Below are the results from the 2010 Doncaster Athletic Club open meeting.

Thank you to all Officials, Helpers, Athletes and Parents that made the day a Huge Success.

Steve Harrison.

JUNIOR MEN.xls

JUNIOR WOMEN.xls

RELAYS.xls

SENIOR MEN.xls

SENIOR WOMEN.xls

U11BOYS.xls

U11GIRLS.xls

U13BOYS.xls

U13GIRLS.xls

U15BOYS.xls

U15GIRLS.xls

U17MEN.xls

U17WOMEN.xls

 

Please click here for a report from the AAAs Combined Events Championships Report written by Andy Davies.

This has been published as a PDF file, please let me (Martin) know if you have any problems opening the file.

It was with a degree of trepidation that we went into the 2010 McCain’s Young Athletes League competition. On the back of a season, where the team of 2009 surpassed all expectations by finishing fifth overall in the North, it was always going to be difficult to live up to this, especially after losing most of our U17 men’s team who moved up to compete in the U20s age group.

Still, we pooled all our resources, managed to bring a few new key athletes into the team and yet again put in superb individual and team performances which resulted in us finishing the Northern Premier East Division in SECOND place and the Northern area regional finals in sixth place overall (only one place lower than the exulted position that we finished in last year) This left us once again THE TOP YOUNG ATHLETES TEAM IN YORKSHIRE, HUMBERSIDE and NORTH DERBYSHIRE – beating the likes of Wakefield, Sheffield, Leeds, York, Rotherham, Chesterfield, etc.

This year the YAL format changed considerably, which meant we no longer competed in regional rounds against the top Northern opposition from the West of the region (Sale, Liverpool, Blackpool and Preston) and also the timetable changed around considerably, which resulted in many events clashing and precluded many of our athletes doing all their strongest events. This re-organisation gave us quite a few issues and hours of work trying to work our way round but we finally got to grips with it by the end of the season!

The season opened on a bitter cold day in May at the Keepmoat, where we played host to the rejuvenated and once again mighty Gateshead Harriers team. They were certainly out to avenge their defeat by DAC last season and ended up the class team of the division, winning every round and then going onto win the regional final comfortably beating Sale Harriers of Manchester.  We certainly weren’t totally outclassed though and were only beaten by 69 points, scoring a still respectable 595 points ourselves and easily beating the other opposition, East Cheshire.

The second round, once again at the Keepmoat was a much warmer affair and one that Doncaster AC dominated, comfortably beating Chesterfield and Leeds AC (who narrowly beat us last season) by over 100 points. At this event a number of club records were achieved and the majority of our athletes achieved Personal Best performances. What was key however was that we had just about every event covered with an A and B competitor which really pays off in this type of competition.

It was then a case of packing our bags on the coach and off to the first ‘awayday’ of the season where we were competing at York. We went into this round with an extremely strong team and an expectation to comfortably win this round over York and Rotherham. York turned out a good team on the day though and gave us more competition than we were expecting. We were however really bewildered to see the results at the end of the day only put us on 571 points (albeit still 65 points ahead of York and 255 ahead of Rotherham) and this put rather a dampener on what should have been a great performance by us.  After an inquest and a lot of questioning the results, we did manage to get awarded a further 100 points, that were found to be missing, which kept us in the overall second place in the division just ahead of Wakefield and Sheffield who we were to meet in the next round.

The final round at Sheffield was always going to be a difficult affair for us. Our team was really depleted and the usually strong Boy’s team were without any distance runners.  We were disappointingly beaten into third place by our nearest rivals, but this was not wholly unexpected. It was a close round though and there were only 50 points that separated the 3 teams at the end of the day.  There were still a lot of good things to take away from the day – our sprint team did really well setting many individual P.B.s – topped by Joe McGrath who set a club record in the 200m.  There were many P.B.s also set by our middle distance runners, hurdlers and jumpers.

Full results for the four rounds were:

Round 1 - 2nd May		Round 2 -May 16th		Round 3 - June 20th		Round 4 - July 18th
Gateshead Harriers	664	Doncaster  AC	639	Doncaster AC	675	Wakefield	600
Doncaster AC	595	Chesterfield AC	549	City of York AC	527	City of Sheffield	572
East Cheshire	473	Leeds City AC	528	Rotherham Harriers	393	Doncaster AC	550

REGIONAL FINAL ON SUNDAY 1^st AUGUST

This all enabled us to qualify for the Regional Finals at Cudworth, to take on the other three top four teams from our division plus the four top teams from the West division in a Premier League showdown. Again, we had to go into this with a lot of our athletes unavailable and really paid the price for it in this exalted company. We didn’t have any athletes in 24 events (15% of the total events) and in about a third (47) of the events that we did cover, we didn’t have our usual (and strongest) athlete. If we had put the same team out that we had done in earlier rounds then we certainly would have beaten Liverpool into the fifth spot and might have even been chasing an Auxiliary Final place. Had it not been for a lot of these missing athletes though, we would not have made it to the finals in the first place, so a big thank you is sent out to them and sorry they missed what was a great day against some really good quality opposition.

