PETE’S POST -SEPTEMBER 2023
It hasn’t been the greatest of summers in terms of the weather, but in T&F the sun shines on C&C!
That final SAL match at Colchester gave us the result that we wanted: a win on the day, PROMOTION, and a top of the league finish! We were level on League Points with the club that came 2nd, it was the Match Points that gave us the top slot. So well done to every single athlete that scored a point for the team this season, you made that vital difference. This success was a wonderful collective effort, managers, coaches, and athletes all working together. If we keep this togetherness going next year we will have nothing to fear at the higher level. We are C&C, the other clubs will be fearing us!
The SAL is far from being the only T&F success to mention. In the Masters League, the excellent performances across the season of our C&C “Superwomen” (pictured) mean that they have qualified for the final. Congratulations to them! Last year our Masters Men made it through, but unfortunately they just missed out this time. The spirit and camaraderie at the Masters events has been brilliant, and we wish the Ladies the very best of luck in the final, which takes place at Bedford, on 9th Sept. Whatever happens there, an excellent foundation has been laid down to build on in future seasons. Masters athletics is going strong at C&C, and is going to get stronger!
The EAL team have also qualified for their final! This takes place at Bury St Edmunds on 3rd September. As team manager, Steve says, this is an opportunity to show we are the best team in East Anglian, and bring home a trophy for the club! That would be amazing, so let’s have another great turn-out and show what we can do!
C&C’s EYAL team have also had a fine season which has seen them qualify for the Plate Final to take place at Stevenage on 10th September. A good turn out and result there would mean that it’s been a very good season for that team too! Of course, not everything is measured in points and league tables, EYAL is about young athletes gaining T&F knowledge and experience, as well as providing great competition and having fun.
Two more Arkwright League 5k fixtures have already taken place in August. The C&C turn-outs at these events have consistently high this season, with great team spirit, and wonderful performances, both as a team and individually. There is just one more match to go now, on 31st August at Royston. I feel sure that we will finish off the season in style there!
A big “Thank You” to club legend Charlie Wartnaby. He has put in some fantastic work on behalf of the club, digging into Power of 10 to produce the top 10 Club Records for each age group, category, distance, and event. He has even produced WAVA score (Age Grading) league tables! This data will be appearing on the club website soon. Charlie has done his best to combine the Power of 10 data with times from pre-Power of 10 days, using old documents and databases. It is just possible that there could be some missing performances here, so please let Charlie know if you suspect that any historic achievements may be missing.
Once this is all in place C&C will have an incredibly comprehensive set of club records, which I’m sure will become a real discussion point.
Well done Charlie for all the effort and time you have put into this.
A big club “Thank you” too to Noel Moss, and, before him, Phil Bramford, who previously did a fantastic job in keeping the club records updated.
On September 24th our own event, the Cambourne 10k will be taking place. This is the rescheduled date, after the race was so unfortunately cancelled in April. Well done to all of the organising team for having to go through it all again. It would be great to have a good turn-out of runners from C&C, there’s still time to enter. If not, I’m sure that your help as a volunteer would be greatly appreciated. As an incentive, helping at the 10k counts as a qualification for the London marathon ballot in 2024!
Finally, congratulations to Leah Wagstaff, Hannah Irwin, and Ian Williamson. Their achievements have already been reported, but to briefly summaries here, in the space of 4 days, between them, these three, won a National title, set a National record, and went to the top of the British rankings! Incredible!
We have some big relay races coming up soon as we begin to move from T&F back to road and cross country. This is another exciting period of competition for C&C as our teams challenge again on a local, regional, and national stage. Best of luck to athletes and Team Managers, let’s continue to build on the great progress made in recent years.
It’s all going to be fun, have a fantastic September!