2009 NEWS Don’t forget to visit the Andover Athletic Club Fundraising Page
2009 Round Up Another year where Andover AC saw so many acheivements. On the track so many personal bests and a phenominal 34 club records broken during the summer season. The records ranged from the very short distances such as Ricky Taylor in the 60m indoor, to the very long distances such as the 3000m steeple chase by Chris Berntsen. But the real acholdes went to some truly fanctastic performances that not only broke the club records but put them up with the best in the country. Top of this list has to be sprinter Adam Harwood. Adam excels at 100m, 200m and 400m indoor and outdoor. His acheivements include:County champion in the 100m, 200m and 400m, 6th in the 200m at the English Schools Championships, achieving a 200m PB of 21.9 to smash his own club record ending the season ranked 5th in the UK over 200m. Following his terrific track season Adam was voted Male Athletes Athlete of the year by the other club members and also picked up the coveted male Sumner Summer Award for his outstanding achievements. Claire Paterson continued to build on her performance of 2008 with her 2009 achievements being: 2nd in the County Championships at 100m and 200m and going one better to become County Champion over the 300m. Claire was also County Schools Champion in the 100m and 200m qualifying for the English Schools in the 100m and 4x100m relay. Both Adam and Claire are trained by one of the senior track coaches at Andover AC, James Coney. James has also had a brilliant year, firstly because of his fantastic fund raising efforts personally bringing in many thousands of pounds in support of the Club, many via Grants but also including local supermarkets of Waitrose and more recently Tesco’s. In addition, James has seen his training efforts rewarded, not only by the achievement of his athletes but also by being invited to become part of the National regional training squad specialising in sprints. The under 17 mens dream team on the track and on the cross country still continue to impress. This age group is very competitive at Andover with many talented and up and coming athletes especially Dan Grinham, Tom Bennett and Alex Rudge who excelled on the track this year and have continued to bring this in to the cross country season. The under 11s Quadkids top performers were Nnenna Evans, Holly Mills and Callum Duff. All these youngsters are showing great promise and should show well again next year. The under 13s age group saw some terrific improvement over the year, moist notably Stephen Horne and Vicky Grinham. Stephen & Vicky have demonstrated how on a personal level if you persist with your training you will be rewarded with consistent improvement and lots of PBs. Luke Holman and Lauren Marlow were the stars of the under 15 age group, with Luke showing he has real talent not only on the track with a county medal in the 800m, and breaking the club record by a huge 3.4 seconds in the hurdles, but on the cross country field as well. Lauren is an all rounder who despite niggling injuries always comes up trumps, being rewarded with a County call up in the Sportshall and the jumps. And for those who have heard the Andover Christmas song – Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Lauren is the beautiful female voice that can be heard during the chorus. There were lots of fantastic achievements in the field events during the year. Most notable were: Jack Templeman who won regional and national indoor medals in the long jump; this represented the Club’s only national field medal this season. Jack also received the Banning Rose Bowl at the clubs recent presentation evening for his performance at Andover’s Young Athletes meeting where he jumped the English Schools qualifying distance in the long jump with a Personal Best jump of 5.84cm. Roland Barter’s efforts in the javelin. His throw of 38.26 increasing his personal best by 3m launching him up the South East rankings to 21st. Finally, also in the Javelin, Alice Boughton. Alice has been consistently impressive in what is only her first season at the javelin. She ended the season with a throw of 29.83m which places her 29th in the national rankings. There was an impressive team effort in the Southern Women’s League this year which resulted in a resounding finish at the top of the league table. A truly fantastic result, lead by team captain Hayley Spicer. And last but by no means least, the road runners have also been out in force with the usual suspects of Dougie Brisco and Matt Lane always at the forefront of the Andover contingent. All in all a great 2009 – with the athletes all ready willing and training ready for an even better 2010.
Hampshire Cross Country League Popham Airfield Popham Airfield was the new venue for the 3rd Hampshire Cross Country League race, replacing the very challenging Overton venue. Popham is the home of the Spitfire Flying Club which has some 500 members and whose name is retained in memory of Charles Church who owned several Spitfires and whose family still own the airfield. The venue was kindly provided free of charge for the event. The new venue proved to be very interesting for both competitors and spectators with a combination of hills, flat, wood, mud, puddles and wind but with most of the course visible by the spectators making for a truly exciting event. The under 13s were represented by Nick Adams in the boys event. Despite being the only Andover competitor in the 13 boys race Nick set about the task well to complete the course in 10:26 in 51st place. Vicky Grinham and Ella Neil were the corresponding girl competitors. Both girls ran a close race finishing a few yards apart in 37th and 39th place (11:31 and 11:49 respectively). It was lovely to see a full team out for the under 15 boys team which saw a welcome return to racing for a seasoned cross country racer Solomon Lane. Luke Holman was the first Andover man home in 20th place in a time of 12:21, followed by Jake Gardham (13:05) in 37th place, with Aiden Jansen and Solomon coming home close together in 45th and 48th places (13:53 and 14:14). Vicky Lowry had her best run so far in this series in the under 15 girls race. She crossed the line in 22nd place overall in a brilliant time of 14:12. Vicky also provides a bit of colour for the spectators with her rather fetching socks which have become her trade mark. . Seasoned performer Christie Woodford had the highest finish of the day in 8th position, a four place improvement on her previous outing in the under 17 girls league. The under 17 boys had the highest team finish of the day with a 3rd place helping to keep them in contention of the league team medals. Tom Bennett built on his fine performance at the second match held at Goodwood to come home in 10th place in a time of 14.48. Tom was very closely followed by Chris Neil in 11th place, just 8 seconds behind Tom showing that, as the distance gets longer, he is a force to be reckoned with. Chris Berntsen was 3rd man home in 15.15 (14th place) and Chris Adams provided the most exciting finish of the day by showing his 800m speed and taking four people in the final 100m completing the course in a time of 15.32 to bring the team home in 3rd place overall. The senior women also had a full team out with Natalie Thomas putting in a fantastic performance to finish in 58th place (21.50) followed by Margaret Smith and Caroline Bennett (both Veterans) in 82 and 89th respectively. The day also saw a welcome return to the cross country circuit from Kieran Hooley. Kieran put in a sterling performance over the 3 lap course to beat one of Andover’s most successful veteran’s Dougie Brisco crossing the line in 87th place in a time of 28:34. The Andover contingent were well spread this time out with Dougie in 113th (29:19), Matt Lane 170th (31:44), Tim Bennett 189th (32:38), Mark Neil 199th (33:19) and Nick Moss 244th (37:36).
Hampshire Duty Coutances, Normandy & Parliament Hill London Five Andover athletes were on Hampshire Athletics duty over the weekend, Chris Berntsen, Chris Adams and Luke Holman in France and Tom Bennett and Chris Neil in London. Chris Berntsen, Chris Adams and Luke Holman were all selected to represent Hampshire Athletics Association at the annual Foulees des Vignettes International Cross-Country meeting at Coutances in Normandy, France. They sailed from Portsmouth in very wet and windy conditions to Caen on Friday evening arriving at Caen in the early hours of Saturday.  Upon arrival in Caen they were taken to the City of Coutances to attend a welcome reception and meet their hosts for the weekend – local families who each year open up their home’s to the visiting Hampshire team. The races take place at Coutances Stadium on the Sunday. Chris Berntsen was in the the longest race of the day, the Junior Mens race for those born in the years 91 and 92, which comprised 3 laps of the 1,800m course totalling 5,200k. He also raced alongside the Senior Men as their race also occurred at the same time. Chris performed extremely well to take the silver medal in a very quick time of 17:52 just behind the eventual winner from France. Luke Holman, who competed in the Minimes category for boys born in the years 95 and 96 and Chris Adams who competed in the Cadets category for boys born in 93 and 94 raced at the same time. Their race involved two laps of 1,800m meaning a 3,600k course. Both boys stepped up to the plate with Chris Adams securing the bronze with a fine run and Luke taking 6th place in his age group. All three boys really enjoyed the experience and both Chris’s also had a bit of success prior to the main race, where they were in the Hampshire team for a 1,000m x3 man relay and beat all other teams to take home the silverware. Having celebrated their successes with the local contingent, the boys travelled to Caen for their Sunday night over night ferry arriving at 06.30 on the Monday morning just in time to make their school and college lesions. Tom Bennett and Chris Neil were selected for Hampshire to compete in the SEAA Inter Counties Championships, at Parliament Hill Fields, set in the beautiful surroundings of Hampstead Heath in London over the weekend. This dramatic course provided runners and spectators wonderful views of Hampstead heath and also of the City of London from the pinnacle of the hill. The Parliament Hill course is renowned for its strength sapping hills and usually its ankle deep mud. This weekend was no exception, with rain pounding the course for many days running up to the event followed by rain, rain and more rain on the day. Tom Bennett and Chris Neil were in the under 17 mens race which was run over the distance of 5km. The 6 man Hampshire team battled with the other runners in the race and also themselves, with the Hampshire team members changing order with each other throughout the race. Tom was first of the Andover contingent home in 32nd place in a time of 17.30mins. He was 3rd placed Hampshire man to cross the line following an exciting sprint to the finish with the 2nd placed Hampshire man in the team who just piped Tom to the post by 1 second. Chris Neil was only 12 seconds behind Tom in 38th place and was the 5th in Hampshire over the line.
English Cross Country Relays Mansfield It was an all boy affair for the 2009 Saucony English Cross Country Relays, which were once again held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield. Since the advent of the event, all the top British cross country runners have competed over the course around Berry Hill Park and with the various laps remaining the same, consistent records have been established and are regularly challenged. The positioning of the event in early November makes it an ideal competition for athletes aiming to qualify for the Great Britain team to take part in the European Cross Country Championships a month later and at the same time support their club. Sam Robinson on the first leg, Luke Holman on 2nd and Roland Barter on 3rd were Andover ACs under 15 boys’ trio for the 2 kilometre relay race. Sam had the fastest run of the team with a very quick time of 6:53.25 handing over to Luke with the team lying in 22nd place. Luke put in a sterling performance building upon the fine work that Sam had put in picking up a further 7 places to 15th and completing the course in 7:01.05. Roland Barter took up the challenge of the last lap and, despite being more of a track and field specialist, completed the course in 7:45.25 to bring the team home in a very respectable 34th place. Sam Robinson’s time of 6:53.25 was the 40th fastest leg of the entire race and the highest individual finish of the Andover contingent. In the under 17 mens age group Andover AC had the usual suspects of; Tom Bennett (leg 1), Chris Neil (leg 2) and Chris Berntsen (leg 3). Andover also had a partial B team of; Chris Adams (leg 1) and Matt Dewey. The under 17s race was set over the distance of 3 kilometres. The start is very narrow and Tom found himself towards the back of the line-up meaning he had a slight disadvantage from the gun. He worked hard through the race, eventually handing over to Chris Neil in 41st place in a time of 10:20.70. Chris stepped up to the plate in this shorter distance race completing the course in 10:28.40 and in the process making up 2 places to 39th position at the point of handover to Chris Berntsen for the final leg. Chris quickly started the task of chasing down the field in front of him, crossing the line in a time of 10:09.05 to bring the team home in 28th place having pulled back a further 11 places. Chris Adams and Matt Dewey completed the course 10:49.65 and 12:10.60 respectively.
Waitrose Support Andover Athletic Club Andover Athletic Club is the latest good cause to receive a cheque as a result of the local Community Matters scheme run by Waitrose. The initiative, which has been running since July 2008, allows staff in the branch to select three projects each month to share in a £1,000 donation. Customers are then given a green token every time they shop to vote for their preferred project of the month, with the £1,000 split in line with the vote. Club Chairman, Nick Woodford, was invited to the Andover branch of Waitrose along with local athletes Vicky Grinham, Chris Adams and Charlotte Brown to pick up the £520 cheque. Kate Hunter Project Organiser for the Andover Waitrose store said; ‘It’s such a pleasure to be able to hand over money from Waitrose to so many local good causes. I understand from Nick that the athletic club could really do with as much help as possible as they have plans to build a much needed indoor training area. Hopefully this will go some way to helping them achieve their goal.’ Nick added, ‘It is brilliant that major companies are looking to support local good causes in this way. I particularly like that their customers get to vote encouraging them to also play their part in local community projects. With Waitrose and other committed community businesses helping out we will be in a much better position to keep producing top class athletes along with providing a vital health facility to all ages and abilities for the local area for many years to come.’
