The Alder Valley League Finals completes the track season. Robbie did run in the 1500m which was won convincingly by the favourite James Beeks of Basingstoke AC. Robbie finished 3rd, being pipped on the finishing straight by Reading AC’s A runner. A good race and a very respectable time for Robbie of 4’37” (2 Seconds short of his PB).
Robbie Finished a respectable 3rd in the AVB finals at Readings Palmer Park Stadium.
The table below shows Robbie’s Track PB’s as they currently stand, details curtesy of www.thepoweroften.info
| Event | PB | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | 11.3 | 11.3 | |||
| 100 | 15.2 | 15.2 | 15.5 | ||
| 150 | 23.0 | 23.0 | |||
| 200 | 31.6 | 31.6 | 31.9 | ||
| 600 | 1:59.5 | 1:59.5 | |||
| 800 | 2:19.5 | 2:19.5 | 2:28.0 | 2:37.2 | |
| 1000 | 3:07.2 | 3:07.2 | 3:25.9 | ||
| 1500 | 4:35.0 | 4:35.0 | 4:55.5 | 5:02.09 | |
| 3000 | 9:53.56 | 9:53.56 | |||
| 5K | 19:46 | 19:46 | |||
| Parkrun (5K) | 18:02 | 18:02 |
Well that’s about it for track and field 2013, not much else to see or do. Robbie and Jade have disappeared with their Grandma and Grandpa Blogg for a week.
We may try to squeeze another open track event in over the summer, but all the leagues and county events are now completed. The next big race is the Southern Road Relays, to be held in Aldershot on the weekend of 21st and 22nd of September, then back in to Cross Country for another season.
The 2013/14 XC season will see Robbie competing for AFD in the bottom year of the U15 age group, much like he has done over the summer track season. The Schools and Club events split the age categories slightly differently, so he will be competing in the upper year of the Schools U15 age group which means for the next XC season his core focus will be on schools events, and in particular trying to get in to the England Schools XC team.
The race was combined across the three older age groups, U15, U17 and U20. Giving a little bit of competition to the boys.
Robbie finished 6th overall, and 3rd in the U15’s with James Beeks winning the U15 race in 4’19” gaining a new PB and Robbie coming in with a time of 4’36” (One second outside his PB). Team mate Harry Grace also just missed out on a new PB.
The Pack hit the 100m point on lap 1. Wessex League Match 4 1500m (U15, U17 & U20)
A late night run at Basingstoke track (Down Grange) was preceded by an early evening trip to Pizza Hut for Robbie and I. Nearly 12 hours later and I personally am regretting the chillies scattered liberally all over my Cajun Chicken Pizza.
The standing precedence of rain at Down Grange still stands, despite the race being in the middle of the driest July on record, and half way through a blazing heat wave, it still managed to rain, quite heavily for over 5 minutes.
Anyway, the running.
The Grand Prix is all about personal bests, the middle distance races are provided with Pace makers to try to assist with PB times.
A very tired looking Robbie (10pm) Hampshire Grand Prix 3000m U15 Winner
Robbie’s 3000m race set to start at 9pm, sees the lights on at the stadium as night time starts to fall. Unlike the 12 800m races that went on earlier in the evening, there are only 3 3000m races with Robbie running in the final race, results shown below. Finishing in a new Personal best time of 9:53.56 (Knocking 10 seconds of his previous PB) and winning the Saucony prize for U15B 3000m.
3000m Race 3 (Green entries = Personal Best Times)
| Name | Age | Club | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie Coupland | U15B | Aldershot Farnham & District | 9:53.56 |
| 2 | Daniel Cooke | U15B | Camberley & District | 10:00.51 |
| 3 | Bryn Smith | U17M | Aldershot Farnham & District | 10:03.86 |
| 4 | Mark Hayter | SM | Eastleigh RC | 10:08.47 |
| 5 | Steve Marcer | SM | Southampton | 10:19.81 |
| 6 | Archie Ives | U15B | Winchester & District | 10:22.30 |
| 7 | Chris Chambers | SM | Eastleigh RC | 10:29.55 |
| 8 | Matthew Jerrard | SM | Eastleigh RC | 10:31.01 |
| 9 | Lucy Rochford | U17W | Andover | 10:52.39 |
| 10 | Ellie Czura | U17W | City of Portsmouth | 11:12.53 |
| 11 | Neil Catchlove | SM | Unattached | 11:15.03 |
| 12 | Bethany Heddle | U17W | Camberley & District | 11:17.06 |
| 13 | Richard Heddle | SM | Camberley & District | 11:41.19 |
| 14 | Gemma Bigg | U20W | Basingstoke & Mid Hants | 11:52.80 |
Robbie and I did arrive at Basingstoke much earlier than his race, in fact we were in time to watch a number of Robbie’s team mates compete in a round of 800m races, with Billy Smith (U13B) Harry Grace (U15B) , and Stacey Burrows (U15G) getting PB’s. Stacey smashing her PB by 8 seconds and winning the U15 girls 800m prize.
