Midland Premier League Champions!

Although we came second on the day behind Coventry this was enough to give us the title of Midland League Champions for the first time since 1992!.

League Standings Overall:
1. City of Stoke AC - 21.5
2. Coventry - 16
3. Mansfield - 14.5
4. Rugby and Northampton - 13
5. Tamworth - 10
6. Cheltenham - 9

The first event of the day, produced an indicator of things to come, with Chelsea Cooper producing the jump of her life, which guaranteed her selection for the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Gregg Nixon (A) and Glenn Unsworth (B) were both in great form - both finishing in 2^nd place in the hammer, with Nixon producing a new PB.

Whilst for the women Jade Weston and Hayley Clewes in her 1^st midlands outing for the club this year performed well.

Shown competing in the 400MH are Wendy Davidson, Nicola Arrowsmith, Gavin Walters and Steve Bazell.

In the 800M, we have Katie Holt, Kate Anderson, Carl Shubotham and Dave Lee, This was Dave’s first race over the 800 having joined the club earlier in the year.

Over the 200M, we have Chelsea Cooper, Laura Gibson, Richard Porter and Martin Chomanicz, Chelsea won the A race, with Laura, Richard and Martin performing well.

In the 3000MSC, we have Steve Bazell and Gavin Walters, Steve finishing in 4th place this time, having dominated the in the previous  races, with Gavin wining the B race.

Scoring well in the high jump are multi-eventers Sam Bishop and James Dohnal - both finishing in 2^nd place.

Robin Smith and James Dohnal made short work of the 110M hurdles with Robin winning the A String event in 15.2s and James wining the B string in 16.3s. In the Women's 100MH Chelsea Cooper showed the field the way home by finishing in 14.7s.
(Sorry no photos!)

In the discus, Martin & Gregg were again showing why they are the men to beat, winning both the A & B strings with throws of 46.96M and 45.43M respectively. Hayley Clewes and Jade Weston providing the backup in the women’s event with throws of 34.72M & 30.05M to take 2^nd in both the A & B strings. This victory dance seems to be catching.

Gavin Walters & James Dohnal continued to be Stoke’s most consistent vaulter’s in this senior league, both finishing in 3^rd place. (Sorry no photos!)

Out in the field, Martin and Gregg were again doing battle, this time in the shot winning the A & B events again with throws of 14.31m & 13.75m. Jade and Hayley also had their own battle with Jade getting the upper hand in this event, finishing 1^st in the A with a throw of 12.35m and 2^nd in the B with 8.69m.

Back on the track in the 3000M Gary Castrey and Danny Barker were making their 1^st appearance this year, with regular competitor Dave Lee running as a guest. Sophie Allcock was the sole competitor in the womens event.

Kate Anderson, Nicola Arrowsmith, Liam Tracey and Chris Harvey can be seen competing in the 400M.

In the 1500M we have Emma Jackson and Sophie Allcock in the womens race with Emma winning the A race supported by Sophie finishing 3^rd in the B race. For the men Carl Shubotham and Steve Bazell making a rare appearance over the shorter distance, Carl finishing 2^nd in the A and Steve finishing 3^rd in the B event.

Back in the field Martin Bartholomew and Chris Harvey can be seen in the triple jump, Martin jumping 12.43M to finish 4^th in the A event and Chris jumping 11.48M and B event to finish 3^rd.

Back on the track, In the 100M and making her 1^st appearance for the club this year was Amanda Forrester, Laura Gibson along with Richard Porter and Martin Chomanicz for the men. Amanda winning the A string in a time of 12s and Laura finishing 5^th in 13.3s. Richard having an excellent run of 11.3 to finish 2^nd in the A event, with Martin supporting well and finishing 2^nd in the B event in 11.6s.

In the Javelin, Rob Eggleton made his 1^st appearance for almost 2 years, having now recovered from injuries along with multi-eventer Robin Smith. For the women Chelsea Cooper and Charlotte James can be seen throwing.

Finally to the relays and thanks to all of you who competed, with nearly everybody having already competed in multiple events.

 In the 4 x 100M, the women ran an outstanding race to finish 2^nd and this was mirrored by the men, who just missed out on 1^st place in the last few metres.

It was quite a different story in the 4 x 400M event, Sophie Allcock probably ran what seemed like the longest race of her life on the 3^rd leg, Katie Holt ran a good last lap to close the gap. In the mens' race Richard Porter came straight out of the 4 x 100 to support Liam, James and Gavin.

Some of the athletes that competed on the day and formed part of the winning team, however not enough to overpower Richard or myself for a victory bath. Well there’s always next year.

Finally a big thanks to all the officials who have attended, this added 120 points to our team total, when you consider how close some match finished, along with the fact that we would not be able to compete at all without them. Thanks also to those who have been working quietly in the background to assist Alan and myself.

If any one wants a copy of the photo’s for printing out, just let me know by email, the file size is to big for the site. John should be getting a photo gallery page up soon.

Regards Steve