DAC athletes did however hold their own in this competition, and where we did have athletes competing in their favoured events then they all did extremely well with many doing PB performances. There were a whole load of events that we won quite comfortably and a few where we had one and two finishes – at this level of competition, that was no mean feat!

Once again Jack Houghton lead the way and set TWO club records in the process, and as for the awesome U15 Boys 4 x 100 relay team, they really owned the track making the sprint teams from Liverpool, Sale and Gateshead look pedestrian in comparison.

Throughout the day we were “nip and tuck” with Wakefield and within a few points of the fifth place finishing Liverpool Harriers.  The full results of how we finished on the day were as follows:

Gateshead Harriers	857
Sale Harriers Manchester	838
Preston Harriers	720
Blackpool , Wyre & Fylde	719
Liverpool Harriers & AC	687
Doncaster AC	670
Wakefield & District Harriers	662.5
City of Sheffield AC	555.5

We would like to thank all the athletes for the effort they gave during the season – many of which ended up doing events for the first time, events they were not particularly comfortable doing or just the same event time and time again when they really wanted to be doing something different.

Most of the outstanding individual performances from each round were rewarded with the athlete concerned being awarded “Athlete of the Match”. These were:

 

Whilst not wanting to really single out any individual performances, we can’t miss out on the opportunity to further thank Jack Houghton for his outstanding contribution and attitude towards his team performances this year. Jack did everything we have asked of him (and much, much more) in terms of competing in different events. More than this though, he has without exception, given absolutely everything he possible could each time out, winning most races and setting P.B. after P.B. and club record after club record. Jack is a shining example of everything that is good within this team and the club in general. We will sadly miss him next year as he moves on to U20s competition but if there is anyone you would want as team captain, to lead by example, then Jack is your man – WELL DONE AND THANKS FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING EFFORTS.

The same can also be said for Beth Dobbin, who has really ‘come of age’ this season and turned in some superb performances propping up the depleted Under 17 Women’s team – Thanks Beth!

We will sadly have to say goodbye to a number of our U17 athletes who will be too old to compete in the YAL next year but will no doubt move on to NJL competition where we are sure that Jill and Howard St. Clair will put them through their paces.
Thanks and all the best for the future to:

Kelly Bramhald, Cora Troope, Kirsten Frost and Beth Dobbin.
Jamie Smyth, Charlie Stephenson, Jack Houghton and Saroj Khadka

We would also like to thank all the officials, judges, timekeepers, and general helpers without whose help it would have been impossible to host the two rounds down at the Keepmoat and also score maximum Officials points in each round, contributing to the overall total of teams points.

We would particularly like to thank Dave Andrews (who was time keeper at every event) and Pete Lowe (who was starter and track judge also at every round) for their outstanding dedication and contribution. Last but certainly not least, our thanks also go out to Terry Bailey, who as always was our “man in the know”. The expert who we always go to if we needed any help in organising things and our co-ordinator with the league – and of course……the one that took it upon himself to sort out the mess with the scoring at the York round that resulted in us getting the extra 100 points due to us that moved us above Wakefield into second place in the league.

So it’s the end of another successful campaign for the DAC YAL team and the end of another stressful time for us Managers. Hopefully we will all be back to do it again next year (even though we always say this year is our last!) and who knows with a stronger U17s team next year and hopefully some good up and coming U13s then maybe, just maybe, this plaque will be replaced with an Auxiliary final one. Until then, thanks again to everyone involved in making this another great achievement for Doncaster AC, and have an enjoyable and successful rest of your season . YAL TEAM MANAGERS – Marie, Nicki and Elaine xx

 

 

 

Last Saturday saw DAC competing in the final fixture of the Northern Senior Athletics League season, at Scunthorpe. Previous league results meant that DAC had to win the match, to stand any chance of avoiding relegation. In almost every match, the team fielded a women’s squad that was woefully lacking in numbers, especially in the middle-distance events, with a handful of athletes having to cover as many events as possible, in order to maximise the points tally. Saturday was no different, with the lack of numbers being compounded by a combination of holidays, injuries, and  the match falling the day before our Under17 athletes were due to compete in an Area Cup Final, thereby making them unavailable for selection.

