Ribble Valley Athletic Club

Sam Butters & Lucy Lennon have qualified for the McCain Cross Challenge final!

The event will take place on Saturday 13th March at Crofton Park Birmingham.

Lucy who is in 13th in the standings will be hoping to beat some of her Lancashire county rivals in her first major event in the U13 girls race.

Sam is currently in 21st equal and will want to prove he is not just an 800m runner but can also mix with the best in the biggest cross country event of the year!

Reece Clark will represent Lancashire in the same race U15 boys as Sam, this is his second year in the Lancashire team for Reece and he is already showing his promise to be a top class junior athlete in years to come.

For the timetable please copy link below into your browser!

http://www.uka.org.uk/EasySiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=54632&type=full&servicetype=Attachment

Lucy Lennon & Gabby Charnley, have been selected to conoete for Lancashire at the inter-county sportshall finals!

For Lucy this is her second selection after being selected as an U11 in 2008, Lucy is jugling a succesfull indoor and cross country season! already smashing her pb in the high jump and running a 15 scon indoor pb in the 800m, she will be competing in the Inter-counties cross country championships in March taking place in Birmingham.

For Gabby this is her first selection, after winning athlete of the match at the previous sportshall comp in Blackpool. She will be out to compete at a much higher level on the day.

Other selections are pending and hope to have both Laura Nerenberg and Sabrina Walley called into the team.

Copy this link into your browser, to find out which coach it is?

http://www.uka.org.uk/media/news/december-2009/17-12-09-people/

3 Ribble Valley Athletes competed at the televised Gateshead International X-Country event in Newcastle, with some of the best young runners in the country in attendance it gave them the opportunity to see how training is going for the summer season of 2010!

Our Youngest U13 Lucy Lennon was the first one to take to a muddy 3k course, Lucy who is more suited to track running (like her more famous sister Leigh) than mud, showed how much she has improved in a year. She gained a good start out of the 40 athletes who started, coming round in 10th place after the first small loop of 1k, with the 2k loop to come, with a long hill followed by a very steep one towards the end of the course, working hard up both of them Lucy batteled to the end to come home in 17th place beating girls who have been running well in the Mid lancs and red rose leagues, breaking 14mins for 3k for the first time her previous time over 3k was 14.48.

Next off was one of our newest members Cherisse Walley who joined the club last week, the conditions had become much worse under foot and she held on to run a good race, to finish 26th in the U17 race in her first year in the age group.

Sam Butters who has improved his pb's over 800m, 400, and the 1500m this year looked strong on a very difficult course. Sam controlled his race well coming through the field on the final lap, what was impressive about his run was the fact he ran his 2nd 2k of the 4k race 2mins faster than the first to finish in a time of 16.13 to come home in 35th place.

Next race for the trio will be the Bristol International on the 22nd November along with 13 other team mates!

Report: UKA 26/07/09

Schofield was more philosophical with his review:

“I’m not sure what to feel,” he said. “A medal would have been a dream, but I beat some really good guys out there. I thought I ran a good race, I didn’t go to the back – I stayed in mid pack. And I kicked with about 300 to go and tried to stay in contact.

“I’m a senior next year so I’m up with the big boys. But today was good, and Niall did great to come away with a silver in that race.”


Lennon was equally philosophical following her sixth place in 2.10.99:

“I felt good at warm up,” she recalled, “but with about 200m to go I just wasn’t able to go with it.

“This has been a major learning curve for me. At the start of the season it wasn’t my aim to be here – my aim was to win the English Schools which I’ve done but as I competed early season I realised I could make it, and it’s all been a great experience.I will now concentrate on getting selected for next years world junior championships in Canada"

ACCRINGTON runners Leigh Lennon and Robbie Schofield are golden wonders after winning gold medals at the AVIVA English Track and Field School Championships.

And the teenagers will now represent Great Britain at the European Junior Championships in Serbia at the end of this month.

Both Leigh and Robbie were in the Under 20s 800m at Sheffield on the hunt for their first gold medal at the event where Dame Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe, Lord Sebastian Coe have tasted success in their early running careers.

"The plan was to go out from the front for both of them although Leigh had a bit of a head cold so we were worried," said coach and dad Don Lennon, with both athletes representing Lancashire at the prestigious event.

But neither disappointed. Leigh, 18, had a lot of pressure on her as she needed to win to book a Serbia spot and she also wanted to improve on the two bronze medals and one silver she had previously won at the championships.

"It was quite difficult for me because I was quite nervous going into the race with the pressure," said Lennon, who raced home in 2.08.12.

"I spoke to the selectors after the AAA’s and they said to me I had to win the race here to qualify for Europe.

"I was pleased with the race because I went out on my own from the start because I knew I had to win.

"I wouldn’t normally do that because, usually, I wait a little bit but because I knew I had to win I had to push."

Double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, who acts as a mentor for Lennon after selecting the Accrington youngster to join her Aviva-funded on Camp with Kelly initiative, hailed the teenager’s performance.

"She showed guts and determination - she really wanted it and it meant a huge amount to her," said Holmes.

Robbie also needed a victory although he was chasing a time - 2.49.5 to qualify for Serbia - with his personal best 0.32 of a second off it.

He crossed the line in 1.50.32 but was still selected for Europe after some consistent shows.

"We were pleased for Robbie," said coach Don. "I have coached both Robbie and Leigh since they were 10-years-old and we made a 10-year plan five years ago and so far both of them have hit every target.

"It is just fantastic to have them both there and is is a phenomenan really having two middle distance runners from Accrington representing Great Britian.

"I think both have the talent and will to be world class athletes, not just at junior level but senior level too.

"Reaching the European Championships has exceeded expectations for both, especially for Leigh who is the youngest runner travelling - 18 months younger than a lot of the runners there.

"She is fulfilling a dream as she watched Kelly Holmes when she was 12 and always wanted to emulate her and she is now getting there. The big aim is for 2016 Olympics."

Leigh, ranked 12th best Under 20 in Europe, has finished her beauty course at Accrington and Rossendale College and has won a scholarship in America studying a sports coaching degree.

Robbie, ranked ninth best Under 20 at 800m in Europe, is due to go to Loughborough University to study physics.

Report Sent From On Camp With Kelly
The Aviva English Schools Track & Field Championships is part of Aviva’s commitment to giving every child in the UK the opportunity to get involved in athletics by 2012. For more information go to www.aviva.co.uk/athletics .

Robbie Schofield continued his winning streak at the British athletics league in Sheffield, Better known as the premiership of athletics. Robbie followed up his fantastic win at the Inter-Counties in May to take 1st place, beating former European bronze medalist Sam Ellis in a time of 1:51.27. Schofield who is ranked 3rd in the UK and 8th in Europe said afterwards "It is great to win but to beat my idol well what can I say, after the race I spent the next hour talking to Sam. I am enjoying my season but my job is not done yet, I aim to gain the A standard for the European Junior champs which will have to wait until the trials"

Last week Robbie & Nathan competed for their first claim club Newham & Essxe Beagles in Valencia Spain. They both had tough competition from experienced seniors, some who had competed at last years Olympics. Robbie came home 6th in the 800m & Nathan came 7th in the Steeplechase.

Nathan also competed at the British League and ran a pb in the steeplechase 9:58 finishing 7th out of 14.