Buxton & District Athletic Club

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The intention is to move the news items to this file on a monthly basis.

December 2006

Rick and Kath are Top of their Respective Classes - 21/12/06

There was a very good showing by the Buxton athletes at the Christmas Cracker race last Sunday. Rick Houghton's very good form continued when he finished 8th overall and took first prize in his age group; Rick's time was 54:09. Kath Forder also showed good strength on the hills to emulate Rick age category win as she clinched the Women's prize in her age group. Kath finished 243rd with 1:28:02. Phil Hutson finished 159th with 1:15:30, while Emma Wharton and Sara Nicholson ran together and finished 201st and 202nd, respectively with 1:20:55. Prolific racers, Simon Moorhouse finished 222nd with 1:24:02, just ahead of Ros Barrett and Sheila Bradley who, like Emma and Sarah, finished together in 225 and 226 place, with 1:24:20. Dave Swift came 241st with 1:27:49. Jackie Morson returned to racing and finished 254th with 1:29:27. The race was very well attended, with 362 finishers! A great time was had by all.

Buxton AC Provides Two Category Winners in North Staffordshire Cross Country League - 10/12/06

The club brought home a large number of trophies in the North Staffordshire Cross Country League. Kyle Fowler was the winner in the U15 Boys category. Jenny Jackson and Zoe Bayley finished second and third, respectively, in the U15 Girls category. In the U17 Women's class, Emma Bayley and Verity Burt finished second and third, respectively. Emma Bayley, Verity and Rachel Burt won the Team gold. Steven Ramsay finished second in the U17 Men's class. Rick Houghton finished an excellent third in a very competitive MV40 category. The most surprising, but no less pleased, winner of the afternoon was Stefan Ledin, who won the MV45 category. Congratulations to all trophy winners and to all Buxton runners who competed in the league. Please visit our photo gallery page for a photograph of the Junior Athlete trophy winners.

Excellent Performances in North Staffordshire Cross Country League - 10/12/06

I was very pleased with the way our runners acquitted themselves at the last race in the North Staffordshire Cross Country League, which was held at Leek High School. The course turned out to be quite interesting, with lots of mud, a couple of gentle climbs and a few off-camber turns. The drawback with the course, at least for the senior men, was that they had to cover five laps. But let's get back to the action. Elle Twentyman finished third in the U11 girls race after a spirited finish. Sophie Quince also finished strongly in the same race and clinched 17th spot. Joe Ramsay finished 28th in the U11 Boys race. Jessie Twentyman and Louisa Ramsay competed in the U13 Girls race where they finished 11th and 16th respectively. Zoe Bayley and Jenny Jackson both ran very well in the U15 Girls race to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. The girls were locked together for the entire race, but Zoe's strength paid dividends on the run-in to the finish where she pulled away. Kyle Fowler's run of form continues after he with most of the opposition in the U15 Boys race. Kyle was accompanied by two Stoke runners when they came back onto the finishing field for the first time. However, Jake Guest, of City of Stoke AC, and Kyle upped the pace and ended up dead-heating. Chris Rushworth also ran well to clinch 10th place in the U15 Boys race. In the U17 Women's race Verity Burt put in an excellent performance to finish fifth. Verity was closely followed by Rachel Burt and Emma Bayley in eight and ninth place, respectively. In the U17 Men's race, Steven Ramsay continued to go from strength to strength by finishing an excellent third. Paul Murray (nineth) and Carl Riley (11th) were not far behind Steven. The Senior Men's race turned into a procession for the gifted Simon Bailey who won the race by nearly two minutes. Andy Wilton ran a decent race, finishing ninth, but he was unhappy with his performance, though he has only just got back after the injury which kept him out of the Veteran's International a few weeks back. First Buxton AC runner home was Rick Houghton. He was followed by Stefan Ledin in 56th place, the rapidly improving Terry Fowler in 89th place, Mark Quince in 94th place and Mick Fernyhough in 120th place. This meant that we managed to field a full Men's team in each of the four races, for the first time in five years, The team finished fifth in the Second division. A very good time was had by all.

Results of Stockport 10 - 10/12/06

Simon Moorhouse was our sole representative in Stockport 10. Simon's finishing position was 380th and his time was 1:22:09. The weather was pretty awful, which may affected the times though Dave Norman's 50:59 was pretty quick.

North Staffordshire Cross Country League Race 4 [061209] - 05/12/06

The fourth and final North Staffs XC league race is held on Saturday 9 December at Leek High School. Please note the venue, which is different from the one advertised in AW last week. The races start at 13:00 (U11 Girls). We will meet at Buxton Community School at 12:00, with a view to leave shortly thereafter.

Committee Meeting tomorrow - 05/12/06

This is a gentle reminder that we are holding a committee meeting tomorrow night in the Functino Room in the Railway. The first and main topic on the agenda is to discuss the format of the club championship and which races to select for next year's champs, if we want to continue staging the champs that is! Please come along and make your voice heard.

Results of Tankys Trog - 05/12/06

Tankys Trog, or Marsden to Edale, was held on Sunday last. It's a mere 23+ mile jaunt from Marsden, over Black Hill, Bleaklow and the Kinder plateau. It can be notoriously hard to navigate ones way, especially over Bleaklow and Black Hill. It was very windy and Joanne reported that it's into the wind the whole way. Mark Cudahy finished 12th overall in 3:40, while Joanne Cudahy finished 46th overall, in 4:23, and first lady. Dan O'Brien abandoned after a navigational error on or near Bleaklow and Les Footit completed the course in 4:10 (-ish).

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November 2006

England Athletics East Midlands Newsletter - 29/11/06

Chris Mallender, who is the Development officer for the East Midlands hub at England Athletics has produced a Newsletter describing the activities undertaken inthe East Midlands. Please click here for the November 2006 newsletter or visit our Newsletter page.

Pre-Do Drink [061202] - 29/11/06

Some of us are meeting up for a drink before the sit-down dinner at Michelangelo's. The start will be in Wetherspoon's at around 18:00. Nigel Critchlow is the organiser of the pre-do drink. Emma Wharton has asked us to get to Michelangelo's for 19:50.

Club Christmas Do - 28/11/06

This is THE Christmas Do of the festive season. We are going to Michelangelo's on Market Place. The tables are booked for 20:00, so head down to Market Place for somewhere between 19:50 and 20:00. We will probably meet earlier for a swift half. Nigel Critchlow is arranging the pre-dinner drink, so more details to follow in the next couple of days. Please check back.

Offroad Run Wednesday Night - 28/11/06

Colin Wilshaw is your tour guide at tomorrow's offroad run. Remember to bring your headtorches and wind/rain-proof gear. There will also be a couple of road running groups, to cater for all tastes.

Your Considered Opinion is Requested - 26/11/06

We are holding a Club Committee meeting in the Function Room at the Railway on Wednesday 6 December 2006, starting at 20:15. The main topic for discussion will be the Club Championships: Do we want to keep the current format, are there too many or too few races to choose from, what can we do to jazz it up? We have experienced a Club Championship race congestion in the calendar towards the end of the year. We will therefore decide on the championship races at this Committee meeting (and attempt to spread the race load more evenly) so that the information can go out to all members before Christmas; I'm presuming here that the Championships will be staged in one form or another. Please can you make an effort to come to the meeting and put forward you ideas, both regarding the format and the races.

A Date for the Diary - 26/11/06

The 8-mile Christmas Cracker race, organised by Staffordshire Moorlands AC, is held on Sunday 17 December. You can enter the race online from the Staffs Moorlands AC's website.

Results of Fletcher Cup, Ramsay, Higginbottom and Houghton Stars - 26/11/06

We were very lucky with the weather. The sun was out in force, and it was actually very pleasant in the sunshine even though the wind was strong and cool. The turn-out for the Fletcher Cup was a healthy 13 runners, all setting off at different times. Five runners ran the course clockwise, while the other eight went round the route in an anti-clockwise direction. The opinions over which direction was best differed. I quite liked the clockwise route, but that's because I don't like the descent on the top of Macc Old Road and I don't ind (much) the climb up the railway incline. The winner was Steven Ramsay who finished within four seconds of his predicted time, which also placed second on the day! Winner of the May Morrison Memorial Trophy was Wendy Higginbottom who posted the fourth fastest time on the day. Fastest runner on the day and the only one to break the hour was Rick Houghton, who was just over minute over his predicted time. A BIG Thank You to Jim Bradley who kindly organised the race and spent a very long time getting very cold. A BIG Thank You also to Sheila Bradley who typed up and email the results to me. Please click here for the official and complete results of Fletcher Cup.

Reminder of a Wednesday Night Offroad Run - 26/11/06

This is a reminder that Colin Wilshaw will take a group on an offroad run on Wednesday, so remember to bring headtorches, wind and/or rainproof clothing. I don't know where the route will go, but wherever it takes you it will a cracking run. If you don't fancy going offroad, Fear not as there will be a couple of road groups too.

Results of the Cheddleton 10 km - 26/11/06

Nigel Critchlow was our sole representative at the ever-popular Cheddleton 10 km race in Cheddleton, North Staffordshire. Nigel finished in 26th place with a time of 38:49. There were 372 finishers. Please visit our gallery page for two photographs of wor Nigel, courtesy of Bryan Dale.

Results of the Roaches Fell Race - 21/11/06

It was a day when finishing early was a good idea, because the heavens opened up and drenched the later finishers. Lloyd Taggart (DPFR) found Simon Bailey (Mercia) too strong and had to settle for silver, with Pete Vale (Mercia) in third. Christine Howard (Matlock) won the ladies race from evergreen Sally Newman (Calder Valley) and Jo Waites (Calder Valley). The results of our intrepid Buxton runners were as follow: 62. Roland Meylan 2:35:01, 66. Steven Ramsay 2:36:18, 98. Don O'Brien 2:47:48, 102. Colin Wilshaw 2:48:36, 209. Emma Wharton 3:30:52, 227. Simon Moorhouse 3:58:11.

Emma Bayley and Kyle Fowler shine at Stafford Common - 19/11/06

Stafford Common, the venue for the third race in the North Staffordshire Cross Country League was basking in sunshine, but the strong wind made us feel very cold indeed. However, the performances by our runners warmed my cockles!! Emma Bayley (U17 Women) and Kyle Fowler (U15 Boys) both recorded wins in their races. Jenny Jackson moved up into second place with a fine sprint over the last 25 m, with Zoe Bayley finishing in fifth place in the U15 Girls' race. Chris Rushworth was fourth in the U15 Boys race; this is his highest finishing position in the League. Emma Bayley was ably backed up by Verity and Rachel Burt, who finished third and fifth, respectively. There was a good tussle between Steven Ramsay and Paul Murray in the U17 Men's race, with Steven having the edge on the day. Steven finished second, ahead of Paul Murray in third and Carl Riley in 7th. Elle Twentyman finished with a flurry to cross the line in 4th place in in the U11 Girls race, while Sophie Quince finished 21st in the same race; Paddy Twentyman finished 24th in the U11 Boys race; Louisa Ramsay was 13th in the U13 Girls race. I am very pleased to say that we managed to finish a Men's team for a third time. Rich was first Buxtonian home in 26th place, ahead of Stefan Ledin in 58th place, while fast improving Mark Quince and Terry Fowler finished in 89th place and 115th place, respectively, to close the team with a score of 288. Mick Fernyhough was the fifth and final Buxton runner to finish in 130-ish place - Mick didn't say in which place he finished, so I'm guessing here. The placings are given as I remember them and apologise if I have got it wrong. The individual and team standings will be presented here when the official results are available. Please note that the final race in the series will be held at Leek High School and not as advertised in AW. The race is to be held on Saturday 9 December. The senior men's team (the handsome devils), posing in the sunshine, can be viewed on our photo gallerypage.

Fletcher Cup [061126]- 19/11/06

Our annual handicap race, the Fletcher Cup, is being held on Sunday 26 November. The route starts at the Swimming Bath carpark and goes up Manchester Rod, Over Long Hill, drops down into the Goyt, winds it way up to Derbyshire Bridge, where we turn left to come down Macc Old Road in to Burbage and then down St John's Road back to the carpark. We are discussing the possibility of running the route in reverse as it would be safer, but we will let you know beforehand. You will need to guestimate how long time it will take you to cover the 9.3 (-ish) miles. Your start time will then be set so that you will finish at noon (example: 1 hr run time would mean a 11:00 start). Please see Sheila to sign up and give your estimated runtime. Sheila is down at the Monday and the Wednesday session, or alternative just turn up on Sunday morning. The race wull be followed by a cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate in Pavilion Gardens afterwards.

Round Up of Results from this Weekend's Races - 19/11/06

Nigel Critchlow and Dave Nutton took part in Gill Pimlott Memorial 5 km trail race near Tyldesley. Nigel finished in an exellent eight place with a time of 18:23 and Dave finished 31st with a time of 21:09.

Cross Country Championships - 14/11/06

The entry forms for the Derbyshire County Cross Country Championships and the Northern Cross Country Championships are now out. Please see either Stefan Ledin or Emma Wharton if you fancy having a go. The Derbyshire County Cross Country Championships are held on Saturday 6 January 2007 at Sutton-in-Ashfield. The Northern Champs are held on Saturday 27 January 2007 at Heaton Park.

Website Update - 14/11/06

I have moved news items for October 2006 to the News 2006 page.

Short Recap of the North Staffordshire XC League - 13/11/06

Park Hall Country Park was the venue for the second of four races in the North Staffordshire Cross Country League. The weather was fair, though it was very windy. Unfortunately, we could only field two full teams, in the U17 Women's and Senior Men's races. This was due to clashes with other sporting events. Performance of the day came from Kyle Fowler who stormed away from the rest of the field in the U15 boys race. Jenny Jackson and Zoe Bayley made it a second and third in the U15 girls race. Emma Bayley and Verity Burt made it a fourth and a fifth, in the U17 Women's race, where they were ably supported by Rachel Burt, to extend their lead in the team competition. Steven Ramsay was our only competitor in the U17 men's race. Top scorer in the Men's race was Rich Houghton, who finished 24th. The thhird race in the series is held on Stafford Common on Saturday 18 November.

U13 Girls

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Kyle Fowler	6:43.80	22	Terry Fowler	7:11.40	32	Kaja Teksen	7:26.10	43

U15 Girls

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Jenny Jackson	10:16	2	Zoe Bayley	10:21	3

U17 Women

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Emma Bayley	12:18	4	Verity Burt	12:25	5	Rachel Burt	13:00	9

U11 Men

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Patrick Twentyman	11:04	21	Joe Ramsay	11:43	23

U15 Men

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Kyle Fowler	9:43	1	Chris Rushworth	10:51	13

U17 Men

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Steven Ramsay	19:52	7

Senior Men

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Rich Houghton	39:00	24	Matt Thomson	41:42	52	Stefan Ledin	41:53	54
Paul Drabble	43:01	70	Mark Quince	44:31	95	Mike Fernyhough	46:35	126
Terry Fowler	47:35	145

Click here for the complete official results of the North Staffordshire Cross Country League, with standings in the individual competition.

Website Update - 06/11/06

I have moved news items for July, August and September 2006 to the News 2006 page.

Reminder of the Annual General Meeting [061109] - 06/11/06

This is a reminder that the Annual General Meeting will be held in the Function Room at the Railway, Buxton, on Thursday 9th November 2006. The AGM starts at 19:30. The club will provide buy a drink for each attendee, as an extra incentive to come to the meeting.

Results from the National Cross Country Relays - 06/11/06

The Nationals were held in Mansfield on Saturday just gone. The weather was pretty good with sunshine early on. The breeze got up in the afternoon, but didn't unduly affect the runners. The course was in very good condition with only a few short, muddy stretches.

U17 Women

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Verity Burt	10:57.80	52	Rachel Burt	11:41.65	49	Emma Bayley	10:34.65	39

U15 Boys

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Kyle Fowler	6:43.80	22	Terry Fowler	7:11.40	32	Kaja Teksen	7:26.10	43

U17 Men

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Paul Murray	10:42.25	22	Carl Riley	11:10.10	132	Steven Ramsay	10:45.25	41

Senior Men

Name	Time	Position	Name	Time	Position
Stefan Ledin	18:42.85	127	Terry Fowler	20:37.70	132
Mark Quince	20:19.55	123	Geoff Whitehead	19:34.45	115

Click here for the complete official results of the National Cross Country Relays 2006.

Dates for Your Diary - 05/11/06

Please make a note of the following Cross Country fixtures: The Derbyshire County Championships are held in conjunction with Nottinghamshire at Sutton-in-Ashfield on Saturday 6th January 2007. The North of England Championships are held in Heaton Park on Saturday 27th January 2007. More details to follow.

Round Up of the Results from the Weekend - 05/11/06

It was quite a busy weekend. I don't have the official results from the National Cross Country Relays so will get back with the results and a brief summary of a grand day out! Steve Watson took part in the Through the Villages race near Chorley in Lancashire. Steve had a good run and finished 10th with a time of 49:19. A sizeable group of Buxtonians travelled to Dovedale to take part in Dovedale Dash. I know the finishing order, but not the placings: Rich Houghton, Nigel Critchlow, Roland Meylan, Geoff Whitehead, Wendy Higginbottom and Dave Swift. There may have been more Buxton runners in the race, but these were the ones spotted by my little spy. Rich's time was somewhere in the region of 32:40 and Geoff's time was 33:12.

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October 2006

Change of Venue for North Staffs XC League - 31/10/06

There has been a change of venue for the last of the four races in the North Staffordshire League, which is being held on Saturday 9 December 2006. Leek High School is replacing Westwood High School. I for one will be sad to see the most enjoyable and testing of the courses go, but I'm willing to try something new.

Round Up of the Weekend's Results, part II - 31/10/06

Stephen Lee was our sole representative in Worksop Half Marathon which was held on Sunday just gone. Stephen posted a time of 1:33:04 to finish 228th.

Round Up of the Weekend's Results - 30/10/06

Simon Moorhouse and Philip Leigh travelled to North Wales to take part in Snowdonia Marathon which is run over a very demanding course. Simon Moorhouse finished 718th in 4:32:36 and Philip Leigh finished 806th in 4:43:58. My colleague Mike Deevy finished in 243rd place with a time of 3:49:07. Joanne and Mark Cudahy competed in the Class A category in the OMM (formerly known as KIMM). The weather was variable with poor visibility at times, but they had a pretty good run. They finished 38th overall and third mixed team.

Steven Ramsay Smashes Course Record - 30/10/06

Steven Ramsay claimed first place in Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race yesterday, as reported below. He also went on to improve the course record by a staggering 1:21. That was a very impressive run from one of our very promising junior athletes. There were also fine performances in the Senior race from the other young athletes, namely Paul Murray, Kyle Fowler and Chris Rushworth. In the Junior race, there were excellent performances from Rachel Burt, Adam Sattaur, Emily and Sam Birch and Sophie Quince.

Results from Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race - 29/10/06

The second running of Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race was held in glorious sunshine this afternoon. The race doubles up as one our club championship races. It was pleasing to see that the turnout was much better than last year. We had twentyfive finishers in the Senior race and eight finishers in the Junior race. The pace was fierce from the start in the Senior race. Pretty soon a trio of runners had detached themselves from the rest of the pack. Steven Ramsay, one of our promising juniors, was pushing the pace, with Steve Watson and Rich Houghton in hot pursuit. Steve made inroads on Steven's lead, but Steven worked hard on the climb up to the finish to score his greatest win of his career to date. Steve Watson finished second some 11 seconds down, with Rich Houghton in third. Ro Cole won the Ladies race, from Sheila Bradley and Sarah Nicholson. The Junior race provided a very close finish. In fact so close was the finish, that Emma Bayley and Jenny Jackson were declared joint winners. Verity Burt finished third. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jim Bradley for organsing the race and to all the marshalls who guided us around the course. Click here for the full results of the Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race. Norman Taylor made an interview with Steven Ramsay and myself that will be broadcast on High Peak Radio sometime between 1 pm and 6 pm next Saturday, probably towards the end of the program.

Start Times for National Cross Country Relays [04/11/06] - 27/10/06

Start Time	Age Cat	Start Time	Age Cat	Time	Start Time	Age Cat	Start Time
11:00	U15 Boys	11:20	U15 Girls	11:45	U13 Girls	12:10	U13 Boys
12:35	U17 Women	12:35	U20 Women	13:05	U20 Men	13:10	U17 Men
13:35	Senior Women	14:15	Senior Men	13:35

We would need to leave around 08:30 in order to get to the venue, Berry Hill Park in Mansfield, in time to pick up the numbers and register the teams. That obviously only applies to the junior teams. Seniors can make their own a little later. More details to follow.

Christmas Do [02/12/06] - 27/10/06

There are not many tickets left for the Christmas Do of all Christmas Dos. We are off to Michelangelo's on the Market on Saturday 2 December. Please see Emma Wharton as soon as possible if you would like to join the other party animals. Please pay Emma your deposit, if you have not done so already.

Reminder of Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race [29/10/06] - 24/10/06

The countdown to the Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race has started. The race is on Sunday 29 October. The senior race starts at 11:00 and the junior race starts at 11:10. We'll meet at 10:10 by Buxton Community School or at the little pond at Bunsal Cob. Just remember that we go back to GMT during the night. The course is suitable for fell shoes or possible spikes, though I would recommend fell shoes, which is what I'll be wearing.

Night Runs during the Winter [01/11/06] - 21/10/06

Some of us have already started feeling fed up about pounding the tarmac on each run. It is therefore with great pleasure that I announce that we will be running night runs, head torch optional but recommended, every other Wednesday starting on 1st November. Col Wilshaw will be setting the routes and lead the group. This is an ideal opportunity to try running in the dark, which adds a whole new dimension to the exercise.

Further Information re. Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race [29/10/06] - 20/10/06

The Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race is being held on Sunday 29 October. The senior race over about 5 miles and with 1000 ft of climbing, starts at 11:00. There is also a junior race over about 2 miles, which will start at 11:10. Jim Bradley is organising the event and has produced maps showing the routes. Jim is also looking for people who can help marshalling the races. Please contact either Jim or Sheila to let them know that you help out on the day.

Update on the Christmas Do [02/12/06] - 20/10/06

Emma Wharton informs me that there are seven places left. Please see Emma ASAP if you want to come along to the event of the year. Emma has also requested that those who haven't paid her the deposit do so, as soon as possible.

Reminder of Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race [29/10/06] - 17/10/06

The Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race is being held on Sunday 29 October. There is a senior race over about 5 miles and with 1000 ft of climbing, starting at 11:00. There is also a junior race over about 2 miles, which will start at 11:05 or thereabouts. Jim Bradley is organising the event and has produced maps showing the routes. Please remember that the clocks go back during the night, so need resetting. Otherwise you'll turn up for the start an hour late. It has been known to happen!

Track Session at Northwood Stadium, Stoke [20/10/06] - 17/10/06

Nigel Critchlow is proposing to travel down to Northwood Stadium, Stoke for a track session on Friday 20th October. He suggests to meet at 18:00 by the Railway and then drive down to the track. The cost is �2.00 for a floodlit session. It might be useful if you have a chat with Nigel to let him know that you're coming along. Drivers are always welcome.

Reminder of the Annual General Meeting [09/11/06] - 17/10/06

The AGM will be held in the Function Room at the Railway on Thursday 9th November 2006. The meeting will start at 19:30 or shortly thereafter. All club members are invited to attend. This is an ideal opportunity to have your say in how the club is being run, suggest improvements and generally get involved.

Results from Congleton Half Marathon - 11/10/06

Nigel Critchlow had a storming run to finish 24th with a decent time of 1:24:27. 52nd placed Roland Meylan completed the course in 1:27:56, which I think is a PB for the distance. Dave Nutton was not too far behind Roland in 1:34:28, which was good for 110th place. Simon Moorhouse was the fourth and final Buxtonian to take part in the race. Simon finshed 240th with 1:46:34. Well done, chaps!

Brief Results from Great North run - 01/10/06

Emma Wharton, Sarah Nicholson and Annemarie Claye took part in the running extravaganza that is the Great North Run. Emma's time was 1:46:41, Sarah was just behind her with 1:47:26 and Annemarie was not too far behind them in 1:51:01. Steve Claye was not going to run the GNR due to a knee injury, however, he posted a pretty quick time of 1:32:55. There may have been other Buxtonians racing, but these are the one I know of.

Brief Results from Macclesfield Half Marathon - 01/10/06

The club had four representatives in the Macclesfield Half Marathon that was staged today. Mark Quince was first one home in 1:29:32 (53rd place), Nigel Critchlow finished in 1:31:00 (62nd place) and he was only 20 seconds ahead of Roland Meylan who posted a time of 1:31:20 to finish 66th. Jonathan Sewell was 104th with a time of 1:34:40.

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September 2006

Reminder of Committee Meeting tomorrow - 26/09/06

The postponed Committee meeting will be held to morrow, Wednesday 27th September, in the Function Room at the Railway. We will aim to start at 20.15, prompt. Tomorrow's routes will be selected to ensure that we are back well in time for the meeting.

Windgather Rocks Fell Race - 26/09/06

This is the third and final race in the inaugural Goyt Valley series. It is a real tester over 13.5 miles and there is 2500 ft of climbing. The race takes in most corners of Goyt Valley and is very scenic. The race is held on Saturday 30th September and the start is at 11.00

Uttoxeter Cross Country Races Round Up - 26/09/06

There was a good write up in the Buxton Advertiser last week, courtesy of Terry Fowler. We also managed to get a couple of photographs published as well. The one photograph we didn't get into the paper can be seen below.

Jenny Jackson negotiates the stream at Uttoxeter on 060917

Jenny Jackson making a splash as she's about to cross the stream. Jenny ran an absolute stormer of a race!

Resuls from Meerbrook 15 km race - 26/09/06

Pos	Name	Age Cat	Time	Pos	Name	Age Cat	Time
36	Roland Meylan	SM	1:07:20	40	Mark Quince	MV50	1:07:41
114	Steve Kenworthy	MV50	1:15:40	187	Simon Moorhouse	MV45	1:24:07

It was a good tussle between two in-form runners, with Roland Meyland just getting the better of Mark Quince. Steve Kenworthy had a good run as did Simon Moorhouse, fresh (?) from completing the High Peak 40-miler the previous weekend.

