Report by Gordon Densley

Tamworth AC competed in the 3^rd round of the Midlands County Athletics League Division 2 on Sunday at the Tipton Arena.  Tamworth are driving hard for promotion for the third year on the run, into the top Midlands flight.

Tamworth AC fielded a strong team at Tipton, hoping to finish with a high position at the end of the day.

Tamworth ladies saw Milly Kellyman running into a strong headwind to take 4^th in the 100mtrs in 13.3sec, she also jumped out to 4.39mtrs in the long jump and heaved the hammer 13.77mtrs.

Sophie Allen just about threw everything she could on Sunday, taking 3^rd in the hammer with 31.04mtrs, 13.05mtrs in the discus and 6.46mtrs in the shot.

Another field event specialist on the day was Olivia Woodward.  Olivia started the day with 9.51mtrs in the shot to take 4^th spot.  This was followed by the javelin with a throw of 24.66mtrs for 3^rd place.  Olivia finished in the field with a leap in the high jump of 1.48mtrs, a new personnel best, to take first place.

Iona Crameri competed in her first A team senior league meet in the pole vault clearing 1.70mtrs for 4^th spot and leapt out to 7.20mtrs in the triple jump.

Another newcomer, Charlotte Vincent competed in the long jump and took 4^th spot with 4.00mtrs.  This was followed by an excellent 1.51mtrs in the high jump to take 2^nd place.

Emily Findlater scored well in the javelin with 10.08mtrs, but stood out well in her main event of the 400mtr hurdles.  She finished in first place in a time of 69.1sec.  This was followed up with another first in the 100mtr hurdles in 20.0 seconds.

Olivia Woolley competed in the pole vault, and ran 20.7 seconds in her very first 100mtr hurdles.  She also threw the discus out to 12.06mtrs.

Omolola Ogunnowo was 2^nd in her 200mtrs in 26.5seconds, but then due to a hamstring problem had to pull out of further races.

Isabelle Neville had a storming day winning her 400mtr hurdles in 67.3seconds followed by another first in the 200mtrs in 26.7seconds.

Katie Wickett made her first appearance for the A team and did not let them down.  She ran a well timed 400mtr race to finish in 2^nd place in 64.0seconds.  Katie then ran her 800mtrs in 2min40.2 seconds for 3^rd place.

Charlotte Bush ran a gruelling double on the day, getting a time of 2min 31.3seconds in the 800mtrs followed up with a 3000mtrs personnel best of 11mins 10.1seconds.

The Lewis sisters, Laura and Leanne, both ran the 1500mtrs for valuable points finishing in times of 6min 2.9 seconds and 7min 27.4 seconds respectively.  We are especially thankful to Leanne who turned up to support the team and ended up borrowing kit so as she could compete.

Charlotte Barnard ran her 100mtrs in 15.9seconds and jumped a personnel best in the triple jump with 8.61mtrs. She also finished her 200mtrs in 28.5seconds.

Beth Devonshire took 2^nd place in the 100mtr hurdles with a time of 18.7seconds.

The ladies 4 x 100mtr relay team of Barnard, Neville, Devonshire and Kellyman took 2^nd place in 51.3 seconds.  This was repeated by the 4 x 400mtr team of Bush, Findlater, Neville and Woodward with  a time of 4mins 11.4 seconds.

Tamworth’s men had many stand out performances, led by their decathlete Doug Stark.

Doug competed in seven events on the day.  He started with a first place in the shot with 13.34mtrs, then a long jump of 5.82mtrs for third place, the 110mtr hurdles saw him finish in 16.5 seconds for 3^rd spot.  In the javelin Doug threw out to 47.90mtrs for 2^nd spot, then leapt 11.60mtrs in the triple jump. He then went on to take 2^nd spot in the high jump with 1.80mtrs and finished on a high winning the discus with 40.05mtrs.

Alex Berrow, who returned victorious from Ireland after taking first place in the British Police Champs hammer and shot,  took yet another first place in both events with 50.05mtrs in the hammer and 12.46mtrs for a personnel best in the shot.  Alex finished the day with 28.61mtrs and 2^nd place in the discus.

Gavin Showell took a brace of silvers with a hammer of 21.25mtrs and a mighty leap of 3.50mtrs in the pole vault.

Ricky Hallam managed a second place in his pole vault with 2.50mtrs.

While Greg Richards matched this with a second in his javelin with a throw of 31.84mtrs.

James Woolley leapt 1.50mtrs in the high jump and 6.12mtrs for 3^rd spot in the long jump.

Kane Densley returning from injury took 3^rd place in the triple jump with 11.20mtrs.

Myles Richardson ran 11.3 seconds for first in the 100mtrs, 22.5seconds for first in the 200mtrs and 19.8seconds for first in the 110mtr hurdles.

Jake Allman also ran the 100/200mtr double and finished  4^th in 12.8sec and 2^nd in 24.3 sec respectively.

Tom Ainsworth won his 400mtrs convincingly in 49.5seconds.

Anthony Parkes was first in his 400mtrs in 52.2seconds and 2^nd in his 800mtrs in 1min 59.4seconds.  Owen Sheriff was 2^nd in his 400mtr hurdles in 59.8seconds, whilst Dan James was 4^th in his race in 65.3seconds.

Bikram Singh ran a new personnel best in the 800mtrs to finish at the front of the pack in 2minutes 1.2seconds.

Tom Randolph ran his first 1500mtrs of the season finishing third in 4minutes 13.8seconds.

Scott Hudspith ran the 5000mtrs and finished in 16minutes 26seconds, followed closely by Howard Bush with 17minutes 55.8seconds.

The 2000mtr steeple chase saw Chairman Dave Williams finish with a time of 7minutes 36.1sec and Owen Kent just behind with 7minutes 55.5seconds.

Tamworth men took first place in both relays with 4 x 100mtr team of Ainsworth, Densley, Allman & Richardson finishing in 44.1seconds and 4 x 400mtr team of Richardson, Randolph, Sheriff and Ainsworth with a time of 3minutes 30.2seconds.

At the end of the day, Tamworth finished 2^nd overall just behind Nottingham, with Cheltenham 3^rd, Halesowen 4^th, BRAT 5^th and Newport 6^th.  This leaves Tamworth in a very strong position with one fixture left on 6^th August at Cheltenham, where they will be going all out to get that promotion slot.