Despite this scenario, those that did compete gave every ounce of effort, in a forlorn attempt to stave off the inevitable.  In the men’s events, Liam Ramsay showed his combined events abilities by winning the Long Jump (6.87m), coming second in the 100m (11.3s), and the High Jump (1.75m),  and third in the Pole Vault (3.60m), as well as being a member of the 4 x 100 squad that finished second in 46.9 seconds. Liam Davies completed 7 events in 5 hours, coming first in the B 100m (11.4s), fifth in the 200m (24.1s), fourth in the 400m (55.4s), second in the Long Jump (5.66m), 3^rd in the Triple Jump (11.68m), as well as being in both relay squads. Pete Andrews and Darran Askew also both competed in 6 events, with Les Grant and Steve Minnikin completing 4 events each.

Carl Ryde showed his versatility, coming second in the 5k (15.46.3min), followed by a leg of the 4 x 400 metres relay. Simon Wade and Josh Lowe made their first appearances of the season, in the 800m and 5000m respectively, and road –runners Lewis Purcell and Dave Sedgwick took on the 3000m steeplechase, completing the course with excellent times of 10.54.3, and 11.09.6.

In the women’s events, sisters Shelley and Lisa Revitt displayed their commitment to the club, as well as their abundant athletic talent. Shelley travelled up from Wiltshire (almost 3 hours), just to represent the club, and participated in 7 events, before then travelling back down again. She came 1^st in the long jump (5.22m), 2^nd in the  B 100m (13.0s) and javelin (27.78m), 3^rd in the B 200m (27.8s) and Triple Jump (10.48m), 4^th in the 400m (78.5s) and 6^th in the Discus (20.62m). Not to be outdone by her “big sister”, Lisa competed in 5 events, winning the 100 hurdles (15.2s), finished 2^nd in the 100m (12.9s), the Long Jump (4.85m), and the High Jump (1.55m), as well as finishing 6^th in the hammer (17.79m).

Chloe Bradley, Diana Stanger, Jayne Baldwin and Caroline Wheelhouse also weighed in with valuable points but, sadly, it was not enough to lift the team out of the relegation zone, finishing 5^th on the day, and 6^th over the season. As the results on the day finished, even a victory would not have effected the outcome. Throughout the season, the men’s team has been very competitive, with the full squad being as good, if not better, than any club in the league. However, the shortage of female athletes, throughout the season, has been the major contributing factor in the poor match scores, resulting in the club being relegated, once more, to division 3EC, next season, when it should, really, have been pushing for promotion.

Hopefully, with each year that passes, the numbers available for selection will grow, especially amongst the women, and will allow the team to resume an upward trend. Next season, the club will need to find a new Team Manager, or, I suggest, Men & Women’s Team Managers, as I intend to step down, and concentrate on my other roles within the club. I would like to thank all those athletes that have put themselves out, and pushed themselves to the limit, for the good of the team, the officials that have turned out in all weathers, the coaches that have worked with me, and helped to ensure events are covered, and especially to Judith, and Lisa Revitt, for helping with the difficult task of getting as many ladies to compete as possible.

I wish the team well in 2011, and I’m sure that the team will soon be bouncing back up the divisions.

 

DAVE LILLEY

NAL TEAM MANAGER & DAC Club Chairman.

YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE TEAM

AREA FINAL - SUNDAY 1^ST AUGUST 2010

AT CUDWORTH, BARNSLEY

Below is the list of athletes that have been chosen to represent the Club at the forthcoming Young Athletes League Area Final.

If for any reason you are unable to attend, please inform the Team Managers/Reception immediately in order that a substitute may be found.

PLEASE NOTE: YOU ARE REQUIRED TO ARRIVE AT THE VENUE AND REPORT TO YOUR TEAM MANAGER NO LATER THAN 9.45 A.M. (Unless you have been advised otherwise)

BOYS U17 Ashley Langton Jamie Smyth Tom Kirk Charlie Stephenson Nick Beastall Jack Houghton Bertie Houghton James Devaney Dan Winmill Adam Wright Daniel Dale Simon Pick U15 Papa Anthony Jake Canning James Rafferty Jordan Woodhall James Harker Brendan Jones Daniel Hardman Declan Neary Luke Matchett Angus Butterfield William Amps U13 Joe McGrath Oliver Langton Jamie Canning Adam Clayton Callum Wilson Keiffus Creaser Dwight Daley Elliott Tong Kelvin Playfair