More Results from the High Peak '40' - 17/09/06

Simon Moorhouse informed me that it was he and not Simon Coldrick who took part in the High Peak 40-mile race at the weekend. Simon finished in 9:05, while Phil Leigh came in 30 minutes later. Well done to all Buxtonians (and others) who took part in a really tough event.

A Brief Report on High Peak '40' - 17/09/06

We had a number of finishers in the High Peak 40-mile race held on Saturday. Sheila Bradley finished sixth lady, we think, with a time of 7:43. Emma Wharton was the next buxton runner to finish, in 8:00, with Mark Fitzgerald and Martin Thompson finishing together about 15 minutes later. We know that Simon Coldrick and Philip Leigh also took part, but I have no information on how they got on.

A Day at the Races in Uttoxeter - 17/09/06

I have only had a brief account of how our runners got on in Uttoxeter, the cross country season opener. What I do know is that there was lots of water in the streams and the banks were very muddy! I leave you with a photograph of the Buxton runners. Results to follow.

The Buxton contingent at Uttoexter on 060917

The happy runners in the photograph are (from left to right): Zoe Bayley, Jenny Jackson, Bradley Fowler, Kyle Fowler and Terry Fowler.

Trip to the Track - 16/09/06

Nigel Critchlow has proposed a trip to Northwood Stadium in Stoke on Wednesday 20 September. He suggested that interested runners should meet at 18.00 at the Railway, leaving for the track at 18.15. The cost for the session is �2 per person. Nigel can probably offer a couple of lifts, but it might be a good idea to liaise with Nigel beforehand.

Online entry to the Meerbrook 15 km - 16/09/06

Mick Hall has sent me the URI to the Runners World website from where you can enter the Meerbrook 15 km online. The URI is: Meerbrook online entry.

Committee Meeting and Apologies - 14/09/06

I apologise to all concerned over the cancellation of the Committee Meeting which was due to be held last night. It had completely slipped my mind. However, I shall make another attempt on Wednesday 27 September. I will remind all committee members nearer the time.

Results of Leek Half Marathon - 14/09/06

Four Buxtonians took part in Leek Half Marathon a few weeks back. The results were as follows:

Pos	Name	Age Cat	Time	Pos	Name	Age Cat	Time
86	Jonathon SEWELL	SM	1:37:10	132	Stephen KENWORTHY	MV50	1:43:04
205	Emma WHARTON	L	1:50:44	253	Simon MOORHOUSE	MV45	1:57:36

I will update the Club Championships standings in the next few days.

Official Results of Longnor Races - 14/09/06

The official results are now available from this website, by clicking on Longnor Races 2006. Please note that the results in the Buxton Advertiser, It was in fact Zoe Bayley who won the Junior Ladies race and not her sister Emma.

Trailer for Meerbrook 15 km - 14/09/06

Mick Hall is organising the popular Meerbrook 15 km race on Sunday 24 September. New for this year is that Mick is also organising a junior run in conjunction with the senior race. The junior race is called the Junior Gun Hill run, though it is not the same as the race with a similar sounding name held earlier in the summer. It is possible to enter online, but I can't find the URI at the minute.

Brief report on Longnor Races - 08/09/06

There was an excellent turnout at the Longnor Races on Thursday, with a field in excess of 40 runners taking part. The race was delayed by about 30 minutes by the horses and the motorbikes. Simon Bailey defended his title from last year, finishing ahead of Longnor's own son Andy Wilton. Kirsten Bailey made it a family double by winning the Ladies race from Liz Batt. Paul Murray's fine form continues as he won the junior men's race. Zoe Bayley triumped in the junior Ladies race. The full results will be available from this website tomorrrow.

Longnor Races on Thursday [07/09/06] - 04/09/06

The Longnor Races are on Thursday. We are meeting at 17.30 at the Buxton Community School. Please see if you can arrange a lift as we may be short of transport. I may be able to take one or possibly two runners.

Excellent Performances by Buxton Juniors at Mansfield - 04/09/06

Mansfield Harriers' Open Graded meeting came in the dying moments of the 2006 track season. The weather was very windy, but it was quite warm and above all dry! Emma Bayley set a new PB in the 400 m when she ran 67.2 s; this was despite the fact she has missed a large chunk of training due to injury. Emma also ran a good 800 m where she posted a time of 2:41. Emma's busy afternoon was rounded off in the 200 m, but the times had not been posted when we left. Carl Riley also set a PB in the 400 m when he broke 60 s (59.6 s) for the first time. Carl ran an excellent time in the 100 m, where his 13.1 s was worth considerably more. Carl also ran in the 200 m, but we haven't got his time yet. Paul Murray was on course for a 10 minute clocking for about 1 km of the 3000 m race, but the wind took its toll. His time of 10:28 was still better than he ran early season. Zoe Bayley exceeded her previous best in the triple jump; her best jump measured 8.99 m. Zoe then ran the 100 m, where she battled gallantly against the wind to win her heat in 15.0 s (I think). She qas quite pleased with that performance, but was less happy in the 800 m, despite finishing strongly. Jenny Jackson ran a well-judged 800 m race, avoiding the very fast early pace, and putting a lot of pressure on the winner who just managed to keep Jenny behind her. Jenny's time was 2:32.2. There were to be a battle royal in the 800 m C race where Jamie Fitzgerald, Kieran Spratt and Stefan Ledin were lining up. In the end the fast initial pace by Jamie blew everybody else off the track and he was a comfortable winner in 2:16.8. Keiran and Stefan entered the finishing straight together, but Stefan had no reply to Kieran's final burst over the last 60 m. Keiran's time was 2:29.3 while Stefan was 0.3 s slower. Very good performances all round.

Mark Fitzgerald Completes the Bullock Smithy Race - 04/09/06

This is a brief report from Mark after his epic battle with the distance, 56 miles, and the weather. "I completed the Bullock Smithy yesterday in 13hours 13mins. It was a dreadful start with heavy rain and winds going up towards Edale Cross, but the worst was at the top of Cavedale where the rain and winds were torrential. It dried up later though (about 6pm) For some reason, I did the last half much faster than the first (prob due to the climb and weather). I had loads of support. Al ran with me from Millers Dale to the end. Colin ran from Earl Sterndale to the end. Lloyd even ran the Chelmorton to Earl Sterndale stretch. My legs and feet are now aching as to be expected.

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August 2006

Kyle Fowler Gains Selection to the Young Athletes' Inter-Counties Match - 31/08/06

I am pleased to announce that Kyle Fowler has gained selection to represent Derbyshire in the Young Athletes' Inter-Counties match at Moorways Stadium in Derby on Saturday 9 September. Kyle teams up with Ben Connor in the 1500 m. The team also features Josh Moody in the 800 m.

Bullock Smithy Preview - 31/08/06

Good luck to Mark Fitzgerald who will embark on a 56-mile journey through part of the Peak District. This is the Bullock Smithy race, which starts in Hazel Grove, comes into the Peak District, loops around Buxton and ends up back in the Grove. I believe Mark will be joined by Martin Thomson, who came up to Swaledale Marathon with us three months ago.

Report on the Club '5' road run - 31/08/06

The turnout for the Club 5-mile road race was very good. 25 runners in all lined up at the start, which is the biggest field we have had since I joined the club. This was despite the weather doing its worst. In fairness, the rain held off for most of the race and it was actually quite pleasant. Steve Watson won from Rich Houghton and Paul Murray. The top three runners and Mark Sherratt were more than three minutes ahead of the rest of the field. The ladies race was won by Wendy Higginbottom, from Annemarie Claye and Emma Wharton. I'd like to say big Thank You to Mark Fitzgerald who kindly agreed to do the timekeeping. Thank you must also go to all the runner who turned up! Please click here for the full Club 5-mile race results. I apologise for any spelling errors in advance.

Club '5' road run [060830] - 28/08/06

We're staging the Club '5' mile run along the route of the Carnival '5' on Wednesday 30 August. We will depart from near the Opera House at 19.00 sharp. Meet by the Opera House at 18.50. The finish is by the bollards at the Old Hall end of Broad Walk.

Excellent Performances by Buxton Runners in Stoke City Parks GP - 17/08/06

The fourth and final set of races in the Stoke City Parks Grand Prix were held in Hanley Park yesterday. There were many encouraging performances, with Kyle Fowler finishing second to Andy Marsden with Vinnie Martin, Jamie Fitzgerald and Carl Riley in very close attendance. Steven Ramsay finished a fine third in the U17M race. Also worth noting was Matt Ashby's return to the club. Matt finished fifth in the U17M race and looked strong. Terry and Clare Fowler competed well in the Vets race. Bradley Fowler put on a good sprint for the line in the fun run. Buxton had four race winners on the night with Andy Wilton (honorary Buxtonian) winning the Vet's race in convincing fashion, Sarah Nicholson won the LV40 category, Emma Bayley won the U17L race and Paul Murray won the U17M race. The sun also shone on our runners when the prizes were handed out. Jenny Jackson and Zoe Bayley finished second and third, respectively, in the U15G category, while Emma Bayley won the U17L series. Kyle Fowler shared second place with Vinnie Martin in the U15B category and Paul Murray clinched first place in the U17M series. Sarah Nicholson won the LV40 category and Clare Fowler was third(?) in the LV35 category. Andy Wilton won the Vet's overall and MV45 category and was also the winner of all four races.

North Staffordshire Cross Country League - 17/08/06

This is an advance warning that the North Staffordshire Cross Country League is not far away. We are entering teams in both the ladies and mens league (juniors, seniors and veterans). Let's try to get a couple of teams in each category. Please find the dates (all races are Saturday races) and venues below:

Date	Location	Date	Location
07/10/06	Newcastle-under-Lyne	11/11/06	Park Hall
18/11/06	Stafford Common	09/12/06	Westwood High School, Leek

More details, i.e. start times and travel arrangements, will be posted here and announced at various training sessions nearer the time.

Dates for Your Diary - 13/08/06

Please make a note in your diary for the following events and races:

Date	Event	Location	Start
22/08/06	Taddington Lanes	Taddington	19:30
23/08/06	Wednesday Run	Bull 'i 'th Thorn on A515	19:15
30/08/06	Club '5' Road Race	Meet near the Opera House	19:00
29/10/06	Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race	Bunsall Cob, Goyt Valley	11:00

More details and a reminder closer to the events.

Medal Rain over GB Athletes- 13/08/06

The GB athletes struck a rich vein in Gothenburg on the last day of the European Championships., though not without controversy. This seems like small beer, at least to the Swedes, compared to the scandals that has blown up in Sweden. Firstly one of the Swedish male shot putters got into a spot of bother after having a drink or two too many on Monday night after missing out on a place in the final. Some wellknown Swedish current and ex-athletes have allegedly been caught in possession of drugs of the recreational kind. More news on the scandals and my completed unbiased analysis of the proceedings will follow shortly.

Stokes City Parks GP on Tuesday [15/08/06]- 13/08/06

We will meet at Buxton Community School at 16:45, with the aim to set off shortly afterwards.

Excellent performances by Buxton Athletes on the Summer Series - 13/08/06

Sarah Nicholson and Kyle Fowler won their age categories in Staffordshire Moorlands AC's Summer Series. We had a number of well placed athletes, but the official results are not out yet so I can't give you the exact placings. Watch this space.

Well Done All Hardy Souls - 02/08/06

I must extend a Well Done to all those who turned up on the club run tonight. It turned out to be a thoroughly foul night, with strong winds and near-incessant raining. I love running, but the weather just took the edge of the enjoyment tonight.

Website Update - 02/08/06

I have moved the news from June 2006 to the News 2006 page.

Countdown to Gothenburg - 01/08/06

The opening ceremony of the European Athletics Championships is only five days away. I'm still looking forward to the games despite all the negative publicity for the sport in the press. It's clear that we have a drugs problem in athletics. I'm not sure what we can do to eradicate the use of drugs in sport, be it cycling or athletics. I'd like to think that we're in a for a real treat sports-wise.

Unrest in the Camp - 01/08/06

The Olympic Games are coming to London in 2012. Everybody's rightly very excited about the prospect of one of the premier sports events coming to these shores for the first time since 1948. However, we have set ourselves a tall target of finishing at worst fourth in the medal table. Athletics has traditionally provided a lot of success, both in the sprints and in the middle and long distance events. I can definitely see signs of improvement in the performances of GB athletes, especially in the 800 m for both women and men, but will it be enough? There has been a lot of harsh words being said over the last year or so with respect to the new shape sport of Athletics. Matthew Syed wrote a piece in today's The Times, Tuesday 1st August 2006. Apparently there is yet more unrest in the sport. Syed suggested that there might be some major changes in personnel in UK Athletics. Lord Coe has been named as a possible successor to David Moorcroft. Should this change come to pass, there is bound to be more changes of personnel in the pipeline. Whichever way you look at it, it's not an enviable task steering UK Athletics. The division within the sport is clear for all to see. It may all seem fairly calm at the moment, bu tlooks are deceiving. To quote one of my old coaches Frank Simmons on a dispute within the club, "We have buried the hatches. In each other's head!"

Another One Bites the Dust - 01/08/06

The drugs cases come thick and fast at the moment. Some of you may be aware that Floyd Landis who won the Tour de France has given a positive result on one of the drugs tests during the race. The B-sample is to be tested sometime this week. Asafa Powell looks set to become the sole holder of the world record over 100 m after it was revealed that Justin Gatlin also returned a positive drugs test. The drug in question in both cases is either testosterone or one of its derivatives. Sadly, neither cycling nor athletics come out of this smelling of roses.

SMAC Summer Series at Cheddleton - 01/08/06

The penultimate race in the Summer Series is held on Thursday 3rd August at Cheddleton. We will meet at 18:00 by Buxton Community School. Please bear in mind that a large number of people, who normally offer lifts, are away on holiday, so do your utmost to secure your own lift as we cannot guaranteed to get you to the race.

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July 2006

Results of Pride Park Relays - 25/07/06

I must extend the performances of the day to include Paul Murray (10:51) and Mark Sherratt (11:00), but I think all athletes put in jolly good performances. It warmed my cockles! Please click here for the full results of Pride Park Relays 2006.

Buxton Belles Excel at Pride Park Relays - 24/07/06

It was very hot and sunny evening in Derby. This affected the times which were slightly down on last year. Buxton Ladies team put in an excellent performance at the Pride Park Relays tonight. The rewards for Sarah Nicholson, Annemarie Claye and Wendy Higginbottom were two-fold, as they not only finished third in the open race, but also more importantly won Bronze medals in the County Relays. Wendy and a group of runners went the wrong way so lost a bit of time. However, Wendy showed the same strong team spirit as Annemarie and Sarah and pulled back one of the Derby AC teams to clinch third place. We also fielded two Men's teams and a Veteran's team. Our A-team finished 10th overall and fifth in the County Championships with a time of 43:48, our B-team finished 23rd overall/12th in the Championships in 50:29. Our Veteran's team posted a time of 47:19 which earned them 17th overall and fifth in the Championships. The performance of the night came from young Matt Thomson who was the only Buxtonian to go under 11 minutes (10:40-ish). More results as they become available. I'm very pleased with the turn-out and performances of all our athletes. I think I speak for the whole group when I say that we had a whale of time.

Club Committee Meeting Tomorrow - 18/07/06

The next Committee meeting is held tomorrow Wednesday 19 July at 20:15. The venue is the Function Room in the Railway pub in Buxton. All members are welcome to attend.

Kajsa Bergqvist is On Song - 18/07/06

Kajsa Bergqvist is hitting top form at just the right time. Kajsa won the high jump at Swedish National Championships which were held at the weekend. Kajsa cleared 2.04 m to lead the world in 2006.

Buxton Carnival 5-Mile Road Race, Revised and Final Results - 17/07/06

I have received a couple of corrections and spotted a couple of errors myself. The final and official version of the results can be downloaded here: Carnival '5' results 2006. I must also take the opportunity to apologise for not mentioning Denbigh Harriers in my brief report on Saturday. Denbigh Harriers sent a large contingent of runners, a dozen in all!

Encouraging Performances at the European Trials - 17/07/06

There were some excellent performances at the European Trials at SportCity over the weekend. I will not list all of them, but highlight the ones that are close to my heart. Nicola Sanders posted a swift time in the 400 m - 50.72. Beecky Lyme coped well with the expectations to win the 800 m in a time just outside two minutes, from Jemma Simpson and fast finishing Amanda Pritchard; this was probably the most exciting of all middle distance races. Andy Baddeley won an exciting 1500 m in 3:39. The time was not all that quick, but it was a good race all the same. Helen Clitheroe won the 1500 m in 4:09, still just outside the European qualifying standard. Hattie Dean won the 3000 m steeplechase in 9:52, which is a new PB. Kelly Sotherton won the long jump with 6.51 m. Finally, Marlon Devonish and Joyce Maduaka clinched the double in the men's and women's sprints, respectively. The performance of the championships may have been Phillips Idowu's 17.50 m in the triple jump or Greg Rutherford's 8.26 m leap in the long jump. More results can be found on the UKA website.

Buxton Carnival 5-Mile Road Race - 15/07/06

It was an excellent day for road racing, if you were a spectator. The weather was hot, with sunshine and a bit of a breeze. Stars to watch out for were Andy Wilton, our local hope representing Staffs Moorlands AC, Pumlani Bangani and Tarus Elly from Salford Harriers, plus a whole host of Dark Peak Fell Runners, Stockport Harriers, Boalloy RC and a large contingent of Buxton runners. It was encouraging to see so many juniors taking part. The hot weather took its toll on many runners and the winning time was a few seconds slower than last year. I shall not keep you in suspenders any longer; Andy Wilton won the race by a comfortable margin of 22 seconds over Messrs Bungani and Elly. Eleanor Robinson of Ripley RC ran an excellent race to win the Ladies competition from Sarah Nicholson and Annemarie Claye from Buxton & District AC. It brings me great pleasure to announce that Paul Murray and Emma Bayley, both representing Buxton & District AC, won the Junior races. Dark Peak Fell Runners (Kevin Lilley, Shaun Marsden and Phil Winskill) and Buxton & District AC (Sarah Nicholson, Annemarie Claye and Emma Bayley) won the Men's and Women's team competition, respectively. The full (but still preliminary) results from today's race can be downloaded by clicking Carnival '5' results 2006. The club would like to give a big Thank You to Jo Royle Outdoor on Market Place for their continued support. I would like to thank Jim Bradley who organised the race in a very efficient manner. I would also like to extend a Thank You all those who helped out on the day. It would not be possible to stage the race without your help.

Just for Al! - 15/07/06

The Rome Golden League Meeting was held last night. There was no terrestrial or satellite broadcast, to my knowledge, so on the request of Al Fitzgerald here is a brief run-down of the results. Susanna Kallur, one of Sweden's Golden girls, set a new PB and taking some notable scalps in the 100 m hurdles where she triumphed with 12.52 s. Kajsa Bergqvist, another of the Golden Girls, cleared 1.97 m, which was good for a third place in the high jump, which was won by Blanka Vla�ic. Kenenisa Bekele won a competitive 5 km in 12:51.44 and 10 runners broke 13 minutes. American quarter-miler (400 m actually) Jeremy Wariner is edging ever closer to the times set by his mentor Michael Johnson; Wariner posted a very swift 43.62 s. Bershawn Jackon is posting fast times, 47.86 s, in the 400 m hurdles. Kenyan Daniel Kipchirchir Komen just edged out Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain in a very fast 1500 m, with both runners breaking 3:30 (3:29.02 and 3:29.14)

Saturday's Social Event and Buxton Carnival - 11/07/06

The interest for a quiet meal on Saturday was low, and we probably left it too late anyway as most restaurants would be fully booked by now. Sarah Nicholson and I have therefore voted for a 20:00 start in the Kings Head on Market Place. We are likely to move on from there, but various mobile phones will be switched on so you can monitor our progress and meet up with us a bit later should you so wish. More details to follow, perhaps.

SMAC Summer Series Race at Shutlingsloe - 11/07/06

The next race in the Summer Series goes over Shutlingsloe and starts, I believe, near the visitor's centre in Macc Forest. Meet at 18:00 at the Buxton Community School. Bring insect repellent because the midges grow to the size of well-fed sparrows in that neck of the wood.

Excellent Performances in Stoke City Parks GP - 11/07/06

Buxton runners were very much to the fore tonight in the third race in the Stoke City Parks Grand Prix in Fenton Park. Jamie Fitzgerald and Kyle Fowler finished third and fourth in the U15B 2000 m and where closely followed by Chris Rushworth. Jenny Jackson got the better of Zoe Bayley in the U15G 2000 m race, and I reckon the girls were fifth and seventh, but I can't guarantee the accuracy as I missed some of the finishers. Rachel Burt's fine form continues as she was not far behind Jenny and Zoe. Paul Murray won the U17M 3000 m race. Emma Bayley was second in the U17W race, with Verity Burt a short distance behind, though in fairness Verity may have gone the wrong way, but we're not quite sure where she went off course. Andy Wilton ran out an easy winner in the Vet's race. He moved clear after 50 m and spent the rest of the race in splendid isolation. Michelle ? from Stoke ran an excellent race to finish second overall, with Rebecca ? finishing second lady and fourth overall! Terry Fowler improved on his best for the course by 1 minute in the combined Ladies and Veteran Men's race over 5000 m. Sarah Nicholson finished ahead of her rival in her age group and extended her lead in the overall standings. Clare Fowler improved her best time over 5 km by a substantial margin and was very chuffed.

Lausanne GP and a New World Record - 11/07/06

Liu Xiang of China set a new World Record in the 110 m hurdles tonight. Liu Xiang's time was 12.88 s, which is a 0.03 s improvement on the old record which was held jointly by Liu and Colin Jackson. American Arnold Dominique finished second and also broke the world record with 12.90 s. Xavier Carter, a new American sprint sensation, ran 19.63 s for the 200 m dash, in legal wind too. That is the second fastest time ever, bettered only by the mighty Michael Johnson! Yelena Isinbayeva vaulted 4.90 m and looked pretty good technically too. Christian Olsson continues his way back from injury; he won the triple jump with 17.62 m in tought opposition, with seven of the world's best jumpers present. Seven men jumped beyond 17 m and Phillips Idowu finished seventh with 17.06 m, so Phillips is finally finding the form we know he is capable of. Chaunte Howard won the Ladies high jump on countback with a 1.99 jump. Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya won the 800 m in 1:56.66, just holding off a resurgent Maria Mutola of Mozambique and Zulia Calatayud of Cuba, with all threee ladies breaking 1:57 and seven of the eight runners breaking 2:00 and the last runners just missing out by 0.08 s. Yelena Soboleva continued the Russian dominance in the 1500 m with a fine run and was rewarded with 3:58.60, which is not the world Lead but is pretty swift all the same. Helen Clitheroe and Hayley Tullett finished eighth and ninth, with 4:07.67 and 4:08.33, respectively. Both lasses just missing out on achieving the European Championship qualifying standard of 4:05. Marion Jones won the 100 m and went under 11.0 s, with 10.94 s. Michelle Perry ran a very swift 12:43 for the 100 m hurdles, which I reckon might just be the World Lead. Tatyana Lebedeva is unstoppable in the triple jump where her best jump measured 15.19 m for a handsome winning margin of 34 cm. Barbora �pot�kov� of the Czech Republic won the Javelin Throwing competition with 65.89 m.

Bamford Fell Race Tomorrow - 11/07/06

Bamford fell race is being held tomorrow. The race starts at 19:30 from the sports field. The route winds its way up to the top of Win Hill, which is followed by a mad descent back down to the sports field where the finish is situated. Register before 19:00.

Round Up of Results - 10/07/06

Pip Peakman and partner Samantha Hulbert finished 35th in the Carrrock category in the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon, which was held around Grasmere just over a week ago, on that very hot weekend! It was exceedingly tough with steep ascents and descents, hot weather which meant that a record number of teams abandonded. Pip's legs appear to have recovered sufficiently to carry her round the Peak Forest fell race route on Sunday just gone. Pip finished 64th with 59:11. Also running in the race was Annemarie Claye who finished 52nd place with 55:21. Well done, ladies. I may as well do a bit of name dropping, because I can. An old chum of mine, Kevin Lomas (AKA the legend), from Charnwood AC teamed up with his daughter Katie and acquitted themselves very well in the Harter category where they finished 11th. Kath Farquhar, another training buddy of mine from Charnwood, and her partner came 20th in the Kirkfell category. I'm pretty sure I also spotted a former colleague of mine, Sean O'Sullivan, who teamed up with his wife Clare and finished 45th in the Carrock category.

Goyt Valley Challenge - 10/07/06

We changed our minds on the long run and choose to do the Goyt Valley Challenge route instead of the advertised second half of Otter's '40'. This involved no faff with transport and would allow people to peel off as and when they so wished. The weather was okay for a long run, e.g. not too hot. We did have to contend with a bit of rain and a savage headwind, especially on the climb from Combs Village up to Whitehall. The least favourite part of the run was when we had to traverse across a field with liquid cow muck, which was quite aromatic. Though I can't see it make it as a scent for an award winning perfume. Emma and Rick peeled off along the route, both having covered a substantial part of the route. Steven, Sheila, Mark and Stefan arrived back in Buxton in very good condition, if a bit tired. Sheila's estimate was that we had covered around 23 miles. A very good time was had by all!

England Call Up for Derbyshire Athletes - 10/07/06

Lloyd Taggart and Christine Howard who have both shown very good form during the Spring and early summer have been selected to run for England at the Snowdon Internatinoal Mountain Race on Saturady 22nd July. Tim Austin has also been selected to run on the 'A' team. Good luck to our Derbyshire representatives and to the rest of the lads and lasses on the teams.

Calling All Relay Runners - 04/07/06

I would like to remind all runners that we are looking to enter teams in Pride Park Relays (Derbyshire County Champs) and FRA Relays (National Relays).

Otter's Forty, Part II - 04/07/06

We are off to Castleton for the second half of our circumnavigation of the forty mile course, formerly known as the Otter's '40'. Please talk to Sheila Bradley or myself, Stefan, if you are planning to come along. This will help us sort out the transport. Details of start time and meeting point to follow on the website on Thursday or Friday, so please check back for the latest update.

