Tamworth Athletic Club Senior A Team competed in their first Division 1 fixture, after getting promoted again last year for the third year in succession, bringing them into the Midlands Elite League.
Tamworth were competing against Birchfield Harriers, Bristol & West / Yate, Cannock & Stafford AC, Notts AC and Rugby & Northampton AC.
The strength of Tamworth AC has increased vastly over the last few seasons and they were looking forward to the new match ups.
After a hard fought competition under a strong sun at Rugby’s athletic track, Tamworth ended up 2nd overall just 22 points behind the winners Bristol & West.
Final positions were;
| Position | Team | Points |
| 1 | Bristol & West/Yate | 358 |
| 2 | Tamworth AC ‘A’ | 336 |
| 3 | Cannock & Stafford AC | 334 |
| 4 | Birchfield | 314 |
| 5 | Rugby & Northampton | 292 |
| 6 | Notts AC | 289 |
Tamworth’s men team saw Harry Everitt back from injury taking 4th in the 100mtrs in 11.4sec and 3rd in the 200mtrs in 23.1sec.
Kane Densley had returned from Cardiff Met University to compete for the team. He was first in his 400mtr hurdles in 56.3 sec, 1st in the 100mtrs in 11.1sec, 3rd in the 110mtr hurdles in 16.6sec, managed a triple jump of 11.16mtrs and was part of the 4 x 100mtr relay.
Greg Richards threw the javelin out to 42.48mtrs for 2nd place and scored valuable points in 200mtrs.
Tom Randolph was first in his 400mtrs and 800mtrs in times of 50.4sec and 1min 57.7sec respectively.
Elliott Jones ran in the 400mtrs and leapt out to 10.89mtrs in the triple jump.
Youngster Max Kent was blooded in the A team for the first time with a run of 2min 15.3sec in the 800mtrs as well as running the 1500mtrs and being part of the 4 x 400mtr relay.
Dr. Stephen Parkes had found time away from the surgery to take first place in the 2000mtr steeple chase in 6min 34.3sec and 2nd in the 1500mtrs in 4min 8.3sec.
Howard Bush was chasing a veteran record in the 1500mtrs, but just missed out running a a time of 4min 45.6sec. He followed this up with 18min 18.8sec in the 5000mtrs.
Scott Hudspith took 3rd place in the 5000mtrs with a time of 16min 51.3sec. Dave Williams took first place in his 2000mtr steeple chase in a time of 7min 54.5seconds.
In the field we saw James Woolley just miss out on first place in the long jump by jumping 6.11mtrs for second place, he also cleared 1.40mtrs in the high jump.
Another pair of youngsters, Ben Hogan and Lewis Johnson, jumped 5.57mtrs in the long jump and 1.65mtrs in the high jump respectively on their first A team outing.
The senior athlete of the team came up to the challenge and we saw Gavin Showell taking second spot in the pole vault with 3.50mtrs, he also heaved the hammer out to 21.71mtrs.
Doug Stark competed whilst carrying an Achilles injury. He took first place in the shot with 13.41mtrs, heaved the discus out to 33.10mtrs and took 2nd slot in the javelin with 47.67mtrs.
Last season’s Field athlete of the year, Alex Berrow, took first spot in the hammer with 47.33mtrs, first in his shot with 11.79mtrs and 2nd in the discus with 28.70mtrs.
The men’s 4 x 100mtr relay team of Woolley, Jones, Densley and Randolph took 2nd place in 45.5seconds. The 4 x 400mtr relay team consisting of Parkes, Randolph, Kent and Hudspith took a well earned 4th place in 3min 46.1seconds.
Tamworth’s ladies competed well with newcomer to the team Lucy Wheeler taking 3rd in the 100m in 12.6sec, 2nd in her pole vault with 1.70mtrs and 3rd in the shot with 7.89mtrs.
Katie Wickett ran a pb in the 100mtrs, took 2nd spot in the 400mtrs in 63.7sec and 2nd in her 800mtrs in 2min 28.3sec.
Olivia Woodward competed in 6 events on the day. She ran 26.5sec for the 200mtrs, cleared 1.40mtrs in the high jump, heaved the shot out to 9.16mtrs, 17.87mtrs in the discus and a personnel best in the javelin of 27.32mtrs. Olivia also ran as part of the 2nd place 4 x 400mtr relay team.
Isabelle Neville took 2nd spot in her 200mtrs in 26.0sec and repeated that in her 400mtr hurdles to finish in 64.2sec. In the field she tripled jumped her way to 9.01mtrs.
Laura Langowski made a welcome return to compete for Tamworth after a long spell at Coventry Godiva. She finished 2nd in her 400mtrs in 58.6 seconds, and was also part of the 4 x 400mtr relay team and the 4 x 100mtr team.
Beth Devonshire ran 19.3sec in the 100mtr hurdles and cleared 1.30mtrs in the high jump.
Emily Findlater doubled up in the hurdles, finishing 2nd in the 400mtr in 70.2sec and 3rd in the 100mtr hurdles in 19.9sec, with a jump of 3.88mtrs in the long jump to finish her day.
Another youngster competing with the seniors for the first time was Eve Clawley. She ran a great race to finish 1st in her 800mtrs in 2min 23.7sec, ran the 1500mtrs in 5min 17.0sec and managed a triple jump of 7.68mtrs.
Charlotte Bush did the long double and ran 11min 33.7sec for the 3000mtrs and 5min 30sec for the 1500mtrs. She finished off with a long jump of 3.94mtrs.
Laura Lewis competed in the 3000mtrs and ran a time of 13min 22.6seconds.
Iona Crameri continued her pole improvement with a vault of 2.40mtrs.
Newcomer to the club Laura Allen, threw the discus 20.59mtrs and the hammer 23.67mtrs.
With hammer specialist Sophie Allen managing a throw of 32.72mtrs. and a javelin of 15.41mtrs.
The ladies 4 x 100mtr relay team of Neville, Wheeler, Devonshire and Langowski finished 4th in 50.3seconds, while the 4 x 400mtr team of Neville, Findlater, Woodward and Langowski ran a great race to just miss out on the win and take 2nd place in 4min 2.9sec.
Tamworth’s next League match is at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on 4th June.
Tamworth Athletic Club 