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Juniors Journal - Young Athletes "own" page.
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Hi - Fellow Junior Athletes if you are reading this you will realise we now have our own page on the web site. This is where we can keep up to date with what we are all doing so if you have any stories about your sporting achievements at school or your local sports team (it does not have to be athletics) or anything else of interest then lets hear them. I have agreed to be editor-in-chief of the page so send me the information, richdec10@aol.com, do not worry about the grammar I am very good with a spell checker! I will put information on this page about what is happening for the juniors in the Club, other than training and competition, so keep in touch. Also did you know we have our own representative, Martin Joyce, on the Club's committee so if you have anything you wished passed on speak to him.
There are some articles below, about things some of us did last year, to get us started but let me have your stories.
Richard de-Camps
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PLYMOUTH - CLUB CAMP 2004
After last year’s excellent trip to the Plymouth Half marathon it was decided to make a return this year. However, as usual, we did not get our act together soon enough and our valiant band of ladies found the race was full (I am not sure they were too disappointed!) and the campsite we used last year was full. Undaunted, we decided to make the trip anyway and our base was to be Harford Bridge, near Tavistock on the edge of Dartmoor.
Saturday May 29
Martin Joyce, Andrew de-Camps and I arrived at the Harford Bridge Campsite, Tavistock at midday. After setting up base camp, we decided to try out the campsite facilities. First on our list was the Games Room. When we eventually found it, inside there was table football game and table tennis. We decided to hire two table tennis bats and two balls. We then played table tennis for what seemed like ages until, out of the window, we saw the other members of our group, Chris and Dan James, pull up outside reception. We went back to base camp where Martin decided to help the James set up their tent. Andrew and I had other ideas so we went off to try out some more facilities. This time it was the tennis court. We had played for approximately an hour before we had to go shopping. Shopping was actually quite enjoyable as we did have Martin Joyce with us spending his money wherever he felt necessary. We ended up buying more than we could store! In the late afternoon, once all of the jobs were finished, us five boys got together to play some more sports. In that one afternoon we played table tennis, tennis, football, cricket, rugby and we also played on the adventure playground, which was situated just behind our base camp. In the evening we all enjoyed a quiet sit down with our alcohol in our hands.
Sunday May 30
It was race day on the Sunday. Martin, Andrew and I had to get up early to catch the bus into Plymouth as it would have been difficult to drive into Plymouth and find somewhere to park. We were all running in the Fun Run, which began at 10:15am. The announcer kept on stating that it was not a race and that it was just a bit of fun but with Martin in the race, Andrew and I knew that was not going to be the case. Martin, Andrew and I managed to push our way up to the front of the runners so that we could get a good start but in the end it was only Andrew who got a good start. Andrew managed to weave his way right up to the front but Martin and I got stuck behind another crowd. This meant Martin and I had to sprint just to get up with the front-runners. We got 200 metres into the race and at last Martin and I had a bit of space. Martin then left me as he decided to chase Andrew who had somehow managed to get clear in the lead. As we got half way around the course, Andrew lead the race with Martin in 2nd place and I was in 4th place. Then we got to the hills. I dropped to 6th but as soon as we got back onto the flat I managed to move up one place into 5th. The four in front of me, including Andrew and Martin, had got too far in front so Andrew took 1st position, Martin was just behind him in 2nd and I could not make it a FODAC 1, 2, 3 but instead settled for fifth.
After recovering from the race, Martin, Andrew and I watched the end of the Plymouth Half-Marathon to lend our support to Fiona Turner, our only competitor in the race. Coincidentally, Fiona and Bill were our neighbours on the campsite; they were with a group from the Gloucester Mountaineering Club. The more dedicated athletes amongst you may be interested in Fiona’s pre-race preparation; a 16-mile walk on Dartmoor getting blisters in the process followed by pain relief and re-hydration on Cider. We then engaged in some retail therapy in Plymouth City Centre. We wandered around the shops and again Martin was flashing his money, buying everything he liked. Whilst in Sports World we met Chris and Dan so we joined up with them and wandered around Plymouth together. When we left Plymouth and went to get on the bus, we found out that Martin had lost his return bus ticket before he had even got off the bus in the morning! I am told we detoured over Dartmoor on the return journey passing exotic places like HM Prison but the 3 of us in the back of the car had to catch up on some much needed rest ready for the rigours on the campsite!
Back at the campsite, after putting away all of our shopping, we went off and played some more sports. We played tennis for a couple of hours and then decided to play “Tag” on the playground. At the playground we met a few 9 year-olds who challenged us to a football match. We gladly took up their offer but, as we later found out, it was not just a few 9 year-olds.
