside Athletics, for the best performance by an Under 17 Women at the county T&F championships in May. Sally was presented with a memento of her achievement.

For Boys' Performance, it was decided to award the trophy jointly; to Drew Warnock-Dumbell, ranked 3rd in the north west running 100m in 10.6 and Owen Fennell-Rutherford for his outstanding success as a CP sprinter.

The senior presentations started with the awards for the Grand Prix series of road races.   This year there were fewer races in the Grand Prix, the winners decided on the best 5 races rather than the usual 6.  Even so, very few men or women completed 5 events in the series so very few were in the mix for the title. Brian Grice was thanked for his work in maintaining the rankings.

For the ladies, Sue Stewart was 3rd, Christine Cutner 2nd but our winner was once again Tracey Peters. In the vet category, Sue Stewart was runner-up and the winner was Christine Cutner.

For the men, Steve Wilkinson was 3rd, Rick Bowker 2nd and our winner …  Steve Lewis. In the vet category, Paul Ashley was 3rd, Matthew Nelson runner-up and the winner is  …   Rick Bowker.

This year, thanks to the efforts of Brian Davey, the club has set up a new Grand Prix of 6 fell races ranging from the unimaginatively named 'Great Hill fell race' to the exotic 'Moel Farnau'. 10 of our senior female and 19 male runners took to the hills to make this a very worthwhile addition to club activities.

For the women, in equal 3rd place were Elaine Sutton and Vicki Harvey, Carole James was 2nd and our winner was  …. Tracey Peters.

For the men, Nail Adshead was 3rd, Simon Tobin 2nd and the winner was …. Rob Ashworth. 

The senior Progress Trophy is awarded to a senior road runner who has shown the most improvement over the past 12 months. Of course, as runners get older performances tend to dip year on year!  And if we are to look for an improvement it’s much easier if we can compare like with like –which requires runners to do the same distances each year – which many don’t! Special mention was made of Ben Johnson (marathon time improved to 2:35), Nick Sinclair (marathon time improved to 4:45), Helen Lodge (4 Mile time improved to 33:49), Tracey Peters (10K time improved to 42:22), Elaine Sutton (10K time improved to 60:55), and Amanda Crook who has this year run a 2:55 marathon and a 1:26 half marathon, probably the fastest Southport Waterloo female marathon runner – ever.

The Progress Trophy winner for 2011 is in fact a marathon runner, currently ranked No 1 Under 23 in the UK over that distance …. Its Ben Johnson

The Cross Country awards were next.  Like the Grand Prix awards, we knew these winners in advance because we use the UKA Cross Challenge event in at Sefton Park as a cross country championships. With possibly the biggest ever senior club turnout for many years - 11 women and 29 men – it made for a competitive club championships. 

In the Women’s race, Tracey Peters, last year’s winner, kept up a challenge to the line but a new member – although she is not new to athletics – established a strong position to win our championship in 34:26 for 8.1 kms. The Female winner of the Norman Marshall Cross Country Trophy was Clare Constable.

In the Men’s race, last year’s winner James Tartt finished about a minute and a half in front of his nearest club challengers, Under 20 brothers Joe and Patrick Vis.  Finishing in 31:51 for the 9.8 kms, the Male Cross Country champion was James Tartt.

Next was the Senior Track & Field Award.  With the main senior track & field involvement being in the North of England T&F League, this award recognized the contribution made to team performance in that league.  Unfortunately, the yo-yo action dropped us back to Division 3 West after the 2011 season but that said more about the strength in depth of the squad than the performances of individual athletes who have regularly contributed greatly to team results.

Amongst the ladies, the top scorers were Stephanie May and Ann Dignan.  For the men, Steve Wilkinson only competed in 3 of the 4 matches but was still the highest scorer – as he has been for each of the three years we have been awarding this trophy.  The 2nd highest male scorer was Jon Hunter, in only his very first year of senior competition for the club! 

Making this trophy her own, however, this year’s well deserved winner for the 3rd time was ….. Stephanie May

Finally, the Volunteer of the Year award went to Brian Davey. This year’s winner has been a senior member of the Club for the last 13/14 years.  He was a regular at the senior road runners Tuesday night speed training sessions that used to take place from the YMCA in Southport.  He soon got involved in coaching and spent a couple of years helping out at the juniors’ training sessions at Edge Hill.

But his outstanding contribution to the Club has really been in helping to develop the seniors.  For the last six years at least, he has led the seniors’ long multi-terrain sessions in the Ainsdale pinewoods.  He also started up and continues to lead the Monday evening seniors’ fartlek sessions in Ainsdale. He is also a very keen fell runner and, in his own quiet and understated way, he has shared this passion with others, encouraging them to take part in fell races and to try out things they would otherwise never have thought about.  This year, he set up and organized our Fell Running Grand Prix which was well supported, very successful and has added another dimension to Club activities.

Thanks are due to Chris Henders for organising the venue, buffet, disco, etc. and to Tracey Peters for organising a very successful raffle.