Coritanians defy weather conditions to triumph at the Road Relays

The Coritanian men's road squad shone on what must have been one of the worst days of the year as far as the weather was concerned with driving rain, high winds and low temperatures. They won all the male age categories at the England Athletics East Midlands road relay championships held in conjunction with the Livingston road relays at Braunstone Park on Sunday April 29th.

  The idea was to select a masters team strong enough  to defend the masters trophy , which they had held for the past six years and then juggle the rest of the squad to give as strong as possible teams in the Seniors and U20's.

  In what can only be described as the worst weather conditions possible Ashley Sabin covered the first leg, for the seniors, in a time of 15.13, to record the fastest time of the day and hand over a comfortable lead to Nigel Stirk who ran 15.51. At end of the second leg Coritanians were 400metres up but knowing that North Derbyshire had a very strong second half running order, Derek Guess ran the third leg in 17.06 to enable Dave Pearce to control the race from the front on the last leg and triumph with a seven second advantage in a time of 17.28.

  The U20's were never really troubled and were able to run out as comfortable winners in their age category. Elliott Hart was the fastest U20 on the day recording 16.06 and gave the best possible start to William Rawlinson 18.25, Harry Thompson 17.52 and Phillip Maddocks 17.31, the last three all making their event debut.

  The masters, relying on a wealth of experience with Gareth Deacon 16.37, Andy Hart 17.25, Rob Sheen 17.06 and Danny Keating 16.51 easily saw off an early challenge from Desford Striders, to  close in and lift the title for the seventh consecutive year with a combined time of  67.59.


  The senior ladies took third place medals, behind Charnwood and Barrow, after Chloe Morris led them off in 20.37 to hand over to Jo Bradford, their quickest runner on the day, who recorded 18.32. passing on to Freya Vincent 20.42 for a combined three leg time of 59.55.

Tony.

New Masters recruit! Megan Sabin warming up for a jet propelled performance at the 2028 Olympics!                                            

Results from Kettering Open Meeting (Sunday 22nd April)

Kettering was the first track event for many of the middle distance young athletes on Sunday 22nd April. The majority of these athletes started off their season with performances on a par from the end of last season. This is a great bench mark for the rest of the season.

As Paul Blissett often said, " If you can start the season how you finished the last, you have made a great start on which you can build."

Several personal best performances came from the U15 boys with George Bell having an outstanding run to knock five seconds off his 800m personal best time. Cameron Smith followed suit by shaving three seconds off of his 800m personal best time and Mikela Gilmore reduced her 800m personal best time by two seconds.

There were some great performances from those that have never competed for the club before and special mention must go to Ella Izzet who finished 1st in her 600m race in 2.06.1. Following Ella were Maisie Elliott and Grace Smith who finished less than a second apart.

Full results:

800m
Connor Haywood 2.04.5, James Hatton 2.05.4 George Bell 2.09.9, Cameron Smith 2.18.6, Zak Anderson 2.19.4, Amrik Gill 2.29.3, Fran Green 2.37.6, Jordan Waine 2.42.5, Mikela Gilmore 2.43.9, Charlie Preston 2.46.7, Shannon Anderson 2.51.8, Victoria Preston 2.53.1

600m
Ella Izzet 2.06.1, Maisie Elliott 2.09.4, Grace Smith 2.10.8, Euan Smith 2.12.2

1500m
Alice Porter 5.19.5 Alison Curtis 5.29.5, Lucille Rostron 5.37.9

Coritanian Mini Marathon Marvels

Leicester Coritanian had some of their younger athletes who competed in the Virgin London Mini Marathon on Sunday 22nd April 2012.The youngsters had been selected for the East Midlands team after competing in the trials a few weeks ago at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham and this meant that they raced over the last three miles of the marathon course.