After finishing our tea we went down to the bottom of the campsite where the 9 year-olds had set up their football pitch with cones. Here we found 14 9 year-olds wanting to play us 5 boys. We were slightly out-numbered! Goals from Andrew and Martin put us into a two-nil lead but then the 9 year-olds hit back with three quick goals. Then Andrew equalised with his second goal of the game. This game was being played right next to a river and Martin could not resist diving in when the ball fell in, getting himself soaking wet. We just wish we got a picture of his face when he fell in! Then, again, the 9 year-olds scored another two to put them into a 5-3 lead. Two quality goals from myself brought us all square but then the parents tried to spoil the match by giving us five more minutes as the floodlights were not working. Three of these minutes were spent by us trying to score but we couldn’t, there were just too many youngsters! Then the youngsters caught us on the counter-attack and managed to score a winner. We lost 6-5 to fourteen 9 year-olds.
Sunday evening was a strange evening. After sitting up until midnight drinking our booze, Martin and Chris decided to sleep in the Gazebo. They have now named this Extreme Sleeping, which they say is more enjoyable than Extreme Ironing!
Monday May 31
As soon as it had got light, Martin and Chris decided to create their second new sport. Sheep Watching. Upon the hill in front of them were sheep. Martin and Chris watched these sheep all morning and they said, “They don’t move much but you cannot look away because they might move!” They even say they saw a sheep go sprinting across the top of the hill just like a lone ranger.
This was the first day we had rain and we had plenty of it. We all decided to go to Tavistock. Martin needed new trousers after his soaking the previous night and a new sleeping bag as he had wrecked one due to the violent nature of extreme sleeping! We walked around the town centre looking inside most shops but not all as it was a Bank Holiday. When we returned to the campsite, the rain had just about stopped but it was very wet around the campsite so inside we went to play table tennis. After it had dried out, we all went to play tennis and Martin was trying to prove that he was good tennis player but he wasn’t! Once we had got fed up of tennis we went back to base camp and played with the rugby ball. All we were doing was kicking the ball to one another but Dan and Andrew still combined to wreak havoc. Andrew kicked the ball for Dan to chase but as it was slippery due to the earlier rain, Dan could not stop and ended up colliding with a windbreak. The owner of the windbreak was not happy, as Dan had snapped two of the poles. We were forced to give him two of ours just to stop him from getting grumpy.
There was to be no football match tonight as most of the youngsters had left, which was to most of our disappointment because we would have beaten them. Also, there was no Extreme Sleeping due to the rain.
Tuesday June 1
Tuesday was our last day on the campsite but there was still time for sheep watching amidst all of the packing up. Although we did not have much spare time, as we had to be off the campsite by midday, we still managed to squeeze in some more table tennis matches. That was until Martin had to return the bats and balls that he had paid a deposit for. We had all left the campsite by 11:45am and the Club Camp 2004 had come to an end. Another great weekend cannot wait for next year if only to see how many mishaps befall MJ next time!
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County Schools Champs.
Congratulations to Chris James, Ethan Cross, Alison Drew and Andrew de-Camps on their selection to represent Gloucestershire Schools' AA in the South West Schools Championships at Yeovil on Saturday 19 Jun 04 following the Gloucestershire County Schools' Championships. Chris will be running in the intermediate boys 100m. Whilst the middle distance trio of Alison, inter girls, Ethan, junior boys, and Andrew, inter boys, will all run in the 800m. Ethan, 2min 15.4s, and Andrew, 2 min 1.5s took 0.8sec and 2.5sec off their personal bests at the County Championships to achieve selection.
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FOREST CHALLENGE 2004
It is official! The Forest of Dean Athletic Club is the first team to score a hat trick of wins in the Forest Challenge with victory in 2002, 2003 and now 2004 in the junior category (under 15).
For the second time we entered teams in both the junior and the senior (under 21) categories. The junior team consisted of Ethan Cross, Hugo Churchus, Skye Beddington and was led by Richard de-Camps, the sole survivor from the past two years. The senior team consisted of Martin Joyce, James Joyce and Andrew de-Camps, all members of last year’s winning senior team, and new boy Liam Saunders. Indeed, Andrew de-Camps was looking for his own personal hat trick having tasted victory with the juniors in 2002.
Both teams started from Plump Hill Quarry at 10:30am and had to negotiate 6 checkpoints, with points awarded for every checkpoint reached, before the final checkpoint closed at 2pm. Having tasks to complete at 5 of the checkpoints in order to score additional points further complicates this.
The junior team set off from Plump Hill towards Steam Mills. After arriving well ahead of the opposition at the first checkpoint and then being delayed whilst the directing staff got their act together, only served to increase the team’s determination. They then went on to 2 checkpoints in the Heywood Plantation.
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It was a case of another Heywood cross-country for our competitive juniors. The fifth checkpoint for the juniors was downhill at St Anthony’s Well. Here the juniors met a tough task. They attempted to fill a tube with water but the tube had large holes in it and they only had little hands! The juniors struggled and did not manage to score any points.