English National Road Relay Championships Sutton Colefield Andover ACs under 17 mens team took their place at the 2009 English National Road Relay Championships at the weekend. The Championships are held every year at Sutton Park, Sutton Colefield and involve the best club teams from all over Great Britain. The race involves a three stage relay around the tarmac footpaths of Sutton Park, a beautiful and extremely hilly 3.9k course, with tough hills throughout the course including one to the finish of each lap. Kicking things off was 15 year old Tom Bennett. Right at the start Tom ran into trouble with a faller right in front of him, nearly taking him out of the race. However, Tom recovered well, gradually pulling himself up the pack and giving it literally everything he had to hand over to 2nd leg runner, 16 year old Chris Berntsen in 27th position. Learning from past experiences, Chris started the race steadily ensuring he did not take the first of the hills two quickly. His strategy paid off progressing the team a further 8 places to hand over to the final leg man, 15 year old Alex Rudge in 19th place. With every leg in the race the task to move up places becomes ever more difficult as the space and seconds between each runner becomes ever longer. Despite this, Alex showed true grit and determination putting in a fantastic final leg to make up 3 more places to bring this young team home in 16th National position, in what was a very high calibre of athletes with 77 teams and over 200 athletes competing. Overall positions based on lap times were: Chris Berntsen 46th in a time of 12:34, Tom Bennett 66th in 12:46 and Alex Rudge 75th in 12:50. The next team outing is to Mansfield where they will take part in the National 3 Stage Cross Country Relays. Solent Half Marathon A little closer to home. A damp day awaited the hardy 6 Andover athletes who made the short journey to south west Southampton in the heart of the New Forest for the Solent Half Marathon. There were a few outstanding performances on the day, as runners stepped up to the mark again due to several runners being away. Matt Lane brought the A team home for the second time in this campaign, despite very tired legs from competing in a cross country race the day before. Matt crossed the line in 54th in a time of 1:28:22. Next home with a fantastic performance was Rob Cliffe.  Rob is finding some very good form at the moment and produced a sub 90 time in 1:29:33 for 64th place. Martin Welsh then broke his Personal Best by ducking under the 95 min barrier in 1:34:41 for 110th place with David Cleghorn hot on his tails in 1:35:02 in 116th place. The 5th Andover runner home was John Greenhalgh in 1:37:19. The men secured 3rd in Div 2 on the day and stay in 4th Overall.  The only lady Andover competitor was Sandra Blowers who came home in a time of 2:06:23 to take 97th place in the ladies race. The ladies team are 3rd in Div 3.
Hampshire Cross Country League Race 1 Farley Mount – Winchester The venue of Farley Mount marks the beginning of the cross country season for all the budding distance runners. Such a beautiful landscape which always seem to manage sunny weather conditions, it is a pleasure for athletes and spectators alike in spite of the tremendous hills to climb. The girls were a little depleted regrettably not managing a team in any of the age groups – come on you girls! None the less those that competed put in great performances, such as; Vicky Grinham and Ella Neil who competed in the under 13 girls 2.4k race, with Vicky moving up over 30 places from last year to finish in 31st place in a brilliant time of 10.01 and Ella competing over this course for the first time finishing in 53rd (11.05). Then moving on to Vicky Lowry, who smashed her course time by a massive 1min 34 seconds to take 22nd place in the under 15 girls 3.2k race (12.19). Christie Woodford took up the mantle in the under 17 womens race. After a very quick start which saw Christie up with the leading pack for the first half of the race, the tough course and pace took its toll with Christie falling back to 12 place by the close of the race. However, her hard work was rewarded as she also knocked 13 seconds off of last year’s time (15:51). Last but not least the senior womens 6k race included Margaret Smith who knocked a massive 39 seconds off of last years time and also crossed the line in 81st place and front of one of her main rivals. Caroline Bennett was the first of the Bennett family on the day to take to the tracks finishing in 87th place in a time of 29:55. Margaret and Caroline were 30th and 33rd Veteran ladies to finish. For the male contingent, we had newcomer Nick Adams who had a brilliant race in the under 13 boys 3k race crossing the line in just over 12 minutes (46th). Also making their cross country debut in the under 15 boys race, Aidan Jensen tackled the 4k course with vigour to finish in 51st place (16:38). The cross country gauntlet was laid down between the highly competitive under 17s boys Andover team with first blood going to Tom Bennett taking 7th place in a time of 20:34 for the 6k course just in from of team mate Chris Berntsen in 8th place (20:40). Team places are hard fought for in this age category and with Alex Rudge crossing the line in 10th place (20:57) and Chris Neal not far behind in a time of 21:16 in 14th position; meaning just 42 seconds split the team. This fine result meant the under 17 boys are positioned in 3rd team spot for the league. Also competing in the under 17 mens race was 800m specialist Chris Adams who finished in 30th (23:16). The senior men and under 20 mens 9k race involves 3 gruelling laps of this difficult and hilly course. This race is popular with the veteran road runners and after a sturdy performance from the team they were also awarded with 3rd place in the Division 2 league. Team members were: Dougie Brisco who was 4th Vet 50+ back (99th overall) in a time of 35 minutes dead. Matt lane 140th (36:34), Richard Jansen 154th (37:34), Mark Neil 196th (39:44), and Tom Bennett 218th (40:48) Other local athletes also competing on the day were: Phill Berntsen 1st Under 20 male in a time of 29:16 (7th senior overall) and Sarah Holiday (3rd senior women, 21:56) with an outstanding performance knocking over 2 minutes off of last years time.
Aldershot Road Relays Once again the Aldershot Road Relays, incorporating the South of England Road Relays were held at Rushmore Arena over the weekend. Andover AC took a small select team of young athletes to compete in this high profile event where the best the South has to offer compete, with athletes and teams travelling from as far South as Cornwall and as far east as Norwich. Highest finishing Andover AC team of the day were the under 17 mens A team who each competed over a 3851m lap. On the first leg was Chris Berntsen. Chris powered up the long winding hill of the start finding him well up with the leaders moving briefly into 2nd place at the top of the hill. However, the tough course is renowned for its savage hill start, with those going too quickly over the first 1k paying the price of extreme lactic fatigue too early in the race. Chris continued to battle over the remainder of the course eventually handing over to 2nd leg runner Chris Adams in 15th place. Chris Berntsen completed the course in 12:32 (15 seconds faster than last year) and was 27th fastest under 17 male on the day out of 229 competitors. Chris Adams ran a more balanced race over the 2nd leg, also beating his time of last year by 12 seconds, handing over to Alex Rudge in 22nd place after completing the course in 13:43. Alex is known for his tough battling ability and he set about picking off the opposition as he progressed around the course, pulling back 7 places with a time of 13:12 to hand over to the final leg runner of Tom Bennett. By the final leg, the distance between each runner can be immense so the challenge of gaining further places becomes even harder, especially as the fastest runners tend to be on either the 1st or the final legs. But undeterred, Tom set about the task with gusto, pulling back another place to bring the team home in 14th position in an individual time of 13:07. Also competing in the U17 mens event was Chris Neil. Chris competed in the first leg as part of an incomplete team. True to current form he showed he has great potential in the longer distance races, coming home in 34th on his leg in a superb time of 13:22. Alex, Tom and Chris Neil are all bottom age so have another year in this age group. The under 13 girls also had a full team. This younger age group only required 3 for a team to compete over the shorter 2291m course. Vicky Grinham put in the fastest lap time (9.40) for the team on the first leg handing over to Katie Robins in 42nd position. Katie tried hard to maintain their position handing over to the final leg runner of Ella Neil in 48th place in 10:56. Ella then set about the daunting task of chasing those in front of her, pulling back a place to bring the team home in 47th place overall in a time of 10:42. All three girls are also bottom age so the experience will hold them in good stead for next year. Competing with incomplete teams were: Solomon Lane who had a rather eventful start in the under 15 boys race with several fallers breaking his running pattern which unsettled him for the first part of the race. However, he recovered for the latter part of the race finishing the 2997m leg in 52nd (11.50). In the corresponding girls race Ellora Milsom had a steady run of 12:16 handing over to team mate Vicky Lowry in 43rd place. With her time of 12:35 Vicky only dropped a couple of places to 45th. Last but not least, Christie Woodford took up the mantle of the under 17 womens race. She charged her way round the 2997m lap breaking the 12 minute barrier to come over the line in 24th in a time of 11:56.
Quad Kids Basingstoke The last of the summer quad kids matches was held at Basingstoke. Ten local teams competed with 12 under 11s competing for Andover AC putting in a solid performance to finish in 6th place overall. Highlight of the day on the field was the ever impressive Nnenna Evans who broke the club record in the vortex throw with a massive throw of 22.70m. Highlights on the track were; Holly Mills, who had a great performance in the 600m. Timing her tactics to perfection, Holly stayed in the middle of the leading group right up to the last 100m and then showed a blistering sprint finish to finish 2nd in a very quick time of 2.19.5, just 1.5 seconds off the club record. What’s more, Holly has another 2 years in this age group so watch out for her next track season. Also in the 600m, Ben Reed excelled with a time of 1.59.2, also just missing out on a club record. Sprinter Callum Duff stormed to a win in the 75m, not only notable because of the win but also because of the fact that he had his wrist in plaster following a break! Competing for the first time were; Naomi Daniels, Matthew Cliffe and Phillip Allison, with all three still eligible next year they are already looking forward to next seasons quad kids events. Also competing on the day were; Lauren Adams, Chloe Brooks, Ella Taylor, Naomi Brooks and Lewis Reed. James gets England Athletics Coach Development selection Andover AC senior sprint coach James Coney has also seen his coaching expertise recognised by being selected by England Athletics to be a part of the Local Coach Development Sprints Programme. This key programme is a mentoring group being established by England Athletics as part of the National Coach Development Programme. This initiative is a historic moment in British Athletics as for the first time coach development moves to centre stage in the sports priorities and is being substantially resourced by England Athletics.
Andover 5 Mile Round The park Andover Athletics Club held their annual ‘Round the Park 5 mile race’ last Sunday. The route started and finished at the Charlton track and also included a 1.5 mile fun run. The main event comprised two 2.5 mile laps around the lakes and playing fields of Charlton Leisure Centre and had 85 competitors take part, with Mr and Mrs Lynn, the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress, presenting the awards. The day was dominated by Andover successes, first in the fun run with Dan Jones and Vicky Grinham taking the honours in the fun run event, followed by a clean sweep in the main event with the top 5 places all going to Andover athletes, plus the women’s and veteran womens events also going to the Club. International athlete Phill Berntsen took the rare opportunity to compete for his second claim club, Andover AC. After heading the race with his brother Chris, Phill pushed on part way through the first lap (which quickly spilt the field) to win convincingly in a very quick time of 26.05, knocking over 2 minutes off the previous course record. Chris Berntsen and Tom Bennett vied for 2nd and 3rd place in the early part of the race, with Chris steadily building a commanding lead to finish in 2nd place, breaking the 28 minute mark by 9 seconds and also beat the previous course record by 21 seconds. Tom took 3rd place with ease in an excellent time of 28.39, ahead of team mate Alex Rudge who dipped just under the 29 minute mark (28.57) to take the under 20s award. Chris Neale continued his ever improving stats over the longer distance to take the 5th spot in a time of 29.18, ahead of Overton’s Greg England in 6th place. Greg also won the Male 40+ category with Tim Crumpton from Stubbington Green taking the male 50+ award. The Andover ladies were also out in force. Christie Woodford showed the rest of the field (plus her dad, Chairman Nick Woodford) a clean pair of heals to cross the line as the first lady past the finishing post (13th overall) in 33.19, with club mates Caroline Bennett and Margaret Smith taking the honours for the female over 40 and 50 categories in 38.56 and 39.33 respectively. With Caroline knocking off nearly 10 minutes off her time of last year! Lorraine Kirby and Ann Singal (both unattached to an athletics club) finished in 2nd (37.42) and 3rd position (37.48). But the day was not only about winning, but the personal goals of taking part and crossing that all important finishing line, marking much more than just a finishing post. Therefore accolades also go out to all those who took part and made sure that they finished what they started. Many of whom were running for charities and or in memory of a loved one such as Jackie Jones and her family who were running in memory of Jackie’s dad and Andover ACs past Chairman George Williamson. Jackie’s efforts were rewarded not only with very loud cheers as she worked her way round the course but also with a personal best, knocking over 2 ½ minutes off her previous time. There were also many competitors running for Test Valley Borough Council who had kindly donated the Charlton facilities free of charge to the Club for the day and who had rather fetching t-shirts with ‘Us Ain’t Bolt’ on the back which, as you may expect, caused many giggles as they passed the cheering spectators. Local Radio station Andover Sound were also represented, not only interviewing for their programme, but also with a competitor, Ben Macgail, who put in one of the fastest sprint finishes of the day to ensure he piped Club Chairman Nick Woodford to the post. Club members had a sweep stake on how long it would take Nick to complete the course after they had challenged him to run this year. In fact, after months of training he surprised everyone by completing the course in just over 55 minutes, some 13 minutes under my prediction! As always a fun family day, and a bonus - the weather was kind. Adam gets the call up for the UK School Games Local athlete Adam Harwood achieved the exciting accolade of being selected to represent the South East Region in the mens 200m at the UK School Games which were held in Cardiff in September. Adam, who attends Testbourne School in Whitchurch, is a member of Andover Athletics Club, and right from the day he joined the Club showed just what a natural sprinting talent he possesses, quickly rising up the UK rankings to 5^th in the UK by the end of this track season and so his call up for the South East squad was the icing on the cake of a highly successful season. The UK School Games is a multi-sport event for the UK’s elite young athletes of school age. The sports programme was increased for 2009 to include a new sport, track cycling, which combined with the existing programme of Athletics, Badminton, Fencing, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Swimming, Table Tennis and Volleyball brings the total to ten sports. The integrated programme of disability events in Athletics, Swimming and Table Tennis increases the athletes competing in 2009 to over 1500. Each of the ten sports is combined into a four-day Games environment designed to replicate the feel of major event such as the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and Commonwealth Games. Adam had a relatively disappointing run in his heat coming 4^th in a slow time for him of 23.12, but qualifying for the final as one of fastest losers. He improved his time to 22.87 in the final to take 5^th place overall but was still a little way off his personal best time of 21.98. Adam also took part in the 4x100m relay where the South East team also came 5^th. Although a little disappointed personally with his time, Adam really enjoyed the experience and it will hold him in good stead for other high profile events which he is surely destined to be part of.