Results of Mansfield Half Marathon - 04/07/06

Terry Fowler was our sole representative in Mansfield Half Marathon on Sunday. Terry made his debut over the distance and recorded 1:38:33 for 189th place. Terry said that he felt very good until just past 10 miles, after which it just seemed a bit of a slog.

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June 2006

Captain Salty On Tour - 29/06/06

A few of the club's party animals are going out tomorrow to paint the town red. Kick off is at 21:30 in the King's Head on Market Place. The title may seem oblique, but does make sense though I guess you had to be there.

All is Well That Ends Well! - 29/06/06

I am very pleased to report that Sid made it back to the Railway, even though it was at 5:30 in the morning. The residents of High Peak Hall of Residence took him in overnight. Sid is now back in Tideswell with Steve and Annemarie.

Resounding Win for Sarah's Law in the Railway Quiz - 29/06/06

A crack team from the club secured a fine win in the Railway Quiz on Wednesday night. The winning team consisted of Sarah Nicholson, Rich Houghton, Nigel Critchlow, Mike Turner and Stefan Ledin. Colin's team, Colin Wilshaw, Sarah Nicholson, Nick Gould and Mark Sherratt, finished in second place a mere two points off Sarah's Law. You may wonder about Sarah appearing in two teams. It's all legal. Honest, Guv! Sarah's second claim for Colin's team.

PBs Galore for our Juniors - 27/06/06

Jenny Jackson reduced her PB over 1500 m by over six seconds. The new PB stands at 5:14. Well done, Jenny.

Otter's '40', part II - 27/06/06

Fancy having a go at the second half of the Otter's '40' route, from Castleton to Buxton? We are squaring the circle on Sunday 9th July. We would be grateful if you let either Sheila Badley or me, Stefan, know if you're coming along so we can sort out the transport.

Round Up of Results from the Weekend's Races - 26/06/06

Verity and Rachel Burt did very well in the Race for Life 5 km in Tatton Park on Sunday. Verity finished fifth and Rachel was 11th. Well done, Girls! James Selby just missed out on a PB in the 1500 m when he recorded 5:01 at the YAL fixture in Hull. Carl Riley is really on song, as he not only set a PB over 100 m but also set a new PB over 800 m with 2:22 at the same fixture. More details to follow as I receive them.

Update Results of Chrome Hill Fell Race - 26/06/06

Mark Sherratt has kindly provided me with more information on the outcome of the Chrome Hill race on Saturday. Rich Houghton finished third overall and first MV40, Mark himself was fourth and Roland Meylan finished 17th. That's an excellent performance by the lads and ladies, though I'm still eagerly awaiting the official results.

As Seen on Telly (or in the Fellrunner to be Exact) - 25/06/06

Young Mr Wilshaw has appeared in the latest issue of the Fellrunners Magazine. The photo was taken at this year's Kinder Downfall. I believe he's modelling the latest in woolly hats for it was one miserable day up on Kinder.

Recap of the Weekend's Events - 25/06/06

It was a pretty busy weekend. Chrome Hill fell race was held yesterday. I don't know any placings or times, except that Rich Houghton was first Buxton runner back. Others taking part were Jackie Morson, Roland Meylan,...

A contingent of Buxtonians travelled to Bakewell this morning for the annual Pudding race. Again, pretty hazy on the old details, but Stephen Claye (48 min) was the first Buxtonian back, followed by Stephen Ramsay (51 min - sling and all), Mark Quince (also 51 min but behind Stephen) and Terry Fowler (53 min). Sarah Nicholson won the Women's race, I think. Annemarie Claye is beginning to hit good form again, ducking under the hour. There was also an eyeballs out sprint for the line between Ros Barrett and Dave Swift, a sprint which unsportingly Dave won - what about gentlemanly behaviour? Chivalry is dead - Official!!! Performance of the day was posted by young Bradley Fowler who pulled out all stops to come an excellent second in the U13 boys race! Well done, Bradley. Also running were Louisa Ramsay and Michael Swift? Kyle Fowler and Carl Riley travelled to Hull for the Northern Premier Young Athlete's League fixture. Kyle Fowler ran very well in the 1500 m where he equalled his recent PB of 4:35. Carl Riley yet again set a new PB; this time Carl recorded 12.7 s in the 100 m. I will bring more details and results when I have them.

Pride Park Relays (24 July) - 25/06/06

This is a lovely little road relay comprising of 3x2 miles for the ladies and 4x2 miles for the gents. The relay encircles Pride Park stadium in Derby and is held on Monday 24 July. It is also the County Road Relay Championships. We fielded one team each in the Ladies and Men's competitons last year. A very good time was had by all. I would like to think that we could field two men's teams (one vet's and one senior) and at least a ladies team (I reckon the ladies could have taken a medal had they been running in the Vet's race).

FRA Relays (14 October) - 25/06/06

The pinnacle of fell relays are the FRA National Championships which are held on the Castle Carr Estate near Luddenden in Yorkshire on Saturday 14th October. We last competed in these relays in Langdale in 2002. It was a very enjoyable crack. We need two soloists and two pairs, i.e. six runners in all, though I would love to have two teams competing. Col's navigational skills means that his name is already down for the navigation leg. Any other takers? Please see either Colin Wilshaw or Stefan Ledin. We are looking for females and/or males, be they seniors or veterans.

Squaring the Cirle? - 25/06/06

A good sized group of us completed the first half of the Otter's '40' route at the beginning of May. The intention is to complete the route by running the second half of the race on Sunday 9th July. More details to follow.

Results of Kinder Trog Fell Race - 23/06/06

The weather was kinder to do the runners this year and the course records were soundly beaten by Lloyd Taggart of Dark Peak Fell Runners in the Men's race and by Jackie Lee of Eryri Harriers in the Women's race. Our sole representatives were Colin Wilshaw who finished 75th with 2:28:04 (an improvement by about 1 hour on last year's performance) and Joanne Cudahy who finished 99th with 2:36:04.

Amended Results of Boar's Head Fell Race - 23/06/06

Sincere apologies to Mark Sherratt for missing him out in the results earlier in the week. Mark finished in 21st place with 51:52, thus finishing just ahead of Nigel Critchlow.

Start Time for Chrome Hill Fell Race - 22/06/06

There has been some confusion over the start time for the Chrome Hill Fell Race on Saturday 24 June. The correct time is that listed in the fell calendar, e.g. 14:00 (or 2pm in old money). I apologise for the confusion.

Andy Wilton Boy Done Good - 18/06/06

It brings me great pleasure to bring you the news of the success of evergreen Andy Wilton. Andy travelled to Horwich this morning to compete in the British Masters 5 km Championships. Andy's time of 15:39 was nearly ten seconds quicker than last year and he finished 9th overall, which also an improvement on last year. More importantly though, Andy won the MV45 category, with the only caveat that Paul Freary may be a MV45 (though I reckon he's MV40), in which case Andy will be second. Nevertheless, Andy secured a richly deserved medal, and I hope it's of the golden variety. It couldn't happen to a nicer bloke!

Very Brief Results of the Russian Championships - 18/06/06

Followers of International Athletics (and in a much more modest capacity) this website will be well aware of the riches of talent in the Russian Women's middle distance events, especially in the 800 m and 1500 m. This was no more evident than in a phenomenal 800 m final in the Russian Championships at the weekend, with four runners inside 1:58 and another two runnners inside 1:59! Yulia Chizhenko won the race in a world leading time of 1:57.07 and was very closely followed by Svetlana Kliuka (1:57.21), Svetlana Cherkasova (1:57.23) and Olga Kotliarova (1:57.24). That must have been one hell of sprint for the tape. I'm showing my age there - of course a finishing tape is no longer used in track racing! The Women's race over 1500 m didn't provide quite as close a finish, but the times were still very good: Yelena Soboleva (4:00.47), Yevgenia Panteleeva (4:00.81) and Olga Yegorova (4:01.).

Sweden Came Up Short in the European Cup - 18/06/06

Sweden produced some fine performances in the European Cup in Prague this weekend. However, the Belgian team showed great strength and secured the win by five points. Christian Olsson is begining to show excellent form in only his second competition for 21 months; He won the triple jump with a leap of 17:40 m and the winning margin was a healthy 50+ cm. Alhaji Jeng won the Pole Vault with 5.70 m, Johann Wissman won the 200 m in 20.56 s and Mattias Claesson won the 800 m in 1:48.33. Robert Kronberg took his sixth victory in the 110 m Hurdles. Robert's time was 13.59 s. Linus T�rnblad secured a win in the High Jump with 2.27 m, beating the current World Best holder Svatoslav Ton in the process. In the other European Cup group, the greek triple jmuper Dimitris Tsiamis won the competition with an excellent 17.55 m! There were few really fast times in any of the middle distance events as these turned into true run races (to use Big Bren's vernacular) with tactics playing a very important role. The European Cup Premier Division competition is held in two weeks time, I think, when the GB teams will be in action.

Results of Boars Head Fell Race - 18/06/06

The only survivor of the Lyme Park series, the Boars Head race saw a strong contingent of Buxtonians taking part. Young Matthew Thomson, one of the finds of the year, continues to run strongly. Matthew's time of 50:31 earned him a 12th place in a very strong field. Nigel Critchlow was second Buxtonian back in 25th place with 52:33. Roland Meylan, another relative novice over the fells finished 65th with 58:15, just ahead of Colin Wilshaw in 70th place, 41 seconds some behind Roland. Adam Burford was the next finisher from the club in 89th place with 62:56. Mike Turner finished 107th with 66:26 and Caroline Taylor, who was our only female competitor, finished 121th with 69:12.

Results of Edale Country Fair Fell Race - 18/06/06

Last year, the Edale race was an English and British Championship counter, with literally 100s of runners. The size of the field was down to normal again, with 130 finishers. Colin Wilshaw finished 59th with a time of 50:15 and Phil Leigh finished 110 with 59:16.

Results of Calver Peak Fell Race - 16/06/06

Stephen and Annemarie Claye were our only representatives in Calver Peak Fell Race. Stephen's verdict was that it was quite a tough course. Stephen finished 27th with 38:00 and Annemarie was 99th in 47:22. The Men's race was won by Tim Austin representing Dark Peak FR while the Women's race was won by R. Proctor of City of Norwich. I'd like to mention that Lloyd Taggart continues to run very well. He finished 3rd in the Ennerdale race in the Lake District.

Correction of Date for Derbyshire T & F Mini League - 16/06/06

There appears to be some confusion over the date for the third Mini League Fixture. The fixture takes place on Saturday 8th July and not tomorrow!

Results of Rainow '5' Fell Race - 15/06/06

Please visit the Results page for the finishing positions of the Buxton runners who took part in the Rainow '5' race. It was an excellent turnout with 11 Buxtonians taking part and with three finishers in the top 16!

Derbyshire Mini League on Saturday 17th June at Moorways Stadium - 15/06/06

The next Track & FieldMini League fixture is held at Moorways Stadium in DErby on Saturday 17th June.

New Level 1 Coach - 15/06/06

Congratulations to Mark Quince who has now joined the rank of Coaches in the Club. Mark Quince passed the Level 1 course a couple of weeks ago.

Website Update - 15/06/06

I have shifted the news from May 2006 to the News from 2006 page.

Charity Do at the Railway Pub - 14/06/06

The Round Table group in Buxton is organising a Charity Do at the Railway Pub on Friday 23rd June. The theme is Grease; you know Olivia N-J and John T, Pink Ladeezes, etc. The tickets are �7.50 and can be purchased from Huw and Friends' hair salon on Dale Road. The money raised will go to a children's playground in Buxton and to a Cancer charity (can't remember the name of it offhand). Rich Houghton's got four tickets, so you'll have to be quick.

A Date for Your Diary - 14/06/06

A group of us completed the first half of the Otter's 40-mile course at the beginning of May. The second half of the run is scheduled for Sunday 9th July, when we will run from Castleton to Buxton. More information to follow. I have ordered decent weather!

Reminder Committee Meeting - 13/06/06

There is a committee meeting tomorrow night. We will start at 20.15 at the latest. The venue is the Function Room at the Railway Pub.

Il Purgatorio? - 13/06/06

The morning of Saturday 10 June was fine and sunny, giving a hint of the weather to expect during the Swaledale Marathon. It was merry band of Buxtonians who had descended on the beautiful village of Reeth. There were a few nerves on show during the preparations in the Camping Barn in Askrigg. The waterproofs seemed a bit of overkill this fine morning, but a kit check would take place at the registration so skimping on the kit was not an option. After a brief excursion to the river to tickle the trout (that's my story and I'm sticking to it), we finally lined up. There were some anxious faces in the crowd. Everybody could see the track leading up to Fremington Edge. A bried road section and then "Wham" the climb would hit us where it hurts, right in the quads! The bell rang and we were off. One runner pulled away almost immediately. The rest of us set off at a more sensible pace, with many walking up the first climb as a warmup. I came up onto the edge, where the going was pretty good, and a group of about four runners stayed together. We arrived at the first checkpoint, where we stocked up with water. Then followed another road section to the second check point, after which we began the long, unrelenting climb up to Punchard. I had passed a couple of runners and were now into my stride. The heat was palpable, but the breeze kept us relatively cool. A traverse over the moors, followed by a short descent and we arrived at the halfway point at Level House. I'm not entirely sure what position I was in, but I think I might have been in eighth/ninth place at that point. Another climb up to another checkpoint, after which followed a long stretch of mostly downhill running, where a group of four of us were making good progress. A local lad took us down a couple of steep fields towards Gunnerside Beck. We ended up on a bouldery path right on the water's edge and my calf muscles began to tremble a bit. I knew that it was now only a matter of time before the muscle cramps would set in. The checkpoint in Gunnerside was welcome sight. I picked up water and trotted off. The climb out of Gunnerside is not the hardest on the run were it not for the fact that it comes after about 17 miles. My calf muscles were cramping up and my shuffle deteriorated to a walk. I took the opportunity to pull out my secret weapon from my backpack - jelly babies. If the jelly babies didn't work their magic, I would be in serious trouble. I was passed by a couple of runners, who were making good progress. Soon the quads in the right leg joined in, cramping up badly. Then the muscles along the shins cramped up, in sympathy no doubt. Suddenly even walking was no longer possible. I began to despair. I tried a bit of stretching. Another few runners had passed me by this time. As the last of these runners went past me, I made a decision - it was a do or die moment. I began to shuffle ever so gently and to my delight the muscles were cooperating. I caught up the runner ahead of me. We then stayed together for over three miles. I was pleased to be making progress at a pace faster than very slow walking pace I feared I would have to adopt. Ros had warned me about a very steep descent and ascent with a stream crossing in the last three miles. She wasn't wrong. It was an experience to descend down a slippery slope on wobbly leg. Anyway, I made it up the bank on the other side and felt sure that finishing was a certainty. However, my leg muscles threatened with another brief cramp attack, just to make sure that I wasn't getting too cocky! After the final checkpoint, I descended down a rocky path which dumped me out on the outskirts of Reeth. I shuffled down the slope, turned up towards the village hall and was greeted by applause. I slunk into the village hall. I had completed the course, finishing in one piece. I came 14th with a time of 4:03, quite some time behind Stewart Gregory who won the race by 25 minutes. I was too tired to care about the time or the placing. I wobbled about a bit, knocking back water and orange squash. I went to get some food and found both talking and staying upright a bit of a struggle. The lovely lass, who was dishing out food, told me to go and sit down and she would bring the food out to me. I was very grateful for her kindness! I polished off the food, took onboard more liquid and wandered out in the sunshine to watch and cheer the runners on as they came to the finish. It was a very pleasant atmosphere. I am pleased to say that all Buxtonians and friends finished in pretty good state. Al Fitzgerald and Martin Thomson finished 14 minutes behind me. Mark Fitzgerald came in shortly after that, closely followed by four of our lasses, Emma Wharton, Sheila Bradley, Pip Peakman and Louise Handley. Jayne Denby had left sister Becky Jellis behind, had then caught Ian Hulse at the half-way point and finished very strongly. Becky came in a few minutes later. Ian Hulse appeared a little later. The general consensus was - we must do this again! Please turn to our results page for the results. A very good day was had by all! A Big Thank You to the organiser, the marshals and the lasses in the kitchen! A Big Thank You to Jayne Denby for bringing the race to our attention and a Big Thank You to Ros who sorted out the Camping Barn. Sadly, Ros could not come along due to a persistent injury.

Results of Derbyshire County Schools Track and Field Championships - 13/06/06

The weather was hot and sunny at Moorways, the venue for the Schools' County Championships. A number of young Buxtonians were in action, with a some very good performances. Josh Moody won the U15B 800 m with 2:03.70, which is a new Championship Best Performance. Ben Connor won the U15B 1500 m with 4:34.3, followed by Ben Rowland in 4:38.9. Kyle Fowler finished 5th with 4:49.9. Zoe Bayley finished third in the U15G 800 m, with a time of 2:49.4. Jenny Jackson finished fifth in U15 1500 m race with 5:35.5. Carl Riley's excellent form continues, as he set a new PB in the U17B 200 m; his time was 25.5 s, an improvement by 0.8 s. Anthony Lacey ran close to his PB in the U17B 400 m - 61.0 s. Jamie Fitzgerald set a new PB of 2:16.4, an improvement by 4 s, in the U17B 800 m. Lydia Burgess' leap of 4.53 m earned her a second place in the U17G Long Jump. Emma Bayley finished third in the U17G Triple Jump with 8.18 m. Chris Rushworth finished 29th in the Junior Boys Pentathlon a few weeks back. Jenny Jackson was sixth and Katie Morten was 20th in the Junior Girls Pentathlon. Anthony Lacey was 8th in the Inter Boys Octathlon, a mere four points off the seventh spot. Verity Burt finished fifth in the Inter Girls Heptathlon, where she posted the second fastest 800 m time.

Swaledale/Derby: Here We Come! - 09/06/06

Some of the Juniors are competing at the Schools County Championships at Moorways in Derby tomorrow, Saturday. There are places in the English Schools up for grabs. There is quite a contingent of Buxtonians travelling to Swaledale for the Swaledale Marathon. An extensive and exclusive report will follow in the very near future. Good Luck to all those who are competing this weekend. Don't forget the sunscreen!

Brief Report on Staffs Moorlands Summer Series Race 1 - 08/06/06

The first of ten races in the Staffordshire Moorlands Summer Series was held at Tittesworth Reservoir tonight. The weather was hot and sultry. The Buxtonians turned out in force. Bradley Fowler and Joe Ramsay were running in the Fun Run and both did very well. Emma Bayley was third in the Junior Girls' race, just ahead of Jenny Jackson. Zoe Bayley was only a few seconds behind Jenny. Verith and Rachel Burt follwoed shortly afterwards. Amy Taylor made her debut in the series and finished just ahead of Louisa Ramsay. Paul Murray was fourth or fifth, while Jamie Fitzgerald was sixth tonight. Jamie was closely followed Carl Riley and Kyle Fowler. James Selvey and Chris Rushworth had a tussle, with James coming home a few seconds and two places ahead of Chris. Lee Seddon finished ahead of Kieran Spratt. Luke Addison showed very good form to finish ahead of Khem and Adam Sattaur. Josh from our Saturday group also raced in the Junior race. Josh ran very well and seemed to enjoy himself. Terry Fowler was the first Buxton runner home in the Senior Race. He was followed by Liam Brown, Ros Barrett, Omar Sattaur and Debbie Rushworth. Placings and times to follow.

Very Brief Account of the Rainow '5' Fell Race - 08/06/06

The only results I have to hand is that Ro Cole finished second in the Ladies race and that Matt Thomson and Mark Sherratt both produced excellent performances to finish ninth and 14th, respectively. There was a massive field of over 170 runners. It must be the fine weather we're having coupled with a nice course.

Preliminary Results of Stoke City Parks GP Race 2 - 08/06/06

It was almost too hot for racing on Tuesday. We had a good turnout of Buxton Juniors. I can only guess at the placings as I didn't see some of the runners as they were finishing. My best estimate: Emma Bayley won the U17W race and Paul Murray won the U17M race, both over 3 km. In the U15B race, Jamie Fitzgerald was third, Kyle Fowler was fourth and Carl Riley finished 5th, behind two Staffs Moorlands lads (Vinny Martin was second). James Selvey was probably around eighth to 10th, with Chris Rushworth a couple of places behind him. Bradley Fowler and Edward Selvey were also running in that race. Zoe Bayley was fourth or fifth in the U15G race. Zoe was closely followed by Jenny Jackson. Rachel Burt ran very well and showed a fine turn of speed down the finishing straight. The Old folks race, including Senior Ladies, saw Stefan finishing around 15th, after dying a thousand deaths on the last lap, Geoff Whitehead squeezed every last ounce of energy out his legs to stay ahead of Terry Fowler. Geoff was probably around 20th and Terry a further six or so places back. Sarah Nicholson found it hard going but ran very well as did Claire Fowler. Winner of the Old Folks race was Andy Wilton, while Ray Plant won the Senior race. There were only a handful of runners in the Senior mens' race - a dozen or so runners in total. The World Cup hasn't even started yet!

Apologies for my Negligence - 08/06/06

I apologise profusely to Sarah Nicholson for missing her out on the results from the first City Parks Race. Sarah finished 62nd and won her age category, with a time of 22:26. Sarah then set a PB over 5 km on the roads at the Race for Life event in Bakewell. Her time was 21:22, I think.

Stoke City Parks GP Race 2 - 05/06/06

We are meeting at 16:45 by Buxton Community School. The races are held in Tunstall Park. The start times are as follow: U15 2 km - 18:15, U17 3 km - 18:35, Senior and Veteran Women and Veteran Men 5 km - 19:00, Senior Men 5 km - 19:30.

Update on the Junior Fell Championships - 05/06/06

Kyle Fowler was competing in the third of six races in the Junior Fell Championships at High Rigg in the Lake District. Kyle was going well, but had to easy off the pace with a bad stitch. Kyle finished eleventh. One of the Norman brothers, Bisto or Oxo (?), won the senior race and setting a new course record into the bargain.

There Must Be Something Wrong with My Watch - 05/06/06

Paul Koech, one of the Kenyan steeplechase supremos, set a new World Best for the 3000 m steeplechase at the Gala in Prague tonight. Koech's time was 8:17.76. I have been assured that is indeed the best time this year, though I find that hard to believe. Surely someone must have run quicker than that somewhere?

Meseret Defar Improves the Women's 5000 m World Record - 04/06/06

Meseret Defar, one of the formidable Ethiopian female middle distance runners, took 0.15 seconds off the World Record (and over four seconds off her PB) in the 5000 m. The new time stands at 14:24.53. Other fine performances at the New York GP were posted by Justin Gatlin with 9.87 s in the Men's 100 m and Marion Jones' win in the Women's 100 m, where she clocked 11.06 s. Meanwhile, Alistair Cragg, an Irishman who is upholding the fine Irish traditions of middle distance running, set a new PB by four seconds in the Men's 5000 m. His time of 13:08.97 makes him one of the favourites (if not THE favourite) to lift the European title in August.

Excellent Performances by Buxton Juniors in Macclesfield - 04/06/06

The third fixture of the Young Athletes' League Northern Premier division was held at Macclesfield today. The weather was intermittently very warm and there was a bit of headwind on the finishing straight. Our youngsters took all this in their stride. Carl Riley set a new PB in the 200 m with 26.3 s. Zoe Bayley took nearly two seconds off her PB in the 800 m, which now stands at 2:46.3. James Selvey just missed out on a sub-5 minute clocking in the U13B 1500 m, with 5:00.9, winning the race by well over 30 s. Jamie Fitzgerald was in a classy U17M 1500 m race, and he fought gamely to record 4:40.6, an improvement on his previous best time by nearly 6 s. Paul Murray was disappointed with his run in the U17M 3000 m, but he gave it his best shot going with the leader early on, which may ultimately have cost him a few seconds because the opening kilometre was very quick, well inside 9:00. Verity and Rachel Burt finished second and third in the U17W 3000 m. Jenny Jackson finished third in the U15G 1500 m recording a time of 5:25-ish. I suspect it might be quite close to her PB. Emma Bayley ran a very gutsy leg in the 4x300 m relay, bringing the Chesterfield team right up to the leader. I will return with more information when I have it. The juniors did us proud. I'm also pleased to report that Chesterfield won the fixture from strong teams like Macclesfield, Nestle Rowntree and Blackpool & Fylde, thus more or less ensuring that the team stays in the Northern Premier next year. Well done, all Buxtonians and Chesterfieldians (?) who took part.

Ramsay Rules in Wincle - 03/06/06

The fine weather brought out the runners in droves. There were around 300 runners in the senior race, which caused no end of problems as some runners ended up racing without numbers. Though I have to say that the organisers coped admirably. It did mean that a few more trouts bought it. Steven Ramsay claimed victory in the junior version of the Wincle Trout fell race this afternoon. He built up a commanding lead early on and was never challenged. The times on the preliminary results are wrong as the second runner home, Jamie Lewis (?) of Staffs Moorlands, was given the same time, though Steven's lead was a good half minute. Chris Rushworth finished a fine third and made great inroads on the Moorlands runner on the final climb towards the finish, but couldn't quite bridge the gap. Zoe Bayley ran very well in the heat to finish in third places in the girls race and seventh overall. Louisa Ramsay, with a big smile on her face when she passed me, finished 35th and Jimmy Hyland was not far behind Louisa, though I don't have his placing to hand. The senior race was won by evergreen Malcolm Fowler (MV40 no less) of Cheshire Hill Racers. New boy Roland Meylan had a good run and finished around 80th. Rob Hyland was ahead of Roland, but I don't know his finishing position. Alan, Steven's dad, also took part, but the results were not available. A good day was had by all.

Ro Cole is Hitting Good Form - 03/06/06

Ro Cole has been beset with injury problems, but seems to be rounding into very good form again. Her second place in the Shutlingsloe fell race on Bank Holiday Monday is clear evidence of her recovery.