The senior team set out in the opposite direction around the checkpoints. They made good progress around the course after receiving directions from the locals, which was just as well given their map reading skills! They also scored well at most checkpoints but were undone by the water torture.
When the two teams arrived at the Wilderness Centre at 1:45pm, well inside the allotted time, the seniors were 30 points ahead of the juniors. At the Wilderness Centre the teams had to participate in six challenges. These involved archery, rock climbing, crate stacking, target golf, orienteering and an assault course. The juniors scored very well at the Wilderness Centre. In the archery, Richard and Hugo assured the team scored maximum points by popping balloons whilst Ethan and Skye clambered up the climbing wall to take maximum points.
Richard assumed his usual position, on top of the crates, in the Crate Stack whilst it was left to Hugo |
to do the “passing” and Skye and Ethan to provide insurance on the safety ropes.
The team scored, by now, their customary maximum points.
The team worked together well on the assault course and, again, received maximum points. The team only dropped points on the golf where Skye put the boys to shame and was the only person to score. The seniors also did very well at the Wilderness. They took the maximum in five challenges but fared even worse in the golf, scoring no points. Perhaps, they should consider a female colleague next year!
It was predicted that the competition was going to be close this year, particularly as the organisers had shortened the morning course to nullify our speed and fitness advantage, but nobody knew how close. When the results were announced the junior team were thrilled to take first place and create their own little bit of history by taking the trophy for the third year in a row. Then came the senior results. Our boys were not confident. The ATC had put out 4 teams to prevent a repeat of last year’s shock result! But history was in the making for the second time that day! We had a tie between FODAC and Lydney ATC!
In the FODAC contest, the seniors managed to out score the juniors after the embarrassment of last year where the juniors beat the seniors. But this year we get a trophy to ourselves whilst they only get half.
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THE BRITISH MILERS CLUB/NIKE YOUNG ATHLETES PB CLASSIC
On Monday 3 May 2004, 4 athletes from the Club knew just how Roger Bannister felt 50 years earlier as he waited to make his attempt to run the first sub 4-minute mile.
Conditions at Millfield School, Somerset for the BMC/Nike Classic were almost identical to those at Iffley Road, Oxford all those years ago. It was a grey, overcast evening and a strong wind was blowing across the track. However, our athletes were not as lucky as Bannister as the wind continued to blow until after they had run, not drop at 6pm just in time for the record attempt!
The BMC/Nike Classic is unique on the racing calendar. The programme consists almost entirely of middle distance events (17 x 800m, 10 x 1500m and 4 x 3000m on this occasion). All the races are for young athletes and are graded according to performance not age. In addition each race has a pacemaker, a bit like on the television, the idea being to give all the athletes, over 420 this year, every opportunity to set a personal best.
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By the time our first runner took to the track, they were all feeling pretty sick with nerves as they recognised some of the most talented youngsters in the Country. "I will probably have to run a PB to get last place" was one witty, nervous comment!
How did they do? Pretty well actually, especially the three 800m runners! Ethan Cross was 6th in his race in 2 min 18.50 secs, 8 secs inside his PB, Andrew de-Camps was 4th in his race in 2 min 4.27 secs, 2 secs inside his PB, and Alison Drew produced the highlight by taking a 1st place, 5 secs inside her PB, in 2 min 22.29secs. In the 1500m races, Martin Joyce did not fair so well but ran on gamely to finish in 4 min 56.09, disappointed not to have emulated the others with a PB. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all and I am sure they will be back next year, running even faster and, who knows, some of the rest of us may be quick enough to join them!
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GWENT CROSS COUNTRY - CARMARTHEN
The Gwent Cross Country League for 2003/2004 came to a close at a very windy United Counties Showground, Carmarthen on Saturday 20 March.
For the first time this season we had a competitor in the novice races and what a 'baptism of fire' for newcomer Jonathan Smith. Despite the appalling conditions under foot and the howling gale, he battle gamely to take a very creditable 10th place.
Kathy Griffin and Skye Beddington, ever present for the under 13 girls this season, both brought their season to a close finishing | 30th and 36th respectively.
Skye will benefit from her experiences this year, particularly as she has another year in the age group. Alison Drew had her best result of the season, finishing 8th in the under 15 girls race, having coped with the worsening conditions better than many of her compatriots. She can be justifiably proud of her season having already picked up individual silver in the Gloucestershire Cross Country League.
Pride of place, however, must go to Ethan Cross who, despite his worst result of the season in 6th place, managed |
to claim an individual bronze medal after the 5 race series. To put his performance in this league in perspective, he is the first male athlete from the club to win a medal and was the first male athlete from the club to win a race. Well-done Ethan!!
Also well done to our magnificent ladies who won so many trophies both team and individual that I cannot remember all of them.
Finally, the most important match of the day took place at Mega Bowl, Newport on the way home! As I did not win, I cannot for the life of me remember who did so can anyone out there help out? |
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