GIRLS Kirsten Frost Georgia Worboys Nicole Bewley Kerrie Page Kelly Bramhald Lauren Frost Laura Booth Emily Frost Rebecca Scott Alice Howe Rachel Shaw Megan Blackburn Lucy Chappell Charlotte Kirk Cherry St Clair Elizabeth Maybury Chloe Bewley Ellie Grace Abigail Cliff Kayleigh Scott Keira Davies Kelsey Wilson

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO JUNIOR ATHLETES, AND PARENTS OF JUNIOR ATHLETES,

RE PROTECTION FROM THE ELEMENTS

JUNIOR ATHLETES MUST ALWAYS BRINGS CLOTHING TO KEEP THEM WARM, BEFORE, DURING (WHEN NECESSARY), AND AFTER TRAINING / COMPETITION, AND TO HAVE DRY CLOTHES TO CHANGE INTO IF THEY GET EXCESSIVELY WET. MOST TRACKS ARE VERY OPEN TO THE ELEMENTS, AND ATHLETES CAN QUICKLY LOSE BODY HEAT, IF THEY ARE NOT SUITABLY ATTIRED.

JUNIOR ATHLETES MUST ALWAYS ENSURE THAT THEY ARE WEARING LAYERS THAT, IF WARM, CAN BE REMOVED TO TRAIN / COMPETE, AND REPLACED IF NECESSARY, AFTER TRAINING / COMPETITION, IN ORDER TO KEEP WARM, AND TO AVOID INJURY THROUGH PULLING MUSCLES, OR CRAMPING.

ON THE OTHER EXTREME, JUNIOR ATHLETES SHOULD ALSO WEAR SUITABLE SUN CREAM PROTECTION, AND HEADWEAR, ESPECIALLY IF EXPOSED FOR SEVERAL HOURS AT, SAY, AN ATHLETICS MEETING, AS WE FREQUENTLY HAVE ATHLETES GETTING TOO MUCH SUN, FEELING ILL, AND, ALSO, NOT PERFORMING AS WELL AS THEY MAY HAVE HOPED, DUE TO HEAT EXHAUSTION.

ATHLETES SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A SUITABLE (i.e. WATER / ENERGY) DRINK WITH THEM, TO REPLACE FLUIDS INTO THE BODY THAT MAY BE LOST THROUGH TRAINING, COMPETING, OR MERELY EXPOSURE TO THE SUN. HOWEVER, THESE SHOULD NOT BE FIZZY, SHOULD BE SIPPED, NOT GUZZLED, AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN EXCESSIVELY, IF STILL TRAINING, OR COMPETING, AS THIS WILL BE SHAKING ABOUT INSIDE THE ATHLETE, WHICH MAY LEAD TO ILLNESS, OR EFFECT THEIR PERFORMANCE.

IF JUNIOR ATHLETES TURN UP TO TRAIN / COMPETE, AND ARE NOT SUITABLY DRESSED, OR EQUIPPED, TO COPE WITH ANY ADVERSE CONDITIONS, THEY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO TRAIN / COMPETE. IF NOT PRESENT, THE ATHLETE'S PARENTS WILL BE CONTACTED TO, EITHER COLLECT THEIR CHILD, OR TO BRING SUITABLE CLOTHING / EQUIPMENT FOR THEM.

 

Dave Lilley

Last Friday and Saturday, a record number of 13  DAC athletes competed in the English Schools Athletic Association Championships, at Alexandra Palace Stadium, Birmingham. They were representing the County Schools Athletic Associations of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, or Humberside, depending upon which schools they attend. The event was televised live on Sky TV, and to reach these Finals alone is a tremendous achievement, requiring each athlete to achieve the qualifying standard of their specific event, and to sufficiently impress their respective county's selection panel to be selected, as each county’s total squad numbers are limited to 35.

In the Junior Girls, Alice Howe (Notts), and Rachel Shaw (Humb) both reached the semi-finals of the 100m, but just failed to qualify for the final. However, Rachel was also in the Humberside 4 x 100m squad that claimed the silver medal, just behind Sussex, in 48.93 seconds, and was, understandably, over the moon with the result.

In the Junior Boys, Papa Anthony finished eighth out of seventeen in the triple jump, with a distance of 12.05m. Ashton Harrison, currently ranked 8^th in the UK at U15 level, came sixth, out of nine, in the Pole Vault (3.15m), with UK ranked No.1, and South Yorkshire teammate, Adam Hague, from Dearnside High, winning with a clearance of 3.45. In the 100m, Jake Canning reached the semi-finals (11.55secs), but was up against George Perkins, and Ronnie Wells, who finished 1^st and 2^nd in the Final, where they ran 11.25, and 11.26 respectively.

