Telford Athlete Breaks Indoor World Record

Jim Tipper claimed his 2nd World Record on Sunday 6th February 2011 at the Birmingham Games, at the NIA in Birmingham. The Telford sprinter was part of a 4x200m relay team who set a new World Record time of 1.29.95s for the M35 Masters age group. The team of Mark Dunwell (Notts AC) Jim Tipper (Telford AC) Bernard Ward (Trafford AC) and Darren Scott (Trafford AC) shaved nearly 0.5 of a second off the previous record set by Italy in March 2008 of 1.30.38s.

‘It was touch and go whether we would be able to do it due to one of our team getting injured on Saturday and pulling out so we had to find a replacement at the last minute. Bernard stepped in and we were ready to go. In the build up it was very nerve wracking and that sometimes helps and it certainly did this time!’ said Jim. ‘We knew it would be tight especially after the loss of our initial team member (Allyn Condon), but Bernard came in and did a great job. It was such a thrill to see the clock stop at the 1.30.38 mark.’

Jim Tipper 3rd from left

Tipper will be competing at the European Masters Championships in Gent, Belgium in March where he hopes to pick up a medal in the 200m.

After his plea for sponsorship a few weeks ago to fund his trip to the USA for the World Championships in July he would like to thank Boulton Construction and Tipper’s Builders Merchants for their kind donations but still needs to raise over £800 to cover costs for the trip.

Anyone willing to donate should contact Jim on 07710 493134 or jimtipper@hotmail.co.uk.

Spring Warm Up

TELFORD ATHLETIC CLUB

SPRING WARM UP
MEETING

To be held at
Telford Athletics Stadium

At Oakengates
Leisure Centre, New Road

Wrockwardine Wood.
TF2 7AB

Wednesday 13th April 2011

Track

7.00pm 300m U15 and above Male & Female

7.20 600m All age groups Male & Female

7.45 75m U11/U13/U15 Male & Female

8.10 100m U17 & above Male &; Female

Field

7.00 Javelin U15 and above Male & Female

7.00 Long Jump U11/U13 Male & Female

7.45 Shot Putt All Ages Male & Female

7.45 Long Jump U15 and above Male & Female

Enter on the day up
to 30 minutes before the event is due

£2 per event

No Medals

SportsHall Final Standings 2010-2011

Results from the Oswestry meeting and also the final overall results for the 2010-2011 Shropshire Sportshall League

http://www.telfordathleticclub.co.uk/races/sportshall-championships/sportshall-results

TAC Medal Haul in Midland Champs

The Midland’s Indoor Athletics Championships saw many outstanding performances by Telford athletes, including 4 medal-winning performances. The event, held at the NIA in Birmingham, took place on Saturday 12th February and Sunday 13th February.

The first medal of the Championships was silver, won by Sophie Worrall in the under-20 women’s 60 metre hurdles final. Sophie ran an outstanding race and finished second with a time of 9.34 seconds, setting a new personal best. She is now ranked 21st in the UK for the event.

Alexis Newton-French continued her impressive indoor season with a win in her heat of the under 15 girl’s 60 metre hurdles, in a time of 9.95 seconds. In the hurdles final she lined up against an impressive field as one of the favourites to win. After a lightning start Alexis lead the race until the last hurdle. She managed to hold on for second place, earning her a silver medal. Her time of 9.82 is an electronic PB and means she is ranked 24th in the UK.

In the men’s sprints veteran Jim Tipper impressed early with a win in the 200 metre heats, with a time of 22.96 seconds. In the semi-finals Tipper came second with a time of 22.84. In the senior men’s 60 metre heats two Telford athletes performed well. Ben Simons won his heat by almost two tenths of a second, a huge margin in the 60 metre event, in a time of 6.90 seconds. Santino Dummett came second in his heat in a time of 7.16. Richard Rubenis of Telford came third in his heat of the 400m with a time of 50.98.

In the 200m final Jim Tipper finished third in a competitive time of 22.88 seconds, picking up the bronze medal against a strong field including Birchfield’s Ryan Farrington and Nick Kanonik. Richard Rubenis pulled out a great time of 52.41 seconds in the 400m B-final to finish in a respectable 5th position.