Alfie Thompson had a fantastic race to lead home the U13 boys team and to finish just outside the podium places in 4th place in 16.31. He was followed home be Ben Dijkstra in 6th place in 16.35 and Pascal Bouttier-Butler in 36th place in 17.57.

With four members of each team required to score, the trio had done enough to help the team to the gold medal for the East Midlands.

Amy Griffiths (U17g) had another consistent race to finish in 4th place in 16.53. She was followed home by Emily Sales who had a superb race to finish in 11th place in 17.34.

With easily her best race to date, Emily showed that she is coming back into form and this should give her some confidence for the track season.

Jasmin Southam had a good race too to finish in 46th place in 19.03 and between them the girls just missed out in the team medals when they finished in 4th place.

Bottom aged athlete Sam Elliott ran in the U15b age group. The youngster finished in 43rd place overall in a time of 16.29 which was the quickest time by a Leicester Coritanian athlete on the day.

Tommy Fantastic!

Tommy Hughes had an outstanding run in the Virgin London  Marathon when he recorded a time of 2hrs. 29mins. 55secs. to finish 1^st. M50 and 54^th. overall.
The  unassuming 52 year old  Irish man, who competed in the marathon  for The Republic of  Ireland at the 1992  Barcelona Olympic Games found the early pace uneven as he attempted to make up time after trying to clear the congestion in the early stages of the race. By 6 miles  he had settled down and he was on the pace until 20 miles when the wind came into play, however he cracked on for to record a truly magnificent time.

  Other club members taking part were Kate Brookes who ran 3hrs. 46min. 54secs. and Jody Ward who ran 3hrs. 54 mins.

Athletes start the season with Charnwood Open (15th April)

Results as follows:

U13 girls: Jennifer Ward LJ 3rd place 3.77, Hannah Morm 200m 2nd place (race 2) 32.01 1500m (race 1) 9th place 6.16.88

U15 girls: Amber Griffiths 75mh 1st place (race 2) 13.26 200m 6th place (race 2) 31.88 HJ 7th place 1.40, Caitlin Harding LJ 9th place 4.30

U17 women: Taisha Thompson-Gregory 100m 1st place (race 10) 13.39, Iona Magee 100m (race 11) 7th place 14.12 LJ 10th place 4.21, Jasmin Southam 3000m 6th place 11.18.00

U20 women: Andrea Barrow 400m (race 1) 6th place 1.07.31

Senior Women: Eden Francis Discus 1st place 54.14, Laura Samuels 100m (race 12) 6th place 13.07 LJ 1st place 5.23

U17 men: David Williams 100mh 1st place 14.84 200m (race 9) 4th place 25.68 LJ 7th place 5.39

U20 men: Jonny Monk 800m 5th place 2.03.40, Forrest Francis shot 3rd place 12.88 discus 3rd place 45.87

Just a reminder................

The President's Gala is on the 28th April and is from 7.00 - 12.00 at Aylestone Leisure Centre. Please contact Brogan or Glenys for your ticket on 0116 2882560.

Magnificent Masters Go Gold Again!

Two weeks after winning the Midland Counties AA Masters 6 stage road relay title at Sutton Park, with a gun to tape performance, the Coritanian Masters squad followed this up with yet another start to finish victory at the Midland Masters road relay to claim the title at Donisthorpe Woodland Park on Sunday 15th. April.

Entering a M45 team Coritanians had Gareth Deacon open up a 50 second gap on the lead off leg over 2nd. place Derby who were also running in the M45 category. Rob Sheen took over on the second leg to increase the lead before handing over to Nev Francis to run the third leg. This was the leg where things started to change behind them as three M35 teams, Coventry Godiva, Birchfield and Burton started to overhaul the second and third M45 teams of Derby and Hatton Darts. Nev was still able to hand over a comfortable lead to Derek Guess who secured the victory for the club to close in with a combined time of 71 minutes and 12 seconds.

The individual leg times were Gareth Deacon 16.47. Rob Sheen 17.27. Nev Francis 19.16. Derek Guess 17.52.