Women’s team crowned champions Saturday saw the club's women's team travel to Kings Park in Bournemouth for the final Senior Women’s League Division 2 (west) match of the season. With Andover in first place after the penultimate match the pressure was on to perform well and claim the club's first senior title in nearly a decade. This they did with style, securing top spot and with it promotion to Division 1. Team manager Hayley Spicer had worked hard to put out a strong team, and this was clearly evident from the first event (senior long jump) where Andover AC took 2 convincing victories. Louise Corcoran has been an ever present member of the team this year and showed what a talent she is by soaring to a new personal best (PB) of 4.95m in the long jump (a distance which would have been good enough for county bronze). Emma Brown was also impressive taking the B-string event in 4.46m. On the track notable performances came in a number of events including: PB for Christie Woodford in the 400m of 65.1 (taking off over 1.5 seconds) - this was achieved after winning the 800m in 2.29.2 Mollie Baker - making a welcome return to form with a new PB in the 200m of 28.2, despite running into strong headwind. Mollie stormed to victory after running the bend of her life. 800m specialist Ellora Milsom made the brave step up to take on the 1500m and was rewarded with a fantastic new PB of 5.19.3. There were a number of victories on the day but one that really stood out was Franki Hanson in the 100m hurdles. Franki ran a perfect race to win in 18.4, this despite one of the hurdles being placed on the wrong markings!!! Franki showing true grit having finished the hurdles she jogged over to the triple jump and jumped to 8.68m to take second place. The ever impressive Alice Boulton had a fantastic day and this showed in her dominance in the U15 javelin where she threw in excess of 29m for the first time. Other team members on the day: Vicky Lowry, Vicky Grinham, Jess Allison, Eliza Borrat, Hayley Spicer, Tash Clayton, Shelby Baker, Millie Dobinson, Charlotte Brown, Danni Horner, Natalie Thomas, Vicky Knight. The team would like to thank all of the officials, coaches, parents and volunteers who have supported the girls throughout the season with a special thanks to Sharrp Property Services Ltd who kindly sponsor the senior women’s team.
Radley AC Open Last Sunday saw a large contingent from Andover AC make the short trip up the A34 to take part in the high quality Radley AC open in Abingdon. As the summer draws to a close this was seen as one of the last chances for local athletes to impress. Despite the strong and blustery winds there were a number of strong performances from both junior and senior events. These included the following: • Hayley Spicer (SW) ran a personal best (pb) in the 100m of 13.3, taking off 3 tenths of a second from her previous best and also equalled her 200m pb of 28.2 in the 200m. Hayley was 4th in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m. • Christie Woodford (U17w) ran a pb in the 1500m of 5.17.6, taking off over 7 seconds from her previous lifetime best. Christie was second in the race. • Jordan Twigg (U17m) had a busy day competing in the 100m and triple jump and was rewarded with a pb of 12.3 in the 100m • The ever impressive Luke Holman secured two pb’s on the day, firstly in the 400m where he stormed round the one lap in a solid 57.2 and then followed this up with a strong time of 13.0 in the 80m hurdles Andover AC has invested a large amount of time recently into jumps and throws and this was evident in the following results: • Sam Edwards (U15 boys) jumped to a new lifetime best of 11.21m in the triple jump • Relative new comer, Christian Boulton threw a huge pb of 19.87m in the U15 boys discus Other athletes who competed included: Vicky Grinham – 800m, Vicky Lowry – 800m and LJ, Dan Grinham – 800m, Eliza Borrat – HJ, 100m and 200m, Jack Templeman – LJ and TJ, Alice Boulton – JT and LJ, Claire Paterson – 100m and 300m, Grace Paterson – 300m Southampton Open On Wednesday James Folkes and Andre Diurno braved the horrendous conditions to compete at Southampton in their end of season open. James was rewarded with his second fastest ever time in the 400m of 51.7, this despite running the whole race with puddles at the bottom of his spikes!! Andre also competed well and cam second in a solid 24.6. Both sprinters were happy to get any thing out of the evening but disappointed not to be able to compete in sunnier conditions. Watford Open Chris Adams made the long trip up the M25 to compete in the 800m at one of Watford AC’s regular midweek open events. Despite getting stuck in traffic for over 3 hours and racing in driving rain Chris still managed to run well and secure one of his fastest times (2.01.59)
Andover AC are on a quest to raise funds for its new Club extension which includes developments of an indoor sprint start track to help the Clubs sprinters practice block starts during the winter. Senior Sprint Coach James Coney spearheads the Clubs fund raising campaign, including the innovative sponsor a brick campaign where individuals and company’s alike can show their commitment to this fine local community organisation which helps individuals of all ages and abilities to get fit and achieve personal goals for improvement. The latest company to show its support is local precision engineers and toolmakers F G Precision Ltd, who are based on very close to the Club on the West Portway industrial estate. Husband and wife team, Mr and Mrs Folkes of F G Precision kindly donated £400 and follow in the steps of other local supporting firms of; Back on Track Sport Injury Clinic, JB Motors, West Portway MOT and Grahams Estate Agency.
Wessex League Andover The Wessex Track and Field Young Athletes League started back in 1989 as the Andover Doves league with just a handful of clubs competing in the under thirteen age group. As time went on the number of clubs and age groups competing slowly increased to include under fifteen, seventeen and twenty age groups. There is also separate under eleven's challenge – the Quadkids. The league consists of four matches throughout the season and our local Charlton lakes track was the venue for the final match this season. There were so many fine performances during the day with loads of young athletes achieving maximum or near maximum points in their events. Those taking top spots on the day were: Christie Woodford who continues her good form, winning the U17 womens 800m (2.27.3) and Faye Baker who ran a blistering 13.00 dead to come equal 1st in the U13 girls 70m hurdles. But it was the boys who were the trail blazers on the day with 14 top placed positions between them. Mark Vignaux set the pace to win the U13 boys 1500m in a time of 5.15.4 following in a great Andover AC tradition of middle distance runners. In the same vain the highly talented Sam Robinson continued the track success, winning in 4.36.6. Under 17s 800m specialist, Dan Grinham, tore past the competition to run 2.01.8 a new personal best. Dan still has another year in this age group so this bodes well for next year. Math Dewey also ran well to take 1st in the B sting event in a very respectable time of 2.06.3. Dan and Math also competed in the 400m where they came 2nd (A string) and 1st (B string) respectively. Under 17 male sprinter Myles Roberts-Bailey also had a great day taking first position in the 200m in a time of 23.80 and equal 1st in the 100m (11.80). The field eventers also had their share of success: Jack Templeman (5.72m) and Sam Edwards (5.24m) both taking gold in the under 15 boys long jump A and B string events. Kurtis Batchelor and Sergio Hunt doing the same in the high jump, and not content with his two outstanding performances on the track, Dan Grinham turning his talents to the long jump pit to take the A string win (5.60m), closely followed by his team mate Jorden Twigg just 2cm behind to take the B sting event. The under 17 men then rounded the day off with a win in the 4x100m relay (Chris Hawkins, Jordan Twigg, Chris Berntsen, Myles Roberts-Bailey).
Southern Womens League Andover Andover Athletics Clubs Senior Womens team took the top spot by 49 points at the penultimate league match. The score of 299 points was well deserved after the girls put out strong performances throughout the day. With just one match left and a lead of nearly 100 points, the first silverware of the season for the senior women is hopefully on the horizon. Many of the girls covered several events, never the less they came out strong in each individual event showing true strength and determination. One of the highlights from the match were the sprinting events, where all Andover seniors won their races. Vicky Knight completed her first 100m of the season in a speedy time of 13.6 a new personal best (pb), she followed this with a win in the b string 200m. Louise Corcorhan showed her true colours again running a strong 27.0 in the 200m a string race. Louise has picked her speed back up with ease after returning from university for the summer. Christie Woodford is one of the strongest and hard working members of the senior training squad, it was only a matter of time before she smashed her 800m pb by two seconds gaining second place for the team with a time of 2.26.9. Hannah Gidney stepped in to compete for the team and won the 800m b string with a time of 2.33.2, Hannah also succeeded on the field where she landed her first ever jump of 3.75m for the long jump to win the B string. The senior womens throwers are improving with every match, despite little chance for training at these specialist events. Dot Patterson threw a pb of of 14.06m in the discuss finishing 4th place in the A string. Whilst Elle Vanderplank and Tash Clayton showed strength in the shot putt gaining a forth and first place for the team. Despite a lack of under 15 competitors in previous matches, they all came out and competed with enthusiasm and showed true loyalty considering some of them were also competing the following day in the Wessex League. Highlights from the U15’s included Alice Boughton who threw a massive pb in the javelin, closely supported by the multi talented Shelby Baker. Both girls threw well over 26m. Other notable performances included pb’s for Millie Dobinson in the U15 girls 200m (28.1) and Mollie Baker with 13.2 in the 100m.
Andover AC is known for is wide ranging appeal for all ages. Over the summer season the youngest members, the Under 11s age group have been active in the Quad Kids events which run alongside the Wessex League track and field competitions. The Quad Kids competition involves them each competing in 75m sprint and a 600m distance race on the track together with two field events; the Vortex Throw and the Long Jump. The competition is designed to introduce young boys and girls to a range of disciplines, helping them to experience and practice a wide range of events in a highly supportive environment and as part of a team. There have been three competition matches so far this season. Callum Duff has competed in all three matches. He is showing great promise in the Vortex Throw where he continues to improve, his latest personal best (PB) was 34.76m which also broke the existing club record. Callum is also impressive in the 600m event with a PB of 1.59.8. Also showing great promise is Nnenna Evans. Nnenna has competed in two of the three matches and has seen PBs in all four of the events. Other team members are: Lauren Adams, Holly Mills, Ben Black, Jack Fitzpatrick, Robert Horne, Ben and Lewis Reed and Dominic Mussell, Moving now to the more mature members of the Club. A high turnout of fifteen Andover AC road runners joined nearly 200 male athletes who braved the very wet and slippery conditions of the Winchester 5k last Thursday night. For the first time in a long time this meant that Andover had three men’s teams in this event taking 10th, 22nd and 23rd team spots. There were many highlights of an otherwise very wet evening, not least; Martin Welsh achieving a massive PB to go sub 20 mins for the first time to come 76th overall in a fantastic time of 19.40 and Ian Oldacre who was awarded for his hard work during the race to take 1st M55 place. The in-form Dougie Brisco brought the A team home in 17.52 (38th), with the ever improving Matt Lane just behind in 43rd (18.14). Rob Cliffe completed the team recording 19.09 (65th). Joining Martin in the B team were; Tim Bennett with a time of 20.08 (91st) and Kenny Rae in 20.59 (104th). Nick Ross, Ian Oldacre, David Walmsley and John Moon were the valiant C team members.  Caroline Bennett led the Andover ladies team home in 4th team position. Caroline completed the 5k course in a time of 24.07 to take 25th place overall. Sue Rae (30th) and Sandra Blowers (45th) both competed well in the extreme conditions to record very good times of 24.49 and 25.39 respectively. The ladies were also joined in the race by two further Andover team mates Anneke Walmsley (60th) and Sheila Oldacre (71st). Nearly 100 ladies took part. Andover AC is continually striving to improve the Club’s coaching skills and available facilities. Key to both of these are the new enhancements for the Clubhouse to extend the existing building to provide improved indoor facilities including a 30m indoor track to aid the practice of sprint starts. Local business woman and qualified sports therapist Jo Leigh, is the owner of Back on Track based in the Andover Leisure Centre. Jo, who provides sports injury advice and treatment to all ages and abilities at affordable prices for the Club, has pledged her support in an additional way, by donating to the Club’s innovative ‘sponsor a brick’ campaign. The initiative aims to give individuals and companies the opportunity to help the Club to build its new extension by sponsoring a brick at £10 a go. Back on Track has kindly agreed to buy ten bricks totalling £100. Other local companies who have generously donated so far are: JB Motors, West Port Way MOT and Graham & Co. So if there is anyone else out there that would like to show their support to this long standing and highly successful Andover Club please visit: www.andover-athletic.co.uk Alternatively, why not check out the club on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursday evenings from 6pm.
English Schools Track and Field Championships Don Valley – Sheffield This weekend a number of athletes from the Andover area took part in one of the most prestigious events of the athletics calendar - the English Schools Track and Field Championships. This year the championships were held at the impressive Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield and were closely supported by the indoor facilities at the nearby English Institute of Sport. To qualify for these championships most participants have had to win their district and county championships plus achieve a qualification time before they are even asked to represent their county schools. These circumstances ensure that only the best are present at the English Schools. This year Andover was represented by Claire Paterson (Clere School and Andover AC member), in the inter girls 100m, Adam Harwood (Testbourne and Andover AC member) in the inter boys 200m, Gary Jones (Winton) in the inter boys discus and Jack Templeman (Bishop Wordsworth, Salisbury and Andover AC member) in the junior boys long jump, this is the largest town contingent in recent times, and further highlights how much athletics has moved forward in Andover over the last few years. After a very successful season much was expected of Adam Harwood and despite this being his first ever English schools the ever improving sprinter did not disappoint. In his heat Adam showed he meant business stopping the clock at 21.98, clocking the 4th fastest in the UK, and smashing the Andover AC club record and achieving a new lifetime best. Going into Saturday's semi final as the third fastest qualifier it was evident that Adam would be well in the mix, this proved to be the case with Adam taking a high quality second place with 22.14 (his second fastest time ever). The 200m final was live on Sky Sports 2 and included Liam Clowes and Jordan Arthur - both current GB sprinters. Adam reacted well to the gun but the pressure of three high quality races in three days proved a bit too much, securing a well deserved 6th place in a time of 24.46 (into a negative head wind). Although slightly upset at his final performance, Adam was buoyed by the fact that he gained immediate selection to compete for the South East of England team at this years UK School Games in Cardiff - a huge achievement in itself, only the 3rd athlete from Andover to do this. Jack Templeman competed in the long jump. This competition was held at 10am and was battered by high winds and thrashing rain. This was also the first time that Jack had been to the English Schools and he was up against a very competitive field. From the first round it was clear that Jack would need to be at his very best to make the cut. Unfortunately Jack was slightly below par with his best jump being 5.44 which is 40 cm below his personal best. However, Jack was pleased to gain the experience and has vowed to use the knowledge he gained in his quest to jump further as his carer in athletics progresses. The inter girls 100m heat followed shortly after and Claire was drawn in the first heat. With the first three to qualify for the final it was always going to be tough. Claire just missed out (by 4 one hundredths of a second) and finished in 4th place. Although disappointed Claire was still up beat and is determined to come back as much stronger athlete. Gary Jones took his place in the inter boys discus and threw very close to his best to take 7th spot with a throw of 43.67m which is in excess of the National Standard. Another bonus of the weekend saw both Claire and Adam run impressive legs to help Hampshire secure a place in the finals in the inter boys and inter girls 4 x 100m relay.
