Trafford Medal Meeting 26 May

Mike Ehlen set a club record 1.38m in the high jump at Trafford where Mike Atkinson won the discus for the second time in two days. Vicky Johnson also competed recording 20.58(discus), 8.59(shot) and 4.06 (long jump). Mike Ehlen's  long jump was 4.22 and he recorded 11.3 in the 75m hurdles. Mike Atkinson shot putted 5.76 and long jumped 3.28m.

Greater Manchester Junior Run 26 May 2003

Several club members took part in this event which was run over 3k for boys and grls up to the age of 14. Zoe Woodward was 29th in 11.45, Katie Jolley 103rd in 12.55, Laura Crook 116th in 13.03, Callum O'Connor recorded 13.40 and brother Michael 14.20. We understand over 700 runners took part.

Warrington Open Medal Meeting 25 May

Mike Atkinson set an under 13 Boys' club record in the discus when he threw 16.73m to win at Victoria Park. Vicky Johnson won the shot and discus, Laura Crook scored a triple in the 75, 150 and 600 metres while Rachael Hutchinson returnd from injury to record 10.8secs in the 75 metres. Mike Ehlen won the Long jump, Becky Keegan was second in the shot and Andrew Hutchinson fourth in the 75 metres.

Northern Under 20 Championships: Wavertree : 23/24 May

Dave Forrester lifted the club's first Northern award for many a long day when he took the silver medal in the Northern Under 15, 3000 metres final at Wavertree on Sunday 24 May. David recorded a personal best 9 mins 56.10 secs in second place while Mike Burke also claimed a personal best finishing fourth. On Saturday Caroline Morley was cruising to a place in the 300 metres when she had a reoccurance of her recent back problem and just missed out on the final by a whisker.

Northern Veterans Championships : Sutton Sports Centre : 24 May

Stan Erlam in his first race for two years, finished third in the championship which was the first meeting the club has staged for two years. Stan was timed at 21 mins 15.3 secs for the over 60, 5000 metres. Andy O'Connor set a personal best of 4 mins 36.2 secs in the 1500 metres and was recorded at 17.09.5 over 5000 metres in windy conditions. Many thanks to club members Phil Robinson, Tony Raffle, the indefatigable John Irwin, Julia Hayes, Louise Hayes, timekeepers, Pam Appleton, John Appleton, Pauline Picton, Janet Holmes, starter Terry Arnold, starters assistant Denis Fulton, Phil Thomas and outside officials Jim Smith, Leo Carroll, Melanie Allen, Jim and Linda Smith and those volunteers whose names we were unable to note.
Results

Croxteth Park 5k 20 May 2003

A quartet of ladies competed in the Croxteth 5k just over 48 hours after completing the Liverpool Women's 10k. Louise Casey was seventh lady in 20 mins 50 secs, Julia Eccleston set another personal best for the course in finishing 20th female, while Bev Shuker (32nd) is still working on how to live with Dot Fairhurst's dynamic start. The team spirit amongst the girls is at an all-time high and everyone is looking forward to next race together.
Results

Liverpool Women's 10k Sefton Park. 18 May

Louise Casey led a record breaking number of lady members at the Liverpool Women's 10k held in good conditions at Sefton Park. Louise set a personal best 42mins 10secs in finishing 27th. She was followed home by Cecilia Fitzsimons(82), Pam Appleton (152) and Julia Eccleston (175), who posted yet another personal best in 48.55.

Dorothy Fairhurst was our fifth counter, finishing sixth over 60 in 55.01.Toni Garnett and Claire Newing ran together in 56.37 and 56.38 just ahead of Bev Shuker, who reduced her personal best by eight minutes. Janet Holmes beat the hour in 57.19 while Jean Dearing was back in 62.28 for a superb debut.

Janice Lawson, Karen Wright and Michelle Holmes all recorded 66.38 and vowed to buy club vests in time for Tuesday's Croxteth 5k. Janette Sanderson (73.12), Sue Howarth (74.40) and Sandra Cannon made sure we beat the previous highest turn out of 12 achieved at Salford last November by 25%. Congratulations to all the girls.
Results

Liverpool Running Club 10k 11 May 2003

Julia Eccleston was the only club member to run in this race recording 50 mins 40 secs in finishing 135th and 18th lady in the open age category.

Cheshire Championships : Macclesfield: 10 May 2003

Dave Twigg added the Cheshire 800 and 1500 metres under 17 title to the under 15 cross country crown he won during the winter. Dave won two lap race in 2mins 07 secs and the metric mile in 4 mins 23.9 secs in the championships which were held at Macclesfield over two days.