Excellent Performances at Bislett Games - 02/06/06

The first of the Golden League meetings were held at Bislett in Oslo tonight. Sadly, there was no television broadcast on either satellite or terrestrial stations. Pity, for there were some smashing performances by the athletes on a cool evening. I can only give you a brief recount of the events. Isaac Songok of Kenya outsprinted Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in the 5000 m, with the winnner recording 12:55.79. The first five men went under 13 minutes. Jeremy Wariner was challenged by Chris Brown of the Bahamas in the 400 m, yet the World Champion won it quite comfortably in a quick time of 44.31 s. The British sprinters posted reasonably quick times in the 100 m, Mark Lewis-Francis (10.28 s), Marlon Devonish (10.29 s) and Jason Gardener (10.37 s) but none of them got through to the final where Asafa Powell clocked 9.98 s, having already run a 9.96 s in the heat. Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen thrilled the Norwegian crowd with a massive 91.59 m Javelin throw to set a new National Record. Alex Chipchirchir, Kenya, won the 1 mile race in 3:50.32, just holding off the fast finishing Ivan Heshko of the Ukraine. Nick McCormick, the Morpeth Harrier, ran a fast time, 3:55.60, for sixth place, while Neil Speaight, representing Belgrave Harriers(?), run a slightly disappointing 4:07.03. Irving Saladino of Panama inflicted a rare defeat on Dwight Phillis in the Long Jump where the former jumped a very respectable 8.53 m. Chris Tomlinson is yet to capture the form that saw him set a new GB record a few years back; Chris managed 7.68 m tonight. Debbie Ferguson continued her fine run of form by winning the 100 m in 11.22 s. Kim Gevaert of Belgium won the Women's 200 m in 22.58 s, with Brits Emma Ania in fifth place (23.38) and Abi Oyepita in eight in 23.56 s. Sanya Richards of the USA won the 400 m in very good time, going under 50 s (49.82 s). Nicola Sanders posted the seventh fastest time of 51.81 s. Commonwealth Games champion Janeth Jepkosgei won the 800 m with 2:00.51, just holding of Rebecca Lyne, who was yet again so close to breaking the magical 2 minutes barrier (2:00.67 this time), with Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair (2nd in the CG) a further 6 hundredths of a second back. The wonderful Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba is back on form with 14:30.40 clocking in the 5000 m, a race which she won by over three seconds from her sister Eyegajehu and Kenya's Edith Masai. Norway's Susanne Wigene warmed the crowd with a clear sub-15 minute run (14:52.68). Brigitte Foster-Hylton won the 100 m Hurdles with 12.70 s, with a blanket finish between the next five runners (a mere 0.1 s covering the five). One of my many favourites, Susanna Kallur finished fourth in 12.86 s. Kajsa Bergqvist is yet to find her form, as she equalled her outdoor season best of 1.93 m in the High Jump. This was only good for a fourth place on the night, when Croatia's Blanka Vla�ic won on countback from Tia Hellebaut of Belgium on 1.98 m. Sweden's Emma Green, who finished third in World Champs in Helsinki, is not jumping well at all at the moment. Her best jump on the night was 1.85 m. She's in good company as Chaunte Howard, the American who finished runners up in Helsinki, only cleared 1.89 m. There was much better news for the Swedes in the Long Jump where the lovely Carolina Kl�ft secured a win with a 6.67 m leap.

Young Athletes' League - 02/06/06

The next Young Athletes' League meeting is at Macclesfield on Sunday, 4 June. A large number of our youngsters, both girls and boys, are again representing Chesterfield AC. Good Luck to all youngsters.

Summer has Arrived - 02/06/06

We were treated to lovely sunshine and semi-decent temperatures today. The forecast for tomorrow is even better with more sunshine and 20 �C. Make the most of it, this may be our summer of 2006.

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May 2006

Nigel Critchlow is the Collator of Club Championship Results - 31/05/06

Nigel has kindly offered to be the collator of the club championship results. Please make his life easier by sending him the results promptly after the race. The onus is on the runners competing in championship races to ensure that a copy of the results is obtained by leaving an addressed envelope + appropriate fee, unless the results are available on a website.

Results of Buxton Half Marathon - 31/05/06

This is the final(?) version of the results of the Buxton Half Marathon sponsored by the Bull i' th Thorn pub on the Ashbourne Road. There are a couple names missing, so if you recognise your time, but can't find your name, I would be pleased to hear from you. Please feel free to send me an email if you find that your name has been misspelled. Email: info(at)buxtonac.org.uk, please note that (at) is to be replaced with the @-sign.

Results of Shining Tor Fell Race - 29/05/06

On a dry and surprisingly pleasant evening over 180 runners from all corners of the bog empire descended to Errwood reservoir. This being the first of a series of three races organised by the Goyt Fitzgerald European Wine and Chocolate Society.

The start went straight up from the old oak tree and then up to Pym Chair where spectators could hear the traditional grunt of a fell runner "u u u a uu aa". Upon reaching Pym Chair the race headed to Shining Tor where several if not all runners developed trench foot, and even our own Matt went down to his waist in one bog.

After leaving Shining Tor we were greeted by the familar tone of Nigel C who ever encouraging stood whilst several running struggled to open the kissing gate for fear of having to be held to the Derbyshire tradition of offering goods to a hardy Buxton tradesman to enable them to pass through. Rumour has it that he made in the region of �1.67, one sock, a used tea bag and several telephone numbers (all from men).

Then it was downhill all the way to the back of Errwood Hall slip sliding along the way. Then we were again met with a short but subtle climb onto Foxlow Edge which as it happens was guarded at bottom and top by two Buxton officers, one of whom is getting hitched at the weekend. Then it was a good run all the way to the finish; well not quite a little road of the uphill kind at the finish to climb and then we were greeted by two fair maidens at the finish line. The results are a bit of a blur but Lloyd T came second, Rick H came approx 15, then the superb finish of youngish Matt 26 ish (a excellent run given it was his first fell race, and about his fourth ever race. Then Mark and Geoff, followed by Colin, Mark Q, Ro then John D and Pip. all ran well and I think enjoyed it. A big Thank You to the organisers and to the marshalls. A great race on our doorstep that should receive support from the club.

Results for all Buxtonians can be found on our results page. The complete results can found on the Goyt Valley Series website, courtesy of Mark and Al Fitzgerald and Lloyd Taggart.

Slightly Revised Results from Buxton Half Marathon - 29/05/06

Please find the slightly revised preliminary results from the Buxton Half Marathon sponsored by the Bull i' th Thorn pub on the Ashbourne Road. I foolishly said that the final results would be available today. I ask your indulgence as there still are some outstanding issues that require clarifications. The outcome of the race is final and further amendments will not alter that.

Harry Potter's got a thin one - 29/05/06

Someone, whose shall remain nameless, recounted a recent trip to Manchester. Our friend thought that he might as well stock up on pants while in Manchester. He spent a very, very long 10 minutes in the queue agonising over the fact that he was about to purchase boxers in size small. Would the young lady at the till shout out, "We've got a small one here!". He shouldn't have feared the humiliation. The young lady didn't even bat an eyelid! Anyway, our friend claims that his friend hasn't shrunk, but that all the running has made his waistline decrease by a substantial amount. Yes, of course! That must be the explanation. It was suggested that the new pants with Harry Potter motif might be suitable. I don't think our friend was taken in by that idea.

Buxton AC Do Buxton - 29/05/06

A large group of us made the short trip to Michelangelo's for a very nice meal. Nigel was a bit disappointed that there was no time for an icecream. However, we're due to meet the rest of the gang in the Kings so we were a bit rushed; well, not really. We went on to Chatters afterwards. There was a band on so there was no space available for bopping, but a good time was had by all.

Brief Round up of Results - 29/05/06

Carolina Kl�ft made her comeback in G�tzis after nine months of rehabilitation and build-up since her injury in the annual competition aginst the Finns in August 2005. Her form is not as good as in Helsinki, but she won the competition quite convincingly and is definitely on the up again. Though her strongest events were the throws rather than the jumps or the track events. Stefan Holm showed better form this evening when he cleared 2:26 m to finish third in the High Jumpin Hengelo. Svatoslav Ton of the Czech Republic set a new World outdoor best with 2.32 m. A very good run by Rebecca Lyne brought her ever so close to the magical 2:00 "barrier" in the Women's 800 m. Rebecca won the race in 2:00.04, which I am pretty sure is a new PB. Andy Turner was third in the 110 m Hurdles with 13.61 s. Emma Ania ran a strong 100 m race to finished second, albeit some way behind Marion Jones who competed in Europe for the first time in two seasons, if my memory serves me right. Emma Ania's time was 11.59 s, while Marion Jones recorded 11.19 s.

Preliminary Results Buxton Half Marathon - 28/05/06

Please find the preliminary results from the Buxton Half Marathon sponsored by the Bull i' th Thorn pub on the Ashbourne Road. I stress that these are preliminary results. The official results will be available tomorrow, as I need to do another check of the results. Thank you to all who turned up. Thank you to Colin Wilshaw for organising the race and Thank You to all seniors and juniors who helped out on the day. A longer report will follow tomorrow. I'm off to the pub!

Buxton Half Marathon - 27/05/06

You can still enter the half marathon tomorrow morning. Registration opens at 09:00am in Pavilion Gardens. I have ticked the box for "good running weather", but can't make any guarantees about the weather. I look forward to seeing you in the Gardens tomorrow morning!

Two New Level 2 Coaches - 21/05/06

It brings me great pleasure to announce that Wendy Higginbottom and Dave Swift both passed their exams on Saturday and are now fully fledged Level 2 coaches. Congratulations to Wendy and Dave! We won't mention the hopscotch! No, my lips are sealed.

Results of Great Manchester Run - 21/05/06

Further to the results of the Junior races; 5. Kyle Fowler 08:20, 7. Jamie Fitzgerald 08:23, 139. Nathan Fowler 10:48 (91st in age cat.), 362. Bradley Fowler 12:32 (191st in age cat.). Amy Hall finished 149th overall (74th in her age category) with 12:55. Caelan Chambers posted a time of 53:17 for 6683rd place. Some of you may have seen Kyle Fowler at the start of the Junior Boys race in the Sunday Grandstand program this afternoon.

Sweden are Crowned World Champions in Ice Hockey - 21/05/06

I know this is a running site, but I thought you might like to know that Sweden became the first nation to clinch the Olympic Gold and then become World Champions in the same season. Sweden beat the Czech Republic 4-0 this evening. It was good day for the Nordic countries with Finland taking the Bronze after beating Canada 5-0.

Results of White Peak Marathon - 21/05/06

Mark Fitzgerald competed in the White Peak Marathon yesterday. The weather was atrocious, with parts of the course pretending to be a river, with all the rain we had yesterday. Despite the weather, Mark was five minutes quicker than last year. Mark's time was 3:54:45 and he finished 110th. My old training chum Jim Morrison of Charnwood AC finished 126th in the full marathon in 4:06.06. Al Fitzgerald, brother of Mark and Jamie, finished 19th with 1:27:31 in the Half Marathon which is run in conjunction with the full marathon.

Excellent Performances in Great Manchester Run - 20/05/06

Kyle Fowler and Jamie Fitzgerald both ran very well in the Junior races, which are part of the Great Manchester Run. The junior athletes compete over 2500 m. Kyle finished fifth and was closely followed by Jamie in sixth place. I don't have the times to hand, but will post these here in the near future. Well Done, Lads!!

More School Cup Results - 20/05/06

In Buxton Community Schools Junior Girls team, Jade Hanlon, Tonni Ennis and Francesca Hulme all competed well. Jade ran the 200 m in 34.3 s and throw the javelin 8.2 m, Tonni ran the 75 m Hurdles in 16.4 s and high jumped 1.11 m while Francesca Hulme put the shot 5.42 m. We must also report the performances by our athletes competing for Chapel High School. Rachel Burt and Jenny Jackson ran the Inter Girls 1500 m. Their times were 5:50 and 5:20, respectively, which I think amount to two new Personal Bests, by some margin! Jenny Jackson also long jmmped 4.12 m. Katie Morten competed in the Junior Girls 200 m and Discus; her time was 30.2 s and she threw the discus 14.8 m. Well done, girls! Jamie Fitzgerald competed in the Inter Boys 1500 m and Long Jump (3.30 m). His 1500 m time was an excellent 4:46 - a PB!

Court & Social - 20/05/06

I've got two important announcements to make: Congratulations to John and Lucy Davies on the birth of their third child. It's a little boy by the name of Adam. Mother and child are reported to do very well. Many of you will already know this, but Joanne Phizacklea and Mike Cudahy are getting married next Saturday. About time, too! Did it all start at the FRA Relays in Langdale in 2002?

Website Update - 20/05/06

You may like to visit our gallery page where the Troika, a.k.a. Young Master Wilton, Speedy Fowler and Carthorse, can be seen at the County Championships last weekend. Please also note the Wetton and Manifold 10 km, which is held on Saturday 22 July. More information on the latter to follow. We had our largest number of visitors to our site on Monday - 291 in all. It is very pleasing to see that so many of you come to our site. I hope that we manage to satisfy your hunger for news and views (however irreverent!).

Olympic Ambassadors for the High Peak - 20/05/06

Two of our athletes, Verity Burt and Caelan Chambers, have been selected as Olympic Games Ambassadors for the High Peak. All the coaches are now lining themselves up for the free tickets to the Athletics competitions in London in 2012. Stuart Cameron, a promising young middle distance runner, was also one of the four successful applicants. There is a picture depicting the four Ambassadors in this week's advertiser. Caelan Chambers has also been invited to officiate at the European Indoor Championships to be held at the NIA in Birmingham in March 2007.

Update on the Swedish Athletes - 20/05/06

Christian Olsson has missed the better part of 18 months due to a persistent foot injury, which he contracted when winning the Olympic Gold Medal in Athens in 2004. Many operations and appointments with various specialists later it appeared the Christian's done with triple jumping, if not with athletics. However, the latest news is that the latest scare was not a recurrence of the injury, but a relatively minor strain. Christian's ambition is still to compete in the European Championships which are held in Gothenburg (Christian's home town). Jenny Kallur, who finished second to her twin sister Susanna in the 60m hurdles at the European Indoor championships, has had problems with an injury, which has curtailed her training drastically. Jenny is still hoping to be in tip-top shape for the Europeans in August.

Correction to the School Cup Results and More - 20/05/06

Antony Lacey's official time for the 400 m was 61.3 s and not as previously reported. I think it's a PB nevertheless. Jack Gregory ran in the 1500 m were he recorded a time of 5:20. Both Antony and Jack also took part in the triple jump where they hopped, skipped and jumped 10.03 m and 7.98 m, respectively. I previously mentioned a trio of athletes taking part in the Multi-Event Championships. They will be joined by Chris Rushworth and Kaya Teksen.

Report from Shady Oak 10 km - 18/05/06

This race has been revived by Goyt Valley Striders. Our man in the race, Colin Wilshaw, reports:

As the evening approached the weather worsened and as the Buxton crew assembled the first issue of the evening was to get the banned substance "Mars Bars" as none had tea. After a journey in a local contractors van to the accompliment of Muse`s new track we meet up with other members at the Shady Oak PH. After settling in the pub and the weather getting worse, the start was upon us. After a short section of road, in which time the speed merchants had embarked the rest of the pack collectively decided that as the weather was worsening it was time to get this over and done with. The route made it way from the Shady Oak to the Beehive at Coombs whilst refreshment from the hostelry would have been welcome. We found as usual no one would own up to having any money. Then followed section of some 1.5 km on a rough track, whereby locals were enable to embark on the historically ancient skill of puddle splashing. After leaving the Beehive we headed to Whitehall which is a good climb and with the weather getting wetter and wetter, the drinks station was a hastely passed. After leaving Whitehall as short climb through the gap then downhill-ish all the way back.

First back to gain warmth was a Wilmslow boy Michael Halman in 37.25, and then the Buxton contingent started to flow in: Rick Houghton 4th in 40.38, Nig Critchlow 13th in 42.28, Don O'Brien 18th in 44.03, then the two gentlemen of the club who must have wasted a good 20 sec's debating "after you, no after you" Colin Wilshaw 37th in 48.35 and Dave Nutton 38th in 48.36, then the newcomers Roland Meylan in 53rd with 51.39 followed as always by Mike Turner in 74th place in 55.46.The entrants numbered 102. The full results can be downladed from Goyt Valley Striders' website.

All ran well given the conditions underfoot, and following the prize giving in which Rick got 1sr V40 and Colin a spot prize of a umbrella, the beer began to flow and the tales of wo and battle began. Ensuring that again another race had experienced the Buxton contingent.

Thanks very much go to the driver and marshalls and the hippies in the back and all that thought about going but didn't. It's well worth the effort.

Addendum to the Results from the School Cup - 18/05/06

Antony Lacey set a new PB in the 400 m with a time of 60.6 s yesterday. Verity Burt, Lydia Burgess and Antony Lacey are competing in the Multi-event School Champs on Wednesday and Thursday next week at Moorways in Derby. Good Luck to the three brave souls! A number of our young athletes are competing in the High Peak Trials on Monday at Chapel High School. Good Luck to all who are competing. Furthermore, a number of our youngsters are competing for Chesterfield AC in the Young Athletes League on Sunday. A number of PBs were set last time out. It'll be interesting to see if their good form continues. On their recent showing, I would say a resounding Yes!

Corrections of Results - 18/05/06

I accidentally credited Carl Riley with a new World Record in the U17M 200 m race at the Counties. The time was right (13.0 s), but the distance should have read 100 m. Silly me! Also I missed out the U15G 200 m where Zoe Bayley finished 5th in 31.50 s and Rachel Davenport 7th with 34.80 s.

Results of the Stoke City Parks Grand Prix Race at Longton Park - 17/05/06

The complete results of the first race in the Stoke City Parks Grand Prix series in Longton Park on Tuesday 9 May are now posted on the Staffordshire Running website, maintained by Mick Hall, while the Buxtonian placings can be found on our results page.

Half Marathon Social Event - 17/05/06

We are making a trip to Michelangelo's on Market Place in the evening of the Half Marathon on Sunday 28 May. We will meet at 19:00. Please let Emma Wharton know if you would like to come along. We have reserved 20 places. Further details will be posted on nearer the date.

Buxton Juniors Do Well in Schools Competition - 17/05/06

A number of Buxton junior athletes competed in the Schools Cup at Moorways Stadium in Derby this afternoon. Chris Rushworth was disappointed with his 1500 m race in the County Champs on Saturday. However, Chris bounced back with a vengeance when he finished second in the Year 7/8 race, a mere thickness of a vest from taking the win. Chris was awarded the same time, 5:00.0, which is a improvement of 13 s on his previous best time! Chris also took part in the Long Jump where he jumped 3.77 m. Kyle Fowler ran the 1500 m (Y 9/10) and recorded a time of 4:43, but I don't know his position in the race. Kyle also jumped 3.36 m in the Long Jump. Lee Seddon ran the 1500 m (Y 9/10) and posted a time of 5:13.0 and threw the discus 10.60 m. Y 7/8 athlete Ryan Sircar ran the 75 m Hurdles in 17.90 and threw the discus 12.46 m. Kai Fenwick ran 200 m (Y 9/10) in 29.3 s. Rosina Al-Shaater ran the 1500 m in 7:22 and high jumped 1.11 m. Rachel Davenport ran the 100 m in 15.9 s and Hannah Gardener ran the 200 m in 36.6 s. Rachel and Hannah then competed in the 4 x 100 m relay, where the team finished in 1:04.1. I know that Jack Gregory took part in the competition, but have no details on how he got on. There may be other athletes, but I promise to bring you the rest of the results when I have them. The Junior Boys finished 5th out of 10 teams, the Junior Girls finished 8th out of nine teams and the Inter Boys finished 7th out of 10 teams. Results provided by Caelan Chambers.

New Collator of Club Championship Race Results - 17/05/06

Stefan Ledin will take over the Club Championship results collator's role with immediate effect. I would like to take this opportunity to extend a Big Thank You to Joanne Phizacklea for her diligent collating over the last few years. I shall attempt to have an updated version of the Championship standings by the end of the weekend.

Derbyshire County Championships where Coaches Lead by Example - 14/05/06

The second day of the County Championships was blessed with cool temperature, a gentle breeze and light drizzle. Undeterred, the Buxton posse competed very well indeed. Terry Fowler, not being content with a Silver and Bronze medal, made it a complete set with a masterful piece of 400 m running. This was Terry's first run over 400 m and he was rewarded with a Gold medal and an excellent time of 57.2 s. Andy Wilton and Stefan Ledin finished first and third in the 3000 m. Andy's time improved the Championship Best Performance by a couple of seconds to 9:07.3. Stefan's time of 10:15.3 was somewhat slower than at Blackpool, but judging by Stefan's inane grin at the medal presentation would suggest that he was quite pleased nevertheless. Zoe Bayley came fifth and Rachel Devenport was sixth in the U15G 200 m with 31.50 and 34.80, respectively. Zoe also finished just outside the medals in the U15G 75 m Hurdles with 15.60 s. Jenny Jackson finished seventh in the U15G 1500 m; Jenny's time was 5:33.6. Jenny's Long Jump of 4.15 m earned her a fourth place, almost within the grasp of a bronze. Emma Bayley ran in the U17W 200 m where her time of 30.50 earned her sixth place. Verity and Rachel Burt posted very good performances in the U17W 1500 m where Verity was sixth in 5:35.7 and Rachel was seventh with 6:02.1 - I think that the girls may well have set new personal bests.

One of the best races of the afternoon was the U15B 800 m where all the main protagonists had made it to the final. Josh Moody was definitely a class apart as he wound up the pace and left the rest of field to fight it out for the minor places. Kyle Fowler was in contention for a medal, but was just run out of it over the last 100 m, when he finished seventh. Kyle's time was 2:19.3 which was identical to the time he ran in the heat. Jamie Fitzgerald made his debut over the barriers in the U15B 1500 m Steeplechase and recorded 5:24.5. I think he found it quite tiring, the way the barriers completely destroy the rythm. Carl Riley just missed out on a place in the Final of the U17M 100 m, but set a new PB (13.0 s) in the process. Antony Lacey ran 13.5 s in the same event. Antony Lacey finished fifth in the High Jump with a new PB of 1.45 m and secured a Silver medal in the Triple Jump with a 10.24 m hop, skip and jump routine. Paul Murray was fourth in the U17M 400 m with a time of 62.1, which is only a shade off his recent PB. Caelan Chambers put in a strong performance as an offical during the weekend. It was a pretty successful weekend for the Buxton athletes. We should build on this for next year and try to field an even bigger team. The complete results from this weekend's exertions can be found at the Derbyshire County AA's website, Women and Men. Well Done to all those who took part!

Results of Sheffield Half Marathon - 14/05/06

There was a sizeable contingent, eight runners in all, of athletes from Buxton competing in the Sheffield Half Marathon today. This is how they placed: 54. Stephen Claye 1:22:48, 89. Nigel Critchlow 1:24:44, 240. Mark Quince 1:29:34, 455. Roland Meylan 1:33:31, 502. Wendy Higginbottom 1:34:20, 1197. Emma Wharton 1:43:57, 2710. Brenda Parry 2:04:26, 3371. Andrew Turner 2:23:54. I'm pretty sure Mark Quince's time is a PB. Also notable are splendid performances from Roland Meylan in his first race for the club and from Brenda Parry. But it's unfair really to single out anyone in particular since all athletes ran very well indeed.

County Champs Day 2 and Sheffield Half Marathon - 13/05/06

Good luck to all our athletes who are competing in Nottingham and Sheffield. I hope to have reports and results from both events some tomorrow evening.

County Champs Day 1 - 13/05/06

Zoe Bayley and Rachel Davenport finished 7th and 8th in the U15G 100 m with 15.1 s and 16.8 s, respectively. Zoe Bayley then ran the 800m where she recorded a time of 2:48.4. The complete and official results of the first day's competitions can be viewed on the DCAA website, by clicking Women and Men.

Like Father, Like Son - 13/05/06

Buxton had a pretty good first day at the County Championships. The weather may not have been the best, but it didn't dampen the spirits or unduly affect the performances. Terry Fowler was our star performer with a Bronze in the Long Jump and a Silver in the 100 m and setting an excellent new PB in the process (12.7 s). Not to be outdone by Fowler Senior, Kyle ran a well judged U15B 1500 m race to win a bronze medal and improve his PB by a full 9 s to 4:35.2; the winner was the very much in-form Josh Moody of Matlock AC, whose time 4:25.6 was 11 s improvement on his previous best time. Chris Rushworth's time of 5:16.1 was just shy of his PB in the same race. The first six runners in the race set new PBs! A special mention also of Ben Rowland of Derby AC, who finished fifth. Our fourth medal was captured by Emma Bayley in the U17G Triple Jump. Paul Murray and Jamie Fitzgerald finished fourth and fifth in the U17M 3000 m, where they were just outsprinted by the Bronze medal winner. Both Paul and Jamie improved their PBs by about 5 s (10:01.0 and 10:07.3). Verity and Rachel Burt also smashed their PBs, with Verity finishing with a time of 12:06.9 and Rachel 12:57.3, the latter was an improvement by 16 s! Carl Riley and Antony Lacey renewed their rivalry in the U17M 200 m, with Carl setting a new PB off 26.4 s and Antony running 27.0 s, which is also a new PB. Very well done to all Buxton athletes. I'm awaiting more results, so do not touch that dial!

Derbyshire County Track & Field Championships Transport Arrangements - 12/05/06

Saturday: Those travelling with me will meet at the Community School at 08:30. All others meet at 09:00, except Chris and Debbie Rushworth, who will meet me at 08:30. Sunday: Those travelling with me will meet at the Community School at 08:30. All others meet at 09:00? Times on Sunday to be confirmed tomorrow.

Justin Gatlin Breaks the 100 m World Record - 12/05/06

Justin Gatlin, the affable American sprinter, is showing very good form at this early stage of the season. Gatlin broke Asafa Powell's World Record over the 100 m dash with a 9.76 s clocking at the Doha Grand Prix. Gatlin and Powell are due to meet in the UK on 11th June. Asafa Powell has also opened the season with a sub-10 s race. It should be a highly competitive race. There's bound to be other sprinters, who would like to throw their hats into the ring too - Mark Lewis-Francis, Darren Campbell and/or a few of the other British sprinters, I hope.

Derbyshire County Track & Field Championships - 10/05/06

The County Championships are held at Harvey Hadden Stadium in Nottingham on Saturday (13/05) and Sunday (14/05). The timetable can be downloaded from the DCAA website. The transport arrangements will appear on this website tomorrow night.