Wessex Young Athletes League Sandown IoW Andover Athletic Club made its annual trip across to Sandown on the Isle of Wight for round 3 of the Wessex Young Athletes League. An early 7am start from Andover meant it was a very quiet journey over to the island, but with the sun shining it was a lovely crossing ready for the first event at 10.30am. Andover AC is growing all the time and this event saw Vicky Hutton, Alice and Christian Boughton, Hannah Gidney and Ian Pearce making their debut's for the town club. This included a debut win for Ian in the under 17 mens Shot with a putt of 9-44m and a win in the U17 1500m for Hannah in a time of 5.26.09. One of the joys of the Wessex league is that athletes get to have a go at events they wouldn’t normally attempt, this can on occasions cause much laughter amongst their team mates. This was the case at this match in the under 17 mens High Jump, with middle distance runners Chris Neil and Alex Rudge entertaining the crowd with some unorthodox techniques and some very wild celebrations much to the amazement of the opposition. Other notable ‘out of character sights’ were Myles Roberts-Bailey doing the Shot and somehow managing to win the B-string event. Back to their preferred events; there were some outstanding results with the star of the day being Myles Roberts-Bailey winning both the 100m in 11.80sec and the 200m in 23.70sec both really good times for an athlete who is still very new to the sport. These performances won Myles the "Athlete of the Match" award. Other winners on the day were Luke Holman U15 800m, Sam Robinson U15 1500m, Christian Boughton U15 B-Javelin, Dan Grinham U17 800m, Tom Bennett U17 B-800m, Chris Neil U17 B-1500m, Vicky Grinham U13 800m and Jessica Allison U15 B-800m and B-Discus. The under 11's take part in a "Quadkids" competition which involves a 75m sprint, Long Jump, 600m and Vortex throw. The Andover under 11’s team was made up of Nnenna Evans, Callum Duff, Gregor Corcoran and Ben Black. All performed well in the blistering heat, Nnenna finished in 11th place overall in the girls competition, in the boys Callum was 6th, Ben 18th and Gregor 27th. These are all very talented young athletes with a great future in the sport.
Inter-Counties Schools Southampton & Exeter Following their success at the county championships several Andover AC athletes were selected to compete for their County Schools team at various inter-county competitions. Representing Wiltshire Schools at the South West Inter Counties Schools Match held at Exeter were junior boys Jack Templeman and Sam Robinson. Jack continued his highly successful season taking the gold in the long jump with a jump of 5.82m (his 2nd furthest jump ever) and Sam Robinson raced hard in the 1500m race to take 11th position in a time of 4mins 35.1secs. The South East Inter Counties Schools Match was held at Southampton. Adam Harwood cruised to the gold medal position in the Intermediate boys 200m in a very good time of 22.5, this time despite running into a -2 headwind. Claire Paterson was awarded 1st position in the 100m in a very tight race where the first three finishers all recorded the same time of 12.8 but Claire getting the dip. Claire also competed in the 200m race where she came 4th in 26.4. Grace Paterson was also competing in the 300m (b-string) event. This was Grace’s first ever county honors and she raced well to take 3rd place in a time of 44.3 in what were very windy conditions. Alex Rudge set the pace for the Intermediate boys 3000m having fought hard for 1st position he was also rewarded with a personal best (PB) of 9mins 17.7secs. Team mate Tom Bennett competed over the shorter distance of 1500m. Tom was faced with particularly tough opposition eventually coming home in 4th in a time of 4min 18.2 secs at little off his best. The very next day both Tom and Alex travelled to Watford for the Under 17 Southern Championships to compete in the 3000m. For Tom this was his first outing this year over this distance. A vast field of 27 started the race, despite hard races the day before neither boy was phased by the depth in strength the opposition presented. Both recorded PBs, Alex coming 11th in 9.11.87 and Tom 18th in 9.24.29 which puts them into very respectable positions within the UK rankings with another year to go in this age group. Chris Neil and Alice Boughton made the trip to Birmingham to compete in the National Independent Schools Championships - Representing London West. Fourteen year old Chris Neil was up against the National 2009 Cross Country Champion from Aldershot, Harvey Dixon, in the 1500m. Chris was pleased to be pulled around the track at a fast pace and ended in a highly respectable 4th position taking 7 seconds off his previous best in a time of 4.35.1. Thirteen year old Alice put a series of throws together in the javelin event to be rewarded with 1st place and a personal best of 24m 93cm. Some of the seniors competed at the recent Basingstoke open meeting achieving some really good PB performances including: Hayley Spicer in the senior womens 200m recording a time of 28.2. Dave Awde in the senior mens 200m in 23.8 and James Whiteman recording a seasons best over the 400m.
Hampshire Schools County Athletics Championships A number of pupils who attend schools in the Andover District (Winton, John Hanson, Harrow Way, Clere, Test Bourne and Test Valley) recently represented Andover schools in the Hampshire Schools County Athletics Championships. Highlights of the day were the more experienced members of the team, all of which are members of local athletics clubs such as Andover, Winchester and Bournemouth. Two of the Intermediate age group competitor’s gained qualification to the English Schools Championships as part of the Hampshire schools team. Claire Paterson after bringing home both the 100m and 200m titles and Adam Harwood also winning the 200m gold. Both Claire and Adam are seasoned competitors and had already achieved the English Schools qualifying times prior to the event. Gary Jones added to last year’s title and is now Hampshire Champion in both the Hammer and Discus events. Like Claire and Adam, Gary already has the qualifying distance for the Discus so is also confirmed as part of the Hampshire team heading to the English Schools Championships which this year are to be held at Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield on the 10th and 11th July. This prestigious event will be televised Sky Sports. Other top place Intermediate finishers were: Grace Paterson achieving a very respectable second place in the 300m, Matt Woodhouse in a very close 2nd in the Discus. For many of the junior athletes this was the first time they had experienced competing and so the day was about the occasion of the day. Key performances included: Luke Holman and Jess Maw who both finished 3rd in their respective 800m races, Harry Baker who missed out on first place by just 4cm in the Long Jump, Shelby Baker who competed in the 75m Hurdles and finished in 3rd place, and Sam Edwards who finished in 3rd place in the Triple Jump. Nicky Taylor the Andover Schools Team Manager said ‘It was an exceptional day that was enjoyed by all the athletes and those who finished in the first two positions were all invited to represent Hampshire in an Inter counties fixture.’ In addition to the Hampshire Schools, some local Andover athletes were also competing for Wiltshire Schools in a similar event. Jack Templeman won the Junior Boys Long Jump with ease, again Jack already has the English Schools qualifying distance by some margin so will be joining Claire, Adam and Gary on the trip to Sheffield in July. Also competing were: Sam Robinson who won the Junior Boys 1500m and Roland Barter who achieved 3rd in the Javelin with a throw of 34.53m. All in all – an absolutely brilliant achievement for our local schools and our local athletes alike.
Raising the bar Andover athletic club is full of people young and old willing to put in extra time to help build the club, whether that involves training the athletes, providing lifts to events a bit of DIY or cleaning the loos! However, one young man stands out in his recent effort to raise funds for the club, aiming to help them build an indoor training facility. Eleven year old club member Harry Fitzpatrick decided he was going to get actively involved in the fund raising and set about thinking of ideas of how he could contribute to the goal. Harry came up with the idea of a sponsored run over 12 laps of the track and then set about getting lots of people to sponsor him for doing it. Harry’s simple but effective efforts raised a massive £173 for the club and gained him a massive amount of kudos and respect from all the members. Well done Harry. Athletics round up Dave Awde was invited to compete in the FORTIS grand prix in Guernsey on Saturday. This is an invite only meeting run by Dale Garland (Olympian, European medalist etc.). Dave set a new 400mH Personal Best (PB) of 57.7 in the Senior mens event, taking off over a second off his previous PB. A small but Elite group went to the South East of England athletics championships at Bedford. Chris Adams was narrowly run out of his heat (finished 3rd) in the 800m in a time of 2.02.45. Under 17 sprinters Clare Patterson and Adam Harwood both finished 5th in their respective races. Clare recording in the 100m and Adam in the 200m recording 22.4 which was a wind legal PB and also national standard. Additionally, James Folkes was invited to represent Hampshire at the CAU inter-counties in Bedford. This is the first time Andover Athletics Club has had a senior athlete represent their county in over a decade. He competed in the 200m but failed to make the final.
Andover Young Athletes Meeting Charlton – May 25th The recent Andover Athletics Club annual young athletes meeting took place in glorious sunny weather conditions; truly amazing considering it was a Bank Holiday Monday. This key event in the Clubs calendar is aimed at the youngest contingent of the Club and although there are athletes competing up to the under 20s categories, the day is really about encouraging and celebrating the efforts of the under 9s through to the under 15s. The inspiring athlete of the day was undoubtedly under 15 boy, Jack Templeman, who competed in several events during the day. The most notable was the long jump where he not only won very convincingly, but also jumped 14 cm over the English Schools qualifying distance with a jump of 5.84m. A massive personal best (PB) of 35cm to boot. Jack also won the 200m and the 100m where he also achieved a PB. Watching him on the track was magnificent, in fact when you looked at his stature and style of running he looked very similar to another rather useful Andover sprinter – Adam Harwood. Staying with the Long Jump, Andover also had success in the U13s and U11 age categories. Jack Deery taking gold with a jump of 3.91m and Jordan Brown the bronze, with U11 boy Ben Reed taking the silver in his event jumping 3.49m. The girls were not to be out done with strength in depth in the U13s age group. Rebecca Hunt grabbed the silver with a tremendous jump of 3.96m and Lucy Mellows and Faye Baker took 4th and 5th spot. It was also great to see the highly talented Mathew Chant return to the track after a long spell away due to an injury. Although only just returned to training Mathew showed his class by taking the gold medal in the under 13 boys 100m in 13.9 well over a second ahead of his nearest rival and still only aged 11. Jack Deery also ran well to take the bronze. Over the distance events, Luke Holman showed great promise with a win in the under 15 boys 800m in an excellent time of 2.13.5. Vikki Grinham showed fantastic improvement to run 2.43.8 in the under 13 girls 800m race to take 4th. Keeping it in the family her brother Dan was involved in one of the most exciting races of the day, the under 17 boys 800m race. Dan ran a massive PB of 2.03.6 to take the bronze in what proved to be a very tight race from gun to tape, narrowly being beaten to the silver by team mate Chris Adams, who had already achieved big PBs in both the 100m and 400m. Eliza Borrett also featured highly several times during the day. Taking bronze in the U15 girls 100m and 200m, plus a 4th place in the high jump where team mate Millie Dobinson performed well to take the silver with a jump of 1.35m. Millie also knocked a second off of her 200m time to take 4th place behind Eliza. The U10 girls 150m time trial races had the younger contingent out in force with Holly Mills running 24.3 to come equal 2nd with Nnenna Evans and Ella Taylor taking 6th and 10th place respectively. Callum Duff showed his class in the U11 boys race narrowly missing gold with a time of 22.7. Holly and Callum followed up their 150m success both gaining 2nd over the 80m distance as well. Joshua Middleton chased Callum over the line to take 3rd in what was a very close battle for the medal positions in this short sprint, with just 0.2 separating the 3 medal winners. Holly and Nnenna then changed their focus to the field events in the long jump – again achieving silver and 4th respectively. The U15 girls 800m proved to be a popular race for the Andover athletes. Ellora Milsom came out the best to take 3rd place smashing her PB in the process. Elloria was followed across the line by Jasmine Jones (4th), Victoria Lowry (5th) and Jessica Allison (6th). Back on the field Stephen Horne stormed to victory in the U13 boys Shot Putt (6.73m) with Philip Walmsley competing well to receive the bronze in the U9 boys Vortex Throw (14.17m).
Southern Men’s League After the fantastic win in their first match the combined Andover/Overton AC senior men’s found themselves in a battle royal against City of Plymouth AC in the second match of this year’s Southern Men’s League (Division 3W). The first event to be contested was the hugely challenging pole vault, experienced competitors Dave Awde and Dave Bush both put in strong performances to take 2nd (2.60m) and 3rd (2m) in the A and B string. Continuing in the field Matt Woodhouse showed true class to come second in the discus with a new lifetime best and club record throw of 34.40m. This is a truly excellent performance considering Matt is only 15 and throwing well above his normal weight. Other notable performances in the field included double wins in both the triple jump and long jump by Adam Harwood, Ashley Froude, Dave Awde and James Folkes.  Andover AC is proving to be a centre of excellence for sprints and this was again evident in 100m, 200m & 400m where James Folkes, Andre Young and Adam Harwood all took competitive victories. In the middle distance events Kearon Hooley put in a solid run to take victory in a comfortable 2.03.7, this was well supported by Chris Adams who took victory in the b-string with 2.07.1. In the 1500m two of Andover AC’s young starlets Tom Bennett and Alex Rudge fought their way to second place in the A string (Tom) and victory in the B string with 4.23.6 and 4.30.4 respectively.   In the longer events athletes from Andover/Overton AC showed why they a force to be reckoned with. Ex Andover AC athlete Jamie Jones made a welcome return to the track in the 5km where he finished second in 16m 50.5, Jamie was closely supported by Andover AC distance specialist Dougie Brisco who won the B-string in 18m 23.1. In the 3km steeple chase Lee Tolhurst and Dave Bush both came second in the A and B strings. By the end of the match it was clear that Plymouth had done enough to secure the victory, but despite this Andover/Overton AC stormed to victory in the 4 x 400m with a clear victory of over 15 seconds (3.35.0). Final match result City of Plymouth AC – 122 Andover/Overton AC – 114 Fleet & Crookham AC – 83 Haselmere Borders AC – 17 This performance puts Andover/Overton AC in third place only half a point behind the leaders (Team Southampton AC), the next match sees the club compete directly against Team Southampton so all is still to play for (top two teams get promotion). Next match is 6th June – Portsmouth (Navy base track).
