CAC Athletes Shine at the Inter-Counties XC Championships.

Chelmsford athletes were very much involved in Essex teams coming away with team medals at the Inter Counties cross country championships staged at Nottingham with fields of up to 300 competitors and including Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Highlight for Essex came in the event for under 20 men where the gold medals came and in this Chelmsford filled three of the scorers led by Joseph Grange with a great run to take fifth place. Sam Plummer was very close up taking ninth spot and Finn Rattray 30th completed the squad to bring up a score of 54 points - Suffolk on 102 were second. Woodford's Nathan Wright 12th was the other Essex athlete.

The under 15 girls saw Essex taking third place and it was very much a Brentwood and Chelmsford with the former club having Summer Smith 5th and Heidi Woodley 14th heading affairs. Chelmsford then had a quartet out with Isabella Eida 71st, Lily Sanford 80th, Ezrah Harrold 92nd and Francesca Phillips 136th. Other of our members included Jacob Hurrell who put in an excellent run for sixth spot in the under 17 men's race in which Essex placed fifth. This was also the placing for the under 13 girls as Brentwood`s Maddison Kindler in first  spot - and the sole Essex individual to pick up a medal. Chelmsford`s Isla  Kehoe finished 44th, Beatrix Cooke 67th and Orla Martin 113th.

In the under 17 women`s race again the leading Essex athlete came from the Brentwood club with Olivia Forrest 9th. Daisy Stollery 24th was next through and it was fourth place for Essex,  It was to be another fifth for Essex in the senior race, Megan Williams 72nd being in the scoring team.

Under 20 level and Lucy Nuttall placed 65th, in the under 15 boys Joseph Delaney finished 54th whilst it was 105th for Jacob Parrott. Good to see Chelmsford providing one member for the senior men with Tom Rehal finishing 96th in the largest field of the day.

The National Multi Events at Sheffield for the under 17`s saw Milana Thorpe taking seventh place in the pentathlon with a personal best of 3192 points. On the way to this there was a pb in the shot putt with 11.53 metres whilst other events were hurdles 9.23s, long jump 5.05m, high jump 1.36m and 800m 2m 32.87s.

For the full gallery click here

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

A Very Busy and Successful Weekend for CAC.

A busy weekend of athletics with cross country in Leeds, road running in Chelmsford and indoor athletics at the Lea Valley centre.

The cross country meeting was the English Schools Cup Championship involving teams having qualified via their schools in the intermediate girls age group two Essex teams came away with place medals. Chelmsford High School found CAC`s Lily Sanford 17th leading them home with Isabella Eida 23rd and Francesca Phillips 28th with Esme Thomas from the Brentwood club 39th to bring a score of 107 points. New Hall School had taken an early advantage with Brentwood`s Heidi Woodley 7th and CAC Ava King 16th and then had Isabella Forrest  41st and Missy Tiller 49th - both Brentwood - bringing a score of 113 points. Other Chelmsford members competing here saw under 13 year Mason Sanford a most respectable 6th. whilst Jacob Parrott ran well for 10th spot in the intermediate boys event. Orla Martin in the senior girls race placed 30th whilst  in the senior boys Harry Wright placed 24th.

Moving to the Chelmsford organized road races over different distances three of our young women tackled their first half marathon and took the first three places in their class. Hannah Bolton placed 40th overall in 84m 46s, but with only men ahead of her. Megan Williams placed 51st in 86m 18s with Rachel Broome with the clock showing 90m 12s. In the shorter run of 5k Austin Kelly led the field and timed at 17m 03s with young Isabella Perks taking a very respectable 9th place.

The Essex indoor combined with the East of England  championships brought Chelmsford many medals with the under 17 age groups heading this haul.  On the men`s side Harry Lee recorded a double taking the hurdles (8.32s) and long jump (5.79m)titles. Arsenii Handzil came up with a pb of 1.85m for the high jump title. Ben Smith placed fourth in the 800 metres but  in the Essex result claimed the bronze medal. From the women there was a double from Amelie Scott with 8.71s in the hurdles and 5.50m for the long jump, Matilda Hewitt won the shot putt with an effort of 13.70m - just one centimetre short of a pb. Whilst Jessica Gardner with a pb finished in third place. Amy Pugsley claimed the triple jump title with 10.43m  and it was a win for Lily Hartman over 300 metres in 41.09s with Nicole Hawkins third with 42.45s. Over 800 metres there was a third spot for Jessica Walker with her time of 2m24.83s. Isabella Johnson was the winner of her heat in 7.95s but unfortunately sustained an injury in doing so therefore could not take part in the semi finals.

Moving to the under 20`s and Sophie Catchpole after taking the hurdles title`s in 8.95s returned the following day to again top the rostrum for the 400 m title with 58.93s.. For the men`s 200m Sam Lawson placed third in the 200m in 22.57s.

Up to the seniors and Luke Oliver claimed the 800m title with 1m 54.94s  and followed this with 4m 25.45s in the 1500m taking the bronze medal for the Eastern and silver from the Essex championships. There was also silver for Jacob Alexander with his pb of 52.04s over 400m, for Grace Tremelling in the long jump (5.23m) and Teegan Rayner over 800m (2m 21.23s). Praise here for Laura Durn a vet in the over 45 category for her 2m34.18s.

To the under 15`s and Jack Reid repeated his success in the Southern championships high jump with 1.75m. Fred Ferman put in a pb of 2m 08.95 over the 800 metres for the gold placings. George Dixon, hurdles and Zach Ikharebore came away with bronze medals. From the girls Olivia Mullineaux achieved a pb in the shot putt with 11.40m whilst in this event Saya Saunders was third in the Essex result - a placing also taken by Abigail McElroy in the 60m dash.

To the under 13`s and Breena Dosumu came away with silver medals from the high jump and 60 metres - an event which also saw Jack Armbruster take second place with a pb of 8.34s. There was numerous others putting in personal bests and even reaching the finals and congratulations are due but in general I have had to restrict to those gaining medals.

Essex & Eastern Indoor Day 1 Gallery here

Essex & Eastern Indoor Day 2 Gallery here

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

Medal Success at the UK indoor Champs.

Another excellent performance from Kissiwaa Mensah came from the U K Indoor Championships staged in Birmingham with second place gained in the 200 metres. After wins in her heat with 23.81s and again in the semi final with 23.67s the final brought a time of 23.50s and the first English athlete being behind Alyson Bell from Scotland.

Other Chelmsford athletes at this major championship meeting were Jessica Hopkins placing seventh in the women's shot putt with 13.94 metres,  Thomas Hewes eighth in the high jump with 2.03 metres and Alastair Brown also eighth in the men's shot putt with 14.65 metres - the first under 20 year athlete.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft.