DUAXC SUMMER ROUND UP:

Firstly, sorry for the ridiculous length of this report, but I thought the brilliance of everyone’s summer performances merited a lengthy write-up! Apologies also if I missed anyone out who has also competed, or if I wrote something incorrect. I tried to ask people personally as much as possible, but generally speaking, athletics data has a lot to answer for! Sorry about the lack of pictures as well, as I couldn’t seem to find many!

DUAXC realized what they were going to miss this season with some fantastic summer performances from (although it seems strange to say it!) ex-members of the club.

Leading the way was outgoing president Becky Howarth who followed on from her BUCS 10,000m silver medal with personal bests in every track event from 800m upwards. She began by obliterating her 5,000m time by 45 seconds, running 17:17:96 at Manchester, before going quicker again over the same distance in coming 8^th at the English Closed Championships at Gateshead. She also came 5^th at the under 23 AAA Champs, while posting times of 2.17.6 for 800m, 4.33.06 for 1,500m and  9.54.9 over 3,000m. Becky has now begun a sports scholarship at the prestigious Butler University in America, and already has two solid cross country appearances under her belt.

Also starting at Butler, albeit with a slightly less satisfactory summer, is last year’s cross-country captain Matt Proctor, who started the season is stunning form. A 10km road PB of 30.33 was followed by an England appearance in Switzerland, where he came 31^st (and 4^th Brit) over 10 miles. However injury curtailed his season, although Matt is now back in full training and has also twice competed in America. And just to confirm how professional he now is, Matt has his own blog showing all of his training, which can be seen at http://butlerbritishbulldog.blogspot.com/

Becky and Matt looking good in their new Butler Uni team kit

                                                                             

Another athlete to compete sparsely over the summer was ex-kit secretary Alex Davy, but Alex has now returned to competition with a solid run for Leeds at the Northern Six Stage Relays. Ex-publicity secretary, Tom Beach has also been raking in the PBs, posting 18.18 over 5km on the road, while also narrowly missing a Half Marathon best, running 83 minutes 24 seconds at Macclesfield. Moving down in distance, Sylvain Garcon ran an 11.3 PB for 100m, while also recording marks of 1.70 (High Jump), 6.13  (Long Jump) and 11.86 (Triple Jump .) Lastly, but certainly not least, is part-time runner Matt Gunby, who ran a stunning 14.29 5,000m PB in his only track outing of the summer. Matt also came 2^nd at the ITU Duathlon World (yes world!) Championships in Edinburgh, and is now pursuing a full time career in triathlon.

However, all is not lost, as many current DUAXC members also posted excellent performances over the summer period.  New club president Owen Walpole has now incredibly run his last 35 800m races in sub-2 minute times and on four occasions ran quicker than his 2009 best, ending the season with a fine PB of 1.53.2. Owen also ran 51.3 over 400m, 3.55.4 for 1,500m, 8.57.7 for 3,000m and 16.13.1 for 5,000m (all PB’s) and represented the south-west region in an 800m race in Belgium, in which he came 4^th.

The incoming athletics captain combination of Alice Robins and Gareth Phillips also both had good summers. Alice ran times of 12.8 for 100m and 26.94 over 200m, (both just outside her PB’s) but came 2^nd at the South-West Inter-counties 100m, beaten only by the subsequent Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner! Gareth had an impressive 11 sub-12 second 100m times, including a 11.78 second PB, while he also ran PB’s of 23.66 seconds over 200m, and 52.55 for 400m. For Jack Hillier it was a frustrating season as he suffered from the cross-country captain injury jinx, but he still ran early season PB’s of 2.00.1 (800m) and 4.13.7 (1500m) and will surely break the elusive 2 minute barrier next season. 

Elsewhere, in terms of new members of the exec, new Race-sec Ollie Cook ran 19.19 at the Newcastle 5km Park run, just outside 40 minutes over 10km, and just outside 90 minutes at the Great North Run. Club secretary Olivia Short ran a swift 2.26.4 over 800m and just above 1 hour 50 minutes at the Great North Run, while treasurer Yvonne Farrell ran a solid leg for her club at the Southern 4-Stage Relays in Aldershot, where the only athlete to overtake her was one Steph Twell! As for the new publicity secretary, Nick Butler (feels strange to talk about myself in the 3^rd person!), ran a 42.25 minute 10km PB, but is focusing on running a good Half-Marathon time at the end of October.

Elsewhere, DUAXC’s throwing specialist Sarah Mcguire threw the Javelin 37.15 metres, and came 9^th at the Southern Counties under 23 championships. Alex Morrison ran 52.47 over 400m, and club veteran Fred Hamlin ran PB’s of 2.07.26 for 800m and 4.31.23 for 1,500m. Returning to longer-distance types, Josh Cole returned from injury to run 15.41 over 5,000m on the track and 16.10 on the road (both PB’s), while he also ran well at the Northern road relays. Adam Mitchell ran 16.54 for 5km on the road, while the self proclaimed voice of Durham fell-running, Pete Davison ran 19.28 over the same distance, and also came 3^rd at the Yorkshire under 23 fell-championships. Emma Lines ran 43.48 for 10km and 1.42.08 at the Great North Run, while Georgia Barrett ran in the same race, finishing just outside 2 hours. Yet another DUAXC member who competed in the Gateshead Half-marathon was Nick Rooke, who after a year’s absence from the club ran 74 minutes along with a 10km time of 34.25.

Finally a quick word about the club’s large, incoming fresher contingent, although if any freshers have managed to read this far, that will have been at least twice as much of an achievement as running for DUAXC! Over 200 signed up at the sports fair, ranging in distances from 100m to the Marathon, from long jump to javelin. Three of these guys have already run for the club at the Manchester Relays. Of these, Alex Robinson is an 8.29 3,000m runner, who also has a sub-4 1,500m time to his name. Sophie Smith is an English Schools competitor, who has run 2.24 for 800, and Michael Grimes (who is already known to anyone who has trained at Maiden Castle) is a sub-2 and sub-4 performer who came 31^st at last year’s English Schools Champs. 

Thanks for reading!