Athletes talent shines through – medal tally 20
Andover AC and its athletes hit massive highs at the Hampshire Track and Field Championships held at the newly refurbished Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth. The two day event culminated in 6 Hampshire Championship Gold medal wins, 5 Silver medals, 9 Bronze and its biggest turn out of athletes ever recorded with a total of 45 athletes entered. This turnout put the club in 5th place on the attending club list, its highest ever placing. In the past the Club has seen the occasional star but nothing like the sustained ground swell of high achievers demonstrating just how much the Club and its athletes have progressed over the past few years. Under 17 mens sprint star Adam Harwood gave an absolutely stunning performance over the two days of racing, winning every race he entered to take gold in the 100m in a time of 11.27, the 200m where he absolutely destroyed the competition in a time of 22.56 and followed this up with a battle in the 400m dipping below the 51 second mark again with a time of 50.99 to win. This was a truly phenomenal achievement especially when you consider that he also had to compete in heats for all three disciplines. Also on the track, Claire Patterson took the under 17 womens 300m crown in a time of 41.61 and followed this up with silvers in the 100m and 200m. Both these athletes have already achieve the English Schools qualifying times this year so the scene is already set for yet another brilliant track season. The track specialists were not the only ones to see a gold rush. Under 15s boy Jack Templemen showed true brilliance taking the accolade of Hampshire Champion not once but twice. In the Long Jump with a jump of 5.45m and in the Triple Jump with a tremendous jump of 11.49 smashing the club record which he already holds by 10cm although it was classed as a wind assisted jump. Jack also qualified for the 800m final so is no mean talent on the track as well. Over the two days, Andover’s athletes demonstrated the strength in depth the Club now has with further medals on the track in the sprints, hurdles and middle distance and on the field again in the Long Jump, Shot, Discus and Javelin. Just as importantly these achievements also spanned nearly every age group. Jamie Barry showed great strength in the Under 15s Discus and Javelin events to take the silver in both disciplines and this was followed with silver medals for Lauren Marlow in the under 15 girls Long Jump with a jump of 4.51 and a middle distance silver for Tom Bennett in the Under 17 mens 1500m race. It was great to see James Folkes doing the double ‘Bronze’ in the senior 100m and 200m races showing a welcome return to form, with Shelby Baker taking the same colours on both the track and field in the 75m Hurdles (12.91) and the Long Jump (4.46). Under 17 mens distance runner Alex Rudge had a long weekend competing in both the 1500m and 3000m races, including heats for the 1500m. His efforts were rewarded with a massive personal best of 25 seconds in the 3000m (9:32.6) to take 3rd place. Bronze medals were also achieved by: Luke Holman in the Under 15 boys 800m in a time of 2:19.54, his team mate Jamie Barry in the Shot with a throw of 9.06m, Sam Deery in the under 17 mens 100m Hurdles (18.52) and Senior Women Margaret Smith (W55) in the 3000m Walk. Behind all these successes is a large infrastructure of selfless volunteers but a special thank you from Club Chairman Nick Woodford on behalf of the athletes went to its two officials Steve Baldwin and Ian Oldacre and the Clubs coaches, James Coney, Helen Dobinson and George Ogilvie.
Southern Womens League Andover AC’s newly formed Southern Womens League (Division 2 West) (SWL) team succeeded in victory at their first match of the season. Andover AC has not had a Senior Womens (SW) team in nearly a decade - so a win by over 40 points was very impressive. The SWL is made up of athletes from U15, U17, U20, senior and veteran categories making it a tough task to choose a team capable of covering all the events. This was achieved by athletes from across all sections of the club coming together to form a very competitive squad that was keen to show their potential. The field events saw a number of athletes take part in events for the first time ever. Despite being relatively inexperienced in both the throws and jumps there were personal bests for Franki Hanson in the SW triple jump (8.91), Shelby Baker in the U15 javelin (22.89m), Vicky Knight in the SW triple jump (8.02m) and the SW javelin 7.71m, Dot Paterson in the SW shot putt and discus, Molly Baker and Millie Dobinson in the U15 shot putt. Millie also secured an impressive victory and new Personal Best (PB) in the U15 high jump (1.37m). On the track there were numerous highlights including the U15 800m which saw both Ellora Milsom and Victoria Lowry set new PBs of 2.30.7 and 2.36.1 respectively. Other impressive performances included Hayley Spicer who set a new PB of 66.5 in the 400m, Christie Woodford who ran 2.30.1 (2nd fastest ever) in the 800m and PB of 66.5 in the 400m. Emma Brown also showed huge strength to stop the clock at 78.9 in the SW 400mH also a PB. Andover AC also showed strength in the longer distance races, in the 3000m Emma Dunham ran a strong race coming 4th place in the A string with Natalie Thomas achieving a successful 2nd place in her B string race. Natalie doubled up to complete the 1500m (6:02.3). Andover AC has worked hard in recent months to re-fine and perfect relay skills including non visual changes and moving the baton at top speed, this was clearly demonstrated by the senior women’s 4 x 100m team of Claire and Grace Paterson, Danni Horner and Hayley Spicer who recorded 52.6 a new club record and the U15 4 x 100m team (Molly Baker, Millie Dobinson, Jasmine Jones & Eliza Borat) who left the other teams standing with an impressive time of 53.7. Final team score: 252 points
Southern Mens League On a gloriously hot and sunny day Andover AC and Overton AC's joint men's squad competed in the first fixture of the Southern Men's League (Div 3W). After the success of last season much is expected of this team and promotion into Division 2 has been set as a realistic target and they got their campaign off to a winning start taking top spot by the close of the day. The first match was held at Andover’s athletics track, and was against strong opposition from the Royal Navy, Radley AC and Newbury based Team Kennet AC. After a steady start it was apparent that this was going to be a tight and highly competitive fixture. Leading the way were the club's multi eventers Dave Awde, Dave Bush and Matt Woodhouse who picked up good points in the hammer, pole vault and shot putt. It was not until the track programme started that the team showed how impressive they actually are. The 400m hurdles saw Dave Awde secure a convincing second place in 60.5. This was followed by newcomer Chris Hawkins who raced to a solid time 70.5. Chris' performance was even more impressive considering he fell over the 2nd last hurdle and showed true grit to get back up and finish the race. As the track programme moved onto the 100m the anticipation amongst the crowd was building due to local speedsters James Folkes and Andre Young. Both did not disappoint; after a close race James secured victory (A string) in 11.2 (his fastest time in over 2 years), Andre dictated the race from the gun and ran away from his rivals to stop the clock at 11.4 a new Personal Best (PB). In the field the team was starting to pick up points, James Whiteman throw a massive PB of 41.23m in the javelin to take victory in the A string and was well supported by newcomer Carl Syrett who won the B string with 31.44m. Carl had a busy day picking up useful points in the shot and discus. The jumps also witnessed some impressive results with Adam Harwood, Chris Dunlop, James Folkes and Matt Woodhouse taking part in the long, triple and high jumps. Back on the track the middle distance athletes were determined to perform on home soil and this was evident in the way Kearon Hooley and Chris Adams attacked the 800m from the gun. Going through the first lap in under 58 seconds it was clear that the Andover boys meant business, however, they were closely tracked by a quality Radley athlete. Kearon was eventually second in the A string with 2.00.1 with Chris taking an impressive victory B string with a PB of 2.00.9. Both athletes now go to next weeks County Champs with high hopes of securing PB's and finishing close to the medal positions. The match was supported by one of the biggest turn outs in recent years and this showed with additional victories for James Folkes in the A string 200m, Andre Young in the B string 200m, Matt Lane in the B string 5km knocking over 90 seconds off of his previous best, Matt Woodhouse in the B string 110mH, Kearon Hooley in the A string 3km steeple chase, Lee Tolhurst in the B string 3km steeple chase, and second places for 15 year old Alex Rudge in the A string 1500m, Chris Berntsen in the B string 1500m, Adam Harwood in the A string 400m and Mike Bliss in the A string 5km. As the day started to come to a close Andover & Overton had proved to be the quality team on the day and now had a sizeable lead, despite this the teams 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay runners wanted to finish the day off. The 4 x 100m team of Andre Young, Adam Harwood, Mike Donavon and James Folkes showed they were well drilled in the art of really changes by storming to victory in 44.6 seconds, a new club record, which had stood for over 30 years. Not to be outdone the 4 x 400m team of Adam Harwood, Chris Adams, James Whiteman and Dave Awde also took an impressive victory in 3.35.2.
Wessex League – Woking On a glorious day the Andover team travelled to Woking for the first round of the Wessex Young Athletes League to take on teams from Newbury, Winchester, Slough, Basingstoke and Woking. In all of the age groups they showed what a strong club Andover now has. The under 13 boys of Steven Horne, Jordan Brown, Jack Deery combined to take 1st in the 100m & 200m B string races. Harry Fitzpatrick and Nick Adams also had a good day competing in events they had not tried before. The team finished their day with a great 3rd place in the 4x100m Relay. The under 13 girls team of Izzy Horner, Ella Neil, Vicky Grinham, Rebecca Hunt, Eleanor Harwood, Holly Scott and Emma Jones won the award for the most smiles in a day following wins for Eleanor, Rebecca and Holly and 4th in the 4x100m relay. Under 15 boys; Jamie Barry, Jack Templeman, Luke Holman, Roland Barter, Sam Edwards, Jake Gardham, Soloman Lane and Chris Robinson, saw wins for Jack, Roland, Jamie, Chris and Sam. With lots of 2nd's and 3rd's this team shows it has great strength in depth. The under 15 Girls team comprised of Jessica Allison, Eliza Borrett, Millie Dobinson, Victoria Lowry, Jasmine Jones and Ellora Milsom, whilst not the biggest of the teams they all won at least one event each and finished off with a fantastic 4x100m relay win. The under 17men have one of the strongest teams in the league with the Championship winning "dream team" moving up to this age group for the track season. The team of Sam Deery, Adam Harwood, Ashley Frounde, Alex Rudge, Chris Neil, Chris Hawkins, Chris Adams, Chris Berntsen, Tom Bennett and Dan Grinham all showed what they can do, with wins for Alex, Chris Neil, Chris Berntsen and Adam, who despite falling out of the starting blocks still managed to win the 100m much to the shock of the opposition! They finished 2nd to a very good Slough team in the 4x100m relay. Claire Paterson, Grace Paterson, Christie Woodford, Hayley Appleby, Danni Horner and Vicky Knight are really setting their sights on some very fast times this season as the 17 womens representatives. Wins for Grace, Danni, Claire and Vicky finished off with a win in the 4x100m relay in a new Andover club record time of 52.9 seconds. This fantastic team performance meant that Andover finished 3rd on the day and is a great platform to build on for the rest of the season. Also competing on the day were the under 11s Quadkids team, an event designed to encourage the young into athletics. Many were competing for the first time and all thoroughly enjoyed the day. The team were; Holly Mills, Lauren Adeams, Robert Horne, Dominic Mussell, Callum Duff, Jack Fitzpatrick and Ben Black. The senior members of the Club travelled to the Havant Open meeting on the Sunday. Andover AC has worked tirelessly in recent years to increase the number of senior athletes within the club structure. This was evident at the recent Havant AC open where seven local athletes competed in a range of sprints and middle distance events. The meeting took place at the recently re-furbished Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth which is also home to next month's Hampshire County Athletics Championships. First to compete was the clubs senior women's captain - Hayley Spicer in the 200m, Hayley ran a strong bend and held her form to equal her lifetime best of 28.6. Newcomers Mike Donavon and Andre Young, both secured new personal bests (pb) of 25.0 and 23.7 in the mens heats with James Folkes storming out of his blocks to run a solid 22.9, his fastest early season time for nearly three years. Training partners Kearon Hooley and Dave Awde compete against each other in the 800m. After a fast first 400m it was clear that the two athletes would need to show true character to finish in a respectable time. Established two-lapper Kearon proved the stronger, crossing the line in 2.02 closely followed by Dave in 2.04. The last event of the day was the 100m, which saw Mike, Andre, James Folkes, James Whiteman and Hayley all compete in the blue riband event. Hayley again equalled her pb, despite running into a head wind. This was closely followed by the seniors mens race, which was dominated by the senior sprinters of Andover AC. James cruised to 11.8, followed by Andre in 12.0 (pb) and Mike in 12.3 (pb).
Basingstoke Open Saturday saw Andover AC travel to Basingstoke for what has become one of the highest quality early season opens in the country. After a long winter the meeting was hotly anticipated by both athletes and coaches, this was evidenced by the huge turn out of athletes from U11 to U20. The day was started well by Danni Horner (U17w) who claimed a deserved second in the 80m hurdles with a new personal best (PB) of 12.8. This time was secured by an aggressive start and consistent leg speed, skills that Danni has worked hard on over the last few months. Danni followed this up with a strong run in the 100m (13.8), which was convincingly won by her training partner Claire Paterson. Clare, last year's English Schools finalist (100m) dominated the race from the gun and crossed the line in 12.62 (ESAA qualifying). The day was set on fire when speed king Adam Harwood stormed to victory in the U17m 100m with the extremely impressive time of 10.89. This time represents a PB, club record, ESAA qualifying time and ranks Adam no.3 in the national rankings (all ages). Not content with this milestone of a performance the Whitchurch-based sprinter also cruised to victory in the 200m with a time of 22.33 (PB, club record, ESAA QT), putting him third in the current U17m national rankings. These times will put a bench mark down for other sprinters across the country and the entire club wishes Adam good luck for a long and busy season. The younger middle distance athletes were all looking for personal best performances. First up were the 800m races Solomon Lane ran a well paced race to knock off 7 seconds in 2.41.5 following this Victoria Grinham had the 3 minute barrier as her target to break for the first time which she did in style in 2.50.34. Later in the day breaking 4 minutes 26 seconds was the target for Tom Bennett and Alex Rudge in the Under 17s 1500m race. The race was combined with the Under 20s so needless to say the start was fast, Tom went off with a determination to remain in touch with the leaders, this fast first lap helped him carry on the pace throughout the race to come home in 4.22.53 in third place, reducing his best by 4 seconds. Alex ran a more evenly paced race and was frustrated to be only 0.2 of a second outside his personal best and in 4th place, 4.26.61. A busy day for Harry Fitzpatrick U13 boy LJ 2.98, 200m 34.39, 800m 2.54.91 and for Katy Preece U15 girl a bronze in the Long Jump 4.17, 200m 29.08, then having qualified for the 100m final with 13.87 secs ended her day with one more 100m sprint in 14.1 with very tired legs. Izzy Horner competed over the 70m hurdles for the first time ever and was delighted to clear all the barriers in a time of 18.1 secs. Jamie Barry and Roland Barter spent day out in the blistering sun on the field. Jamie having just moved up an age group was competing with heavier implements and was very pleased with all his results. Shot 8.78 for a bronze medal, javelin another bronze with 28.72 and discus 4th with a best throw of 22.8m. Joining Jamie in the javelin was Roland Barter after a good winters training and throwing without any wind advantage claimed a silver medal and a personal best of 31.86m. These young athletes have only been training together for 7 months did remarkable well, under extreme pressure at their first outdoor test of the season and are showing excellent signs of succeeding in the sport. Under 11 Girls Emma Jones-- Long Jump-3rd 3.49m 70m sprint- 3rd time- 10.77 150 sprint- 2nd time- 23.00 2x bronze and 1x silver still 10 years old Under 13 Girls Lucy Mellows-- Long Jump 3.98m- 3rd bronze medal Under 15 Girls Eliza Borrett- High Jump- 1.30 m 2nd (1st ever competition at high jump only trained for event 3 x weeks ago) Silver medal Under 15 Girls Jasmine Jones- High Jump- 3rd -1.25m (1st ever competition at high jump only trained for event 3x weeks ago) bronze medal Under 15 Boys Samuel Edwards - Long Jump- 2nd 4,46m (1st Competition at this event) Other notable performances included, Claire Paterson 1st in 300m (41.57 - pb, ESAA QT), Christie Woodford 1st in 800m (2.30.87 - 2nd fastest ever), Ellora Milsom - 3rd in 800m (2.32.66 - 2FE), Chris Adams - pb in 200m 25.33, 1st in 800m, Milly Dobinson (U15G) - 100m, 14.45 (pb), 29.46 (pb).