The overall team result was 1st. Leicester Coritanian M45 71.12..... 2nd. Birchfield M35 72.39..... 3rd. Burton M35 73.44.

The M45 team result was 1st. Leicester Coritanian 71.12..... 2nd. Hatton Darts 76.00..... 3rd. Derby 77.05


Results up to now in 2012 show that the Masters have won the LRRL winter series, the Midland AA road relays, the Midland Masters road relays and came second in the North Midlands cross country league.

Tony.

Success for Thompson brothers at Fell Running Championships (7th April)

Congratulations to Alfie Thompson who finished in 2nd place in the FRA Junior Fell Running Championships at Pendle Hill, Lancashire. Last year Alfie claimed the U12 title and showed his potential when stepping up to the U14 age group. Brother Harry came 9th in the U16 age group.

Both the Masters and the Seniors retained their Division 1 Leicester Road Running Winter League titles after the last race in the series at Kibworth on March 26th.

      The Masters won all five of their league races whilst the Seniors won four of their races coming second to Charnwood in the other giving  both squads  a healthy lead to carry over into the Summer League contest.  The  two leagues, Winter and Summer are scored  separately but are added together for the overall league title at the end of the year.

        Gordon Lee won the overall  individual title as this is decided irrespective of age and he  was also first  M40. Simon Cotton was second M40 and Gareth Deacon, Danny Keating and Dave Pearce made a clean sweep of the first three places in the M45 age group.  John Noble was first M50. In addition Andy Hart, Rob Sheen and Robin Brookes all took top three age group places at various races but didn’t complete enough races to score in the overall league table.

        Thanks to everyone who turned out  in the Winter League programme to give us a really good start to the year..

         Tony.

Simply stunning Masters Men!

The Masters men showed their class when they were victorious at the Midland Counties Road Relays in Birmingham . Leading from gun to tape, the six man team made it their fourth consecutive title in this event!

Leading the way was Gorden Lee who took the honours of fastest leg of the day on the longer course with a time of 27 min 29 sec.

Delighted team manager, Tony Forryan said " We were chuffed to bits as that was the fourth year in a row that we have taken the Midlands title and to the best of my knowledge, that has not been done before. Gordon got us off on the right track and we had a 50 second advantage after the first leg. By the fourth leg, we were two minutes ahead and the gap was well over a minute at the end. Everyone is delighted."

Gordon Lee 27.29 Rob Sheen 16.49 Dave Pearce 16.44 Gareth deacon 30.30 Andy Hart 16.58 Danny Keating 16.30

Medals galore for Mari at SIAB Home Countries International (31st March 2012)

Mari Smith had a stunning run at the Home Countries International at Perth on Saturday 31st March. Annabelle Mason led from gun to tape but an undeterred Mari ran a confident race to chase down the second placed athlete Bronwen Owen, to take the bronze medal only narrowly missing out on the silver medal by 3 seconds.

Mari also came away with the England team gold medal and this will surely set her in good stead for the up-coming track season where she will expect to lower her 2.11 800m pb.

Amy helps Team England to gold medal at ISF World School Cross Country in Malta 27th April 2012

Amy Griffiths competed in the ISF World School Cross Country in Malta on 27th March 2012 and finished in 7th place overall and helped the team towards the gold medal, which England has never won. The youngster ran a solid race and was pleased with her final performance of the cross country season.

Being bottom aged, this was a tremendous achievement but one that she will not be able to repeat for the competition is only held every two years and she will be too old to compete in Israel in 2014.