Ben Simons Gold

Next came the men’s 60 metre final, the first Midland’s Championships final with two Telford athletes in the line-up. Telford’s Ben Simons went into the race as favourite for gold, despite having raced in two rounds of the UK Indoor Championships less than 24 hours before. In the race Birmingham’s Antoe Walters and Telford’s Ben Simons got flying starts, with Simons leading after the first 5 metres. As the race progressed Simons continued to pull ahead of the rest of the field and won convincingly in a time of 6.92 seconds, only 0.03 of a second from his personal best. Santino Dummett finished in a time of 7.17 seconds, 0.01 from his personal best.




After becoming the Midland’s champion over 60 metres, Simons remained humble. When asked about being race favourite, he replied ‘I don’t think about favourites. I’m just going to focus on my race and getting my start right.’ He competes next week for UWIC in the BUCS Universities Championships, where he hopes to run a personal best in the 60 metres.

Ben Simons

Other Telford performances at the Championships included Rhiann Davies with a 5th place finish in the under 17 women 60 metre hurdles heats with a time of 8.33, and a time of 8.40 in the under 17 women’s 60m final. Alexis Newton-French followed up on her silver hurdles medal with an appearance in the under 15 girl’s 60m flat, where she came fourth in her heat with a time of 8.75 seconds.

The next appearance for most Telford athletes is the MCAA Indoor Open on 20th February at the NIA Birmingham. A video of the men’s 60m final can be found on Telford Athletic Club’s website at www.telfordathleticclub.co.uk

Ben Simons (centre, Telford Athletic Club)
Jamie Brock (left (2nd place) Yate & District Athletic Club)
Antoe Walters (right (3rd place) Birchfield Harriers Club)

Midland Ladies Cross Country

Claire Martin (TAC) walked away the overall seniors gold medal in the final league race of the season at Cofton Park , Birmingham Claire Martin led the way with an impressive individual victory in 26.43 with Lauren Howarth from Birmingham University second 21 seconds behind whilst Trentham's Sarah Johnson a further 21 seconds further back in 3rd. Denise Sanders was the next Telford AC finisher in 49th, whilst Cheralyn Evans made a welcome return to action in 64th with Lisa Blagden 100th. This gave Telford the runners up placing in the womens masters category behind winners Trentham on the day from a field of 22 Midland teams and second overall in the 4 race season. They were also 5th overall in the senior ladies category from 28 clubs that finished teams in all league races. This is a great achievement for the Telford club who have already won the overall team awards in the North Wales League.

Claire Martin who had just won the overall individual award in the North Wales Cross Country League followed that up with the overall winners award in the Midland Womens League as well as taking the overall womens masters award. She was first in the senior award with just 6 points with Amy Campbell from Loughborough University second and Frances Briscoe from Coventry third. She also had 6 points in winning the masters award with Audrey Wilson from Wolverhampton and Bilston second and Mandy Vernon from Trentham 3rd. This is a magnificent achievement for Claire as this league features all the top Midland clubs as well as university teams from Birmingham and Loughborough who attract the cream of distance runners from throughout the country. Claire has had a superb season winning two prestigious league awards and represented Engalnd when she won the British Masters Cross Country Championships in Dublin.

Claire wins everything

Running for the ladies today were Claire Martin, Nellie Sanders (Birthday on Monday), Cheryl Evans, Lisa Blagden, Sarah Mackness and a new recruit Sharon. In previous races and contributing to today's victory are Juliet Hoad and Amanda Davies.

Shropshire Schools Cross Country Championships

Shropshire Schools Cross Country Championships
At Oswestry School, Oswestry Shropshire on Sat 5th February 2011.

Results on Shropshire Schools page TAC main  website

North Wales Cross Country

A cold wet and windy Oswestry was the venue for the 5th and final Grand Prix Express North Wales Cross Country League race. Shropshire have 5 clubs in this league with runners from Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, Telford, Whitchurch and host club Oswestry Olympians all taking part. Claire Martin of Telford AC and Peter Butler from Oswestry Olympians both came away with leading individiual honours winning the overall womens and mens league titles overall. Martin, from Aqueduct who won 4 of the 5 league races this season, also had the satisfaction of leading her team to overall Division One and Masters team titles. Peter Butler became the first ever Oswestry Olympian to win the overall mens title including winning the races at Bangor and Oswestry. Shrewsbury AC also got their hands on some silverware as they won the mens masters title that they last won in 2009 and were second overall in the mens Division One team title behind Eryri, who had not won the title since 2002.