National Sportshall Lauren Marlow competed for the Hampshire team in the National Sportshall Championships held each year in Birmingham, with 49 English counties, plus representatives form Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Lauren competed in the High Jump, jumping 1.30m to take 14th position. She was also due to compete in the relay, but had to withdraw due to an injury. However, Lauren’s performance helped the Hampshire teams to take 2nd place overall, meaning she was part of the most successful Hampshire team in the UK Sportshall Championships history. Sportshall Athletics was created in the United Kingdom by George Bunner in 1976 to introduce young people (under 13s and under 15s) to the joy of athletics. He recognised that training on dark winter nights was unappealing and often meant that many youngsters left athletics clubs over the winter and didn’t return in the summer! However, he encouraged them to come back with inventions such as the Reversaboard which enabled athletes to strike and turn in the same movement and run in the opposite direction. Soon most athletic events were made possible within a sports hall environment. Ron Pickering became the first President of the Sportshall Athletics Association and was so impressed by George’s ideas that he helped by offering improvements and suggestions of his own. George Uren brought his ideas and enthusiasm to the team in 1982. The lead provided by George Bunner, Ron Pickering and George Uren has inspired others, ensuring that Sportshall Athletics emphasises the importance of team competition, fair play and the fact that taking part and trying your hardest is more important than winning. Sportshall is an activity that can bring together young people across the globe in energetic competition and lasting friendship. Held each year in Birmingham, the AVIVA Sportshall UK Final is the flagship athletics development event of the year. Leading teams and individuals from across the UK gather to contest for national honors. Previous Sportshall champions have included Mark Lewis-Francis and Kelly Sotherton. Whether an athlete, team manager, official or spectator, this event provides a fantastic occasion for all involved!
London Marathon Update… The goal of five intrepid athletes from Andover Athletic club is to complete this year’s Flora London Marathon and moreover, to do it for good causes that each of them feels very passionate about. Gavin Whatley, Martin Welsh, Ian Griffin, Dougie Brisco and Sandra Blowers have been training very hard to ensure they achieve their goal, so with just a few weeks to go they are all comfortably achieving distances between 18 to 22 miles. Gavin, Ian and Dougie are the veterans of the contingent, all going for their third London Marathon, with Dougie hoping to break the 3 minute barrier the 3rd year on the trot.. For Martin this is a 9 year ambition to complete the Marathon as he had to withdraw last year due to a calf injury. The only woman competing is Sandra, who sees the Marathon as a life challenge since giving up smoking eight years ago. Training is going well and you can spot these gallant runners in the lanes and streets around Andover. Sandra can be identified by the fact that she is accompanied by her husband who follows her on his bike. Affectionately known as "The Water Boy". Dougie is raising funds for Cancer Research, with the remaining four running for Naomi House Children's Hospice in Sutton Scotney; a very well known and much loved local charity that has unfairly suffered with the collapse of the Icelandic Bank. If you would like to support the runners and Naomi House, please go to www.justgiving.com and type in the name of the champion of your choice and follow the instructions to donate. Any amount, no matter how small, will be greatly appreciated, especially by Naomi House, and of course, all of Andover AC and I am sure the local community wish them the very best of luck in their endeavours.
English Schools Cross Country Stanford Hall, Nr Loughborough was the setting for this year’s Sainsburys English Schools Cross Country Championships. This is a new venue for cross country and proved to be very tough but well liked by the athletes, with as is always the case with these Championships, one of the scariest starts on the athletics calendar. Four hundred athletes from the 45 counties in England start each of the 6 races and after 100 metres as tradition always has it they had a tight hairpin bend which caught many athletes out, with several fallers at this point through out the day. The rest of the course was made up of undulating hills across some stunning scenery, with the sun shinning all day it made for some fantastic racing. Andover schools had two boys representing Hampshire schools in the intermediate category (years 10 and 11), unfortunately Chris Berntsen (John Hanson) had to pull out the night before with a knee injury. However, Alex Rudge (Testbourne) who had qualified with a terrific run in the Hampshire schools where he came 2nd took up the mantle. Alex is year 9 so still has another year in this age group. His qualification race meant that he was 2nd out of the pen, especially important due to the sharp turn within 100 meters of the start. But the ferocity of the race meant he had to battle hard through the crowds of athletes, eventually finishing in a credible 85th place after suffering stitch during the race. The Hampshire team also took 4th team place. Both boys are members of Andover AC who have a fine tradition of getting athletes to these major events. Competing for Wiltshire schools and also members of Andover AC were Alex Toomey who came 264th in the intermediate race and Sam Robinson who took pole position out of the Wilshire pen in the Junior boys race having won the Wiltshire Schools Championships. But as this one of the biggest occasions of the cross country calendar it was perhaps a little over whelming eventually finishing in 154th place. Whilst not getting quite the results they had all hoped for, the boys all enjoyed the experience of taking part in one of the most prestigious events on the athletics calendar and will be looking to ensure they qualify again next year.
Club Recognition Your local athletic club - Andover AC - learned this week from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation (HIWCF) that its valuable contribution to the local community is being rewarded in the form of a Grassroots Grant of £5,000 which will be payable over the next two years. Faced with the difficulty of choosing between thousands of local causes, many potential donors often opt to support large national organisations instead, meaning charitable giving from our area leaves the locality never to return. Grassroots is an exciting new funding programme aimed at helping small, local voluntary organisations throughout England over the next 3 years and beyond. It is these groups, working at 'Grassroots' level, and the communities they serve who are reaping a long-term benefit thanks to the dual approach of this programme. Grassroots consists of two distinct elements: Grassroots Endowment Challenge An exceptional opportunity for philanthropists and businesses who wish to support their local communities Grassroots Grants Available for a diverse range of community groups across Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton. HIWCF has been appointed to manage the Grassroots Grants for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Additional Source of Grassroots Funds In the March 2007 Budget, the Government announced £80 million for a small grants programme aimed at supporting small, local voluntary groups across England. Following the announcement Nick Woodford, Andover AC Chairman said, “Funding of this nature is vital to the club’s progression. We have one of the best training tracks in the South but ultimately we would like to have a proper club house so that people can use the facilities to there full potential. We currently have well over 200 members from the local community, with an age range of 8-70+ meaning that it is a wonderful, easily accessible, health promoting resource available to all regardless of their ability.” Coach James Coney added, “This grant will make a fantastic difference to AAC and will help provide essential technical and coaching equipment. The club has seen huge growth in the last few years and we are currently struggling to cater for everybody’s needs. This grant will help to change this, hopefully resulting in the improvement of both individual athletes and the club as a whole.” In July 2007 the Government announced that a further £50 million will be made available through an endowment match challenge. The funds raised will be invested in community endowments to improve the long term sustainability of grant giving to local voluntary groups working in our communities.
2009 World XC Trials – Nottingham Saturday’s McCain UK Cross Challenge Final at Wollaton Park in Nottingham was televised in full by Sky Sports last Saturday. The prestigious cross country event which also plays host to the CAU Inter Counties Championships as well as the World Cross Country trials, was blessed with cool dry conditions, and the testing terrain of the hill up to Wollaton Hall played its part in deciding many of the races. Andover lad Phill Berntsen was first up and proved to be the class act of the local athletes competing. However, although Phill featured through much of the early part of the under 20s 8k race, he fell off the pace on the second part of the course, batting hard to move back from 9th to finish a disappointing 7th place (1st Hampshire back) in a time of 26:22, some 40 seconds short of last years performance where he came 3rd. Key to the placing was that the top six were likely to gain the six Great Britain and NI team places for the World Cross Championships in Jordan, so Phill is unlikely to gain selection unless there are injuries to the first choice team members. His consolation prize was that he was crowned McCain UK Cross Challenge Under 20 Mens Champion, winning the prize pot of £600, having gained most points over the 4 races and he is highly likely to get an England call up for the home International race that occurs at the same time as the World Championships, but this was scant consolation for the young athlete who wanted to yet again represent his country in the sport he loves. The Hampshire team came 7th. Initially completely dissolute, Phill was resolute the following morning understanding that to succeed he will have to be even more focussed and put in yet more hard work in order to succeed – a key message to all budding sportsman and women – whatever their chosen sport – it is not an easy path to choose. Eight other local athletes were selected to compete for their counties – six for Hampshire and two for Wiltshire. Chris Berntsen was regrettably withdrawn from the under 17 mens race at the 11th hour due to a slight hamstring injury. However, the remaining seven all stepped up to the plate, not least three members of Andover Athletics’ club under 15s dream team: Alex Rudge, Tom Bennett and Dan Grinham. Following an excellent season Alex attacked the 4.5k course with vigour pushing through right through to the end to come in second for Hampshire in 41st place (16:01). Tom Bennett showed he is now right back on form following an enforced time out due to breaking his shoulder. Until the last 100m Tom was several places behind Alex, but with a fine sprint finish took the 3rd Hampshire place and 42nd place immediately behind Alex in a time of 16:03 to complete his cross country season off with his best race of the season. Alex and Tom helped the Hampshire team to take 6th place overall, with Dan Grinham finishing in a creditable 104th place in a time of 16:38 (6th Hampshire back). Brother and sister act Alex and Hermione Toomey were the Andover AC athletes representing Wiltshire. Alex Toomey joined Alex Rudge, Tom Bennett and Dan Grinham in the under 15 boys race coming home in 252nd place in a time of 17:36. The youngest of the Andover AC contingent was Hermione in the under 13 girls. Hermione finished the 3k course in 15:29 in 188th place helping her team to 24th place overall. Christie Woodford improved her position from last year, in spite of moving up a year to finish 132nd in the under 17 womens 5k race (21:52). Christie’ Hampshire team mates won team bronze, but in the fiercely competitive Hampshire team Christie did not pick up the team medal as only the first 4 counted in this age group. Last but not least, Sarah Holiday helped Hampshire to 8th team place to come in 6th counter (6 to count) in the senior womens race in 110th place in a time of 32:42 for the 8k course.
County call up confirmed Nine local athletes will once again be making an appearance on Sky Sports 3 this Saturday (March 7th) when they represent their county and take on the rest of the UK in the UK Inter-counties Cross Country Championships. The event, which is the premier domestic cross country event of the year, also incorporates the final of the UK Cross Challenge League and, for the Junior (Under 20s) and Senior categories, the Great Britain and NI qualification race for the World Cross Country Championships. Those selected are: Hampshire; Phill Berntsen (Junior Men), Chris Berntsen (Under 17 Boys), Alex Rudge, Tom Bennett and Dan Grinham (Under 15 Boys), Sarah Holiday (Senior Ladies), Christie Woodford (Under 15 Womens). Wiltshire; Alex Toomey (Under 15 Boys), Hermione Toomey (Under 15 Womens). The Hampshire Schools Cross Country team for the English Schools Cross Country Championships was also announced this week. Alex Rudge (Testbourne) and Chris Berntsen (John Hanson) have both been selected for the Intermediate Boys race.
Indoor Update After the disappointment of being disqualified at the National Indoor Championships (held earlier in the month) Adam Harwood was determined to run well at the Midland Open and put the demons to rest. He did not disappoint, after an aggressive start the young sprinter from Whitchurch dominated the race and secured victory with a rapid time of 22.60. This is a new U17 men's club record, beating a 15 year old record. This terrific time also represents a qualifying mark for this summer’s English Schools Championships in Sheffield and ranks Adam 6th in the current national rankings. Danni Horner competed in the 60m hurdles. The fleet footed Danni has looked in impressive form at training in recent weeks and it was no surprise that she smashed her previous best to record a time of 9.73. This time also represents a club record (U17 women) and indicates that Danni has the potential to run close to 12 seconds for the 80m hurdles this coming summer. Buoyed by achieving a personal best (PB) at the national indoor championships 800m runner Chris Adams was determined to run close to 2 minutes. Chris went through the first lap in 59 and was on target for a great run but sadly faded in the closing straight to finish in a steady time of 2.02. Not to be outdone by their junior training partners James Folkes and new-boy Andre Young made the journey up the M4 to compete in a series of 60m at the Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC graded meeting. Both athletes have looked fresh in training recently and hoped to get close the magical 7.0 barrier. Which they did running new PBs of 7.17 and 7.21 respectively.