Super Turnout Tonight - 10/05/06

I was very impressed by the turnout tonight. We had a group of about 10 runners staying in Buxton, while a full 30 (yes, that's right 30) runners ran from the Bull i' th' Thorn Pub on the A515. The Bull is of course the official sponsor of the Buxton Half Marathon, which is held on Sunday 28th May. It was a glorious evening for a steady run around a very pretty part of the Peak District. The only cause for concern was when a herd of cows near Pilsley Castle felt that we needed to do a bit of sprinting so they set off after us. We all made for the gate in double quick time. A big "Thank You" to all of you who came along, drove and in particular to Jayne Denby and Colin Wilshaw, who organised the routes.

Results of Mount Famine Fell Race - 10/05/06

Rick Houghton ran a superb race on Saturday. The brute of a start sorted out the field and Rick capitalised on his fine start. Rick finished 14th in a very strong field and his time was 47:57. Don O'Brien also ran a strong race to finish 64th with a time of 55:30. Lloyd Taggart ran absolutely incredible race. Lloyd's time of 40:15 is a new course record, or so I have been told. Lloyd's winning margin was 2:18 over Tim Austin. Nathalie White of Bingley Harriers won the Women's race in convincing style, with a 4:12 winning margin over Jackie Lee; she was also 10th overall in the biggest field ever in Mount Famine race history, with 160 finishers.

Preliminary Results of Blackpool 10km Road Race - 10/05/06

Three Buxtonians had a grand day out in Blackpool on Sunday. Nigel Critchlow was still gelling the after effects of London Marathon in his legs, but finished only a few seconds off his PB with 37:15. Dave Swift set a new PB, but was a little disappointed that it was only five seconds. Dave's new best time is 49:05. Remember that a PB is a PB is a PB! The performance of the day came from Mark Quince who positively detroyed his previous best time by over two minutes. Marks' time was 40:30. I haven't got the official placings unfortunately.

Stoke City Parks Grand Prix Race 1 at Longton Park - 09/05/06

This was the first race in the Grand Prix series which comprises four races in four parks in Stoke. The venue tonight was Longton Park and the weather was near-on perfect for fast running, with warm, but not too warm, temperature and only a gentle breeze. It was a very good turnout from Buxton, with 11 athletes in the U15 2 km race, three athletes in the U17 3 km race and six seniors and veterans. It was wonderful to see a front group of five runners of whom three were representing Buxton in the 2 km race. Kyle Fowler finished second and just holding off a challenge by Jamie Fitzgerald with Carl Riley in fifth place, a mere five or so seconds back. James Selby ran a stormer in his first race for the club, finishing just ahead of Chris Rushworth and Lee Seddon. Jenny Jackson finshed fourth girl and only just ahead of Zoe Bayley, with Rachel Burt only a short distance behind. Seb Kingman and Bradley Fowler conceded many years in age, but ran very well. A small but select field of U17s yielded another set fine performances by Buxton athletes, with Paul Murray in three-way sprint for the line and just being edged into third place; meanwhile Emma Bayley scored her first win in the GP series, with Verity Burt in close attendance. The veteran's race usually sports the biggest field. Stefan Ledin had a good run to finish seventh, ducking under 18 minutes, and a very close finish between Geoff Whitehead, Terry Fowler and up and coming Amy Wadsworth. Sarah Nicholson was not far behind the trio with Clare Fowler and Debbie Rushworth only a short distance back. The winner in the Vet's race was evergreen Andy Wilton, fresh from an excellent run in the European Masters Mountain Running Championships in Germany. Young Mr Wilton looks a good bet to retain his County Crown in the Vets 3000 m on Sunday.

Derbyshire County Track & Field Championships - 08/05/06

The timetable for the weekend's festivities are available from the official county champs site. More details about the transport arrangements to follow in the very near future. Paul the U17 3000 m is on Saturday morning!

Bull i' th' Thorn Run Part II on Wednesday 10th May - 07/05/06

Please not that we are organising a second run from the Bull i' th' Thorn pub on Wednesday. We will meet as usual in the Railway Pub and will make our way to the Bull, with a view to start the run at 19:30 at the latest. Please come along if you can. The more, the merrier. Some if not all of us will stay for a drink afterwards.

Report from New Zealand - 07/05/06

Hector is alive and well after his running accident a few weeks back. Hector is also maintaining his lead in the Buxton AC (NZ) championships after a fine run in the Korai Mountain race, a 10.8 km race up a mountain, near Wellington. Hector's time was 1:15:09. He said in his post-race interview that he was pleased with his run and that he was still in first place in the championships. Hector also commented on the contents of the goody bag - not this time a t-shirt, but a bag of potatoes! Hector sends his best wishes and a "Well Done" to our (London) marathoners and everybody else in t'club.

Results from Three Peaks Fell Race - 07/05/06

Two hardy souls went up to Horton-in-Ribblesdale for the gruelling Three Peaks fell race, which takes in Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. Mark Cudahy finished 143rd with a fine time of 4:09:38 and Pip Peakman completed the course in 5:22:55, which earned her 349th place. Pip's assessment of the race was "It was hard!" Lloyd Taggart had a good run; he finished third, with 3:03, behind Rob Jebb (Bingley Harriers) and John Heneghan (Pudsey & Brambley AC).

Shady Oak 10 km [17/05/06] - 07/05/06

The Shady Oak race is once again being organised by Goyt Valley Striders. The race is held on Wednesday 17th May at 19:30. Please not the date!

Bull i' th' Thorn Run - 07/05/06

We had a pretty good turnout for the run from Bull i' th' Thorn run this morning. The weather was not as nice as of late, but it didn't deter us. We stopped off for a drink and a natter afterwards. And very pleasant it was too!

Other races for which I'm awaiting results - 07/05/06

There was large contingent of Buxtonians heading up to Blackpool for the 10 km race this morning. The results from Mount Famine are not available yet, but I hope that there may have been a few of our runners in Hayfield. I'll update you on the results as soon as I have them.

Preliminary Results of the Cressbrook Crawl Fell Race - 07/05/06

This is the second running of the Cressbrook Crawl race. Mark Quince took part in the race, where he finished 20th. No other Buxtonians took part. Estelle McGuire, Stockport Harriers, won the Women's race.

Results of Hayfield May Queen Race - 07/05/06

Friday night sew the first race in the Hayfield Three Days in May series. The May Queen race is a nice little race, starting from the scout hut and follows a tarmac road for a short while, after which the runners make their way up to Lantern Pike and return back to the hut in double quick time. Don O'Brien was our only representative. Don ran a strong race to finish 6th in 23:22. Don's finding his best form again!

Results from Eyam Half Marathon - 07/05/06

The club had four representatives in the very tough Eyam race. Stephen Claye finished 24th with 1:29:55, which is a bit slower than last year. Stephen Kenworthy recorded a time of 1:41:09 for 113th place, and Philip Leigh finished 267th with 1:58:40. Annemarie Claye was 23rd in the Women's race and 235th overall witha time of 1:54:57. The runner finishing third was almost certainly wondering where the moorlands had disappeared to - Lloyd Taggart made a rare appearance in a road race amd his 1:18:49 is impressive on that course.

Start Time for Eyam Half Marathon - 02/05/06

Please note that the Eyam Half Marathon starts at 10:30 on Sunday 7th May and not as previously announced on our upcoming races page.

Buxton Runners Ran Well in the Young Athletes League - 01/05/06

There were very good performances from Carl Riley, Paul Murray, Kyle Fowler and Jamie Fitzgerald, who were competing for Chesterfield & District AC in the Young Athletes League match at Derby on Sunday. Carl Riley set new PBs in the 400 m and the 800 m, with 61 s and 2:26, respectively. Paul Murray ran the 3000 m in 10:05, which is 30 second improvement on his PB from Blackpool. Kyle Fowler won the 1500 m in 4:44, which is a few seconds off his PB. Jamie Fitzgerald was disappointed with his time in the 3000 m (10:39), but he will be back.

Andy Wilton has a Storming Run in Germany - 01/05/06

Andy Wilton took part in the European Masters Mountain Running Championships on Sunday. The race is 10 km race on tracks in Zell am Harmersbach in Germany. Andy finished a very creditable 4th in the MV45 race, some eight seconds off the Bronze and 48 seconds off the Gold. The GB men in the MV50 race took Gold, Silver and fourth place through Dave Neill, Migel Gates and Dave Hollins, respectively.

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April 2006

The North Staffordshire Cross Country League Dates are Available - 30/04/06

The cross country races may be six months away, but please visit our upcoming races page to check the dates. Please make a note of the dates in the diary. A team manager near you will be tapping you before you know it.

A Day at the Races, Crowden Horseshoe - 30/04/06

Three intrepid Buxtonians, Col, Rich and I, set out to Crowden to try the Horseshoe race. The weather at Crowden was very nice, with sunshine and a gentle breeze. The visibility was very good too, so getting lost wasn't going be a major concern. The race runs from near the YHA, up towards Laddow Rocks, on to Black Hill and then straight back to the YHA. The climb, which lasted quite a while, was rocky in places. It would have been quite nasty to run down that stretch at full pelt, or what passes for my race pace nowadays. A good start is paramount as there is a stile after about 300 meters, which is followed by stretches of single track path where overtaking is difficult. Rich shot off and was not to be seen until we got to the finish. We were lulled into a false sense of security when we hit the flagged section just before the Black Hill trig point. The going was never going to be that easy, and sure enough we hit patches of strength sapping peat on the way home. I had a wipe out, or more of a roly-poly, right at the end, after crossing the finish line. Amazing that I didn't come a cropper on the last rough, technical descent! Rich had an absolute stormer of a run to finish 10th in 1:09:51, I came 35th with 1:15:44 and Col was 49th in 1:21:31. There were over 100 runners in the race. The Men's race was won by Dave Taylor of Dark Peak with 1:02:17. Christine Howard of Matlock AC absolutely obliterated the Women's course record, in winning the race with a 1:06 clocking. That's roughly 13 minutes of the old record. A very good day was had by all!

Shady Oak 10 km - 29/04/06

Goyt Valley Striders are again promoting a great little race, namely the Shady Oak 10 km. The race starts from the Shady Oak pub on the Long Hill road between Buxton and Whaley Bridge. The race will be held on Wednesday 17th May. The race starts at 19:30. You can either pre-enter, by 12th May (the preferred option), or enter on the night, at an additional cost of �1. Please beware that there is limited parking at the venue, so car share if at all possible.

More Buxtonians in London Marathon - 29/04/06

There were two more Buxton runners taking part in London Marathon last weekend. Matthew Barlow and Hayley Shuttleworth both finished the race and raised a great deal of money for charity in the process.

Brief Report on Retford '10' Road Race - 27/04/06

Mark Quince travelled into deepest Nottinghamshire to take part in the Retford '10' race. It started out gentle enough with a long downhill. However, he then had to regain the height on the way back to the finish. Nevertheless, he had a good run and recorded an unoffical time of 70 minutes, which earned him a place in the mid-forties, we think.

Post Race Analysis - 25/04/06

The fine chaps and chapesses in the London Marathon organisation has kindly presented the 10 km splits for our runners. It makes interesting reading. I shall therefore indulge in a spot of analysis.

Distance	Nigel Critchlow		Wendy Higginbottom		Emma Wharton		Paul Clay
10 km	40:36		51:10		46:35		1:01:22
20 km	1:21:36	41:11	1:40:19	49:09	1:35:09	48:34	2:04:22	1:03:00
30 km	2:06:21	44:34	2:28:55	48:36	2:25:49	50:40	3:06:57	1:02:35
40 km	3:02:57	56:36	3:17:52	48:57	3:18:47	52:58	4:11:46	1:04:49
42.195 km	3:14:19	11:22	3:28:21	10:29	3:29:55	11:08	4:25:25	13:39

It is interesting to note that Nigel's first half was very quick, after which Nigel slowed slightly. Wendy started conservatively and recorded a negative split, e.g. she ran the second half faster than the first one. Emma, like Nigel, started out at a fast pace and slowed slightly over the last 12 km or so. Paul Clay was churning out consistent 10 km splits.

Further Results from Festival of Athletics in Sheffield - 23/04/06

In the U15 Girls, Zoe Bayley ran 100 m in 14.8 seconds, 200 m in 32.4 seconds and long jumped 3.70 meters. In the U17 Women, Emma Bayley ran 2:49.0 in the 800 m. Josh Moody ran a speedy 55.6 seconds in the 400 m, but posted a much less swift 1 mile time of 5:33. Please click here for the full results of the Festival of Athletics at Don Valley Stadium.

Buxton Runners Do Well in London Marathon - 23/04/06

There were excellent performances posted by the Buxon athletes competing in London Marathon. The weather appeared to be a bit variable, looking from afar. The results were as follow: 2548/2327 Nigel Critchlow 3:14:19, 4443/509 Wendy Higginbottom 3:28:21, 4770/567 Emma Wharton 3:29:55, 17951/14233 Paul Clay 4:25:25. Al Fitzgerald, a Goyt Valley Strider who ran for the club a few years back, finished 6062nd with 3:37:22. The times set by Nigel and Wendy are obviously PBs since this was their first marathon. I am almost certain that Emma set a new PB, ducking under the 3:30 mark for the first time, while Paul Clay was probably a few minutes down on his time of last year. Well done everybody!

Lloyd Taggart Waltzing Along - 23/04/06

Lloyd Taggart had a pretty decent run when he finished 6th in the Anniversary Waltz fell race, which doubled up as a British and English Fell championship race. (Almost) local lass, Christine Howard of Matlock AC won the Women's race. Liz Batt finished 204th overall and first WV40 while Julie Gardner finished 416th.

Personal Best Fest at Sheffield Festival of Athletics - 22/04/06

The Buxton runners set a string of new PBs at Don Valley this afternoon. Emma Bayley, Verity and Rachel Burt showed very good form and set new PBs in the 3000 m. Their times were 12:01, 12:16 and 13:13, respectively. Kyle Fowler also ran the 3000 m, where he recorded 10:08 which some way down on his PB. Terry Fowler ran in the same race as Emma, Verity and Rachel. Terry finished second with 11:14, which is a PB. Terry shortly afterwards ran the 100 m, where he finished first and set another PB with 13.0 s. Bradley Fowler obliterated his Long Jump PB of last year with a leap of 2.52 m. Ben Connor of Amber Valley AC won his 3000 m race in an excellent time of 9:43. More details to follow. Click here for a team photo

Buxtonians in Flora London Marathon - 21/04/06

There are a number of runners from the club taking part in London Marathon on Sunday. Wendy Higginbottom and Nigel Critchlow are making their debuts over the distance, while old hands Emma Wharton and Paul Clay have all been there and done it many times before. Please accept my apologies if there is anyone I have missed out. It was not intentional. Good luck to all those taking part. It'll be a walk in the park, sezs he who has never run a marathon.

Jackie Morson is our New Honorary Treasurer - 19/04/06

Jackie Morson will take over the post as Treasurer with immediate effect.

Change of Date of the Bull i' th' Thorn Sunday Run - 19/04/06

We have had to change the date of the Sunday run from the Bull i' th' Thorn. The new date is Sunday 7th May. We will meet as usual at 09:15 at the junction of Devonshire Road and Marlborough Road and drive out to the pub. We are stopping for a drink afterwards. Please join us - the more, the merrier. There is also an opportunity to end up in the photograph that will be sent to Buxton Advertiser. An opportunity not to be missed, I'm sure you'll agree.

Kajsa Bergqvist Still Struggling - 18/04/06

Kajsa Bergqvist, the World Indoor Record Holder in Women's High Jump, has not fully recovered from the sprained ankle she sustained in training just prior to the World Indoors in March. Her Coach, Yannick Tregaro, played down the importance of the injury and said that Kajsa would not miss any competitions or is any way hampered in training by the injury. Kajsa's goal for this summer is the European Championships in Gothenburg in August. Carolina Kl�ft, the awesome Swedish heptathlete, has done a lot of training over the last few months and appears to be making very good progress. Most importantly, Carolina is enjoying the sport. I may be biased, but I think she will be the one to beat in the Europeans, baring injuries.

Club Runs from Bull i' th' Thorn - 18/04/06

We will organise a couple of runs from the Bull i' th' Thorn pub, sponsors of our Half Marathon, over the next few weeks. The first date for your diary is Sunday 7th May, when we will meet as usual at the junction between Devonshire Road and Marlborough Road at 09:15 and then drive to the pub. The second run will be on Wednesday 10th May, when we will meet as usual at the Railway for 19.00 and then drive to the pub for 5-7 mile run. Remember to bring some money for a drink afterwards.

Buxton Carnival '5' Road Race Update - 17/04/06

We have received the race permit from Derbyshire County Athletic Association. Please download the updated entry form.

Easter Bunny Update - 17/04/06

The official results of the Air Products 10km race and of the Easter Bunny 5 km fun run are now available. There is also a team photograph of the Easter Bunnies on our photo gallery page. Please also visit Bryan Dale's website, where there are plenty of photographs of Easter Bunnies.

The Easter Bunny Strikes Back - 16/04/06

There was a good turnout from the club at South Cheshire Harriers' Easter Bunny 5 km fun run and Air Products 10 km race held in Crewe. The race between youngsters and coach was on in the Easter Bunny race. The initial early pace was very fast and coach couldn't go with the pace. He managed to reel in three of the juniors, but was a long way off the top two - Paul Murray and Kyle Fowler. The race was won by Paul, with a couple of seconds to spare over Kyle. Stefan Ledin was a further 40 seconds back. He was closely followed by Jamie Fitzgerald in fourth place. Next to finish was Carl Riley, closely followed by Chris Rushworth. Kieran Spratt and Lee Seddon had a battle royal, with Kieran sprinting away over the last 50 meters. Zoe Bayley also ran a good race, as did Clare Fowler, James Rushworth and mother Debbie. Each finisher in the Easter Bunny race got a Chocolate Bunny, which in many cases disappeared with an astonishing speed. Terry Fowler was the sole representative from the club in the 10 km race. He started fast and slowed only a little on the last climb in the last half mile or so. Terry's time was 43:24, I think. The offical results will be posted here when they're available. What's this about the Easter Bunny getting violent? Young Lee and the Bunny had an altercation which left Lee with a bump on his forehead. There was talk of an head butting incident! I fear the Bunny will eventually pay for its impertinence.

Salford 10 km or Thereabouts - 14/04/06

Phil Hutson scored maximum points in the first road race in our club championships, Salford 10 km on a slightly modified course. Phil's time was 44:12 and he finished 212th.

The Missing Fell Race - 13/04/06

You may recall that we were one fell race short in the Club Fell championships following the cancellation of both the Vanessa Chappell and Kettleshulme races. It was decided at last night's committee meeting to incorporate the Rainow '5' race instead. The race, which is rated BS or 5 miles and 750 feet of climbing, is held on Wednesday 7th June with a 19:30 start. I have since realised that this is uncomfortably close to the Castleton fell race which is held the following Friday (9th June), but we will stick with Rainow race for the time being. I will keep you posted of any changes.

Arctic Conditions at Kinder Downfall - 12/04/06

The weather conditions were more reminiscent of Arctic winter than Derbyshire Spring, as the runners experienced snow, sleet, hail and rain and all this in the space of a couple of hours. The going underfoot was hard too, with the ground being very soggy after the heavy downpours over the last couple of weeks. The conditions meant that the times were slower than usual. There was a very good turnout from the club, eight runners in all, at this, the first fell championship race. The placings were as follows: 74. Don O'Brien 1:27:22, 80 Rob Hyland 1:28:33, 87 Peter Tutt 1:29:26, 99. Darran Hawkins 1:31:31, 103 Buster Crabb 1:31:46, 109. Colin Wilshaw 1:32:45, 209. Joanne Phizacklea 1:50:36, 245. Mark Fitzgerald 2:03:45. The Dynamic Duo, Lloyd Taggart (Dark Peak FR) and Jackie Lee (Eryri Harriers), won the Men's and the Women's race, respectively. Their winning margins were 2:09 and 1:56. Les Footitt, an ex-Buxtonian, had a cracking run to finish 34th. Estelle McGuire, another former member of the club, finished 77th overall and third Women and appears to be coming into good form again.

Two More Buxtonians Were Invited to Tea with the Lord Mayor - 10/04/06

I missed two Buxtonians who were running in Sheffield. My only excuse is that they were running U/A, so they sneaked under the radar. Anyway, Matthew Thomson ran a cracking race to finish 21st, just behind Steve Claye in a time of 37:42. This was Matthew's first proper race! Also running was Mark Quince who completed the course in 42:13, which earned him 94th place. Buxton would have finished second in the team race, had Matthew been running for the club. We should be able to put out a pretty decent team for the Pride Park Relays on 24th July.

Three Buxtonians Invited to Tea with the Lord Mayor - 09/04/06

Nigel Critchlow, Steve and Annemarie Claye travelled to the City of Steel to take part in the Lord Mayor's 10 km race. It came down almost to the wire, with Nigel just holding off Steve. Nigel's time was 37:10, which was good for 15th place, with Steve five places and 17 seconds back. Steve had the pleasure of taking the MV50 prize. Annemarie Claye was 246th with 48:12. Annemarie is still on the road to recovery from a persistent injury. There were 708 finishers. Well done to Annemarie, Nigel and Steve. Pumlani Bangani of Salford Harriers won the Men's race in 31:43 and Penny Thackray of Wakefield Harriers won the Women's race in 36:21.

Four Seasons in a Day at Wirksworth - 09/04/06

We had quite a good turn-out in Wirksworth. The runners were greeted by snow, rain, hail and the briefest of sunshine. The course is hard, with a long hard climb, followed by a swift downhill which leaves you with sore quads. We had a couple of abandons, but I hope none of the runners are badly hurt or injured. Kyle Fowler was a few seconds faster than last year, but finished fourth after the other three got a way on the last downhill section. Jamie Fitzgerald, in seventh, was less than a minute adrift of Kyle with ninth-placer Lee Seddon a further 30-odd seconds back. Carl making the debut on the course finished 11th overall and promptly vowed "never again"! Jenny Jackson also raced over the course for the first time. She finished 17th overall and about fourth or fifth in the girls race. Adam Sattaur showed Luke Addison and younger brother Khem a clean pair of heels; the lads finished in 29th, 32nd and 33rd place, respectively. Chris Rushworth had been up with Lee at the halfway mark, but didn't feel very well and dropped back. Chris finished 38th, just ahead of Louisa Ramsay in 39th place. Terry Fowler finished 24th and took over two minutes off his time from last year. Clare Fowler(?) made her debut and finished 59th with a time of 40:00. Well done to all athletes. There is a photograph in the gallery and a brief compilation of the results on our results page. It was good to see Chris and Mick Edwards from Dark Peak Fell Runners back racing.

Good Luck to All Those Competing Tomorrow - 08/04/06

The club is represented in two fell races tomorrow. The tougher of the two is Kinder Downfall from Hayfield, a mere 10 miles over lovely Dark Peak countryside. It should be a good race, with a good turn out from the club. A smaller group of us are travelling to Wirksworth to take part in the annual Incline race, which features a set of junior races too. The climb is pretty unreleting, but what goes up must come down! I wish Good Luck to everyone competing. All reports and results from Kinder Downfall are gratefully received.

Typical April Weather - 08/04/06

I woke up this morning to find snow covering the higher ground, but the snow thawed quickly in the morning sunshine. The weather then took a turn for the worse, with numerous hefty hail showers. It's just what one comes to expect from the weather at this time of year.

Brief Report from the Wrekin Junior Fell Race - 02/04/06

The second race in the English Junior Fell Race Championships was held at Wrekin this morning. Young Kyle Fowler had an excellent run. He finished 5th, which is two places higher than at Ilkely Mooor, and he beat the lad who won last time round. Well done, Kyle!

Date of next Committee Meeting - 02/04/06

The next committee meeting will be held on Wednesday 12 April in the Function Room at the Railway Pub. We will aim to start at 20:15 at the latest. Please note that the date in the minutes is wrong.

World Cross Country Championships Round Up - 02/04/06

The GB Junior men closed a team but also found the going tough. Their finishing positions were: 47. Adam Hickey, 64. Lee Carey, 68. Lewis Timmins, 80. Kris Gauson, (81.) Tom Boardman , (91.) Nicholas Swinburn. The team came 13th. For me, the GB performance of these Championships was Sian Edwards' fine 10th place in the Junior Women's race. All runners in front of her came from the Rift Valley of Africa. I was as always very impressed by Kenenisa Bekele and the way he just strode away from the rest with about 1 km to go in the long course race. The Eritrean Men's long course team showed at the front for much of the race and they were rewarded with a silver medal. It won't be long before the Ugandan runners will also show prominently at the front of the race. The European runners found the competition extremely tough while the African domination continues. I think the Kenyans can take heart from a good showing in the Junior races, with one gold, which should bode well for the future, though their rivals from Ethiopia won the other five gold medals.

Old Results - 02/04/06

Steve Kenworthy travelled to Stafford the other Sunday to compete in the Stafford Half Marathon. Steve finished in 396th place with a time of 1:40:14. Terry Fowler raced in the combined U18,U20,senior version of the Ilkla Moor Bathat race, where he recorded 36:51 to finish 35th.

Bekele is King - World Cross Country Championships - 02/04/06

Kenenisa Bekele secured his place in history with a fifth consecutive double at the World Cross Country Championships. He won the 8 km race from country man Sileshi Sihine and Kenya's Martin Mathathi. The team Gold went to Kenya, who narrowly edged out Eritrea and Ethiopia. The GB Men again found the going tough;77. Gavin Thompson, 80. Dominic Bannister, 83. Ben Tickner, 116 Thomas Humphries. In the short race, Ethiopia's Gelete Burika, who won in Edinburgh, took top spot, with Priscah Ngetich of Kenya in second place and Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia in third. The Team Gold went to Ethiopia, by one point, from Kenya and Australia. The GB women didn't close a team; 44 Eleanor Baker, 64. Freya Murray, 65. Lizzie Hall. Kenya's Mangata Ndiwa and Leopold Komon made it a one-two, Tariku Bekele, Kenenisa's younger brother in third. Kenya also clinched the team gold, from Ethiopia and Eritrea. More details to follow.

