Southern Cross Championships 2014 – Parliament Hill

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As always the Southerns is one of the most difficult, arduous and physically demanding races of the cross country calendar, and this year was no different. 4.5 kms of hill and mud faced the boys and was braved and battled through by all who attended.
Jack Boswell is still injured, so once again the U15 boys were without there No. 1 runner.

AFD U15 Boys Results
A Team (5th)
07. Jake CvetKovic
23. Robbie Coupland
51. Ollie Percival
70. Harry Grace

B Team (28th)
093. Tom Fitch
159. Sean Pocknee
182. Reece Webber
200. James Hier

C Team (N/A)
244. George Dorran

Robbie’s 23rd place was an exceptional run, seeing Robbie beat many runners who we would normally expect to see in front of him, including the likes of Thomas Kendrick and Matt Rawlings who have been two of the super stars at Robbie’s age.

If mud is as good for your skin as they say, then Robbie’s legs are going to be really soft.

Hampshire Schools XC Championships – Cancelled

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Saturday 18th is the date set down for the Hampshire Schools XC Championships, this was Robbie’s big event of the year, hoping to do one better than his previous performance (2 years ago) and walk away with the County Champion title. Unfortunately, following on from last years example, the county championships has once again been postponed. We hope that a new date will be organised, but last year it wasn’t and there was no Hampshire County Championships, meaning that the County team was selected from general performance in other events not from the individual performance in the County Championships, also meaning that there is no current Hampshire Schools Champion at U15, and may not be for a second year running. disappointing for all involved.

Hampshire League – Bournemouth (4 of 5)

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The penultimate event of the Hampshire league saw something of a depleted AFD squad, with a number of age groups failing to field a full 3 man team. The U15 boys were without star runner Jack Boswell, and were missing a number of the regular attendees, at least they managed to field a full team.

Who says running is hard? Robbie and Tom Bourne closing their eyes in relaxation as they enter the top field at Bournemouth.

Full AFD U15 Boys positions and times will be added later, Robbie finished 8th with Jake Cvetkovic coming 2nd. Reading were the stars of the day with 4 runners in the top 10.

AFD Runners.
2. J. Cvetkovic 13:42
8. R. Coupland 14:10
27. S. Pocknee 15:20
43. R. Webber 15:57

Teams.
1. Reading 11
2. AFD 37
2. Southampton 37

Hampshire County Cross Country Championships 2014.

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Just got home from a very wet Flemming Park in Eastleigh, where the Hampshire County Champs have just played out. If last years event was wet, this years went well beyond that description, the course sitting beneath an inch or two of water in many places.

As always AFD struggle at a team level in the county championships, because they draw runners from 3 different counties, so team medals were always going to be few and far between. At an individual level the club managed to be up there, or at least thereabouts in a number of sections. The U15 Girls coming 1st and 4th, but unfortunately not enough runners to make up the minimum 4 required to do anything at a team level.

U15 Boys Results. (AFD only)
A Team – 1st
2 – Jake Cvetkovic (15’02)
4 – Jack Boswell (15’24)
7 – Robbie Coupland (15’46)
20 – Michael Try (16’57)

B Team – 9th
24 – Sean Pocknee (17’05)
33 – Reece Webber (17’39)
44 – James Hier (18’40)
54 – George Doran (21’16)

Swimming at Eastleigh Hampshire XC Championships 2014

AFD Gold medallists. Winning Team U15 Boys Hampshire Championships 2014

AFD Annual 5k Handicap Road Challenge

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This is the fourth 5k handicap Robbie has run in, I have run in one myself and was seriously considering having another go this year, but bottled it on the day, I need someone out there to kick me up the arse and make me do it next year.

The race is slightly different to most, the handicap is worked out in advance and runners start based on their expected times, so for instance if Joe expected to do the 5k in 30mins, he might start first, Pete can do the 5k in 25 mins, so he starts 5 mins after Joe etc. etc.

Robbie was quite ambitious this year, having completed the 5k in 18’40” last year he upped his expected runtime to 17’30”, hoping to knock a whole minute and 10 seconds off his time.

Positions are always a little fluffy, because of course everything depends on the accuracy of the estimated times, Robbie finished 15th in the actual standings, not sure where he would be ranked if it was done on time only, but he did complete the race in an excellent 17’12” ultimately knocking off 1’28”. This also now represents his fastest ever 5k, previously 18’02” set in a Park Run at Basingstoke April 2013.

Coming in to the final bend in the AFD Boxing day 5k.