Sportshall Report Following consistent performances during this winters sportshall season, Lauren Marlow was selected as part of 12 strong under 13 girls team to represent the Hampshire at the South East Region Sportshall finals, held at the Olympos Centre, Burgess Hill. Along with 7 other county teams, the opening event was the obstacle relay race. Lauren ran the first leg and the team finished well to win, gaining maximum points. Lauren later competed in the Standing Long Jump, where she finished 4th (out of 16) with a new Personal Best (PB) of 2m 12cm, again gaining valuable team points. At the end of the competition, the Hampshire under 13 girls team were crowned overall winners taking the tile of South East Region Champions. This was the first time this age group has ever achieved this and this team will now go on to compete in the National Sportshall Finals at Birmingham NEC in March. Lauren been selected as part of the team but will, following a recent new PB in High Jump, change to compete in the High Jump event in the finals.
2009 National Cross Country Championships Parliament Hill, London was the venue for the 2009 National Cross Country Championships this year, an event which brings out 1000s of top athletes vying to be crowned the National Champion in their age group. This famous venue, with unrivalled views of the city of London, always provides a testing course which is a challenge to all cross country runners and recognised as one of the toughest you can find. Part of what makes it so challenging is the constantly undulating terrain. Add to that the high degree of moisture meaning that you always need long spikes and lots of tape to ensure you do not lose your shoes it makes it all the more interesting for both competitors and spectators. Andover AC had seven athletes competing at the event. Six of these were in the under 15 boy’s race which had over 400 competitors start the race and 398 finish. Alex Rudge continued his great season by completing the 4.5k course in a time 16:35 to finish in 36th place. Alex has a slight frame and so found the heavy muddy conditions a real challenge as the conditions suited the taller more physically developed athletes, so to finish in the top 40 was an excellent result. Alex was joined by: Tom Bennett who came 82nd (17:10), just behind Tom in 89th place was Sam Robinson, who is bottom age (17:16) and making up the forth team placing Dan Grinham in 122nd (17:42) who raced even though he was still recovering from the flu. With four to count, this fine team performance secured the under 15s team 7th place nationally, with another 40 teams well behind them. Alex Toomey and Roland Barter also competed in this race and, like Sam, both still have another year at this age group. It is a fantastic experience to compete at this level of event, both of them doing themselves and the club proud to finish in 148th and 327th respectively. Hermonie Toomey was Andover ACs only female competitor. Hermonie ran in the under 13 girls race which had over 350 girls competing. Hermonie did not seem phased by the massive step up in competition and finished a brilliant 123rd place in a time of 14:30 for the 3k course.
National Indoor Championships Four of the most talented indoor athletes from Andover AC met the qualification standards to take part in this year’s National Indoor Championships. The 'nationals' is always one of the most fiercely contested events of the year and the 2009 version did not disappoint. Saturday saw 2008 English Schools finalist Clare Paterson take part in her first competition of the season (U17w 60m). Having only recently returned to training this was always going to be tough but with her usual determination Clare ran well to record a new personal best of 8.14 to finish 4th in her semi final. Unfortunately this was not quite quick enough to secure a place in the final - narrowly missing out by 0.1 of a second. Southern medallist Adam Harwood was next to compete in the U17 men's 400m, much is expected of the young sprinter this year and despite the quality of the field there was a good chance of securing a place in Sundays final. Adam ran a fast race to finish third in his semi final and secured a place in Sundays B final. However, the excitement did not end here, it was highlighted that Adam had ran out of his lane and was duly disqualified. Although hugely disappointed, the experience will help spur Adam on for future events. Sunday saw Jack Templeman (U15 boys) compete in both the long jump and the 400m. After recently securing a silver medal in the long jump at the Southern Indoor Championships Jack was hopeful of adding another medal to his growing collection. The competition started well, and Jack was lying in 4th coming into the last two rounds. Jack rose to the occasion and flew out to 5.35m to take a bronze medal. This represents the first national medal AAC has won in over 3 years. In the 400m Jack displayed true grit to finish 4th in his semi final despite suffering from extreme fatigue. Last to compete was Chris Adams in the U17 mens 800m. Chris went into the race high in confidence and was keen to improve on his last indoor performance. From the gun Chris showed why he is seen as a future middle distance star by comfortably keeping up with the leaders, after the second lap he was laying in third place and another medal was in sight. Despite giving everything Chris dropped back to sixth place, but was happy to run a new indoor pb of 2.01.47 and secure 6th place. This experience shows that Andover AC can compete on a national stage and all the athletes involved now look forward to showing their improving talent this coming summer. Hampshire Cross Country League
The last in the series of the Hampshire Cross Country League fixtures was held at the new venue of Hudsons Field in Salisbury. After the torrid weather a late, it was great for the runners and spectators to see a bit of sunshine. The course was to have included an adjacent farmers field, however the cows and bullocks refused to move from their luscious pastures and also showed real signs of joining in with the athletes so the course had to a take a bit of a detour to avoid them. Performance of the day came from Alex Rudge, who secured the silver medal position overall in the Under 15 boys league category following a terrific run on the day to take 4th place. Alex was once again backed up by a terrific team performance with Tom Bennett finishing in 11th, Dan Grinham and Chris Neal with a fantastic battle with each other right racing right to the line to take 15th and 16th respectively – with just 1 second separating them. These great performances gave them overall league finishing positions of; Dan 6th, Tom 7th and Chris 9th meaning that the team also came away with a well deserved silver medal, beating the very strong Aldershot & Farnham team in to 3rd place. Andover also had strength in depth in the age group with Sam Robinson (19th), Alex Toomey (23rd) and Roland Barter (36th). The senior men also secured 4th place overall in Division 3 after solid performances from Kearon Hooley 56th, Dougie Brisco 82nd and Tim Bennett 121st. Also competing on the day were: U13 boys, Sam Winchcombe (22nd) and Nick Adams (45th), U13 girls Hermione Toomay (22nd), U15 girls Elora Milsom (19th), U17 girls Christie Woodford (7th) and Charlotte Brown (11th), Women Vet; Margaret Smith (20th) and Caroline Bennett (25th).
Indoor update As part of the winter indoor season the highly competitive Birmingham Games fixture at the National Indoor Arena was host to some of Andover AC's most promising sprinters. Having already secured a top ten national ranking (U15 boys) in the 200m and long jump Jack Templeman was keen to continue his impressive form and gain invaluable experience in the 400m in preparation for next weekends National Championships. Yet again Jack showed his quality by securing a new personal best of 56.61 to take third place overall. Jack followed this up with a steady 5.23m in the long jump. Jack now goes to the National Championships (also at the NIA - Birmingham) hoping to secure a medal in both the 400m and long jump. Multi-talented Dave Awde also competed in the (senior mens) 400m running a seasons best 52.38. Keen to continue their recent development Andre Young and James Folkes made the trip to the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, Enfield to compete in the senior mens 60m London Games. Despite a niggling hamstring James Folkes stormed his heat and secured a time of 7.21, this represents his second fastest ever performance. Unfortunately James was unable to take his place in the final due to a slight strain gained during the warm up. Newcomer Andre also ran well in his heat to secure a new personal best of 7.33, this was followed by a time of 7.34 in the final. Next weekend sees one of the highlights of the indoor season - the U15/U17 national championships at the NIA in Birmingham. This is a qualification event that brings together the most talented athletes from across the United Kingdom. Andover AC is proud to be represented by four athletes at this year's championships. Under 17s: Clare Paterson 60m, Adam Harwood 400m, Chris Adams 800m and under 15s Jack Templeman 400m and long jump. We wish all the athletes the best of luck and look forward to hopefully bringing some national medals back to Andover. Cross Country Update
Andover Athletic Club member Sam Robinson recently took part in the Wiltshire Schools Cross Country Championships and continued Andover’s winning streak by taking the individual gold in the Juniors race (school years 8 & 9). He won the event from the start and never looked like being beaten, finishing 100m ahead by the end of the race. This secures Sam selection for the Wiltshire Schools team at the English Schools Championships in March. Roland Barter showed a return to racing form with a solid 19th place which should give him the confidence to take it on at his next outing. An unfortunate clash of events meant that on the same day the remaining members of the Under 15 Boys Dream Team travelled to Middlesex for the Southern Cross Country Champs. The team of Alex Rudge, Tom Bennett, Chris Neil and Luke Holman once again did Andover proud but with key members of the team missing could not dominate the top 3 team places as expected. Alex led the team home with a hard fought 12th in what proved to be a very difficult course due to the very muddy weather conditions. Also at this event Andover showed its strength across various age groups with runs from Chris Berntsen U17 men, Ellora Milsom U15 Girl, Sam Winchcombe and Solomon Lane U13 Boys, Hermione Toomey U13 Girl. Continuing their heavy schedule Alex Rudge and Tom Bennett travelled to Bedfordshire this weekend to represent Hampshire in the Southern Inter Counties Cross Country. On a particularly windy and hilly course Alex positioned himself amongst the leaders from the start taking them on up the long hill forming the main part of this course and eventually securing a fine 4th position. Tom, still on his road of recovery from injury, gamely came home in 16th. Whilst both athletes were individually disappointed not to finish higher such is the standard they set themselves they supported their County to a superb team bronze medal. Showing what a force Andover Athletic Club is in the South we have had several members chosen to represent their county. Alex and Hermione Toomey were selected to run for Wiltshire at the South West Inter Counties cross country held at the notoriously hilly course at Bicton College. Hermione in the Under 13 girls came home 16th and Alex in the Under 15 boys finished 35th. Also selected for events coming up in the next couple of weeks: Lauren Marlow and Jake Gardham representing Hampshire in the Regional Sportshall Championships. With another 7 athletes due to represent Hampshire Schools in the South East Inter Counties, Chairman Nick Woodford is very excited by the start of the clubs year. Adding to this the indoor track and road race successes he would like to thank his team of dedicated coaches and parents for their continued support and enthusiasm without whom the athletes would not have the opportunities to represent Andover and their counties. Hampshire Schools Cross Country An Andover Schools athletics team achieved something this weekend that has not been achieved for 35 year’s. They won team gold – and wow did they do it in style. Eighteen Andover Schools athletes were competing in the Hampshire Schools Cross Country Championships, all aiming for a place in the Hampshire Schools team at the Inter-counties match (top 16) and ultimately the English Schools Cross Country Championships (top 8 over the two races). This year, the Championships were held in the grounds of Southampton Sports centre, a very hilly, muddy and tough course! The Intermediate team of Alex Rudge (Testbourne), Chris Berntsen and Dan Grinham (John Hanson), Jake Selwood and Tom Bennett (Clere), Chris Adams (Test Valley) and Chris Neil (Rookwood) absolutely stole the show. Alex Rudge, who has only just moved up to this intermediate schools age group put in the performance of his life. He ran a very controlled and even paced race leaving team mate and one time race leader Chris Berntsen in his wake during the 2nd part of the course to take 2nd place and the silver medal with ease behind race winner Harvey Dixon (Aldershot). Having pushed hard in the first part of the race, Chris fought determinedly to take 5th place, with his team mates of; Jake Selwood, Chris Adams and Tom Bennett packed together in 8th, 9th and 10th places. With five already home and six to count in the team, the Andover supporters were screaming at Dan Grinham that he was running for team gold and to ‘sprint hard for home’. Dan immediately took the information in and with just a steep incline and then 100m straight to the finish line he flew past a group of 5 athletes to move from 17th position up to 12th. Andover’s Anchor man, Chris Neal also had a very solid run to finish in 23rd place. This phenomenal team performance saw them take the gold with a total of 46 points (1 point per place), over 50 points ahead of pre-race favourites Aldershot, meaning that Andover had all seven of their runners back in a total of 79 points; an unprecedented and unbelievable result. In fact the Hampshire Schools team captain Kevin Way, who presented the boys with their award, commented on their fine performance to the cheering crowds and said how nice it was to see an Andover Schools team take home the gold. And guess what, apart from Chris Berntsen and Chris Adams – the remaining five will all still be in this age group next year. Sadly this was the only full team Andover Schools had but perhaps their achievements will encourage few more to take part next year. And you never know, they might also get matching team vests because they are the only District Schools team that does not have them! Jessica Maw (Test Valley) also had great success in the Junior Girls age group, taking the bronze medal, with team mates Elora Milsom and Jasmine Jones (John Hanson) finishing in 18th and 22nd and Eliza Borrett (Test Valley) and Jessica Allison (Rookwood) in 33rd and 70th positions. Andover saw yet more success in the Intermediate Girls race with Christie Woodford (John Hanson) coming home in a hard fought 12th position and Charlotte Brown (Test Valley) in 21st. The Junior Boys of; Sam Cotton, Luke Holman, (Harrow Way), Jake Gradham (Rookwood) and Soloman Lane (Andover Learning Centre) found the going over this tough course a little hard. In spite of their young years; they persevered to finish in 23rd, 46th, 56th and 73rd respectively. Of the 18 athletes that competed, eight of them achieved top 16 places and so were selected for the Inter-counties match where team selection for the English Schools Championships will be confirmed. Nicky Taylor from Winton School was the Andover District Schools team captain.