AFD 800m Results (By Age Group)
| Name | Age group | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Smith | U13B | 02:30.3 |
| Harry Grace | U15B | 02:16.8 |
| Stacey Burrows | U15G | 02:20.8 |
| Peony Myall | U15G | 02:26.6 |
| Lizzie Squibbs | U15G | 02:27.7 |
| Hannah Jacobs | U15G | 02:30.5 |
| Will Parrott | U17M | 02:20.5 |
| Evie Grice | U17W | 02:19.7 |
| Tamara Myall | U17W | 02:28.0 |
| Ben Watson | U20M | 01:59.0 |
| Tom Bowerman | SM | 01:55.0 |
| Nick Jacobs | SM | 02:12.4 |
| Charlotte Browning | SW | 02:05.1 |
| Sofie Kent | SW | 02:23.9 |
Another very hot day sees AFD take to track and field in the lower age group section (U13 and u15 age groups) of the Youth Development League for the final time in 2013.
Once again Robbie will be running B Stream in the 1500m and once again the race will be a combined field of A and B stream runners.
Tom Fitch (AFD) A stream retakes the lead from Robbie heading in to the bell, followed by another A stream runner, knocking Robbie back to 3rd overall, but still easily 1st in the B stream rankings.
Finishing positions are shown in the table below, updates to follow.
| Position | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A | B | Time | Athlete | Club |
| 1 | 1 | 4’30”.5 | Sam Westerman |
Guildford and Godalming | |
| 2 | 2 | 4’31”.3 | Tom Fitch | AFD | |
| 3 | 1 | 4’41”.9 | Robbie Coupland | AFD | |
| 4 | 3 | 4’45”.6 | Josh Hall | Kingston and Poly | |
| 5 | 4 | 4’46”.5 | Jacques Cunningham Marsh |
Medway and Maidstone | |
| 6 | 5 | 4’52”.1 | Josh Eeles |
Horsham Blue Star | |
| 7 | 2 | 5’01.9 | Jack Payton | Medway and Maidstone | |
| 8 | 3 | 5’03.4 | Luke Triccas | Horsham Blue Star | |
| 9 | 4 | 5’13.7 | Reece O’Kane | Guildford and Godalming | |
Marlborough and District hosted Match 3 of the Wessex League on Sunday 7 July.
To swing things around a little Robbie competed in the Discus and the Shot Put (A first for both events) along with his usual 1500m. The weather conditions were ideal for a day down the beach, blue skies, blazing sunshine and a little breeze. Though perfect beach weather, not exactly suited for running especially when the 1500m is held at 12:30 at the peak of the days heat (28 degrees).
Robbie’s first event of the day, the discuss, saw him get two PB’s, which to be fare giving that he’s never done it before wasn’t hard.
Throwing a – 0000 b – 0000 c – 0000 (Waiting for confirmed distances)
So as the heat of the day builds Robbie starts to warm up for the 1500m the boys are lined up the gun goes and immediately a burst forward sees 3 boys taking the lead, Robbie sat on the shoulder of the leading runner with Hampshire School team mate Ben ? sat on Robbie’s shoulder. First 300m completed in a very quick 50secs setting the pace for a fast energy consuming battle. The first place runner starts to pull away, and despite a lot of sideline encouragement Robbie doesn’t seem to be able to step up the pace to keep up, and as they come in to the pen-ultimate lap, Ben steps up and passes Robbie, Robbie struggling for that little extra seems content top let him go, and slots in nicely behind him, but as they head on to the finishing straight running for the bell, Robbie finds a burst of energy and kicks early, catching and over taking ben who struggles to kick up the pace and as he passes the line Robbie kicks again, the gap between himself and Ben extending slowly but surely. The first place runner is still out there, some 15m in front and though the gap seems to close, it is hardly sufficient to make a difference. The final straight and Ben kicks to chase Robbie down but Robbie still has enough left and flies across the line 2 seconds in front of Ben.
It wasn’t until after the race that Robbie tells me the organisers had merged the u20 and U15 races together, the first place runner was running in the U20’s not the U15.
Robbie won in a new PB time of 4’38” in ferocious heat.
The day wasn’t complete though, not yet. A 3 hours wait for the Shot Put competition to start saw Robbie get 2 more PB’s (see Discus explanation).
So in the blazing sun of a British heat wave Robbie walks out of Swindon track proud to have achieved 5 PB’s in one day.
Not much here yet, but keep your eyes open as I intend to fill it up fairly swiftly.
A taster picture of the AFD U13 Boys team, at the National XC event in Sunderland. Very snowy, very muddy and pretty darn cold.
National XC 2012
The Hampshire league may be a bit misnamed, it is organised by Hampshire Athletics Association, but athletes from Surrey, Berkshire, Dorset, IOW and the Channel Islands compete alongside their Hampshire counter parts.
This leads to a very competitive and very tough competition. The Hampshire Athletes and their performances are monitored by HAA during the season, and their performances are utilised to pick the Hampshire County Representative team.
