There were things happening all over the place this week for athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, so I apologise in advance if I have missed anything, but you were everywhere. In some instances, the results are impossible to filter and in others, like the Telford Games, they aren’t available just yet.
Let’s not hang about and start with the conclusion of Telford AC’s Sexarathon Series. The race concluded with the Harper Scarper, a 5k at Harper Adams University in Newport and there were prizes a plenty on the night. The results from the final event are available but the overall series results aren’t out just yet, I will sweep these up when I can but I can confirm that Beth Tabor was the overall series winner of the ladies event breaking Claire Martin’s stranglehold on the competition and becoming the first W&B winner of the series since Jackie Halford claimed the prize some years ago.
On the night Dan Turner finished 14th in 16.25 having only flown in from New York earlier that morning, Paul Dean was 22nd in 17.10, Ben Foster 24th in 17.17, Dylan Illidge 24th and 3rd in his age group in 17.32, Greg Asbury 43rd and 2nd in his age group in 18.29, Darren Owen-Jones 49th in 18.44, Beth Tabor was 50th, 3rd lady and 1st in her age group in 18.49, Dave Newport was 52nd in 18.50, Lucy Calrow 53rd, 4th lady and 2nd in her age group in 18.57, Chris Apperley was 60th in 19.04, Shaun Bennett was 62nd in 19.06. Tony Cheema was 76th in 19.29 and Dave Norman 79th in 19.39, the two of them having the pleasure of chasing Simon Calrow for two and a half miles, his face when they both passed him on either side was a picture, Simon did have the consolation of coming 1st in his age group in 19.57 and placing 84th overall. Sarah Thurley was 88th and 2nd in her age group on the night in 20.05, Sabrina Thomas, “fresh” from her New York adventures was 92nd in 20.10 placing 3rd in her age group, Holly Baddeley was 106th in 20.43, Hannah Corns was 119th in 21.31, Rob Edwards 131st in 22.00, Anthony Pinson 142nd in 22.18 and Craig Buggins 185th in 23.48.
The action stayed in Shropshire at the weekend with the Tibberton Trot 10k where Rob Cartwright was 6th in 38.00, Sarah Thurley was out again and claiming 1st place in the ladies race in 11th overall in 41.53, Russ Newman was 12th in 42.19 and again among the W&B results was “Arwie P” who was 80th in 58.11, although despite asking we’re still not sure who she is.
There was action over the half marathon distance in the Cheshire Half were a number had targeted the race as a potential PB opportunity and trained relentlessly for the event. Dan Turner gained a narrow PB finishing in 7th in 1.14.11, Darren Owen- Jones was 45th in 1.23.57, Nick Beach smashed his PB out of sight despite pacing issues in 75th in 1.29.39, Sabrina Thomas was 85th in 1.30.44 to claim 1st in her age group and Holly Baddeley was 105th in a well pace 1.32.45.
Also over the 13.1 mile distance a group travelled north to be on the telly in the Great North Run, the results are difficult to filter and clubs are impossible to find for some, however I can report that Phil Evans was 1361st in 1.32.00, Rob Carrington was 6123rd in 1.50.06, Tom Slawinski was 8902nd in 1.56.30, Steve Warrilow was 23177th in 2.24.37 and Lisa Eardly was 37003rd in 3.08.25.
The marathon pairing of Dave Joynson and Gillian Mitchell were in action in Antwerp over the full distance with Dave completing the course around Belgium in 3.17.11 for 105th place and Gill crossing the line in 996th in 4.57.37.
And talking of marathons the club had a record number of competitors at the London Mini Marathon Trials at Stourport with 19 athletes competing in the event, the highest number of entries from any local club. Of those 19 we achieved a club record of 11 qualifiers who will now take part in the London Mini Marathon Championship races on the 1st October, the day before the London Marathon Itself. Congratulations to Grace Hendy, Fred Jones, Sam Ball, Will Hughes and William Bassford in the U13s, Ronni Read, Owen Ulfig and Oscar Davis in the U15s and Isobelle Jones, Scarlett Williams and Ava Kind in the U17s. And also, massive congratulations to all the other athletes from the group who push each other session after session to achieve success and the many others behind the scenes who have made a contribution to them getting there. The names mentioned are just the tip of quick a sizeable iceberg.
Dave Norman