Name Athlete Predicited Time Mick’s Predicted Times Handicap Clock Time Actual Time Finish Position
David Hay 31:00 31:00 00:00 26:45 26:45 1
Cathy Stewart 24:30 24:30 06:30 28:22 21:52 2
Niamh Reid-Smith 22:00 21:45 09:15 29:31 20:16 3
Gabi Eglen 22:00 22:00 09:00 29:39 20:39 4
Rebecca Stevens 23:00 23:00 08:00 29:48 21:48 5
Catlin Critchley 23:00 22:45 08:15 29:54 21:39 6
Ben Watson 17:10 17:10 13:50 30:19 16:29 7
Dan Rickards 17:20 17:20 13:40 30:26 16:46 8
Katie Bingle 20:45 20:30 10:30 30:28 19:58 9
Rebekah Pantony 20:00 19:55 11:05 30:31 19:26 10
Billy Smith 20:00 19:00 12:00 30:33 18:33 11
Eloise Milbourn 20:30 19:45 11:15 30:39 19:24 12
Niall Flemming 15:00 15:00 16:00 30:40 14:40 13
Lily Partridge 16:40 16:35 14:25 30:41 16:16 14
Robbie Coupland 17:30 17:30 13:30 30:43 17:13 15
Jonny Hay 15:00 14:50 16:10 30:43 14:33 16
Steph Twell 16:40 16:40 14:20 30:45 16:25 17
Steve Connor 18:00 18:00 13:00 30:46 17:46 18
Sam Eglen 15:30 15:30 15:30 30:47 15:17 19
Poppy Disley-May 20:45 20:15 10:45 30:49 20:04 20
Emelia Górecka 16:20 16:20 14:40 30:49 16:09 21
Ruth Haynes 18:00 18:00 13:00 30:50 17:50 22
Ian Bailey 15:10 15:10 15:50 30:56 15:06 23
Charlie Purdue 16:00 16:10 14:50 30:57 16:07 24
William Davis 16:10 16:20 14:40 30:59 16:19 25
Mona Jäppinen 18:30 18:30 12:30 31:05 18:35 26
Tara De Klerc 20:00 20:15 10:45 31:05 20:20 27
Molly Pocock 22:00 21:30 09:30 31:06 21:36 28
Michael Try 19:20 19:45 12:15 31:07 18:52 29
Claire Arnold 18:00 18:00 13:00 31:09 18:09 30
Toby Smith 16:00 15:40 15:20 31:10 15:50 31
Jake Cvetkovic 17:00 17:05 13:55 31:17 17:22 32
Matt Arnold 16:00 16:15 14:45 31:24 16:39 33
Lizzy Squibs 20:00 20:05 10:55 31:28 20:33 34
Chris Try 18:15 18:15 12:45 31:37 18:52 35
Richard Allen 16:00 15:45 15:15 31:44 16:29 36
Charlie Critchley 16:00 16:00 15:00 31:52 16:52 37
Robert Hislop 17:00 17:00 14:00 32:17 18:17 38
Andrew Hislop 19:00 19:00 12:00 32:22 20:22 39

Christmas Training

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As always Mick Wood’s training program steps up over Christmas, and as always there are some fun and frolic events thrown in. The Christmas Eve training session is the first of the fun sessions, a full on, Sunday beasting, but in fancy dress. This years theme being “Disney” left a lot of scope for the runners to select from. Robbie chose “Woody” from “Toy Story” and was sort of, slightly cowboyish in appearance 🙂

Mick’s group dressed up and ready to run.

South of England Athletics Association – Inter Counties

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Robbie was selected to represent Hampshire today in the SEAA – Inter Counties, alongside AFD team mates Jack Boswell and Jake Cvetkovic, unfortunately Jack was injured on the day and Hampshire traveled the long road to Biggleswade minus their number 1 runner.

The loss of Jack definitely effected the Hampshire team standing in the race, but didn’t really effect Robbie directly as he was selected outside, and finished outside the team scoring positions (Only the top 4 runners score for the team, Robbie was selected 5th for Hampshire and finished 5th for Hampshire).

Hampshire Team Places and Times.

Pos. Name Time
26 Jake Cvetkovic 13:19.0
27 Luke Powell 13:20.0
32 Michael Ilott 13:22.0
33 Sam Costley 13:25.0
39 Robbie Coupland 13:29.0
51 Ben Reed 13:35.0
52 Alex Forster 13:36.0
— James Beeks NF

Hampshire U15 Boys Team 2013. Southern Inter-Counties XC

Hampshire League, (3 of 5) – Popham

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Lots of Photo’s were taken on the day, take a look here.

http://hammy8241.smugmug.com/2013-Races/Hampshire-CrossCounty-League-M/Under-15-Boys

A disappointing day for the wRECker. After finishing 10th in both Race 1 and 2 he was hoping to step up a spot and finish in single figures in the third Hampshire League race. The conditions were good, the day was fine the start was excellent, and in general the race was good, running in 9th place for nearly the entire race Robbie was looking good, holding off Wimborne rival Pierce Copeland and looking strong, right up to the finishing straight. The Popham finishing straight is around 800m long and slightly down hill, a great opportunity for the runners to throw everything they have left in to the finish. Robbie hit the straight in 9th, but was taken apart along the straight by 7 runners, ultimately finishing the race in 16th place. The time was good, the run was good but the position was something of a disaster. Heads up for Bournemouth and Race 4, he is determined to get those places back. On a positive note the AFD team won once again, making a series win look very possible.

About 1k in and fighting hard.

British Athletics Cross Challenge – Liverpool (Match 2)

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A long trip up to Liverpool for the big British Athletics Cross Country Challenge event, Liverpool is one of the biggest events in the calendar, attracting 130 runners in the U15 boys event. It was always going to be hard, but the course itself was fairly flat, fairly good underfoot and fairly short, a meer 3km in length. At U15B AFD only had 3 representative runners; Jack Boswell, Robbie Coupland and Harry Grace. All three ran really well and ultimately got good times and placings with Jack finishing 4th (0:9:42), Robbie finishing 42nd (0:10:28) and Harry finishing 68th (0:10:56).

Fighting off the challengers on the way to the finish line.

Hampshire Team Selection Confirmed.

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The names of the eight boys selected to represent Hampshire at U15’s in the Southern Inter County XC Championships have been finalised and confirmed today. Robbie was selected as the 5th runner, and the team is looking really strong with a big AFD presence.

Team:
Jack Boswell (AFD)
Sam Costley (Southampton)
Jake Cvetkovic (AFD)
James Beeks (Basingstoke)
Robbie Coupland (AFD)
Luke Powell (Southampton)
Michael Ilott (IOW)
Alex Forster (New Forest Juniors)

Best of luck to them, and the other Hampshire teams at the Shuttleworth Park, Bedfordshire on Saturday 14th December.

Robbie amongst his U13 team mates at last years SEAA Inter County Championships.