The Hampshire League comprises of 5 individual races, the results of which are fed in to an overall individual results table and an overall team results table.
A new season in the Hampshire League sees many of last years U13 boys move up oin to the U15 age category, with the reduced numbers and the loss of some exceptional talent the U13’s are going to have to work really hard to come anywhere close to last years success.
| Place | Time | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11’10” | Matt Rawlings | Reading |
| 2 | 11’12” | James Fleming | Camberley |
| 3 | 11’21” | Tom Bourne | Wimborne |
Familiar opposition in the form of Archie Ives and Daniel Cooke both finishing ahead of Robbie’s 6th place. AFD manage to get 3 runners in the top 14 (Billy Smith 11th, Lawrence Gilfrin 14th), with newcomer Tom Naisby finishing in a very respectable 21st.
| Place | Time | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10’40” | Matt Rawlings | Reading |
| 2 | 10’42” | Alex Rowe | Guernsey |
| 3 | 11’05” | Tom Bourne | Wimborne |
Robbie just outside the top 3, finishing in 4th with a time of 11’09” fractions of a second in front of Alfie Ives also with a time of 11’09”.
Other high finishing AFD runners; Sean Pocknee (10th), Lawrence Gilfrin (16th), Tom Naisby (23rd)
| Place | Time | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10’38” | Matt Rawlings | Reading |
| 2 | 10’39” | Tom Bourne | Wimborne |
| 3 | 10’41” | Archie Ives | Winchester |
James Fleming from Camberley returns, finishing in 4th place just ahead of Robbie in 5th (10’54”). Lawrence Gilfrin comes in as the second AFD runner in 10th and Tom Naisby as the third in 18th with a 36th place contribution from James Hier.
And in to 2013… Robbie missed this race as he was competing in the McCain UK XC Challenge in Antrim, Northern Ireland.
| Place | Time | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11’59” | Matt Rawlings | Wimborne |
| 2 | 12’28” | Archie Ives | Winchester |
| 3 | 12’31” | Daniel Cooke | Camberley |
Good to see Daniel Cooke back on form, James Fleming finished 6th, first AFD runner in was Billy Smith in 10th, with AFD contributions from Tom Naisby (16th), Lawrence Gilfrin (18th), Sean Pocknee (20th).
Very wet and miserable conditions, slippery underfoot. Robbie pushing up to the back field.
Back in and running, can’t afford to miss another race, need at least 4 results to qualify for the overall medal selections. That said, Robbie will need an excellent performance in this final race to be in with a chance.
| Place | Time | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10’56” | Matt Rawlings | Reading |
| 2 | 11’12” | Archie Ives | Winchester |
| 3 | 11’15” | Robbie Coupland | AFD |
First medal finish in the Hampshire League for Robbie, pulling it out of the bag when it was most needed.
AFD Runners; Tom Naisby (19th), Sean Pocknee (22nd) with AFD just scraping together the minimum team of 3 runners.
Individual
The overall individual standings are calculated by taking each runners best 4 results and adding them together, the lowest score wins.
| Place | Points | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Matt Rawlings | Reading |
| 2 | 11 | Archie Ives | Winchester |
| 3 | 13 | Tom Bourne | Wimborne |
On the medal front, 1 gold medal is issued, 1 silver medal is issued and 4 bronze medals are issued. So joining Tom Bourne for Bronze medals were James Fleming, Robbie Coupland and Alex Forster.
Individual Overall Medal Winners – Hampshire League 2012/13
Team The Team event is based on the Team position for each race, added together to create a score. There are no dropped results in the team section, so all team positions for all races count. The lowest score wins.
| Place | Points | Team | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Reading | 2,3,1,2,2 = 10 |
| 2 | 14 | AFD | 3,2,2,3,4 = 14 |
| 3 | 20 | Southampton | 4,4,5,4,3 = 10 |
Well not gold, but not bad. The AFD U13 team has dwindled in numbers and that will only ever make things more difficult.
AND FINALLY !!!
Robbie once again selected for the Hampshire County Cross Country team this year.
The Hampshire Championships are always a hard fought battle, now running as the upper age group in U13’s Robbie has something to prove.
Fleming park, Eastleigh – Distance 3450m
Individual Results
| Place | Time | Runner | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12’10” | Archie Ives | Winchester |
| 2 | 12’21” | Robbie Coupland | AFD |
| 3 | 12’22” | Alex Rowe | Guernsey |
Billy Smith from AFD running as lower age group finished in 7th place with an excellent time of 12’24”.
Individual Medallists Hampshire Country Cross Country Championships 2013
Team Results
| Place | Points | Club | Runners |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | Guernsey | Alex Rowe Hugo Bisson Elliott Robert Joseph Yeaman |
| 2 | 50 | Jersey | Jack Leerson Jack Lutz William Brown Issac Du Val |
| 3 | 61 | AFD | Robbie Coupland Billy Smith Sean Pocknee Zachary Ayers |
Team AFD – u13 Boys Hampshire County Cross Country Championships 2013