Nicole Bewley jumped 1.59m, to finish thirteenth, out of twenty two, in the Inter Girls High Jump. Kelly Bramhald threw 39.34m in the javelin, to finish seventh, out of twenty three.

Inter Boy, Dan Dale, threw his javelin 47.05m to finish thirteenth, behind Somerset’s winner, Robin Denaher, who threw an enormous 62.01m.

Kat Wilson, Amber Merrills, and Chloe Bradley were our Senior Girl representatives. Kat came eighth, out of 10, in the Pole Vault, clearing 2.85m. Amber finished fifth, of 15, in the Shot, with a distance of 11.52, whilst Chloe finished third in her heat of the 400m, in a club record time of 57.51secs, but, sadly, this just failed to qualify her for the Final.

In the Senior Boys, Ransford (Rambo) Anthony reached the final of the 100m, and, having run 11.0 secs in the heats, was hopeful of getting in the medals, but, carrying a bit of an injury, could not match that in the final, coming home in 8^th place. Liam Ramsay was South Yorkshire’s long jumper, clearing 6.81m to finish eighth out of 10.

As well as Rachel winning an excellent silver medal, all the athletes will have gained invaluable experience from competing in such a prestigious competition, and many of these, along with other, up-and-coming DAC athletes, will be keen to be there once more next year.

Well done to all those that competed, and especially to our ESAA medallist, Rachel!!

Dave Lilley

Hundreds of 11-20 year old disabled athletes converged on Stanley Park for this year’s DSE Championships. Competition was strong with many top class individuals present and the team event creating keen rivalry between regions.

Five DAC members competed, winning 5 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals between them.

Brian Burrows, in his very first season in competition, eclipsed the opposition in the F44 under 20 throwing events. He won gold in all 3, recording throws of 9.47 in shot putt, 24.35 in discus and a massive 36.47 in javelin.

Lucy Heavisides threw two PBs, in the F35 javelin (4.94m, bronze) and shot (4.06m, 4th) and won gold in the discus with a seasons’ best of 11.54m.

Jack Ramdeen also struck gold in the F35 shot putt with 6.26m, and won silvers in javelin with 15.35m and discus with 17.29m.

Kayden Roe, in the F37 category, was throwing against two of the best in the UK; he still won bronze in the discus with a PB of 18.29m, and was 4th in Javelin with another PB of 14.17m. Kayden was 4th again in the T37 100m in a very good time of 17.3sec.

Matthew Whitehead was also up against the best under 20 T20 athletes in the country. He won a well deserved bronze in the 100m with a time of 13.6sec, and was a close 5th in a thrilling 200m in a time of 27.4sec.

Matthew and Kayden were also valuable members of the Yorkshire and Humberside relay teams.


Diana Stanger

Doncaster AC athlete Louis Speight (20) maximised his chances of being picked for the GB team for the IPC World Championships to be held in New Zealand early in 2011, with his excellent times recorded at the Swiss Wheelchair Track Championships at Arbon on 26-27^th June.  Louis, a Leeds University student, recorded European records in all 3 of his T33 wheelchair races – 19.09sec in the 100m, 1.05.98 in the 400m which was a huge personal best, and an outstanding 33.77 seconds in the 200metres which is within one hundredth of a second of the world record in T33 category. Although Louis easily achieved the A qualifying standard in each event, he is not guaranteed selection as team numbers are limited, but the selectors can surely fail to take note of his continuing improvement.

 

Diana Stanger

On Tuesday I had the pleasure to meet former GB middle distance runner Steve Cram, at a seminar held by the Yorkshire Bank in Doncaster. During his career, Steve won an Olympic 1500m Silver medal, 3 Commonwealth Games Gold medals (1500m twice and 800m once), a World Championship Gold medal (1500m), 2 European Championship Gold medals (both 1500m) and a bronze for the 800m.

As if winning all these medals was not enough, he is most remembered for his “19 DAYS OF GLORY”, during which period, in 1985, he set 3 world records:-

• July 16^th 1985 - 1500m – 3:29:67, beating Said Aouita by 0.04 of a second
• July 27^th 1985 – Mile – 3:46:32 (record stood for a further 8 years)
• August 4^th 1985 – 2000m – 4:51:39

 

Steve talked about how he got into athletics whilst at school (because he was a bit better at running than he was at football). He admitted that he used to be lazy when it came to training, but was still the best his school had to offer. In 1978, when he was just 17, his PE teacher, to teach him a lesson, did not pick him for a forthcoming 1500m race at Gateshead. He asked why he hadn’t been picked, and his coach explained that it was because of his attitude towards training. Steve promised to change his ways, if he was picked to compete. The teacher agreed, and Steve went to Gateshead to race. Steve did not know it, but Brendon Foster (who only lived about 500 yards from Steve) was in the crowd watching. Steve went into the race, determined to prove that he was the best. He won by about 100 metres, in a time of 3.42.8, which he said, was the exact equivalent of doing a 4 minute mile.