The hilly Oswestry course is always tough but with with driving wind and rain conditions were some of the toughest experienced by runners this winter. Claire Martin still led the way home in the womens race to confirm her 6th individual league overall title, the most by any athlete. She finished in 20.20 and was some 43 seconds ahead of runner up Alison Lavender from Oswestry who finished 3rd in the league overall, whilst Claire Burgoyne overhauled her Shrewsbury AC team mate Anna Bartlett in the closing stages by 4 seconds as they finished 4th and 5th and were in the same positions in the league overall, as Shropshire celebrated 4 athletes in the top 5 overall the best return for many years. Telford AC's Michelle Clarke was 9th whilst Alison Tickner from Oswestry enjoyed the tough conditions and was the next Shropshire lady home in 14th, her highest position of the season. Charlotte Jones from Oswestry was 16th, Juliet Hoad, Telford AC 18th, Lisa Blagden, Telford AC 22nd, Laura Davies, Oswestry 24th and Susie Hancock, Oswestry 37th completing the Shropshire finishers in the top 40.

Telford AC won Division One on the day with 50pts from their first 4 finishers with Oswestry second just 6 points behind which gave them the overall runners up medals with Eryri 3rd on the day and 3rd overall. Shrewsbury were 2nd on the day to Tattenhall Runners in Division 2 with 79 pts from their first 3 runners and second overall. Whitchurch Whippets were 7th on the day and finished 9th out of 15 teams overall in Division 2. Telford AC also won the Womens Masters team event on the day with Eryri second and Wrexham third as well as being the overall winners. Other local individual overall medal winners were Claire Martin, TAC 1st over 35, Anna Bartlett, SAC 2nd over 40, Juliet Hoad, TAC 3rd over 45, Alison Whitelaw, Wrexham 1st over 50, Susie Hancock, Osw 3rd over 50.

Welsh International Richard Roberts from Welshpool, who won the overall league title last year, comfortably won the mens race in 35.30, with Steven Boyton from Deeside second and Matthew Rose from Buckley third, just 11 seconds ahead of Peter Butler from Oswestry who had still done enough to take the overall league title. His team mate Paul Jones who has also had his best ever cross country season took 7th on the day, 4th overall and won the Masters over 40's title. Shrewsbury's Ian Howarth was the next county finisher in 9th, his team mate Kevin Francis ran well for 14th and was the second over 40 in the league overall. Other leading Shropshire finishers were 22nd Dom Kirby, SAC, 23rd R. Sharam, Whitchurch Whippets. Paul Clark from Shrewsbury was 36th and second over 50 on the day and 3rd overall in this age group overall with his team mate Graham Turner taking the overall over 50's title. Oswestry's Welsh International Steve Roberts was 38th and the overall over 55's league champion. Paul Williams from Telford AC was 37th, Harvey Morgan, Oswestry was 42nd, G. Jones from Whitchurch 43rd, Neil Bevan from Oswestry was 44th with Shrewsbury AC's Chris Wakeman 50th.

Eryri won the team race on the day and the league title the first time it has left Shropshire soil since 2005. Shrewsbury were second on the day and were runners up overall with Tattenhall third. Telford AC last years champions were 6th on the day and 4th overall. Oswestry won the Division 2 team race on the day and were 2nd in the league overall improving from 4th last year. Whitchurch Whippets, Shropshire's youngest club were 6th on the day and 5th overall in the league improving from 9th last year. Bridgnorth AC were 13th on the day and 15th overall. Eryri won the Masters team race on the day, with Oswestry second. Shrewsbury were 3rd Masters team on the day but that was enough for them to win the league overall by 10 points with Eryri second and Oswestry, who did not finish a masters team last season did really well to take third.

Paul Sanderson

Photo above.
Telford's womens team took the honours in the final North Wales Cross Country race of the season at a windy and wet Oswestry on Saturday. Claire Martin won the womens race and with it her 6th N Wales overall league title. The team took the First Division title for only the 5th time in the club's history and the vets team took the vets team title. Juliet Hoad, Claire Martin and Lisa Blagden proudly celebrating with the silverware.