Track and Field – Season Opener.

The Pingles Stadium – Nuneaton.

Sunday 11th April

Report – David Jones

The 17 club members who took part in the opening T&F event of the year at The Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton certainly hit the ground running ( or jumping Seb ! ) proving that their commitment to training over the winter months, in far from ideal circumstances, has certainly paid dividends.

10 of them achieved PBs, a couple of who were running the distances for the first time.

In the blue riband 1500m event, Olivia Robinson and Taylor Stubbins smashed their PBs. Olivia’s time of 5:02.21 was some 8 seconds quicker than her previous best time, achieved at the same venue in September. Taylor lowered his best performance by 10 seconds. His previous best time having been achieved last August. He completed the race in 4:17.12. These performances rank them 13th and 8th, respectively, in the UK rankings in their age groups, albeit early in the year.

The strength of our junior endurance runners over 1500m, was further illustrated by Maisie-Joy Spriggs’ first time effort at this distance, completed in a time of just 5:09.90, a time that places her in the top 20 in the UK for her age. There’s more to come from this talented athlete.

Other impressive performances from our female junior 1500m runners were Charlotte Marshall in a PB time of 5:10.22, Niamh Hillard (5:18.79) and Ellie Deaner (5:23.68). It’s wonderful to see Ellie back competing after a long period of injury and I’m sure we’ll see some great performances from her in her favoured triathlon events in the not too distant future.

Super talented Alex Adams ran 4:23.64. What a shame he couldn’t have run in the same heat as Taylor. I’m sure they would have really pushed each other. As it was, Alex ran in the fastest heat of the day and was the youngest member of that heat, which must have been a real challenge for him. The time places him 13th in the early season rankings and rest assured he will improve on this time later in the year.

5 of our juniors competed in the 800m. Sam Plumb, running this distance for the first time in an official race, won his heat in recording a superb time of 2:37.61 to place him 13th in the UK for his age. Caleb Spriggs ran a PB time of 2:04.57, knocking half a second off his previous best time to place him 8th in the current rankings. Caleb, whilst pleased with his run, had hoped to run 2:02. Maybe next time Caleb. Our other 800m runners were Masie-Joy Spriggs, who rounded off a superb day for the Spriggs siblings by running a time of 2:42.44, Annie Silvers ran 2:46.8 and Josh Harrison ran 2:48.12.

Our 300m runners both ran really quick times, with Maddie Linfoot lowering her PB time by almost 2 seconds in recording a time of 48.18 and Ellie Peeke ran her first official race at this distance in a time of 51.1.

In the 400m we were represented by Masters athlete Dave Wilson. Dave is primarily a sprinter so he was running outside of his comfort zone. This didn’t prevent him from recording a PB time of 63.28, to place him 3rd in the current UK rankings in his age category.

Our other Masters athlete competing on the day was Brian Gravelsons who ran in the 100m, recording a time of 14.43. Brian is currently struggling with a long term hip problem and will now ease-off running training and concentrate on cycling and rowing, while he hopefully sorts out his hip problem later in the year.

There was success for Brian’s son Harry in the 100m who ran a PB time of 12.61, an improvement on his previous best time of 12.86. Dave Wilson rounded off a good day at the office by recording a time of 13.24 in the 100m.

Finally, our only field athlete competing on the day was Seb Hillard who recorded a jump of 4.55 in the long jump. A good solid early season opener and there will be more to come from this talented multi-eventer.

All in all it was a fabulous day for all of our members who competed and they all proved once again that there is no substitute for putting in the hard miles training

Bedford Autodrome Duathlon

M65 masters athlete and club member John Peacock competed in the Bedford Autodrome Duathlon at the weekend, winning his age group and sporting his Team GB kit.

It was a World Championship qualifier. The World Championships are in Australia next year and John thinks he will probably give them a miss as he will be at the top of his age category and competing against mere youngsters of just 65!

However in 2023 the Championships will be in Ibiza, so they are firmly on his radar.

John commented “the 12 noon start meant the weather was quite kind although pretty windy on bike.

The time trial starts were just a few seconds apart so you were not too sure where you stood against your age group when racing.

I was originally given second place but the `winner` had missed out a lap on bike. My bike time was not what I was hoping for but I did very little during the winter so I think I can improve.”

The full results are shown on the link below
http://results.eventchiptiming.com/results.aspx?CId=16202&RId=5022&EId=1

Virtual English Schools Cross Country Championships.

The English Schools Committee had to cancel the 2021 championships due to Covid restrictions

Instead, they promoted a Virtual English Schools Cross Country Championships. In brief, it required athletes to run a 2k course for Juniors or 5k course for Inters and Seniors, at a venue that preferably already had a measured course where possible.

Measured Park Run courses were ideal for this but were not essential. Consequently courses run by athletes could have been in parks, over school playing fields, in country fields, or perhaps on paved footpaths.

Runs were completed between 15th and 28th March 2021, so the weather would have been very variable.

To comply with Covid-19 restrictions, runs were done individually, not in groups and thus racing between athletes was not permitted, so effectively each run was a personal time-trial.

Athletes’ performances were verified by teachers or coaches and submitted online.

Because of the large number of variables between courses, distances, and weather, results published here can in no way been deemed to be definitively accurate and direct comparisons between athletes therefore cannot be made.

The event was held entirely for fun and to give athletes a chance to take part after having been cooped up inside for too long.

Results here list the top 10 individuals in each age group and a ‘team’ competition computed by sorting submitted results into time order, then adding the ‘positions’ of the first 6 in each County (or first 4 for Seniors).

The performances of our members who took part are as follows:

Junior Girls 2K – (Year 8 &9)

533 Runners

71 Maddie Linfoot 7.42
76 Niamh Hillard 7.44
83 Maisie-Joy Spriggs 7.47

Intermediate Boys 5k (Year 10 & 11)

216 runners

74 Theo Skirvin 19.06

Intermediate Girls

206 runners

26 Charly Marshall 19.46
33 Olivia Robinson 19.52
54 Ellie Deaner 20.46

A big thank you to Niamh Hillard for collating the results and, as ever, to Paul Hawkins for verifying some of the times. It’s clear that something like a hospital stay isn’t going to stop Paul from supporting his young charges.