Merseyside Championships : Wavertree : 10 May 2003

In 2002 five club members competed in the County Championships, won five medals and one individual title. In 2003, 30 club members competed in the Championships, won 22 medals and ten individual titles, set one championship best performance, with a further six members just missing out on medals in fourth place and over a dozen additional finalists.

Clubs record were broken as Vicky Johnson breached the nine metre mark to win the shot putt title in addition to taking the gold medal in the discus. Ben Fisher was a fraction below 50 metres in winning the javelin and Tom Griffiths set a personal best to lift the 3000 metres title.

Lucy Mitchell and Layla Tapley set personal bests in winning the triple jump and long jump respectively, Lucy setting a new under 17 record in the process. Caroline Morley equalled her personal best over 200 metres to lift the title in the same age group. Caroline and Layla also won bronze medals in the 300 metres and triple jump respectively.

The under 13 Boys' were in winning mood too. Mike Ehlen (high jump), Ben Clough (hurdles) and shot putter Tom Bromhead all taking gold. Mike also won silver in the long jump and bronze in the 800, Ben took bronze over 1500 metres and Mike Atkinson was the silver medallist in the shot putt behind Tom.

In a cracking 800 metres Steve Mayers took silver and Barry Cunliffe bronze while Rachel Hutchinson was denied gold in the 150 metres by the judges after the timekeepers had her equal with the winner. Dave Forrester set a new personal best of 4.40.7 in the 1500 metres, Stephanie Currie also recorded new figures in the shot putt in which she reached 7.95 metres while Julia Hayes rewrote the hammer record yet again in becoming the first County Secretary to win a Championship medal.

There were close misses too, Layla Tapley (Hammer), Ben Clough (long jump), Rachael Hutchinson (80 metres), Jon Calder (100 metres), Greg Williams (1500m) and Ryan Tapley (long jump) each taking fourth place in their finals.

Jon, Mike Burke and Hannah Green were all fifth, while other finalists included John Appleton, Jason White, Melissa McLoughlin, Jessica Cretu, Charlotte Walkden and Sara McLoughlin. Tarja Rundle set personal best in both her sprints.

Support was led by chairman Ray Vose and Treasurer John Irwin. Dave Morley served on the judges' stand, Phil Thomas stood around, Wayne Joyce walked around and Joe Ehlen served in the field. Parental support was abundant including three generations ending with Hannah Green, the Rachael Hutchinson card playing support group, Mr & Mrs Clough, Julia Tyrell, Mrs Currie, Hazel Morley, the ever patient Mrs Ehlen, Danny McLoughlin, Paul and Mrs Forrester, the Fisher family, Louise Hayes, Mrs and Mrs Bromhead, Geoff and Julie Johnson and the Tom Griffiths fan club headed by Mrs Griffiths and including a satisfied coaching team.

Our apologies to those parents and supporters not mentioned by name.Your presence was appreciated on this historic day and will be again as St Helens-Sutton H A C continue to build for the future, a future represented by your friends, children and  support.
Results

Great Caladonian Run : Bamoral Castle 10 May

Zoe Woodward was of one 402 runners under the age of 14 who lined up for this event. She recorded 11 mins 24 secs for the 2.6km course, finishing 56th overall, 9th girl and 1st under 11.

Christleton 5Km Chester 9 May

Andy O'Connor finished 38th (8th over 40) in this event in an excellent time of 16.59.

McDonalds 15k Waterloo 5 May

Tom Griffiths won the 5k in 18 mins 27 secs, John Appleton was 11th (20.19), Ben Fitzsimons 34th (25.13), Julia Eccleston 54th (24.34), Dorothy Fairhurst 98th (28.07) and Janet Holmes 104th (28.25). 193 finished the course.

Competitors in the 3k Fun Run included Kiron Koshy 59th (14.40), Callum O'Connor 97th (15.51), Louise Hayes 116th (16.31), Michael O'Connor 122 (16.47) Aaron Koshy 202nd (18.54), 227 Sharon Koshy (19.22, Jennifer Eccleston 318th (22.29), Stephen Eccleston 319th (22.29) and Shanthi Koshy 345th (23.42). There were399 finishers.

Young Athletes League (NW2) Burnley 4 May

The club completed a fine afternoon's work with victory in the long jump by Rachael Hutchinson, coming hard on the heels of a superb relay victory which Rachael anchored after fine running from Sara McLoughlin, Hannah Green and Rebecca Woodward.

There were many individual victories including Tom Griffiths (3000m), Charlotte Walkden (200m), Laura Savage (discus), Mike Ehlen (800m), Vicky Johnson and Stephanie Currie in the shot putt.