Frisby Wins Gold at the British Masters 17th March 2012

Sue Frisby won a gold medal in the High Jump (with a PB of 1.42). This was at the British Masters Athletics Federation Championships on 17th March 2012 (results on www.bmaf.org.uk). Sue won this in her age group (50) and the British all-time record is 1.47. She was also second in another PB in the 60m Hurdles. Sue is someone who has returned to athletics after many years' absence and a life-threatening illness about 4-5 years ago. So it's a fascinating story all on its own. Sue joined the Leicester Coritanian AC Masters team two years ago and has had an amazing success story through this time - learning to manage her illness and to develop new techniques. Last year she was second in the British Masters Indoor Pentathlon - possibly she could have improved on this in 2012 - but the snow in February prevented her travelling to the event.

Other Leicester Coritanian athletes competing at the British Masters: Rashpal Singh (Men's 60) - 60H and Triple Jump; Chris Monk (Men's 60) - 60m in 8.61; and also Clive Morrison - 7.46 for 60m (Stadium Manager) (Men's 45).

Report by: Cherie D'Silva

Amy and Mari triumph at English Schools and win International honours

Amy Griffiths and Mari Smith had top 10 finishes in the Intermediate girls race and the ESAA at Ilton, Somerset on 17th March 2012. Amy showed her consistency by finishing in 5th place whilst bottom aged Mari ran an incredible race to finish in 9th place.

Amy has been selected to compete in the ISF World School Cross Country in Malta and Mari has been selected to compete in the SIAB Home Countries International in Perth.

Congratulations to both girls on their tremendous achievement.

Silver Lining for U13 boys team at English National Cross Country (25th February 2012)

Superb running from the U13 boys resulted in the silver medal at the National Cross Country at Parliament Hill. The course is notorious for being tough, but the youngsters dealt with it's inclines with tremendous maturity.
Ben Dijkstra ran an incredible race to finish just outside the medals in 4th place. Ben was with the leaders throughout the race but the eventual winner broke a gap on the last down hill and then it was left to the others in a sprint finish to the line.
Alfie Thompson followed Ben home in 8th place and only 13 seconds behind. The youngster, like Ben, has been consistent throughout the season but it has been the back up of James Bell (56) and Josh West (63) who on this occasion made up the winning team.

Bottom age in the U17 women's race Amy Griffiths ran despite suffering the effects of a cold and finished in 6th place. As a result of her placing and her cross country results to date, Amy has been selected to compete for England at the ISF World School Cross Country in Malta in March! This is a fantastic achievement and a real honour for Amy and the club.

Mari Smith (U15 girls) ran an solid race to finish in 10th place. The talented youngster showed her determination to keep amongst the top runners.

Full results:
U13 Girls: Caitlin Roper (76) Serena Moore (164) Georgia Smith (211) Chloe Foster (264) Emily Foster (317) Katie McDonald (346)
Overall team 27th place
U13 Boys: Ben Dijkstra (4) Alfie Thompson (8) James Bell (56) Josh West (63) Pascal Bouttier-Butler (74) Edward Thomas (156) Ben Tansley (190) Daniel McAtee (219) Ben Masser (268) Tom Jackson (281) Oliver Freer (303)
Overall 2nd place
U15 Girls Mari Smith (10) Lucy Palmer (91) Shannon Anderson (236) Rebecca Griffiths (285) Lucy Whitehead (312)
Overall team 19th place
U15 Boys Sam Elliott (43) Tom Loring (47) Cameron Hart (122) James Owen (210) Luke Beeby (235) Amrik Gill (322) Cameron Smith (330)
Overall team 8th place
U17 Women Amy Griffiths (6) April Beeby (75) Jasmin Southam (109) Rachel Borrows (126) Bethan Elliott (148)
Overall team 9th place
U17 Men Kristian Edwards (60) Jonny Monk (139) Philip Maddocks (190) Will Rawlinson (218) Connor Haywood (257) Zak Anderson (307)
Overall team 18th place
Junior Men Jamie Short (95)
Junior Women Lucy Crookes (31) Freya Vincent (79)
Senior Women Jo Bradford (90) Chloe Morris (225)

Taisha wins silver medal at Indoor Championships (25th February 2012)

Taisha Thompson-Gregory won the silver medal at the England Athletics U20/U17/U15 Indoor Championships at Birmingham on 25th February. The U17 triple jumper landed an 11.60 jump which was only a six centimetres short of the gold medallist.