History Repeats Itself - World Cross Country Championships - 01/04/06

The World Cross Country Championships are staged in Fukuoka, Japan this weekend. Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia continues his unbeaten run when he won the Men's 4 km race. Top three men were: 1. Bekele (10:54), 2. Songok of Kenya (10:55) and 3. Kaouch of Morocco (10:57). Kenya won the team race from Ethiopia and Morocco. The British men finished some way down; 40. Mo Farah, 56. Mark Wharmby, 68. Angus Maclean, 89. Steve Vernon and 105. Chris Davies. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia reigned supreme in the Women's 8 km race. Top three in the Women's race were: 1. Tirunesh Dibaba (25:21), 2. Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands (25:26) and 3. Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia (25:38). The Ethiopian women won the team race from Kenya and Japan. Benita Johnson put a disappointing Commonwealth Games performance behind her to finish 4th. The British women's finishing positions were: 23. Mara Yamauchi, 32. Kathy Butler, 39. Kate Reed, 40. Nathalie Harvey, 66. Hattie Dean, 89. Gemma Phillips. The Kenyan Junior Women took the Junior race apart. Pauline Korikwiang (Kenya) won from Veronica Wanjiru (Kenya), Mercy Kosgei (Kenya) and Emmy Chepkerui (Kenya), thus taking the team Gold with the lowest possible score (10). In fact the six Kenyan athletes finished in the top nine. The Ethiopian Junior Women finished fifth, sixth and seventh to clinch second spot in the team race, with hosts Japan taking third. The Great Britain Junior Women's team finished fifth; 10. Sian Edwards (first runner not from the African Rift Valley), 31. Stephanie Twell, 37. Non Stanford, 38. Danielle Sale, 44. Jessica Sparke, 51. Joanne Harvey. The Men's 8 km race, the Women's 4 km race and the Junior Men's race are held tomorrow. I'm sorry to say that there are no Nordic athletes competing in Japan.

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March 2006

News from Buxton's New Zealand Branch - 31/03/06

I have just received Hector's first report from the Land of the Long White Cloud. There was a 100 % turnout from the club on a couple of six mile runs and Hector registered his first wins. Hector is settling in okay. More news from our antipodean reporter in the near future. Hector, keep up the good work and greetings from all down t'club!

Demise of a Venerable Institution - 31/03/06

Followers of the news on this and other Athletics websites and those who read AW, etc. will no doubt be aware that the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA, three As or AAoE) ceases to exist in its current form at midnight tonight. The AAA was formed in 1879 (I think it was) and is 127 years old, which makes it among the oldest if not the oldest Athletic Association in the world. AAAoE will be replaced by England Athletics. The changes are all part of the modernisation process sparked by Lord Foster's report into the state of Athletics in England. The sport of Athletics had to change, at least if the sport wanted to receive the Legacy funding of around �20 Million, that was set aside from the non-staging (on these shores) of the World Championships in 2005. There have been many acromonius debates over the last 12 to 18 months. Some of the things that have been said about various people in the two camps have been unsavioury, and not befitting of grown ups. We would have been appalled if these exchanges had taken place in the playground. The sport has appeared to be ripping itself apart. I am not sure that Athletics in England has been united by the formation of England Athletics. As I understand it, we, Buxton & District AC and other clubs in Derbyshire, will remain affiliated to the North of England AA for a while yet, at least until the end of the year. Though as a consequence of the new dawn, NoEAA will be competition providers only. Will our athletes notice any difference? I honestly don't know. Only time will tell. I will no doubt have cause to return to this issue in the future.

Buxton Carnival '5' News - 26/03/06

I am very pleased to announce that Jo Royle Outdoor are the main sponsor of our Carnival 5-mile road race. You can download the entry form here: Carnival 5-mile entry form.

Lloyd Taggart and Jackie Lee Do North Wales - 26/03/06

Lloyd Taggart's excellent form continues, as he left the others behind in the Ras Yr Aran race on Saturday. My spies inform me that the 10 miles and 2500 ft of climbing were really hard work. It was boggy, rough underfoot and the path was conspicuous by its absence. Jackie Lee made it a double for the Dynamic Duo when she easily won the Women's race. The report from one of my sources suggests that she might have been in the top 10.

Brief Round Up of the Territorial Road Relays - 26/03/06

We will start with the Midland 12-stage and 6-stage relays at Sutton Park. It was a easy win for the lasses of my former club Charnwood AC who finished over three and a half minutes ahead of Bristol & West AC (who were without Kate Reed) and a further three minutes ahead of Telford AC who were third. Fastest time was posted by Laura Kenney of Royal Sutton Coldfield AC,while the Charnwood lasses posted the four of six fastest times - Sarah Maude (2nd), Tara Krzwycki (3rd), Juliet Potter (4th) and Sheila Coyle (6th). In the Men's race Bristol & West AC won by two and a half minutes ahead of Notts AC with Tipton Harriers a further 3 minutes back. Rob Whalley had the satisfaction of running the fastest short tage leg and win the relays, but I suspect that is scant compensation for having been overlooked by the selectors for the World Cross Country Championships. The Northern Relays were held in Heaton Park. Chester-le-Street AC won the Women's race by a minute and a bit from Wigan Phoenix AC and Hallamshire Harriers. The fastest leg was run by M McDonnell of Chester-le-Street AC. Kath Farquhar, a former training buddy of mine, ran the first leg for Holmfirth Harriers and posted a very respectiable time. In the Men's race, the all conquering Leeds City AC roped home to a comfortable victory with a two minute cushion over Sale Harreris and a further six minutes ahead Salford Harriers. The fastest short stage and long stage runs were posted by David Webb (Leeds City; 15:30) and Jason Ward (Altrincham AC; 28:24), respectively.

Excellent Derbyhire Performances at the English Schools Cross Country Championships - 26/03/06

The English Schools Cross Country Championship races must be among the most hotly contested racees in the calendar. The Championships were held in Mansfield yesterday. Arguably the best performances of the date was posted by Emily Pidgeon, Gloucestershire, the heir apparent to Paula Radcliffe, who won the Senior Girls race by 28 seconds. The Derbyshire athletes acquitted themselves very well. Tamara Armoush finished 6th in the Junior Girls race and the Junior Girls team finished an excellent third. Josh Moody exorcised the demons of a poor showing at the Inter-Counties with a fine fourth place in the Junior Boys race. I am sorry to say Derbyshire did not manage to field a full team in the Senior Boys race.

Junior Boys: Josh Moody (4th), Ben Connor (16th), Ben Rowland (60th), Jamie Roden (131st), Niall Maguire (135th), Tom Barker (162nd) and Remi Warren (293rd) - Derbyshire finished 8th team! Junior Girls: Tamara Armoush (6th), Calli Thackery (24th), Emily Fisher (34th), Abbie Vernon (60th), Alex Turner (99th), Molly Brennan (103rd), Leanne Cartledge (175th) and Michelle Williamson (227th) - Derbyshire finished 3rd!!! Inter Girls: Helen Kemp (13th), Lizzie Hill (154th), Fiona Gilbert (162nd), Abby Glover (180th), Olivia Pell (205th) and Emma Bayley (283rd) - Derbyshire finished 25th. Senior Girls: Jenny Read (41st), Amy Wadsworth (43rd), Amy Whelan (89th), Sarah Burton (166th), Lucy Harris (258th) and Deborah Haslam (264th) - Derbyshire finished 20th. The full results can be found on the ESAA website.

British Success at the World University Cross Country Championships - 26/03/06

The Annual University cross country shindig were held in Algiers, Algeria, yesterday. The British Women won the Team Gold with excellent performances from Kate Reed (2nd), Eleanor Baker (3rd), Hattie Dean (4th), Lizzie Hall (9th) and Freya Murray (18th). The British Men could not quite emulate the Women's performances, but nevertheless put in creditable efforts; James Walsh (28th) Richard Kay (33rd), Andy Vernon (39th), Matthew Ashton (44th) and Ben Moreau (58th).

British Summer Time - 25/03/06

Remember the clocks go forward tonight. We will be shortchanged in the sleepiong department since we loose an hour, but will be rewarded with lighter evenings, which means running offroad in the evenings is on again. The loss of sleep is well worth it!

English Relay Nightmare Continues at MCG - 25/03/06

The English Women's 4x400 m squad ran really well and scored a comfortable win, with Jamaica dropping the baton. However, another team lodged a protest over the way they had been impeded at one of the change-overs by one of the English runners, possibly Natasha Danvers-Smith and the team was duly disqualified. Cruel! The English Men's 4x400 m ran well but had to concede defeat in the end in finishing fifth, but some spirited running by Martin Rooney in particular was vyer encouraging. The agonies over the long relay performances were slightly dulled by the fine silver won by the English Women in the 4x100 m relay. Wins by Nick Nieland in the Javelin and Phillips Idowu in the Triple Jump sweetened the pill slightly. The Men's 10000 m came down to a burn-up over the last 400 m, with Boniface Kiprop (Uganda) winning from Geoffrey Kipngeno (Kenya) and Fabian Joseph (Tanzania). The winning time was 27:51.11, which is quite respectable. The Collective heart of the whole Australian nation stopped when Craig Mottram and Andrew Baddeley of England went down after 1150 m in the Men's 1500 m final. There was no way back for Craig Mottram who eventually finished ninth. The winner was an elated Nick Willis of New Zealand, one of the pre-race favourites. Nick McCormick ran a well-judged race but was just found wanting in the last 50 m, but his fourth place is still a decent effort.

Baptism of Fire for Luke Gunn at the Commonwealth Games - 24/03/06

Luke Gunn of Derby AC found the going tough in a competitive, and initially slow-paced 3000 m steeplechase this morning. The three Kenyans were always expected to dominate the proceedings and so it turned out. The pace up to 2000 m was fast, but not excessively so, and I just wonder if the trigger to the Kenyan injection of pace was not a bit of argy-bargy between Stuart Stokes (?) and one of the Kenyans, who duly shot off taking his two compatriots with him. The Kenyans were never really in any danger of relinquishing any of the medals. However, there was impressive running from Stuart Stokes (Eng), the eventual fifth, and the two Australians Martin Dent (4th) and Peter Nowill (6th) who never gave up the chase, even if the chase this time was futile. The finishing order among the classy Kenyan runner was Ezekiel Kemboi, from Wesley Kiprotich and Reuben Kosgei. The winning time was relatively modest at 8:18:17. Stuart Stokes' time was 8:29.94, Adam Bowden (9th) finished ninth with 8:43.08 and Luke Gunn came in 12th with 9:08.02. This was not the birthday present Luke had hoped for, but his preparations in Australia were not ideal with a virus going through the camp a few weeks back. Nevertheless, Luke Gunn gained Commonwealth Games selection through some good racing last year. I see no reason why he should not get a few months of good training, after sitting his degree course finals of course, and get picked to run for the GB team in the European Championships in August.

Jo Pavey finally Wins a Medal at the Commonwealth Games - 24/03/06

Jo Pavey has been consistency personified, but has never had the pleasure of winning a medal at a major championship. Jo has run the second fastest time of any GB women over 5000 m and possibly also over 3000 m, the fastest times have been set by Paula Radcliffe. This time Jo split the Kenyan duo of Isabella Ochichi, who won a silver medal in the 5000 m in Helsinki last summer, and Lucy Wangui, who won the 10000 m earlier in the week. The winning time was just inside 15 minutes. Nathalie Harvey, an ex-Australian but now living in and representing England, never really looked comfortable and finished ninth. The Kenyans also had the winner of the Women's 800 m race when Janeth Jepkosgei strode away from the rest of field in the home straight. Not even Maria Mutola could counter the Kenyan's sprint for the line. Mutola has not looked as strong as normal this year, though her win in Moscow suggested that she was finding her form again. The winning time was pretty quick, 1:57:88. Susan Scott of Scotland emulated her fourth place from Manchester and not even a sub-2 minute clocking (1:59.02) could ease the disappointment of finishing just outside the medals for a second time. Jemma Simpson set a new personal best of 2:01.11 in sixth place, with Marilyn Okoro in seventh (2:01.65).

The Agony and Ecstasy of Sport - 24/03/06

Despite the joy of Jo Pavey's silver medal winning performance and the impressive running by the Kenyans, one of the lasting memories of the day will be the Men's 4x100 m relay. To describe the feelings after the Men's 4x100 m semifinals as disappointment would be an understatement of the highest order. The English team did not manage to pass the baton at the last change-over between Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis. The boys were well ahead and were not under any pressure at all, qualifying for the finals being a mere formality. The comments made by Michael Johnson, a pundit for the BBC, were severe after the race. Some of you may remember the public heated exchange between the English sprinters and Michael Johnson at last year's World Championships. This time Darren Campbell agreed that Michael did have a point. I hope the sprinters will pick themselves up, dust themselves down, knuckle down to some hard training (including baton changing) and come back at the Europeans in Gothenburg, where they will face stiff competition from the French relay squad among others.

Buxton Athletes in English Schools Cross Country Championships - 23/03/06

The prestigious English Schools Cross Country Championships are held at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield on Saturday 25 March. A number of Buxton runners have qualified to compete for Derbyshire: Kyle Fowler (Junior Boys), Emma Bayley and Verity Burt (Inter Girls), and Amy Wadsworth and Amy Whelan (Senior Girls). The Derbyshire team looks pretty strong with the likes of Ben Connor, Josh Moody, Tamara Armoush, Abby Glover, Emily Fisher (to name but a few) running.

Staffs Moorlands Summer Series Dates - 22/03/06

Mick Hall has sent me the dates and venues for the ever popular Summer Series races. Please go to our upcoming races page for the list.

Brief Report from Pip Peakman on Edale Skyline - 22/03/06

Pip wrote to say that Lloyd might have made it look like a walk in the park, but this was far from the case. The going over the second half of the race was very tough with deep slushy snow and ice which made the descents much worse than the ascents. Nevertheless, Pip was very pleased to have completed the race. Her legs were complaining about the abuse to which they had been submitted, but our minds are such wonderous inventions so we soon forget the pain and suffering and just remember the elation of finishing.

A Few Words from Jim Bradley - 21/03/06

Jim Bradley is in good spirit and well on the road to recovery after his operation. He cannot wait to have his leg liberated from plaster of paris. Please click on the link Anyone for a Night run to check on Jim's readiness for some running action. No whimping out, sez Jim! Alas, with Daylight Saving taking effect on Sunday (26/03) there won't be another night run for a while. However, there will be another Dream On mile in the next few weeks. Date to be confirmed. Watch this space.

Results from Edale Skyline fell race - 21/03/06

The official results of the Edale Skyline race are now available from DPFR's website. There were considerably more Buxtonians on Kinder than I originally thought. Mark Cudahy finished 57th with 3:37:50, Don O'Brien came 92nd with 3:47:23, and Pip Peakman finished 214th with 4:50:18. The report from the organiser said that it was nippy and windy conditions and quite deep snow on the course.

Brief Results from Edale Skyline fell race - 20/03/06

Lloyd Taggart scored a handsome victory in the testing Edale Skyline race on Sunday. Lloyd's winning margin was a mere 11 minutes. He looked completely untroubled when he crossed the finish line, as the photographs from the race show. Evergreen Sally Newman scored an even more emphatic win, nearly 18 minutes ahead of the second lady. Two Buxton runners, Dan O'Brien and Pip Peakman, took part in the race. The offical results have not been posted yet, so I will update you about their efforts when I have the details.

Results from Ilkla Moor Bath'at fell race - 20/03/06

Kyle and Terry Fowler made their way up to Ilkley for the first of six races in the English Junior Fell Championships. Kyle ran very well to finish seventh, but felt that he had gone out a little too hard on the climb. Kyle tired a bit towards the end, but still managed to finish in an excellent position. Well done, Kyle.

Results from Blackpool Winter Warm-up Meeting - 20/03/06

A large contingent of Buxton Juniors and a few seniors made their annual pilgrimage to Blackpool for this year's first outdoor track event. The weather was quite kind, with relatively mild temperature, dry and a gentle breeze. The temperature did drop during the afternoon. One really had to move about to stay warm. A number of the athletes competed on an all-weather track for the first time in their lives. There were a large number of very promising performances from both new and established athletes. I will provide a more detailed report in the very near future. In the meantime, I will refer you to an excerpt of the results, which was kindly extracted by Caelan Chambers. The full results can be downloaded from Blackpool & Fylde AC's website. We all ended up on the Pleasure Beach for fun and games afterwards. A very, very good time was had by all. The journey back to Buxton turned into a steamy affair as the coach's cooling system was having an off-day. Emma Wharton brought back a cute, fluffy Dragon, who got the best seat in the coach on the way back. Well done to all those who took part. It was heart-warming to hear all the cheering that was going on, both from our travelling supporters and from the athletes.

Results from Dronfield 10 km - 20/03/06

Annemarie and Steve Claye travelled to Dronfield to take part in the 10 km race. Annemarie completed the course in 48.09; she finished 249th out of 622 finishers. Steve had a ding-dong battle with Anthony Marchington, an ex-Buxtonian but now running for Matlock, all the way to the finish line. Steve unfortunately lost out, to come second in the MV50 category. First prize was a very nice silver platter. Steve was nevertheless pleased to record 38.02 in his first competitive outing for many months. Well done, Annemarie and Steve.

Results from Wilmslow Half Marathon - 20/03/06

Wilmslow is a stepping stone for many runners gearing up for London Marathon. Such is the success of the race that it is oversubscribed before the new year. The club's only representative was Paul Drabble, who is really coming good again after a string of injuries. Paul's time was 1:22:44, which was good for 111th place. I can't wait to see Paul competing on the fells again. Altrincham AC's Andy Norman stormed to a convincing win with a very swift 1:05:54. Winner of the Women's race was Pauline Powell of Blackburn Harriers in 1:16:15, which was good enough for 26th place overall. Mike Deevy, a work colleague and sometime training buddy, ran a fantastic race and recorded 1:24:55!

Results from Milton Keynes Half Marathon - 18/03/06

Mark Quince and John Davies travelled to the land of concrete cows and roundabouts to run Milton Keynes Half Marathon a couple of weeks back. The trip was definitely worth it since Mark set a new PB with 1:31:46. He finished 245th out of 1846 finishers. It should only be a matter of time before Mark breaks the 90 minute barrier. John Davies complered the course in 1:37:04 and finished in 396th place.

Blackpool Open Meeting & Wilmslow Half Marathon - 17/03/06

Most of the Junior athletes are competing in Blackpool on Sunday. This is Winter Warmup open meeting. It is lovely to see a large number of Buxton tops chasing around the track. Some of the seniors are also in action on the track, with the 3000 m being particularly popular. I just hope the weather is kind to us. The weather forecast is for cool but calm conditions. The ever popular Wilmslow half marathon is being held on Sunday 19 March. Good luck to all those who are racing on Sunday.

Reminder - Hector and Maxine's Farewell Party - 16/03/06

I would like to remind people that Hector and Maxine's Farewell Party is held this Saturday 18 March at 19.30 at High Peak Golf Club. The Golf Club has respectfully requested that we observe the dress code of Smart, Casual. I leave it to you to interpret what that means. My guess is shirt(not t-shirt)/top, trousers(not jeans)/skirt and shoes (not trainers).

County Track & Field Championships - 16/03/06

This year it's Notts County AA's turn to organise the Track and Field Champs. These will be held on the weekend of 13-14 May at Harvey Hadden stadium in Nottingham. The closing date for entries is 21st April. Please click here to download the entry form from Derbyshire County AA's website.

Club Subscriptions are now due - 16/03/06

Please note that the club subscription for 2006 is now due. The subscription is still a mere �15 for the year. Please see Sheila Bradley with a cheque (payable to Buxton and District AC) or pay with cash.

Results from Half Tour of Pendle - 14/03/06

Paul Drabble travelled into deepest Lancashire to take part in the Half Tour of Pendle fell race on Saturday just gone. Paul finished a very creditable 54th with a time 1:20:52. Veteran Ian Holmes of Bingley Harriers showed who is the boss with a fine win and a three minute margin from Paul Thompson and Mark Horrocks, another MV40. Winner of the Women's race was Nathalie White, now representing Bingley Harriers. Helen Sedgwick and Tamara Hird slugged it out for second place, with Sedgwick just nicking it by three seconds.

Results from the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships - 14/03/06

The results of the Buxton runners can be found on our results page. The full results are available from UK Athletics website.

Results from Inverness Half Marathon - 13/03/06

Annemarie Claye took time out from her studies to run Inverness Half Marathon on Sunday. Annemarie finished in 28th place in the Women's race and 354th overall with a time of 1:46:58.

Results from Stafford '20' - 12/03/06

The Stafford '20' race, a build-up race for aspiring London Marathon runners was held today. The weather in Buxton was very interesting with snow, about 4 cm in total. The reports from Staffordshire was for slightly better conditions. Nigel Critchlow and Paul Clay took part in the race. Nigel Critchlow finished in 61st place, with 2:19:53, which is equivalent to a time of just over three hours, should he maintain that pace. Paul Clay's time was 2:41:00, which earned 147th place. Paul's pace would bring him home in around 3:30 over the full distance. There are few more weeks of training and it is looking promising for the two. Well done to Nigel and Paul. Andy and Dave Norman, representing Altrincham AC, shared the spoils with a 1:52:12 clocking, which is 6 minutes slower than Ray Plant's winning time from last year. It suggests that the conditions were perhaps not as good as I alluded to above. Ray Plant finished third, just one second behind the Altrincham pair. Julia Myatt of Newcastle AC won the Women's race in 2:10:29; Julia was 22nd overall.

Reflections on the World Indoors Championships - 12/03/06

There were no medals for the British team this time round. However, there were some very encouraging performances which promises well for the future. I'm thinking about Jimmy Watkins in the 800 m, Nathan Douglas in the Triple Jump (over 17 meters) and the Women's 4 x 400 m relay squad. The Russians and the Americans were dominant, with the Russian ladies performing very well in the middle distance events. Kenenisa Bekele won the 3000 m race with consumate ease. Wilfred Bungei of Kenya won the 800 m race, but only just from Borzakovskij the Russian pre-race favourite. Maria Mutola of Mocambique won her seventh indoor World title with very astute front running. A number of the Swedish athletes were out with injury, but it nevertheless turned into a very good championships with three medals, two of which were won by up and coming athletes. Alhaji Jeng has jumped very well this year, with 5.80 m vault to his name; this time he had good attempts at the same height, but failed narrowly to clear the bar, which meant that he had to settle for silver in the end. Susanna Kallur, who won the European Indoors last year, took bronze in the Women's 60 m hurdles. It took a a long hard look at the photo finish photograph to find that Susanna had won the Bronze. Linus T�rnblad also took bronze in the Men's High Jump; his jump of 2.33 m secured the medal but he also had good attempts at 2.35 m. Stefan Holm finished fifth this time, but he also made good progress by clearing 2.30 m for the first time in over six months. The Swedish Men's 4x400 m team qualified for the final and was narrowly beaten into fourth by the Russian team.

Thoughts on the Inter-Counties, Nottingham - 12/03/06

The Inter-Counties Cross Country CHampionships were held in the beautiful Wollaton Park in Nottingham on Saturday. This also doubled up as the World Trials which ensured an afternoon of intense competition. Our own runners acquitted themselves well in one of the highest quality races of the year. There was only one victory for Derbyshire, when Ben Connor convincingly won the U13 boys race and showed that the second place at the Nationals was a mere blip. The Buxtonians who took part were Jenny Jackson in the U15 Girls race, Verity Burt and Lydia Burgess in the U17 Women's race, Emma Wharton and Sarah Nicholson in the Senior Women's race, Chris Rushworth in the U13 Boys, Kyle Fowler in the U15 Boys and Paul Murray in the U17 Men's race. Sky Sports were broadcasting the entire afternoon's racing, which meant that the races were held for a very short time while the ran the adverts! A number of our runners can be seen in action on the Television - Verity and Lydia, Emma and Sarah and Kyle. The official results have not been published yet. Just as an aside, Kate Ramsey, who is an old friend of mine as those who follow these pages will know, finished a very impressive third overall in the UK Cross Challenge race. Kate and Hattie Dean, who won the Notingham race, were tied on points, but Hattie Dean won the overall title on count back. Well done to Kate and all those who took part in the races in Wollaton Park.

Photographs from Cloud Nine and Cheadle '5' - 05/03/06

There are now a selection of photographs from the Cloud Nine race on our photo gallery page. These photographs are courtesy of Bryan Dale. Please also visit the Staffs Moorlands AC website for a couple of photographs of Mark Quince from the Cheadle '5' road race: Coming through! and Look behind you!. These photographs are courtesy of Mick Hall of Staffs Moorlands AC.

Results from around the Region - 05/03/06

Paul Drabble took part in the Trafford 10 km race. Paul ran a swift 37:57 and finished 60th overall. The race was won by Ian Hudspith of Morpeth Harriers in 29:49. The Women's race was won by Bev Jenkins of Salford Harriers in 35:19. Mark Quince took part in Cheadle '5'. He finished in 36th place with a time of 34:09. The winners of the Cheadle race were Rob Deakin of Birchfield Harriers (25:37) and Mandy(?) Cope of City of Stoke AC (28:09), who was sixth overall. I apologise to Paul Clay, who took part in Cloud Nine, but were missed off my previous report as he sneaked under my radar; Paul came 115th with a time of 1:17:22.

Another Couple of Championship Races - 05/03/06

Readers of this site will know that the Vanessa Chappell fell race has been cancelled this year, so we need a replacement race. I suggested Mount Famine, but I would like to suggest another two races for you to ponder on: Wincle Trout race (Saturday 03/06) and Rainow '5' (Wednesday 07/06). Both races have been well supported by Buxton runners in the past. We need to make decision on which race to choose and fairly pronto too, i.e. within the next couple of weeks. Please feel free to suggest any other race you like. Remember, your wish is my command.

Results from Cloud Nine Fell Race - 05/03/06

It was a very good day for the Buxton runners who travelled over to Congleton for the 19th Cloud Nine race. Andy Wilton was the first finisher from Buxton with an excellent second place, a shade over tow minutes behind the winner, Lloyd Taggart. Andy was also first Veteran, MV45. Andy was ably supported by Rich Houghton who finished 12th and Nigel Critchlow who was 22nd. Don O'Brien is getting back to form with a 30th place, while Nich Gould was 75th. Colin Wilshaw finished 96th, Roland Maylen was 189th, Phil Leigh was 198th and Paul Heathcote finished 200th. The team finished second behind Cheshire Hill Racers. Winner of the women's race was Lisa Petts of Skyrac with Estelle McGuire of Stockport Harriers in second place. Please click here for the full results. Photographs will follow.