Ryan Tapley won the 100m and ran a storming leg of the relay alongside Jason White, Mike Burke and Dave Forrester and there were points winning contributions from Kim Bridge, shot putt debutant Rebecca Keegan and Greg Brierley.

Dave Forrester ducked under 5 minutes in winning the 1500 metres, John Appleton ran two controlled races and there was satisfying high jumping from Stephanie Roughley and Rochelle Lee, both of whom contributed to the relay alongside Sarah Lewis and Charlotte Walkden.

Graeme Morley and Keiron Koshy headed the sprints' challenge, John Dumbell and Ben Clough produced superb performances in the 1500 metres, while Mike Burke warmed up for the county championships with a sub 2 mins 30 secs 800 metres.

Jessica Cretu was third in the hurdles while Melissa McLoughlin and Lucy Cannon ran hard over the metric mile. The under 17 squad of Anna Sheffield, Layla Tapley, Lucy Mitchell, Nichola Quinn, Emma McClatchey enjoyed a relaxing competition after their exertions at the Northern League.

Owing to the number of clubs competing the results were not completed by the end of the match but they will be put on the website as soon as they are received. At first glance we noticed at least ten grade 3 and 4 standards which Julia Hayes, who acted as assistant team manager, had written down.

The club was grateful to its other officials John Irwin, Joe Ehlen, Danny McLoughlin, Dave Morley, Ray Vose and Sandra Dumbell, who certainly measured up to the job. Rosemary Hutchinson also ensured the sprinters got to their marks and Phil Thomas who acted as team manager.

There was an excellent support from a host of parents including Hazel Morley, Jim & Susan Sheffield, Chris & Karen Savage, Paul & Stephanie Forrester, Christine Green, Sandra & Phil Dumbell, Luke Burke, Geoff & Julie Johnson, Phil Bridge, Janet & Paul Woodward, Mr & Mrs Roughley and Martin & Jen Tapley.

Many thanks to the people at Burnley for putting the match on in such trying circumstances. The programme is only designed for a single match so trying to run four matches at the same venue was an unenviable task which most clubs are refering to the Young Athletes League for active discussion. The next match is at Oldham on 18 May.Results

Northern Men's & Women's League : Trafford 3 May 2003

The afternoon began and finished with club records for the ladies' team, in the closest of matches which promises an enthralling battle all season, while the men's posted a number of club junior and senior records as the team clinched third place.

Julia Hayes is the club's new hammer record holder, Caroline Morley equalled the senior 200 metres record, Lucy Mitchell set a new club best in the triple jump and the 4 x400 metres team of Emma McClatchey, Diane Appleton, Jodie Nelson and Caroline Morley shaved almost two seconds off the previous record.

Jon Calder had a remarkable debut in the 400 metres hurdles, falling at the final barrier but still finishing second in a club junior record. Ben Fisher won the javelin with new club figures in senior and junior competition. Peter Code registered our first pole vault victory for some years with 2.80 metres and also won the B steeplechase . Greg Williams recorded new junior figures for the steeplechase and 5000 metres.

Barry Cunliffe and Steve Mayers formed a winning team in the 1500 metres, Barry shaving seven seconds off the previous junior record while Steve was also inside the previous best. Louise Casey and Chris Dempsey bravely contested the 1500 and 3000 metres.Wayne Joyce came within an ace of breaking the club 400 metres record, Andy O'Connor showed good form to take third place in the 5000 metres and Ray Vose had a busy afternoon with second places in the 400 metres and javelin his best performances.

Alan Geraghty was busy all afternoon while Alan Oliver expects to post better marks in both the shot and pole vault next time out. Adam Lang, who watched his first senior league match, will be available for the next meeting. Janet Holmes combined a personal best in the hammer with duty as a field event official while Layla Tapley marked her debut as a triple jumper with a win.

Many thanks to all athletes, plus team manager Dave Morley, officials John Irwin, George Mullineux, Phil Thomas, Pam Appleton, Roger McCall and Tony Riley. Roger and Tony made history by being the first pair of referees to act for St Helens-Sutton at a Northern League match. Particular thanks to Anna Sheffield who acted as an official, reserve athlete and assistant team manager. Thanks, too, to car drivers George, Alan, Ray, Janet, John, Steve, Wayne and Mrs Morley. In addition, thanks to Andy O'Connor for fitting the match into a difficult personal schedule, Chris Dempsey who broke her holiday in Derbyshire to compete and Tony Reffle who turned up to support, as did Louise Hayes.

The results have been copied to all members of the technical analysis sub-committee who will be producing their report to the full committee later this month. Today was a good start, next time will be better. Results