Having seen this amazing performance by a young 17 year old, Brendon Foster contacted the organisers of the Emsley Carr Mile, a prestigious annual race, which was due to be held at Crystal Palace the following week, and recommended that Steve be invited to run. It was the furthest Steve had ever travelled to race, and was at a much higher standard than anything he had previously encountered. He failed to win the race, but his time of 3:57:4, broke the “Age 17 and Under” world record for the mile, previously set by Jim Ryun.

Steve’s performance led to him being selected, a week later, to represent England in the Commonwealth Games in Canada. Whilst he was eliminated in the qualifying stages, he found the experience invaluable, and he knew then that he wanted to be a world class athlete, and if he wanted to be the best, he had to be fully committed to the sport, ensuring that every aspect of his preparation was planned and carried out to the letter.

His athletic records speak for themselves, and Steve said that he later went back to see his former PE teacher, and thanked him for dropping him as, but for this jolt in the arm, he may never have achieved what he did.

Steve signed a DAC vest, for framing, as well as signing a few items to be raffled off for club funds, and had his photograph taken, holding the club vest. He said that he would love to come and talk to DAC’s members if we can find a time that coincides with him being in the area at some point in the near future. If this comes about, do not miss it, as he is definitely worth listening to.

 

 

DAVE LILLEY

CHAIRMAN

YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE TEAM

SUNDAY 18^th JULY 2010 – SHEFFIELD

 

Below is the list of athletes that have been chosen to represent the Club at the forthcoming Young Athletes League meeting.

 

If for any reason you are unable to attend, please inform the Team Managers/Reception immediately in order that a substitute may be found.

 

Should you have not been chosen on this occasion, please do not be disheartened as you may be required to compete at the remaining fixture – please check the Notice Boards.

 

BOYS U17 Ashley Langton Jamie Smyth Tom Kirk Charlie Stephenson George Woolley Josh Cookson James Devaney Dan Winmill James D’Rozario Tom Bissett Alexander Jones Daniel Dale   U15 Aiden Davies Papa Anthony Jake Canning James Rafferty Ashton Harrison Jordan Woodhall James Harker Brendan Jones Daniel Hardman Kye Stothard Luke Matchett Angus Butterfield William Amps U13 Joe McGrath Oliver Langton Jamie Canning Adam Clayton Callum Wilson Keiffus Creaser Dwight Daley Sam Bissett Kelvin Playfair

GIRLS   Kirsten Frost Cora Troop Georgia Worboys Beth Dobbin Nicole Bewley Kerrie Page Kelly Bramhald Josephine Wright Emma Nixon Lauren Frost Charlotte Hoyland Laura Booth Annabel Upton Emily Frost Rebecca Scott Alice Howe Rachel Shaw Megan Blackburn Lucy Chappell Leah Toop Charlotte Kirk Cherry St Clair Elizabeth Maybury Hayley Gill Bethany Head Chloe Bewley Elli Stothard Ellie Grace Abigail Cliff Annie Mussett Caitlin Herbert Kayleigh Scott Keira Davies Kelsey Wilson

 

On Sunday, in very windy conditions, with at least 9 key athletes absent, and with others competing with, understandably, one eye on the English Schools AA Championships next weekend, our athletes competed in round 3 (of 4) in the Northern Senior League at Rotherham. A number of new, young faces, were nervously making their senior debuts, to help strengthen the ranks, in our fight to avoid relegation, along with a number of older athletes who filled in across a multitude of events, and who, amazingly, did the equivalent of a pentathlon, or a heptathlon in the space of 5 or 6 hours.

As Team Manager, I would like to thank everyone who took part, either as an athlete, or as an official (or as both in some cases!!!). What the squad may have lacked in numbers, and, in some cases, experience, it more than made up for in brute courage and dogged determination. Those that were there gave every last ounce of effort, with some excellent individual performances. I'm not going to single anyone out here, as it was a team performance, but everyone that contributed towards our points total should be very proud of performances, and their efforts on behalf of the club.

So how did we do? Well we finished 4th=, with Scunthorpe, on 328 points, giving us 2 1/2 league points each, on the day, which now gives us a league points total of 6.5, going into the last league fixture, at Scunthorpe, on 31st July.