Brief Report from High Peak Marathon - 05/03/06

The weather may have been wintry, but there was no stopping the High Peak Marathon. Joanne Phizacklea and Mark Cudahy were competing in a mixed team. The going was extremely hard as you would either go through or the snow and ice would support you body weight, reports Joanne. Joanne went on to say that it was difficult to stay warm. On Saturday morning, there was a greater risk of getting sunburnt, she added. The navigation on the other hand was easy, you just followed the foot prints. The team took 13 hours and 41 minutes to complete the full 42 mile course. They were in 16th place out of the 24 teams that had finished, but around 40 teams had started the event. Joanne and Mark are keeping a low profile today, eating, sleeping and letting their legs recover. Well done, Joanne and Mark. Al Fitzgerald, an ex-Buxtonian, and his team did very well, finishing in 12 hours and 17 minutes, which was good enough for a 7th place at the time Joanne and Mark headed back to Buxton.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning - 05/03/06

You will have missed an absolutely gorgeous morning if you had a lie-in this morning. We had a few millimeters of snow overnight. It looked like some had sprinkled icing sugar out on the hills around Goyt Valley. The sun was doing a very good job of melting the snow and ice. Emma and I ventured out over Shining Tor and beyond and were rewarded with a splendid run. Cracking day, Gromit!

Website Update - 04/03/06

I have begun to add races to our upcoming races page. I have added a few fell races, including the club championship races. More races will be added in the near future. I have also moved all news items from February to the News 2006 page.

Results of Kenyan World Cross Country Trials - 04/03/06

There were a few upsets in the Kenyan trials. Isaac Songok won the Men's 4 km race, from Augustine Choge, six seconds back, and Yusuf Biwott, a further 10 seconds behind. Bernard Limo finished sixth and made the team. The Men's 12 km race was won by Hosea Macharnyang, a teenage prodigy, with Simon Kiprop in second place and Martin Irungu in third. The Women's 4 km race also threw up a surprise winner, with Prisca Jepleting winngin the race from Beatrice Rutto and Beatrice Chepchumba. Isabella Ochichi, who ran so well in Edinburgh in January, finished fifth and thus made the team. The Women's long race over 8 km was won by Alice Kimeto with Mercy Wanjiru and Faith Chemutai, in second and third place respectively. The top three runners in the Junior Men's race over 8 km were Mangata Ndiwa, Joseph Ebuya and Muinde Matheka. The top three runners in the Junior Women's race over 6 km were Veronica Nyaruai, Pauline Korkwaing and Mercy Kosgei. Some of these runners are new to me, but, like Ethiopia, Kenya will field an incredibly strong team in all the six races.

Club Championships Races are Finalised - 04/03/06

The format remains the same as last year, e.g. 10 road races and 10 fell races. We have decided to keep pretty much the same races as last year. The changes are as follows; i) Kinder Downfall (09/04) replaces Edale Skyline, and ii) we will do a run over our half marathon course, which replaces the White Peak Marathon. There is a further change which I had forgotten about - the Vanessa Chappell fell race is cancelled in 2006. My proposal is to use the Mount Famine race (06/05) as replacement, but this needs to be approved by the committee. We will take new look at the structure of the championships at the end of this year. Please click here to view the championship races.

Preliminary Results of Carding Mill Canter - 04/03/06

This is the first race in the 2006 English Fell Running Championships. I have some preliminary results of the men's race: 1) Tim Davies, 2) Simon Bailey, 3) Lloyd Taggart. Lloyd Taggart was mentioned as one of the outsiders to the championship title in this week's AW (that's Athletics Weekly, darling).

Johan Wissman Sets European Best for 300 m - 04/03/06

Johan Wissman set a new Meeting Record and also European Best over the rarely run distance of 300 m at the GdF indoor meeting in Lievin last night. His time was 32.62 seconds, which is an improvemnt on the previous best time of nearly 0.5 s. It's 0.74 seconds slower than the World best set this year by Wallace Spearmon. However, it promises to be an exciting season for Wissman.

Terry Fowler Rescues Man from Drowning - 03/03/06

Some of you may be aware of Terry Fowler's heroic saving of a man who was drowning. It was while on holiday in York with his family that Terry's attention was brought to a man who was drowning in the river Ouse. Terry plunged in and got the person back onto dry land. This week's Buxton Advertiser carries the full story. Well done, Terry!

Kajsa Bergqvist is out of the World Indoor Championships - 03/03/06

Kajsa Bergqvist sprained her ankle while doing a plymetric exercise a couple of weeks back. It was thought that the injury was not too serious. However, Kajsa has now decided against competing in the World Indoor Championships in Moscow.

Snow Makes a Welcome(?) Return to Buxton - 03/03/06

The temperature dipped as low as -8.1 �C during the night between Thursday and Friday. On Friday, we had a couple of inches of snow falling during late afternoon and early evening. The main roads are passable but the side roads are getting bit dodgy. It was quite pleasant out on the run this evening with hardly any traffic about. The only noise was the crunching noise the running shoes made when pushing off against the snow.

Buxton Half Marathon News - 02/03/06

I have added a link to a map so that you can find the location of the registration, start and finish of Buxton Half Marathon. Please click here to find where the registration takes place.

Social Sec's Social - 02/03/06

Nigel Critchlow is organising a Social Gathering on Friday 3rd March. There are a number of birthdays to celebrate! We're meeting in the Old Clubhouse at 19.30 for a swift half. There is no need to sign up or anything - just come along. The more, the merrier!

High Peak Marathon - 02/03/06

Joanne Phizacklea and Mark Cudahy are taking part in High Peak Marathon, which starts in Edale on Friday night. High Peak Marathon is a 42 mile race through the wilds of the Dark Peak. Each team consists of four runners who have to carry enough food, drinks, clothes plus emergency rations to see them through the night. The forecast is for pretty cold temperature during the night. Gruelling does not even begin to describe the event.

Cloud Nine Fell Race - 01/03/06

There should be a pretty good turnout from the club at the Cloud Nine fell race from Congleton. It's a CM race, with 950' of climbing over 8.75 miles. We are meeting at the Duke of York pub at 09.15.

Subscriptions Are Due - 01/03/06

The subscriptions for 2006 are due now. The subs remain an absolute bargain at �15. Please see Sheila Bradley, our Membership Secretary, with either a cheque, payable to Buxton and District AC, or ready cash. Sheila would appreciate if you pay promptly, in order to reduce her workload.

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February 2006

Reminder - Committee Meeting - 26/02/06

This is a call and reminder to the Committee members that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday 1st March in the Function Room at the Railway. Kick-off will be at 20.10.

Burika and Dinkesa win Ethiopian Cross Country Championships - 26/02/06

Gelete Burika, who became the Junior World Champion last year, is following a very impressive progression, when she won the Women's 4 km race at the Ethiopian Cross Country Champs. Those of you with good memory, may remember that Burika won the Edinburgh Great Run in January, sprinting away from Tirunes Dibaba and the rest of the field. Abebe Dinkesa retained the Senior Men's title in 12 km race he won last year. Ibrahim Jelan inflicted a rare defeat on Tariku Bekele, Kenenisa's younger brother. Jelan is yet another young, up and coming runner from Ethiopia. Jelan is the reigning World Youth Champion over 3000 m. Ali Abdosh defeated Sileshi Sihine in the 4 km race. Meselech Melkamu won the Women's 8 km race from Chaltu Girma and Mestawot Tufa.

Stefan Holm Back on Form - 26/02/06

Stefan Holm won the High Jump in the Swedish National Championships. He's winning height was 2.29 m, which may be some way off the World Best but is nevertheless a sign that Holm is getting back to form. Linus Th�rnblad, the young pretender, finished second with 2.25 m. The Kallur sisters finished first and second in the 60 m hurdles; their times were reletively modest by their own very high standard. Christine Arron, the classy French sprinter, set a new national record in the 60 m with 7.06 seconds at the French Championships. Meanwhile, the Shot Putters were the very much on top form at the USA Championships; in particular Reese Hoffa who put the shot 21.65 m to take the World Lead. Christian Cantwell finished second with 21.10 m. Jill Camarena moved up to third place on the US all-time best list with a put that measured 19.26 m. Chaunte Howard who clinched a Silver medal in Women's high jump in Helsinki last year won the US indoor title with 1.95 m, and appears to be over her injury problems. Ralf Bartel is another shot putter hitting good form, when he won the German Championships with a 21.43 m put. The in-form male triple jumper is without doubt Marian Oprea of Romania who jumped 17.42 m at the weekend. Blanka Vlasic followed up her amazing 2.05 m jump with another 2.00 m clearance.

English National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill - 25/02/06

The Nationals were held today at Parliament Hill, the spiritual home of English Cross Country running. It may be down south, but it's a fabulous, testing course. The club didn't have any representatives in any of the race this year. It is with great pleasure I announce that Charnwood AC clinched the Gold in the Women's team competition; Tara Krzywicki (3rd), Juliet Potter (6th), Kate Ramsey (8th) and Caroline(?) Simkin (52nd). Winner was Emma Hall of Herts Phoenix AC. Peter Riley of Leigh Harriers won the Men's race, with another local-ish lad, Steve Vernon of Stockport Harriers in third. Leeds City AC followed up their convincing win at the Northern's with a quite comfortable win in London. Andi Jones of Salford Harriers finished 18th and was uncharacteristically off the pace this time, having won the Northerns and run so well in Edinburgh in January. Ben Connor of Amber Valley AC tasted defeat for the first time this cross country season when he finished second in the U13 boys race. Tamara Armoush of Amber Valley AC finished third in the U15 Girls race. Kath Farquhar of Holmfirth Harriers, an old training buddy of mine from Charnwood, finished 79th while Nicky Thompson, another training buddy from Charnwood, came 129th in the Senior Womens race.

Social Sec's Social - 25/02/06

Nigel Critchlow is organising a Social Gathering on Friday 3rd March. We're meeting in the Old Clubhouse at 19.30 for a swift half. There is no need to sign up or anything - just come along. The more, the merrier!

Committee Meeting [01/03/06] - 21/02/06

This is an advance notice that the Club Management Committee is meeting in the Function Room in the Railway on Wednesday 1st March. The meeting will start at 20:10 prompt. I will ensure that the runners are back well before then.

Website Update - 20/02/06

I have moved all old photographs to new page, which will not be accessible until tomorrow. Please click here to visit the Photo Gallery. This tidy up exercise should improve the download time appreciably.

Coaching Course Dates in the Northwest - 20/02/06

John Selby-Sly has compiled a list of coaching course dates in the Northwest region. Please click here to view the full list, PDF-format [84 kb].

Preliminary Results of the EuroCross at Diekirch - 19/02/06

Mustafa Mohamed of Sweden did indeed secure the win at Diekirch, finishing three seconds ahead of Kadur Slimani of Morocco. Paulo Guerra of Portugal finished third, 43 seconds behind the Swede. Winner of the Women's race was Suzanne Ritter of Germany. Ritter's winning margin was 17 seconds over Justina Lesman of Poland, with third placed athlete, Adrienne Herzog running for the Netherlands, a further five seconds back.

Preview of the EuroCross at Diekirch - 18/02/06

Mustafa Mohamed of Sweden is looking to clinch top spot in the EuroCross race to be held at Diekirch, Luxembourg, tomorrow. Mohamed has been on the podium three times, finishing third behind Sultan Khamis Zaman and Wilson Kipkosgei Chemweno in 2005. Mohamed will face stiff competition from Hamid El Mouaziz of Morocco and Paulo Guerra, the Portuguese runner who has won the European Championships four times. I have already mentioned Mohamed's prowess in the Steeplechase and I am cautiously optimistic that he will be contesting the medals in the European Championships.

Russian Women Demolish World Records over 1500 m and 3000 m - 18/02/06

Yelena Soboleva of Russia broke the world record for the 1500 m indoors, at the Russian indoor Championships. The new record stands at 3:58.28 (subject to ratification), which is 1.7 seconds faster than the old record that was held by Regina Jacobs of the USA. Soboleva, only 23 years old, finished 4th in the World Championship final last August. Liliya Shobukhova took nearly 1.5 seconds off Berhane Adere's record in the 3000 m. Shobukova's finishing time was 8:27.86. Olesya Syreva, who finished second, also went under the old record; Syreva's time was 8:29.00. The Russian women are very strong over 800 m, 1500 m and now also 5000 m and could be set to dominate the middle-distance races the European Championships in Gothenburg in August.

Spring is in the Air - 18/02/06

It was a very pleasant afternoon in Heaton Park, with sunshine and perfectly still conditions, when Wilf Richards Cross Country races were being staged. The turnout among the younger age groups was somewhat down on last year, while there seemed to be more senior men's and women's teams. The course was slightly changed from last year, partly due to the presence of a funfair on the course. A total of six junior and six senior athletes from Buxton were competing today. The U15 Boys clinched second spot in the team race. That was also the only complete Buxton junior team. In the Senior men's relays, the A-team finished 17th out of 39 teams. Stefan Ledin and Dave Nutton who thought they would run a leg each and then post a incomplete team result formed a pretty good combo with two lads from Rossendale, Ian Pudge and Anthony Gotts. Andy Wilton posted the second fastest leg by a veteran, just three seconds behind Mark Aspinall of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers. It was good to see that Nick Peach, representing Sale Harriers, is back competing after injury. Please visit our results page for the Buxton results.

Reflections on Norwich Union Grand Prix - 18/02/06

My predictions that the world records could go in the men's 2 mile race and the women's pole vault didn't hold true. Bekele ran a phantastic race, and missed the record by a mere 0.43 s. Meanwhile, Isinbayeva uncharacteristically failed all three attempts at 4.92 m. Perhaps the British performance of the day came from a promising youngster, Robert Tobin who follows the many great 400 m runners that have come from these Isles. Robert won the 400 m in 46.20 s from Daniel Caines and Davian Clarke, two fine runners in their own right. The Sotherton-Johnson clash thankfully appeared to involved just long jumping this time, with Sotherton getting the better of Johnson.

Preview of the NU Grand Prix at NIA Birmingham - 17/02/06

There should be some exciting action tomorrow afternoon when the Norwich Union sponsored Grand Prix is staged at the NIA in Birmingham. Yelena Isinbayeva who recently improved the women's indoor world record in the pole vault to 4.91 m is aiming to further improve the record, and I wouldn't bet against. Kenenisa Bekele, of Ethiopia, is planning a serious attempt at breaking the indoor world record over 2 miles. Meanwhile, Kelly Sotherton and Jade Johnson meet again, this time do a spot of long jump. The Women's long jump also include a certain Eunice Barber of France, who also knows a thing or two about long jumping. Christine Arron of France is running in the 60 m. Young Henry Aikines-Ayreety, who was awarded the Young Sportsperson prize in 2005, is entered in the 60 m. In the men's 400 m, Robert Tobin meets with Daniel Caines, who is showing a return to form after a long lay-off due to injury. BBC sends from the GP, with 13.50 start.

Buxton AC welcomes the 10,000th visitor - 16/02/06

It is with great pleasure I welcome the 10,000th visitor to our website. There has been a steady flow of visitors and long may it continue. I hope that you find something interesting or even amusing here. Please call again and tell your friends too. Remember, you might have read it here first!

Sportshall Athletics is Still On - 16/02/06

It might be half-term but this does not stop the Sportshall Athletics session on Saturday from going ahead. The details are as follows: venue: the Sportshall, Buxton Community School, start: 10.00, finish: 11.30. Cost: �1.00.

Hector and Maxine's Farewell Party [18/03/06] - 15/02/06

Hector and Maxine are moving half-way across the world, to New Zealand. Having lived in Buxton should prepare them well for life in New Zealand, also known as the Land of the Long White Cloud. Our clouds may not be long, but there's certainly plenty of them over Buxton. In order to give them a proper send-off, there will be a party at High Peak Golf Club, Buxton, on Saturday 18th March. Tee-off is at 19.30. Please note, Smart, casual dress!

Club Social [03/03/06] - 15/02/06

Nigel Critchlow is organising a Hip Happening on Friday 3rd March. More details to be posted here when I have them.

Wilf Richards Cross Country Races - 15/02/06

We are meeting at Buxton Community School at 11.30 on Saturday. The travel directions: Go through to Chinley, take the road to Hayfield, turn left to go through Charlesworth, then onto Broadbottom. Join the M67 in Hyde, then the M60 going anti-clokwise (or West), come off the motorway at Junction 19 (Middleton). There are three carparks within the park: 1) Near the Miniature Golf Course (first right off Middleton Road), 2) South Car Park (Right off Sheepfoot Lane) and 3) Near Heaton Hall (entry to carpark of Saint Margaret's Road, see map). Please click here for a map of Heaton Park.

Better Quality Entry Form Now Available - 14/02/06

Some of you may have noticed the poor quality of graphical objects on the Buxton Half Marathon entry form. I have therefore improved the quality substantially. Please find the new, prettified entry form for the 25th Buxton Half Marathon by clicking here.

More Indoor Action at Banska Bystrica - 14/02/06

It is pretty clear that the High Jump is the the event to watch this indoor season. Blanka Vlasic cleared 2.05 m, setting a new PB and is now only 3 cm behind Kajsa Bergqvist's world record. In the same competition, Emma Green of Sweden improved her season's best to 1.96 m. She's is definitely on track for a 2.00 m clearance this year. Linus Th�rnblad, the new Swedish high jump superstar, set a new PB with a 2.34 m jump. Kajsa Bergqvist sprained her ankle during a training session and had to sit out this competition. Also missing was Stefan Holm who has contracted Bronchitis.

The GB Team for the World Indoor Championships Announced - 14/02/06

There have been quite a few withdrawals due to injuries and to the Commonwealth Games. Nevertheless, the team looks pretty good, with some new athletes being given a chance to sample world class competition. The selectors have picked two women in the 800 m, a good decision since Karen Harewood just missed out on a win and automatic selection in Birmingham last weekend, but she has run the fifth fastest time in the world indoors this year (2:00.53). Another tranche of athletes will be announced next week.

Wilf Richards Cross Country Races [18/02/06] - 14/02/06

Wilf Richards Cross Country races are being held at Heaton Park this coming Saturday, 18th February. The club competed in these races last year and enjoyed it so much we're going back for more. The Junior races are run as straight races, while the Seniors and Veterans' races are run as Relays. The Senior Women's relay consists of 3 legs of 3 miles each, while the Senior Men's relays is made up of four legs of three miles.

Timetable for Wilf Richards Cross Country Races

Time	Age Group	Distance
13.30	U13 Girls	2 miles
13.45	U15 Girls and U13 Boys	2 miles
14.00	U17 Women and U15 Boys	2.5 miles
14.15	U17 Boys	2.5 miles
14.30	Senior Women and Men	3 miles

We need to leave Buxton at about 11.30 in order to get to Heaton Park in time. I will post the final details on the website on Thursday.

Club Subscriptions Due - 14/02/06

Yes, folks. It's that time of year again! The subscription remains incredible value for money at �15.00 for 2006. Please try to pay promptly as it makes our Membership Secretary's life much easier. Please pay Sheila Bradley �15.00 either in cash or with a cheque, made payable to Buxton & District AC.

Buxtonians Caught in the Act - 14/02/06

Three out of the four Buxtonians who took part in the recent Alsager '5' race where caught on camera. You can check out for yourself that Nigel Critchlow set a new PB over the distance despite his badly cut knees by visiting our gallery - just click here. The photographs are courtesy of Bryan Dale.

Buxton Half Marathon Entry Form Now Available - 12/02/06

The entry form for the 25th Buxton Half Marathon can be downloaded by clicking here. I have also added some additional information on the webpage dedicated to the Half Marathon; this includes a route map.

Website Update, part 2 - 12/02/06

I have moved the news from January 2006 to the news from 2006 page.

Website Update, part 1 - 12/02/06

I have finally got round to put the final standings of the 2005 Club Championships on the web. Please click here to view the full results, on PDF-format [100 kb]. The results runs to seven pages. I would like to take the opportunity to say a big "Thank You" to Joanne Phizacklea who compiled the results during the year.

Yelena Isinbayev Sets New World Indoor Record - 12/02/06

It was only a matter of time before Miss Isinbayeva would set a new World Record, in the Pole Vault. Yelena Isinbayeva cleared 4.91 m in Donetsk at the weekend. She is due to compete at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix meeting at the NIA in Birmingham next Saturday (18/02). I wouldn't bet against Yelena raising the bar even further. Perhaps somewhat overshadowed by the World Record, Alhaji Jeng set a new Swedish indoor pole vault Record by clearing 5.80 m at the same meeting. Jeng is going from strength to strength and must be considered a gold medal candidate at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in March.

Club Kit is on Order - 12/02/06

You will be glad to hear that new club kit is on order, that is running vests, tracks suits and fleece tops. I can't say when the clothing will be delivered, but I will let you know as soon as possible.

Steve Watson Tops British Rankings - 10/02/06

Buxton's Steve Watson tops the Britsh Veteran Rankings MV40 over 20 miles. Steve ran 1:49:33 at the Stafford '20' race in March 2005 and leads the rankings by over 6 minutes. Steve is currently training well and is over the injuries that curtailed his racing during a large part of last year. Steve is doing his preparations for the Flora London Marathon, where he hopes to be very competitive.

Results from Mickleden Straddle - 09/02/06

Pip Peakmann was the sole, brave Buxtonian to take part in this 14 mile jaunt across the moors from Ladybower Reservoir. There's the small matter of about 2000 ft of ascent to negotiate, along with the usual peat. Pip reported that the race was very enjoyable, though the usually excellent views were obscured by the clouds. This is a highly recommended race for those who are building up to the longer fell races in the Spring and Summer. Pip was running with a couple of friends and finished 154th with a time of 2:49:17. The Men's race was won by David Watson of Holmfirth Harriers in 1:35:38 and the Women's race was won by roughly 20 minutes by Christine Howard of Matlock AC, who finished 11th overall.

Results from Gothenburg EuroJump - 09/02/06

Kajsa Bergqvist felt tired and heavy-legged after her fantastic World Record jump, and only (!) managed a 2.00 m jump in Gothenburg. Emma Green is beginning to find a bit of form too, with a 1.94 m jump. Tim Lobinger improved the World Best to 5.82 m in the Men's Pole Vault. Alhaji Jeng of Sweden set a new indoor National Record with a 5.76 vault, which also earned him second place. The Swedish Women Pole Vaulters were not to be outdone by the Men, with Hanna-Mia Persson and Kirsten Belin both clearing 4.40 m to set a joint National Record. Susanna Kallur won both the 60 m flat and 60 m hurdles with 7.32 s and 7.97 s, respectively. Jenny Kallur has yet to hit the form of last year, but the outdoor season is a long way off still.

A New Level 1 Coach - 07/02/06

I would like to welcome Caelan Chambers onto the Coaching Staff. Caelan Chambers successfully completed UK Athletics Level 1 course in January 2006.

Results from Cinque Mulini, Italy - 07/02/06

There were some excellent performances by British and Swedish athletes at the Cinque Mulini cross country race on Sunday. Emily Pidgeon once again showed her phenomenal form by finishing 5th behind Kalovics of Hungary and Inzikuru of Uganda (World Champion in the Steeplechase in Helsinki). One must remember that Emily is only 16 years old. Not to be outdone by Emily Pidgeon, Hattie Dean and Catherine Ramsey finished 7th and 8th, some 20 seconds down on Emily. Johanna Lehtinen of Sweden finished one place behind Catherine Ramsey. There could be a revival of the Swedish Women's middle distance running, with Johanna Lehtinen complementing Johanna Nilsson who finished third in the Senior Women's race at European Cross Country Champs in Tilburg in December last year. In the Men's race, Moustafa Mohammed of Sweden finished an excellent 6th behind four Kenyans and an Italian. Moustafa Mohammed looks set to become the first Swede to challenge for European honours in the Steeplechase since Anders G�rderud and Dan Glans in the mid-70s.

The Mighty Ducks of Buxton - 05/02/06

A group of offroad enthusiasts met up as usual on a murky Sunday morning. Little did we know what the run had in store for us. The cows gave us a funny look as we went past them but took no real interest in us. We were then barked at by two dogs, who turned out to be friendly. We were pleased having negotiated the animals without coming to grief, and as we entered Pavilion Gardens we thought we were home and dry. Well not quite, there was a rather het up duck which was most offended by us encroaching on his territory. He tilted his head back, made disgruntled noises, flapped his wings and challenged us to a duel. We gave him wide berth and everybody lived happily ever after.

Results from Alsager '5' - 05/02/06

The Alsager 5-mile race is one of the premier five-mile races in the country. Invariably times set this early in the season are still in the top 10 at the end of the year. The cold spell has finally loosened its grip on us, for now. Three merry men and bonny lass from Buxton travelled across the hills to Alsager. Their times and placings were as follows: Nigel Critchlow came 107th with 29:35, Mark Quince was 245th with 33:14, ??? ??? (that's Emma Wharton - that's the Swedish spelling I believe) just ducked under the 7-minute mile barrier with a 34:58 in 338th place, and Phil Hutson ran 36:50 which earned him 432nd place. Nigel showed grit and determination as he was given a shove in the back which sent him crashing down onto the tarmac, yet quickly picked himself up to run a PB. There was a lot of blood on his knees, an eyewitness reported. I could explain what happened with Emma, but I'm sworn to secrecy. The men's race was won by Stuart Stokes of Sale Harriers in 23:51 and the ladies race was won by Liz Yellling in 26:01. Lisa Palmer of Derby AC was fifth lady with 29.13. There were 992 finishers! Please click here for the full results.

Website Update - 04/02/06

I have updated the training page. We are currently running a Sportshall Athletics session on Saturday mornings in the Sportshall at Buxton Community School. The session starts at 10.00 and finishes at 11.30 and is open to years 5 to 10, that's school years 5 to 10. The cost of the session is �1.00 per athlete. These sessions will definitely run until the upcoming half-term, but we're hoping to extend the trial beyond that date.