SEAA Indoor Championships - Lee Valley Athletics Centre 17 & 18/1/09

Following on from the fantastic success of last weekend Andover AC had a host of sprinters and jumpers on show at the second weekend of regional athletics at the highly impressive Lee Valley Athletics Centre in North London.

Despite minimal quality jumps training (due to recent freezing conditions) Jack Templeman (U15 boy) was keen to impress in the long jump, and he did not disappoint. Jack steadily improved from a steady 4.29 in the first round to an impressive 5.40m in the fifth round. This jump was good enough to secure the young talent a silver medal. This is a remarkable achievement as the South of England Championships always attracts some of the strongest athletics from across the South. Not content with his jumping exploits the young athlete showed what a multi talented young man he is by running 25.68 in the 200m heats to secure a new personal best. Unfortunately this time was not fast enough to progress Jack into the final.

Buoyed from his silver medal in the U17m 400m last weekend Adam Harwood showed great speed in the 200m heat to come second with 23.4. The fleet footed youngster improved on this in the semi final stopping the clock at an impressive 23.0 (2nd place) this was a new personal best and equaled the current outdoor club record (which has stood for over 13 years), which is no mean feat as indoor times are usually slower than outdoor times due to the tight bends. The final saw Adam line up against last weeks 400m champion and two other athletes who have run low 22's in the past, this was not going to be easy. Adam crossed the line in 5th recording a respectable 23.08.

Sunday witnessed Lee Valley being attended by some of the highest caliber sprinters in the UK and the World. The 60m races included; Craig Pickering (current European indoor medalist) and Sarah Claxton (current UK record holder for 100m hurdles). This created a fantastic buzz around the arena and also put the athletes from Andover AC under pressure to perform.

The Championships saw a number of newer athletes take to the competitive arena for their first or second ever indoor race. These newcomers included Mike Donavon - senior man (7.71 - 60m and 25.35 - 200m), Andre Young - senior man (7.40 - 60m), Hayley Spicer - senior woman (8.73 - 60m) and Ricky Taylor (7.80 - 60m).

Returning from yet another niggling injury was the town's number one speedster James Folkes (senior men’s 60m). James was keen to record a fast time and kick start his season, he was rewarded with a new personal best of 7.20 seconds (previous best set two years ago) but narrowly missed the next round by 7 one hundredths of a second.

Hampshire Cross Country Championship Results

The first Championship Cross Country event of the calendar year, the Hampshire County Cross Country Championships last weekend, had many wishing they had opted for the indoor track season, as sub zero temperatures greeted the athletes at Dibden Purlieu on the edge of the New Forest.

With the ground frozen rock solid, many shied away from wearing cross country spike shoes, but there were plenty of thermal tops, hats and gloves in evidence as the athletes endeavored to combat the extreme temperature conditions, even for January!

This year’s Hampshire Championships was the most successful Andover ac has had in many years as something occurred that has not happened since the 1960s. Team gold. It came from the under 15 boys team - affectionately termed ‘the Dream Team’ who all despite the very icy conditions, counters and non counters (4 to count as a team), performed to the highest personal standards. The first 4 home of; Alex Rudge, who took the individual bronze medal over the short 3.6k course, Tom Bennett, who is starting to come back to his true form in 6th, Dan Grinham, who is also a highly talented footballer and is part of the Oxford City Academy in 7th place and relative new comer Sam Robinson, who still has another year in this age group in 11th. This meant that they took the team gold with a total 27 points, a massive 26 points ahead of Aldershot & Farnham in second with Basingstoke in 3rd place on 74 points. Whilst the club has seen some success in the medal steaks over the years on an individual level – you have to go back to the 1960s and early 70s to see cross country team strength such as this.

Amazingly, just to demonstrate the level of strength that exists in cross country endurance events in this age group, even if their one or both of their first two counters of Alex and Tom had not competed, the remaining team members of Chris Neil (17th), Roland Barter (40th) and San Edwards would have still ensured team gold.

Speaking after the event, their coach Helen Dobinson (nee Appleby), herself part of the clubs long history of highly successful International endurance athletes and club Chairman Nick Woodford said how delighted they were by the boys individual and team performances which continues to exceed all expectations following some very hard endurance based training over the last year.

Alex, Tom, Dan and Sam were also all rewarded with the chance of selection for Hampshire in an inter-counties match, ultimately aiming for selection for the final of the UK Cross Challenge held in Notting in March.

Joining the under 15s boys in this selection criteria in other age groups were Chris Berntsen and Christie Woodford. Both were competing in the under 17s categories (men and womens) and although both are bottom age achieved 6th and 8th respectively.

Also achieving high category positions in the senior womens and mens veteran races were: Margaret Smith 2nd Vet 55+ and Dougie Brisco 5th Vet 50+.

Also competing on the day were: Under 13 boys; Jake Gardham (28th), Sam Winchcombe (29th), Soloman Lane (43rd), Chris Robinson (53rd), Team 11th. Under 13 girls; Jasmine Jones (20th), Jessica Allison (35th), Rebecca Hunt (40th), Ella Neil (43rd), Vicky Grinham (46th), Lucy Mellows (47th), Lauren Parret (54th), Team 7th. Under 15 girls; Ellora Milsom 17th, Victroia Lowry (23rd), Eliza Borrett (53rd). Under 17 womens and mens races; Charlotte Brown (15th), Chris Hawkins (26th). Senior mens; Matt lane 89th (15th Vet), Tim Bennett 117th (16th Vet). Senior womens; Natalie Thomas 35th (19th Vet).

Hampshire Cross Country League – Prospect Park, Reading

Prospect Park in Reading was the location for the 4th in the series of five races that comprises the Hampshire Cross Country League which pits the athletes from neighboring counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Dorset against each other in a winter endurance league. The athletes were greeted with very cold icy but beautifully sunny weather and unusually for this location - which is normally known for its mud – very hard icy uneven ground.

Despite the conditions the show always goes on and the brilliant sunshine and some very notable performances helped to make it a very enjoyable event. As is their trademark – the under 15 boys team consolidated their reputation by taking first team place on the day moving them up the overall rankings to second place. They now have a real chance of taking the title in the final match which will be held in Salisbury in February. This magnificent team performance saw all four athletes cross the line in the top 10 – the best performance by a country mile by a young Andover distance team in many decades.

Alex Rudge was first man home in second place in a time of 12:41 for the 4k course, followed by: Dan Grinham in 6th (13:07), Tom Bennett, who is slowly returning to form following a shoulder injury in 8th place (13:29) and Chris Neil in 10th place (13:44). All four boys also feature in the individual league rankings where four of the five races must have been completed to qualify. Alex holds 2nd place, with Dan Grinham secure in 5th, Tom Bennett 7th and Chris Neil 8th.

Christie Woodford and Chris Berntsen also had great races in their respective under 17 age groups. Both attacked the race from the start. Christie finished the 4k course in 5th place her highest finish ever in 15:31 and Chris in 6th place in a time of 17.49 for the 5.6k race. Also competing on the day were: Ellora Milsom, Vick Grinham, Charlotte Brown, Natalie Thomas, Margaret Smith, Caroline Bennett, Soloman Lane, Sam Winchcombe, Chris Adams, Matt Lane, Tim Bennett and Gordon Smith.

For 2008 reports click here

For 2007 reports click here

For 2006 reports click here