This means that we still have a chance of avoiding relegation, if we can win the last match. Given that it is ast the start of the school holidays we will have absentees, but so will everyone else. It is how well we can fill all the places on the team sheet that will determine whether we have a fighting chance, or not. I'm therefore putting this out in advance to find out (A) who is unavailable because of holidays, and so that those that are not on holiday can keep this date clear, and try to make themselves available for selection. Nothing short of a full team sheet, of our best available athletes, will be required, if we want to be competing at this level next season. Next year we will have greater numbers coming through from the U15s, into the U17s, with the club getting stronger year-on-year. It is therefore essential that we make every effort to stay up this year, with a view towards pushing forward to bigger, and better things next season.

Thankyou once again to all those who competed yesterday, along with those who competed in the first 2 rounds. Let's give it 150% in round 4, to try and stay up, and, if we do go down, go down with great pride, having given it our very best shot. Please help rally the troops!!

PS - a speedy recovery to Myles St.Clair who typified the spirit at yesterday's meeting. Having been at work until 2pm, he came over to Rotherham to fill in gaps in the 400 metres individual race, and then the 4 x 400 relay. Unfortunately, having completed his relay lap, he collapsed with severe back pains, and had to be taken by ambulance to Rotherham hospital, where it took 6 hours to be diagnosed, and treated for badly pulled muscles in his lower back. Knowing Myles, he'll be chomping at the bit to be available for the last match.

OUR SENIOR TEAM IS IN A BATTLE TO AVOID RELEGATION, AND NEED TO GET AS MANY POINTS AS THEY CAN OVER THE LAST 2 MATCHES TO STAND A CHANCE OF STAYING UP. OUR MEN'S TEAM IS FINE, BUT WE ARE VERY SHORT OF FEMALE ATHLETES, ESPECIALLY FOR DOING THE 400, 800, 1500 & 3000M. ANYONE WHO CAN HELP OUT AND FILL A BLANK ON THE TEAM SHEET WILL GET US POINTS THAT WE WILL NOT OTHERWISE GET, WHICH COULD BE VITAL IN KEEPING US UP. THE OTHER CLUBS WILL HAVE ATHLETES WHO ARE PREPARED TO HELP OUT BY FILLING THESE GAPS, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE, SO YOU MAY WELL BE SURPRISED AS TO HOW MANY YOU CAN BEAT.

OUR LAST 2 MATCHES ARE (1) THIS SUNDAY AT ROTHERHAM, AND (2) ON 31ST JULY AT SCUNTHORPE.

CAN YOU HELP YOUR CLUB OUT???

IF SO, CONTACT DAVE LILLEY ON 07917833860, OR EMAIL This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

DAC Combined Event Athletes Qualify for English Schools Finals

Five of our multi event athletes donned their county vests this weekend and turned in some superb individual and team performances to qualify for the ESAA National finals in September.

UNDER 15– AIDEN DAVIES	SENIOR BOY – LIAM RAMSAY
UNDER 17 – NICOLE BEWLEY	UNDER 15 – LEAH TOOP & LUCY CHAPPELL

The Costello Stadium in Hull hosted the North East Regional round of the Combined Events Championships and DAC athletes formed a core part of the large South Yorkshire squad that travelled there to compete.

First qualification came from U15 Pentathlete, Aiden Davies, who finished in second position overall with a score of 2682 points. Aiden really had to raise his game and be on top form to get individual qualification faced with some very strong competition this year in his age group.
He did this, achieving:

• PB performances in all five individual events plus the overall event score was a PB
• Three DAC club records – 80m Hurdles, 800m and overall Pentathlon score
• Two individual English Schools qualifying times  - for the Hurdles and 800m (unfortunately two weeks too late to get him selected for the English Schools individual event finals)
• Three AAA Standard Grade 1 achievements

He started the day with a great 80m Hurdles run with a time of 12.1 secs., which was second quickest on the day and gave him a good start to proceedings. The next event, the Shot Putt, his weakest event, turned out a little disappointing as he was hoping for a 9.00m+ throw to keep him in contention. He still managed a PB of 8.70m but this dropped him down to eighth position overall.

His 5.30m long jump next, was eighth best on the day but actually dropped him further down overall into ninth place. He then pulled out a good High Jump of 1.66m, which was third best jump made and this moved him back into eighth position overall going into the final event, the 800m, where Aiden always scores highly and moves up the rankings. It was however looking as though it might be too much to ask for him to pull back five places and nervous tension was certainly high in anticipation of this final event. As it turned out, with the help of his SY teammate, Joe Lancaster (who happens to be the quickest 800m runner in the UK at the moment), they demolished the rest of the field with Aiden finishing close behind Joe in a time of 2.06.9 secs. This moved him right up into second overall place with Joe also qualifying in third place behind him.