Amended Results from Ashbourne - 04/02/06

Jamie Fitzgerald finished 21st in the Inter Boys race. Verity Burt was 15th in the Inter Girls race. More information when I have it.

Kajsa Bergqvist sets World Record in High Jump - 04/02/06

Kajsa Bergqvist becomes the first Swede to hold a World Record in Athletics since Patrik Sj�berg in 1987. Kajsa jumped 2.08 m at an indoor High Jump Gala in Arnstadt, Germany. This lady is absolutely remarkable; she badly ruptured her Achilles tendon in the run-up to the Olympics in 2004. She has bounced back, first with a superb win at the World Championships last year and now she holds the world Record. Oh, and Kajsa's Swedish, not that I'm biased or anything.

High Peak Athletes Excel at the Schools County Cross Country Championships - 04/02/06

The English Schools County Championships were held today at Ashbourne. The course was challenging, quite hilly and a bit soggy underfoot. There was some excellent racing and I'm pleased to say the High Peak athletes did very well. Ben Connor, possibly the best cross country runner in his age group in the country romped home to victory in Junior race, followed by another fine athlete Josh Moody. Wor Kyle Fowler was locked into a fierce three-way sprint with Tom Barker and Jamie Rowland over the last furlong, and finished 5th in the end. Kyle was obviously disappointed in not getting a medal, but had the consolation of making the English Schools for a second time. I reckon that Kyle's fine performance also exorcised some of the demons after the Northern Champs last weekend. Chris Rushworth had another good run and finished 20th in the same race. Jamie Fitzgerald and Carl Riley also ran well, in the Inter age group, and finished 21st and 25th (I think, I can't read my own handwriting), respectively. Emma and Zoe Bayley and Jenny Jackson ran very well in the Junior Girls, with Emma coming home in 7th place, Jenny was 11th and Zoe was 23rd. This means that Emma got selected to compete for Derbyshire in the English Schools for the first time. Also competing were Verity and Rachel Burt and Suzanne Wallace, but I don't have their finishing positions to hand. Amy Whelan ran an absolute stormer to finish 2nd in the Senior Girls race, thus beating some very good runners. The High Peak teams did very well in the team competitions: the year 7 girls team won, the Junior Girl's team came 3rd, and the Inter Girls team won; the year 7 Boys team came third, the Junior Boys won and the Inter Boys team came third. Well done to all athletes. I will come back with the complete results when I have them.

Website update - 02/02/06

I have finally shifted the news from December 2005 into its proper place, e.g. news 2005.

Results from Glober Indoor Meeting, Stockholm - 02/02/06

There were some notable performances in Globen Indoor meeting in Stockholm tonight. Kajsa Bergkivist won the high jump with 1.98 m clearance. Emma Green set a new 2006 best performance with 1.92 m, and is refinding the splendid form she showed last year in Helsinki. There was another excellent win for Susanna Kallur in the 60 m hurdles, when she recorded 7.88 s and she still holds the World Best for 2006. Mustafa Muhammed set a new Swedish Record in the 5000 m, with 13:39.71, which is an improvement by 35 s. The race was won by Sileshi Sihine of Ethiopia in 13:06.72. There was also a good performance by Helen Clitheroe in the 1500 m, where she finished third in 4:09.65. This comes after a fine performance at the Edinburgh Cross Country two weeks ago. Daniel Caines continues to run well in his comeback. Daniel won the 400 m in 46.91 s. Neil Speaight finished third in a very tight finish in the 1000 m, where 0.71 s covered the first three runners. I shall allow myself a trip down memory lane - I saw Haile Gebreselassie become the first man to break 13 minutes for the 5000 m indoors. This must have been in 1999. That was a brilliant run and a splendid evening.

Photographs from Northern XC Championships - 02/02/06

The official photographs had a technical hitch, so that they had no pictures from the senior men's race. However, help is at hand. Please click here to check out photos from the men's race. The photographs are courtesy of Mark Walker of Rochdale Harriers & AC. In particular, check out picture no. 36. If mud is good for your complexion, then cross country (and fell) runners must have the best complexion of all runners!

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January 2006

Results from Tigger Tor Fell Race - 31/01/06

Tigger Tor is a nice fell race. It is run from Sheffield Tigers RUFC over Higger Tor and back. It is part of the popular Totley Fell Race Series. Three Buxton runners made the journey to Sheffield. I understand that it was quite muddy and wet in places. Nick Gould was first one back in 100th place, his time was 1:37:40. Nick was closely followed by Colin Wilshaw who finished 136th in 1:41:16. Paul Heathcote, aka Hector, finished 280th with 2:02:01. There were 342 finishers. The race was won by Lloyd Taggart who positively annihilated the rest of the field, and won by exactly 5 minutes. The winner of the Ladies race was Christine Howard, fresh from a very good run at the Northern Cross Country Champs the previous day. Christine finished 19th overall and her winning margin was almost as big as Lloyd's - 2:57. Jackie Lee of Eryri Harriers came second. Les Footitt, ex-Buxtonian, recorded a time 1:26:47 for 33rd place. Please click here for full results.

Photographs from Blackburn - 30/01/06

There were a couple of photographers from a company called DE Photo at the Championships on Saturday. Quite a few of our runners appear in the photographs. You might like to visit the photographers website to see if you would like to order any of the pictures. There are no photographs from either of the Senior races or the U15 Boys race, but plenty of good photographs of the U13 Boys, U15 Girls and U17 Girls. None of the Buxton U17 Boys appears in the photographs either. Please click here for the photographs.

Fast Times in Karlsruhe - 29/01/06

Jason Gardener reclaimed the world best in 60 m dash, by running 6.55 s in the heats at the Karlsruhe Indoor Meet. Jason went on to win the final in 6.58 s. Jeanette Kwakye won the Womens' 60 m race in 7.23 s. The highlight of the meeting was the 3000 m where Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya ran a very swift 7:33. The times in the 1000 m and 800 m races were also quick, 2:18 (Kipchirchir Komen of Kenya) and 1:45 (Borzakovskiy, Russia), respectively. There was also a magnificent performance by a young German pole vaulter, Silke Spiegelburg, who improved her PB from 4.20 m to 4.40 m.

Order has been Restored - 29/01/06

Tirunesh Dibaba was uncharacteristically not dictating the pace at the recent Edinburgh cross country a couple of weeks back. Well, everything's back to normal again. Tirunesh Dibaba ran a storming 5000 m at Boston (USA) Indoor Games; her time was 14:35:46, a time which has only been bettered by herself. The older Dibaba sister, Ejegayehu finished second in the race but was a massive 43 seconds adrift. Craig Mottram of Australia won a competitive 2 mile race from Sihine, Ethiopia, and Cragg, Ireland, at the same meeting. Mottram's winning time was 8:26. Terence Trammell posted a new World best with a 6.57 s effort in 60 m, thus eclipsing Jason Gardener's effort in Glasgow.

I Spy with my Little Eye - 28/01/06

I was casually spidering my way through the t'internet when I discovered something interesting. One of our members, sometimes known to his mates as Marker (please don't ask), making a splash at Dovedale Dash. Please click here to see if you can spot our runner, photograph courtesy of Derby Triathlon Club.

Excellent Performances in Glasgow - 28/01/06

The first major UK Indoor Meeting, sponsored by Norwich Union, was held in Glasgow this afternoon. There were some excellent performances, World Bests for 2006 no less, by both domestic and foreign athletes. Jason Gardener ran a very fast 60 m, when he won the race in 6.59 s (100-th of a second quicker than in Moscow). Susanna Kallur of Sweden set the track alight with a swift 7.86 s in the 60 m hurdles. Kajsa Bergkvist, also of Sweden, jumped 2.01 m in the Women's high jump to improve the recent world best of Blanka Vlasic. The Russian Women's 4x400 m relay team, comprising Yuliya Gushchina, Olga Kotlyarova Yuliya, Olga Zaytseva and Olga Krasnomobets, set a new Indoor world Record with 3:23.37. Also notable was the return of Daniel Caines in the 400 m, which he won in 46.90 s. Karen Harewood ran a seriously fast 800 m in an indoor gala in Budapest, Hungary; her time was 2:00.53.

Results from the Midland XC Champs - 28/01/06

I'm very pleased to report that Charnwood AC won the Senior Women's team competition with the lowest possible score. Kate Ramsey, running better than ever before and a sometime training partner in the dim and distant past, won the race from Tara Krzywicki and Juliet Potter, e.g. Charnwood claiming all the medals. Charnwood's Junior Women's team emulated the senior team with a win, though less emphatically than the seniors.

Results from the NoEAA XC Champs - 28/01/06

This year's Northern Cross Country Champs were held at Witton Country Park in Blackburn. The course was quite muddy in places and included a quite tough climb. The verdict from all our runners was that it was hard. The weather was absolutely glorious, with sunshine throughout the day. The wind was cool, which one certainly noticed while standing around watch others exercise. The quality of the racing was very high. The Men's race was won by Andi Jones of Salford Harriers, very much the in-form runner at the moment. Jenny Clague of Liverpool Harriers won the Senior Women's race. I would like to highlight young Ben Connor's win in the U13 Boys race; Ben runs for Amber Valley AC and is the current leader of the Cross Challenge. Amy Wadsworth and Amy Whelan (Derby AC) ran very well in the U20 Women's race, finishing 14th and 30th respectively. Please click here for the full results, courtesy of NoEAA.

U15 Girls: Emma Bayley (16:02) finished 97th, Jenny Jackson (16:11) was 99th, Zoe Bayley (17:05) was 134th, Suzanne Wallace (17:41) was 146th and Rachel Burt (18:25) finished 153th. The team finished 18th overall. U17 Women: Verity Burt (26:24) came 102nd. Senior Women: Wendy Higginbottom (38:14) came 108th and Sarah Nicholson (40:40) was 152nd.

U13 Boys: Chris Rushworth (11:57) finished 36th, Jack Gregory (12:43) was 87th, Ryan Sircar (13:15) was 123rd. U15 Boys: Kyle Fowler (13:53) finished 92th, Jamie Fitzgerald (14:01) was 104th, Carl Riley (14:43) was 160th, Lee Seddon (15:51) was 190th. The team finished 22nd overall. U17 Men: Paul Murray (16:02) finished 102nd, Kieran Spratt did not finish the race after losing a shoe in the mud and felt a recurrent injury. Senior Men: Mark Quince (53:10) finished 456th and Terry Fowler (53:27) came 465th.

Gloves Left at the Railway - 25/01/06

I picked up a pair of thin running gloves after the training session tonight. They were left one of the tables near the podium. Could these be yours? Please see Stefan Ledin to recover the gloves.

Club Championship Races - 25/01/06

We had a lengthy discussion about the selection of races to include in the Club Championships at tonight's committee meeting. We have decided to keep the same format as last year. We deferred the decision on the final list of races as we were a bit thin on the ground and we also need to ensure that we provide a balanced portfolio of races for you to choose from. However, I will compile a list of possible races which I will bring to the Club on Wednesday, for further discussion.

Results from Kinder Trial - 25/01/06

The club had two representatives in the Kinder Trial race on Sunday. Pip Peakman came 86th in a time of 2:38:45 and Don O'Brien finished 105th in 2:50:00. Apparently, some runners were hampered by the fine visibility. That surely must be a first? Lloyd Taggart finished 2nd and was five minutes down on team mate Alan Ward. The Ladies race was won by Jackie Lee, Eryri Harriers, with Christine Howard of Matlock AC in second place.

More Indoor Action - 25/01/06

Jason Gardener opened his 2006 campaign with a fine win in the 60 m at the Moscow Indoor Games. Gardener's winning time was 6.60 s. Yulia Chizhenko, Russia, bettered Kelly Holmes' European record over 1000 m by 0.8 s at the same competition. The new record stands at 2:32:16.

Linus Th�rnblad Heads the Men's High Jump Rankings - 25/01/06

Sweden has been producing a string of World Class high jumpers over the last few years. Linus Th�rnblad is the latest jumper to announce his arrival. Linus jumped 2.33 m at the weekend and heads the World Rankings. I know the year is young, but 2.33 m is a pretty good start. Stefan Holm, the Olympic Gold medalist from Athens, has been struggling with injuries and only cleared 2.20 m. However, we know that Stefan's capable of jumping much higher; he cleared 2.40 m to win the European indoor title last year. Meanwhile, Blanka Vlasic, Croatia, became the first women to clear 2.00 m in 2006. Ms Vlasic jumped 2.03 m in the summer of 2004, but had a lean spell last year.

Josh Moody Enters Top-10 Performance List - 24/01/06

I reported that Josh Moody of Matlock AC won the U15B 800 m race at the NoEAA Indoor Championships at the weekend. His time was 2:03:36 which puts him seventh on the all-time best list. Well done, Josh!

Hicham El Guerrouj Out of World Indoors - 24/01/06

Double Olympic Gold medallist Hicham El Guerroj had unfortunately pulled out of the World Indoor Championships. El Guerroj didn't compete last year due to injuries. He will delay his return to competitive running in order regain the awesome form he showed two years ago.

Kjell-Erik St�hl Aiming for World Best - 24/01/06

Kjell-Erik St�hl is perhaps Sweden's most famous marathon runner. He might be virtually unknown outside Sweden. However, students of running may well know that St�hl finished fourth in the World Championship Marathon in Helsinki in 1983. Kjell-Erik remains the Swedish record holder for the marathon with 2:10:38, a time which he set in Helsinki. St�hl bucked the trend of full-time athletics by working very long hours as an Engineering Manager for a Swedish power company. He is now making a comeback after a string of injuries which has curtailed his training during the last few years. The target is the World Best for MV60, which currently stands at 2:38:15. I'm not saying he will capture the world best, however, if anyone can St�hl can. We talk of slipping standards in endurance running, at least in Western Europe. Kjell-Erik St�hl has run 101 marathons and he has dipped under 2:20 in 70 of those! An impressive statistics, I'm sure you'll agree.

Travel Arrangements for NoEAA Cross Country Championships - 23/01/06

We have booked a minibus to take us to Witton Park, Blackburn on Saturday 28 January. We will meet as usual at Buxton Community School, Temple Road entrance, at 08:45. Remember to bring spikes, club vest, safety pins, lots of warm clothing (including jacket, hat, gloves), food, drinks and a small sum of money in case you want to buy a memento, i.e. t-shirt, or a hot drink.

NoEAA Indoor Junior Championships - 23/01/06

Two fairly local athletes won gold medals at the NoEAA indoor Championships on Saturday. Josh Moody (Matlock AC) won the U15 Boys 800 m with an excellent time of 2:03.36 and Jack Andrew (Macclesfield Harriers/Chapel HS) won the U15 Boys Long Jump with a leap that measured 5.76 m.

Official Results of Four Villages Half Marathon - 23/01/06

These were the times and placings for our quartet of runners. Paul Drabble - 1:24:54 and 130th place, John Davies - 1:36:23 and 458th place, Emma Wharton - 1:38:55 and 594th and Steve Kenworthy finished the race, but his name doesn't appear on the results sheet. It's good to see that Paul Drabble is back racing.

Round up of County Championships - 23/01/06

Steve Watson ran very well to finish 19th in the Lancashire County Cross Country Championships. He was third MV40.

Swaledale Marathon Accommodation - 22/01/06

We have booked a camping barn near Reith for Friday and Saturday night, that is 9-10/06. The barn sleeps 15 and has cooking facilities, hot showers, etc. The price for the accommodation is very reasonable. Please book your place through Ros Barrett, who will require a deposit.

Brief Results of Four Villages Half Marathon - 22/01/06

The half marathon season is now in full swing. The first major half marathon of the year is organised by Helsby RC and is called the Four Villages Half Marathon. Emma Wharton, John Davies and Steve Kenworthy travelled across the hills to Cheshire. The weather in Buxton was foggy and cool, while the sun was shining out on Cheshire plain. I've only got the approximate times for our runners: John Davies - 1:35, Emma Wharton - 1:39 and Steve Kenworthy 1:41-ish. Well done, you three.

Website Update - 21/01/06

I have put a few photographs from the Fancy Dress and Christmas Day runs on the photo gallery page. The photographs are courtesy of Sheila Bradley.

Saturday Sportshall Session at the Buxton Community School - 21/01/06

The first Sportshall session on Saturday morning saw a small turnout. However, next session will be held on Saturday 28 January between 10.00 and 11.30. The session is open to 8-15 year olds.

Carolina Kl�ft Injury Free, but - 20/01/06

I am sorry to say that Carolina Kl�ft has withdrawn from all indoor competitions during 2006. She has had a couple of injuries during the winter and while she is now injury free she has nevertheless taken the decision not to compete indoors. Carolina was due to compete in Glasgow on 28 January. Her main goal for 2006 will be the European Championships which will be held in August in the beautiful city of Gothenburg.

Haile Gebreselassie Back on Form - 15/01/06

The Great Haile Gebreselassie is back on form after setting a new World Best for both the 20 km and Half Marathon distances at the weekend. Gebreselassie ran a 58:55 in the Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon in Arizona. Paul Tergat's Marathon World Best (2:04:55) could well be under serious threat in the Spring. A large number of seriously fast runners are entered in the Flora London Marathon in April.

Club Committee Meeting - 15/01/06

The next Committee Meeting will be held on Wednesday 25th January 2006. The meeting will start at 20.15 at the latest. The venue is the Function Room at the Railway in Buxton. We will discuss the Club Championship races.

Night Run - 15/01/06

Jim Bradley is planning another night run, which provisionally will be held on Wednesday 1st February. More details to follow. Speaking of dark nights, I have detected that the days are indeed getting ever so slightly longer. It's just another 10 weeks and British Summer Time will be upon us again!

Update on Swaledale Marathon - 15/01/06

Jayne Denby and Stefan Ledin have received their start numbers. A further four or more Buxtonians have also entered and are awaiting their start numbers. Ros Barrett is looking into accommodation. More details to follow soon.

Official Results from Derbyshire County Champs - 15/01/06

The offical results of the County Championships are now available. Please click here for the full results, external link with DCAA.

Results from Lamb's Longer Leg - 15/01/06

This is traditionally one of the first fell races of the year. The weather was quite mild, but with a strong southerly wind. The course was quite firm. The turn-out both from the club and in general was very good. The quality was also exceeediingly good, with Simon Bailey and Lloyd Taggart in the Men's race and Jackie Lee and Liz Batt in the Ladies, to name but a few. Simon Bailey won the race in a new record time, followed by Lloyd Taggart some 25 seconds back. John and Liz Batt, ex-Buxtonians, finished 12th and 29th overall. The Buxton runners acquitted themselves well. Nigel Critchlow finished 31st, with a time of 31:29 which is 20 seconds quicker than last year. Geoff Whitehead was 55th with 33:24. Nick Gould was a further 3:02 minutes back in 86th place. Colin Wilshaw finished in 96th place in 37:17, which is a full minute quicker than last year. Well done, lads. A mighty fine start to the new year

Buxton AC strike Bronze Twice - 14/01/06

The U15 Girls and U15 Boys teams did us proud by finishing third in their respective team competitions. The Girls team consisted of Jenny Jackson, Emma and Zoe Bayley, while the Boys team included Kyle Fowler, Jamie Fitzgerald and Carl Riley. The U13 Boys missed out on a Bronze medal by 1 point. The boys were disappointed, but should not dwell on what was an excellent performance. These were the Buxton results.

U13 Girls: Laura Lloyd - 9th and Louisa Ramsay - 13th. U13 Boys: Chris Rushworth - 8th, Jack Gregory - 9th, Kaya Teksen - 19th, Ryan Sircar - 21st, Tom Guess - 25th, Luke Addison - 26th, Adam Sattaur - 27th and Khem Sattaur - 28th.

U15 Girls: Jenny Jackson - 6th, Emma Baykey - 10th, Zoe Bayley - 12th, Suzanne Wallace - 15th, Rachel Burt - 16th and Emma Stapley - 17th. and Louisa Ramsay - 13th. U15 Boys: Kyle Fowler - 7th, Jami Fitzgerald - 13th, Carl Riley - 18th, and Lee Seddon - 32nd.

U17 Girls: Verity Burt - 5th, and Lydia Burgess - 7th. U17 Boys: Paul Murray - 8th and Caelan Chambers - 11th.

Senior Women/Vets: Emma Wharton - 10th and Sarah Nicholson - 13th. Senior Men/Vets: Stefan Ledin - 33rd, Mark Quince - 64th, and Terry Fowler - 69th.

Other Buxton Runners Running Very Well - 14/01/06

Amy Wadsworth and Amy Whelan, now representing Derby AC, finished 1st and 2nd in the U20 Women's race, and also clinched the team Gold. Andy Wilton, fresh from giving us a caning on Wednesday, finished 7th in the Senior and Veteran Men's race. Andy and the two Amy's have of course been selected to represent Derbyshire.

Buxton Runners Done Good in Derby - 14/01/06

The Derbyshire Country Cross Country Championships were held at Markeaton Park in Derby. The Champs were held jointly with Nottinghamshire as in previous years. The weather was a bit grey and dull, but it stayed dry for the whole event. The course in Markeaton Park is not too severe and usually quite dry. However, there were some muddy patches and the climb was quite muddy and sapped the strength out of the legs. This was the biggest turn-out ever from Buxton AC, with 22 Juniors, three seniors, and two veterans. This report will be quite brief, since I don't have the times available. A large number of our athletes got selected to represent Derbyshire at the Inter-Counties in Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Saturday 11th March.

Results of Garstang 10k - 09/01/06

Nigel Critchlow travelled to Garstang yesterday to take part in the Garstang 10k race. Nigel finished 38th with a time of 37:47, which is roughly on par with his time in 2005. Nigel's back and he's hungry!

Subscriptions for 2006 Now Due - 09/01/06

The subscriptions for 2006 are now due. We have kept the fee at the same level as last year, that is a mere �15 will ensure that you remain a member of the Club. Sheila Bradley, the Membership Secretary, will be only too happy to receive cheques (Payable to Buxton and District AC) or cash.

Dates for the Diary - 09/01/06

These are two utterly important dates - Buxton Half Marathon will be held on Sunday 28th May and the Carnival '5' race will be held on Saturday 15th July. The entry forms will be downloadable from this website in the very near future. Please all check out the updated upcoming races page for other races.

Website Update - 09/01/06

I have updated the upcoming races page. More updates will follow shortly. Please click here to find out what, where and when to race.

Swaledale Marathon Entry - 04/01/06

You can now enter Swaledale Marathon. More information about the race can be found if you click here. You need to be quick if you want to enter as the race gets full very quickly.

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Buxton & District Athletic Club :: News from 2006

Content

December 2006

Rick and Kath are Top of their Respective Classes - 21/12/06

Buxton AC Provides Two Category Winners in North Staffordshire Cross Country League - 10/12/06

Excellent Performances in North Staffordshire Cross Country League - 10/12/06

Results of Stockport 10 - 10/12/06

North Staffordshire Cross Country League Race 4 [061209] - 05/12/06

Committee Meeting tomorrow - 05/12/06

Results of Tankys Trog - 05/12/06

November 2006

England Athletics East Midlands Newsletter - 29/11/06

Pre-Do Drink [061202] - 29/11/06

Club Christmas Do - 28/11/06

Offroad Run Wednesday Night - 28/11/06

Your Considered Opinion is Requested - 26/11/06

A Date for the Diary - 26/11/06

Results of Fletcher Cup, Ramsay, Higginbottom and Houghton Stars - 26/11/06

Reminder of a Wednesday Night Offroad Run - 26/11/06

Results of the Cheddleton 10 km - 26/11/06

Results of the Roaches Fell Race - 21/11/06

Emma Bayley and Kyle Fowler shine at Stafford Common - 19/11/06

Fletcher Cup [061126]- 19/11/06

Round Up of Results from this Weekend's Races - 19/11/06

Cross Country Championships - 14/11/06

Website Update - 14/11/06

Short Recap of the North Staffordshire XC League - 13/11/06

U13 Girls

U15 Girls

U17 Women

U11 Men

U15 Men

U17 Men

Senior Men

Website Update - 06/11/06

Reminder of the Annual General Meeting [061109] - 06/11/06

Results from the National Cross Country Relays - 06/11/06

U17 Women

U15 Boys

U17 Men

Senior Men

Dates for Your Diary - 05/11/06

Round Up of the Results from the Weekend - 05/11/06

October 2006

Change of Venue for North Staffs XC League - 31/10/06

Round Up of the Weekend's Results, part II - 31/10/06

Round Up of the Weekend's Results - 30/10/06

Steven Ramsay Smashes Course Record - 30/10/06

Results from Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race - 29/10/06

Start Times for National Cross Country Relays [04/11/06] - 27/10/06

Christmas Do [02/12/06] - 27/10/06

Reminder of Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race [29/10/06] - 24/10/06

Night Runs during the Winter [01/11/06] - 21/10/06

Further Information re. Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race [29/10/06] - 20/10/06

Update on the Christmas Do [02/12/06] - 20/10/06

Reminder of Bill Moss Memorial Fell Race [29/10/06] - 17/10/06

Track Session at Northwood Stadium, Stoke [20/10/06] - 17/10/06

Reminder of the Annual General Meeting [09/11/06] - 17/10/06

Results from Congleton Half Marathon - 11/10/06

Brief Results from Great North run - 01/10/06

Brief Results from Macclesfield Half Marathon - 01/10/06

September 2006

Reminder of Committee Meeting tomorrow - 26/09/06

Windgather Rocks Fell Race - 26/09/06

Uttoxeter Cross Country Races Round Up - 26/09/06

Resuls from Meerbrook 15 km race - 26/09/06

More Results from the High Peak '40' - 17/09/06

A Brief Report on High Peak '40' - 17/09/06

A Day at the Races in Uttoxeter - 17/09/06

Trip to the Track - 16/09/06

Online entry to the Meerbrook 15 km - 16/09/06

Committee Meeting and Apologies - 14/09/06

Results of Leek Half Marathon - 14/09/06

Official Results of Longnor Races - 14/09/06

Trailer for Meerbrook 15 km - 14/09/06

Brief report on Longnor Races - 08/09/06

Longnor Races on Thursday [07/09/06] - 04/09/06

Excellent Performances by Buxton Juniors at Mansfield - 04/09/06

Mark Fitzgerald Completes the Bullock Smithy Race - 04/09/06

August 2006