North Staffordshire Cross Country
League 2003
The men (pictured) took the championship title in the second
division, with the ladies taking second place in the first division
in the hotly contested North Staffordshire Cross Country League.
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Staffordshire University's
History of Athletic Excellence |
Staffordshire University's history ofhas a rich history of
sporting excellence, begining even before it became a university!
The first ever Polytechnic student to gain a black belt 1st Dan
was a Staffordshire Polytechnic student studying Sports and Recreation
in 1991.
The University was established from the Staffordshire Polytechnic
in September 1992 which, itself, had been formed from the merger
of its own well-established colleges.Shortly after its establishment,
in 1995, Keith Anderson recorded an individual
victory in the BUSA Cross Country Championship.
In 1998 eight former students of the University were present at
the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. They are Jo Jennings
(high jump, England), Andi Drake (20k walk, England),
Keri Maddox (100 and 400 metre hurdles, England),
Antony Borsumato (marathon, England), Ian
Gillespie (5,000 metres Scotland), and Amanda
Crowe (800 metres, Northern Ireland).
In the year 2000, Tani Grey-Thompson, Honourary Graduate
of Staffordshire University, won 4 gold medals at the
Sydney Paralympics, with help from Sport Science expertise at
the University.
Former students of the university represented Great Britain at
the 101st Olympics in Sydney. They were Keri Maddox and
Anthony Borsumato. They were also joined by Honourary
graduate John Mayock.
The university also played host to the British Universities Sports
Association (BUSA) annual Halifax Outdoor Athletics Championships
in this year. Overall the men’s team came 4th out
of 88th institutions and the women’s came 10th place.
In 2002 the ladies cross-country team won bronze at British student
championships, Belfast, Emma Ward recording an individual victory.
Also, Derek Benning, Athletics Team Manager,
was chosen to take part in Her Majesty’s Jubilee Baton Relay.
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Athletics at the Club
Last Season
2003-2004 |
Regional
Last season held much success in the regional arena. Our Men's
Cross Country team were champions of the second
division in the North Staffordshire Cross Country league, earning
promotion to the top flight. This was mainly thanks to the consistent
performances of a nebulus of reliable runners, although the feat
could not have been achieved without the contributions of a number
of 'walk-ons' in the crucial, second fixture.
The women's ran consistently throughout the season to come second
in the first division of the NSCCL, despite the injury induced
absences of key runner, Louise Whittaker (GB).
Quality runners, albeit of less national reknown, including Clare
Booker & Laura Davenport, rose to
the challenge, thus facillitating the exemplary final result.
National
On the national scene the year started quite poorly, both men
(33rd placed team) & women (9th placed team) fielding their worst
performing teams of recent years in the 2004 BUSA cross country,
due to injury induced absences. Despite this, their were some
excellent performances on the day, notably from Richard
Weir, who scored BUSA points in the short-course race
(6th place). Gregg Ward also ran valiantly, completing
the long-course race despite injury, thus ensuring a scoring team.
Laura Davenport also lead the team home for the
first time, an event made even more notable due to the fact it
was her BUSA debut.
In the BUSA Indoor Championships, Kate Denison
scored points for the University, along with Laura Davenport
& 2003/4 Womens Cross Country Captain Clare Booker.
The men failed to score any points. The University accrewed 10
points overall, placing 12th in the Women's events overall.
At the Gateshead BUSA Outdoor Championships, more points were
scored bv our athletes, notably by Chris Rodgers
(8th place, hammer), Nick Gayle (5th place, 110mH),
Richard Kay (6th place, 10k) & Kate
Denison (4th placed pole-vaulter), the university accrewing
13 points overall in the competion. |
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The Season
Ahead
As a student run activity, we have several goals
that we wish to achieve in the coming academic year:
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we intend to increase partcipation levels from the student body,
fielding larger teams for competitions, be they BUSA, local league
or invitational events.
Furthermore, we wish to increase the attendance numbers at the
training sessions we run. We intend to achieve this by revamping
the training sessions, to make them more fun & by active promotion
of our training to the general student populace.
Also,
we intend to offer more training sessions to our members, both
in the context of number & variety. Specifically, we aim to
make provisions for coaching & weight training groups for
the coming season. We also intend to ensure that the circuits
session, which the majority of our members attend every week,
is ran to the highest of standards due to reorganisation in its
running.
In
addition, the Mens Cross Country team has hopes of placing in
the first division in the North Staffordshire Cross Country League.
We intend to do this by encouraging members to compete in a greater
number of these matches, therefore increasing the quality of each
fielded team
We
also aim to finish inside the top 10 teams in next years BUSA
Cross Country Championship.
Finally,
we intend to improve our scoring in the two BUSA Track & Field
Championships, by improving levels of attendance amongst both
accomplished & non-accomplished athletes.
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Nationally Recognized
Members
Our membership presently includes Louise
Whittaker (1500m, Great Britain), Kate Dennison
(Pole Vault, Great Britain), Graham Fergusson
(Cross Country National Champion, Scottish Schools) & Chris
Tremayne (Pole Vault, Great Britain).
Other famous 'Knotts' include
Emma Ward (???,Great Britain), Nick Goodlife
(???,Great Britain) & international athletes John
Maycock, fourth in the British all-time best 1500m list
and mile events, Jo Jennings (high jump, England),
Ian Gillespie (5,000 metres Scotland), Amanda
Crowe (800 metres, Northern Ireland), Keri Maddox
(100 and 400 metre hurdles, England) & Anthony Borsumato
(Marathon, England).
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