Other results:

U17 Men George Drake - Triple Jump- 4th place 13.72

U20 Men Armani James - Triple jump - 8th place 13.34

U17 Women Taisha Thompson-Gregory - 60m- 1st place (Heat 1) 7.92
                     Taisha Thompson-Gregory - 60m- 4th place (Semi-final) 7.99

U20 Women Andrea Barrow - Triple jump- 11th place 10.47

West Midlands League, Perry Park, Birmingham (19th February 2012)

There were some great performances in the final league race at Perry Park.

U11 Girls Connie-May Roper (95)

U13 Girls Georgia Smith (29)

U15 Girls Victoria Preston (24), Lucille Rostron (35), Charlie Preston (36) and Lucy Whitehead (52)

U17 Girls Rachel Borrows (23)

U11 Boys Jack Darkins (78)

U13 Boys Sam Watkiss (23)

U17 Men Zak Anderson (26)

Armani James claims Bronze at Midland Indoor Championships (11th and 12th February 2012)

U20 Armani James claimed the bronze medal at the Midland Indoor Championships in the triple jump with 13.15.

Other results:

U15 boys 60m K-Ryan Hinds 8.73 6th place (Heat 1)
                Long Jump K-Ryan Hinds 4.44 6th place
U15 girls 60m Amber Griffiths 9.30 5th place (Heat 2)
               60m hurdles Amber Griffiths 10.49 3rd place (Heat 2)
U17 girls 60m Rheanna Hinds 9.03 7th place (Heat 1)

Amy Strikes Gold At Midland Cross Country Championships (28th Jan 2012)

The Midland County Cross Country Championships were held at Wollaton Park, Nottingham. Amy Griffiths ran a commanding race to claim the individual win in the U17 girls race. Faced with competition from the U20 age group as well, Amy resumed her rivalry with Becky Straw from Cannock and Staffs. The youngster tracked Straw sitting comfortably on her shoulder throughout the first 4k and broke away with 1k to take the win with a margin of 18 seconds.

Superb team packing from April Beeby and Emily Sales in 22nd and 23rd place meant that the team took the silver medal. Unfortunatley the U20 women had an incomplete team but Lucy Crookes placed 5th.

U13 Boys

In the U13 boys race Ben Dijkstra won the bronze medal after enduring a sprint finish after a tightly fought race with James Fradley (Newcastle Staffs) and Tom Dodd (Birchfield Harriers). The boys team won the gold medal with Josh West (20), Pascal Bouttier-Butler (23) and Ben Tansley (39). Such was the strength and depth in the squad that the B-Team finished in 10th place.

U15 Girls

Mari Smith U15 girls ran a great race to take the bronze medal. The youngster was in the mix with the leaders throughout the race and it was only in the final stages that the eventual winner, Lucy Holt and runner-up, Sian Rainsley managed to break away from Mari. The team finished in 6th place.

U13 Girls

In the U13 girls race, Fran Green showed her promise with an outstanding run to finish in 7th place. The youngster still has another year in this age group and this bodes well for the future. Team packing meant that the youngest age group walked away with the team bronze medal.

U15 Boys

The U15 boys also had strength and depth in their teams to win the team gold medal and for the B-Team to claim 6th place. Sam Elliott (7), James Hatton (10) Geroge Bell (18) and Tom Loring (24) won the gold medal with a total of 59 points. Mansfield were the silver medal winners with a 41 point defecit with 101 points.

U17 Boys

It was a close finish for the U17 mens team competition with the Coritanian's just pipping Birchfield to the title by 2 points. Kristian Edwards (13) James Nutt (18) Jonny Monk (23) and Will Rawlinson (42).