James Harker also competed in his first ESAA combined event finishing in 18th place with an overall score of 1180.

Kye Stothard completed three events but then unfortunately had to pull out through injury before the final two.

Second to qualify was U17 Heptathlete, Nicole Bewley, who, for the second year running, led the South Yorkshire team into qualification whilst also winning the overall competition quite comfortably herself.

Nicole, in he first year competing as an Under 17 Woman, started the day with a good 80m Hurdles run of 12.3 secs which put her into third place overall. From here on in though she never looked back, taking the overall competition lead with the top high jump of 1.57m and then keeping it all the way through to the end of the two day competition. On day one she also threw the shot 9.45m (longest throw overall), and ran a good 200m in 27.4 secs.

Day two started with a long jump 4.85m, which disappointed Nicole (who regularly jumps over 5.00m in training) but still kept her in the overall lead although four other athletes jumped further.

She then went on to easily win the Javelin competition with a best throw of 29.32m, which then just left her the dreaded 800m run at the end of the hottest day of the year in nearly 30 degrees of mid afternoon heat. Still she had nothing to worry about though and went off with real purpose finishing with a PB time 2.40secs with only five other athletes running fast than this. She finished the day with 4170 points, 268 points ahead of the second place finisher.

Next to finish his two day U20 Senior Boys Decathlon was Liam Ramsay, who was in a different class to the rest of his opposition, easily winning the competition with an incredible 6732 points.

This class performance by anyone’s standards broke the event record, which has stood since 1974, and has put Liam into 24th place in the ALL TIME UK Power of Ten standings for the Under 20 Men’s Decathlon. It should also put him up for International competition selection.

Of the ten events, Liam achieved PB performances in no fewer than six of these.

His full individual results were: 100m sprint – 11.2 secs – P.B. Long Jump – 7.11m – P.B. (equal 7th longest jump in the UK at present for age group and Grade 1 std) Shot  = 11.60m – P.B. High Jump – 1.84m – P.B. 400m – 50.6 110 Hurdles – 15.1 secs Discus – 34.89m Pole Vault – 3.70m – P.B. Javelin – 47.06 – P.B. 1500m - 4.44.3

After an epic competition in stifling heat, the U15 Girls Pentathlon finally finished with the South Yorks team taking the spoils. Two key members of this team were DAC athletes Lucy Chappell and Leah Toop, who’s determined performances helped them win through on the day.

On to the Shot Put next where Leah threw 7.00m (moving her up to 7th position overall) and Lucy putt 6.56m (taking her into 12th place).

The competition started with the 75m Hurdles, which Leah ran in an equal PB time of 12.9 secs – the ninth quickest time. Lucy smashed her PB with a time of 13.3 secs and a 14th place finish.

Then came the epic High Jump competition, which lasted 3 HOURS in the searing midday heat. Leah, who had never high jumped in competition, came in early, but kept clearing the height until she eventually went out after jumping a very respectable 1.36m. On the other hand, Lucy had to hang around, and wait..…..and wait…....and wait…... for nearly 21/2 hours before her competition really started. By that time she was so exhausted with the heat that even a relatively simple jump for her of 1.42m was very difficult and this was the best she could manage on the day.

This event Leah dropped to eighth place but Lucy was elevated to ninth. After a short rest bite, it was on to the Long Jump where both of our athletes excelled with PB performances. Leah jumped 4.33m, whilst Lucy jumped an excellent 4.88m, moving her into sixth place in the competition overall. Throughout most of the day, the South Yorks team were in third place behind the Durham and West Yorks teams, but after a strong couple of events the team promoted themselves to second place only 30 points behind the leading Durham team. They therefore knew that if each of our athletes could comfortably out run their Durham counterpart then they could win the competition (no pressure there then going into the final event, the 800m)

So after 8 hours of competition in the intense heat of an usually hot summers day, all they had to do was run their hearts out………….…………….and that’s exactly what they did!. Each of the four SY teammates gave everything they possibly could and comfortably beat each one of the opposing Durham girls. Both Leah and Lucy ran PB times of 2:35.4 and 2.37.4 respectively and the team comfortably won by 230 points in the end.

Leah finished the competition in ninth place overall with a score of 2396 points and Lucy finished in sixth with a superb score at the bottom end of her age group of 2508 points.

So it’s off to the English Schools finals in Stoke in September for Aiden, Nicole, Liam, Leah and Lucy where they will compete against the best all round athletes in the country representing Doncaster and South Yorks.

WELL DONE TO THEM ALL AND GOOD LUCK FOR THE FINALS