Club News

On an extraordinary day for sport in our region, the DASH AC Athletes played their part with some fantastic performances on Day two of the 2012 County Championships in Warrington.

Leading the way was Charlotte Ogden of the Under 17 Girls, who took Gold in the Triple Jump with a leap of 11.02m in poor jumping conditions. Charlotte's jump was far enough to beat all of the Under 20 Womens competitors, and after missing out on selection for last week's UK School Games in the Olympic Park, confirmed her place as the top jumper in the region. Despite competing with a sore ankle, Laura Pegler picked up two more medals to add to her 100m and Long Jump silvers from Day One, after taking bronze in the Triple Jump with 9.87m and silver in the 200m in a personal best time of 27.3.

Lauren Ainley finished the weekend with another big personal best in the Cheshire Under 13 Girls 150m final, running 24.2 seocnds for 7th place, an identical time to Rebecca Muirhead who finished sixth in the Greater Manchester final. Rebecca went on to throw 17.76m for silver in the Under 13 Girls Discus. In the Under 15 Girls 100m Libby Geary finished fourth in her heat with 14.4, with Evie Hancox one place ahead in a personal best time of 14.1 seconds. Sophie Decker finished sixth in her heat but ran a personal best time of 14.6, eclipsing her previous best of 15.0 seconds. Evie and Sophie also competed in the Long Jump, with Sophie jumping 3.29m for 9th and Evie qualifying for the final, where she finished sixth with a jump of 4.10m.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing three DASH Athletes line up for the final of the Under 13 Boys 100m. James Ainley took Bronze with 13.9, with Sam Cofano fifth and Adam Day sixth. Joe Keeble, competing for the Club for the first time, ran 16.4 for fourth in his heat. In the High Jump, Adam Day finished eighth with 1.09m. David Ward followed up a Gold Medal in the Hurdles on Saturday with a fifth place in the Under 15 Boys 400m in 68.40 seconds. Jonny Ding rounded off the weekend with 8.08m for Silver in the Under 17 Mens Shot, and a big personal best of 2:24.1 for fifth place in the 800m.

Well Done to all those who competed and represented the Club over the two days, and to all those Coaches and Parents who supported them. The next big competition will be the Cheshire League Round 2 Match at Ellesmere Port on Saturday 8th June.

JF

On a very windy Saturday at Warrington's Victoria Park, a small group of athletes produced some excellent performances to come away with a team medal count of seven after day one of competition.

Sophie Decker continued her great start to her Athletics career with a bronze medal in the under 15 Girls High Jump with a personal best of 1.35m, after reaching the final of the 200m in her first attempt at that challenging distance. James Ainley won bronze in the Under 13 Boys 200m with 29.1. Laura Pegler took two silvers, with 13.1 and 4.90m in the Under 17 Ladies 100m and Long Jump respectively. Sam Cofano took a silver medal in the under 13 Boys Long jump with 3.79m, with Adam Day taking bronze in 3.77m. Adam took a second bronze in the 800m, with a personal best of 2:32.1. David Ward took Gold in the Under 15 Boys 80m Hurdles in 15.0 and James Cash took Gold in the Under 15's Triple Jump with a jump of 9.77m.

There were lots of additional personal bests and strong performances outside of the medal zone too, with Sam Cofano finishing a strong fifth in the Under 13 Boys 200m, Ellie Staley running 13.4 for 4th in the Under 17 Girls 100m and Katie Waterworth running two big personal bests of 10.8 and 10.7 on her way to fourth place in the 75m. Evie Hancox produced a huge one second personal best to run 13.3 for sixth in the Under 15 Girls 75m hurdles, before finishing fourth in the shot with 6.98m and fifth in the javelin with 17.44m. Lauren Ainley also ran a big personal best of 12.3 in the Under 13 Girls 75m and Mike Day finished 4th in the Under 13 Boys Javelin with 16.46m. A special mention has to go to Sam Carter-Blyth of the Under 17's, who, despite mixing up his start time and arriving over six hours early, stayed all day to support his team-mates before running a tough 400m carrying a slight hip injury. An invite to selection for the Greater Manchester inter-County Team was a just-reward though, and shows that those who put in the effort will get rewarded.

It was dissapointing not to see many Athletes competing who we would have expected to take the initiative themselves to enter this competition. Many of you are missing out on what will be the highest level of Championships you will compete in over the summer, and are also missing a great opportunity to push yourselves to new personal bests against the best athletes in your County.

We'll be back at the track for Day two tomorrow, where we hope to see even more top performance from DASH Athletes and maybe even some of today's silver and bronze medals turn to Gold! Well done to all those who competed and supported each other through the day.

JF.

DASH Athletics Club once again demonstrated it's credientials as the top track and field athletics Club in Stockport, with an emphatic team vicory in the first League Match of the year, a local derby against Stockport Harriers, as well as Trafford AC, Salford Mets AC, Macclesfield Harriers and Handforth AC.

With DASH winning the overall match, ahead of second-place Salford Mets, the Club now sit third in the League, behind East Cheshire Harriers and Crewe & Nantwich AC - the winners of the other two matches. The result is by far the Club's best start to a season in our short history. With awful weather putting personal best performances on hold, the match became all about winning maximum points for the team with all eighty-plus athletes and officials doing their best to support the team and their teammates.

There were also some outstanding individual performances across the age groups. In the Under 11 Girls, Catherine Giller won both the 75m and Long Jump by clear margins. Eve Gibbons finished second in the 600m with 2:08. Phoebe Houghton, making her debut for the Club, won her 75m race in a time of 12.3 and also finished in second place in both the javelin and Long Jump. The Under 11 Girls 4x100m Relay team came through to take the victory, 2 seconds clear of the second-placed team. In the Under 11 Boys George Buchan won the 75m in 11.8 and finished second in the 600m in 2:02. Another debutant, Spencer Yates, put in a great first performance with second placed finishes in the 75m and Long Jump, the latter with a promising 3.49m. Sam Waller, one of the youngest members of the team had a great day with a win in the Javelin and a second place in the long jump, clearing three metres for the first time.

The Under 13 Girls competition was a close-fought thing between DASH AC and Stockport Harriers. Jenni Park and Katie Waterworth got the team off to a great start with victories in the A and B races of the 100m, before finishing second 'A' and first 'B' respectively in the Long Jump. Rebecca Muirhead finished 2nd in the Discus with 15.22m, with Lucy Wylie winning the 'B' string competition. The DASH AC boys dominated the Under 13's Competition, starting as they meant to go on with a clean sweep of victories in all four heats of the 200m. Adam Day led the team by example, winning the 'A' race in 30.2, finishing second in the 800m and winning the High Jump. Dexter Gilbert won the 'B' race of the 800m with 2:50.2 and Joel Bearn won the Shot with 5.25m. Cameron Stewart won the 'B' High Jump with 1.25m and the team crowned a great day with a win in the 4x100m relay.

In the Under 15 Girls the highlights included a personal best of 14.4 for Megan Franklin in the 100m and a similarly quick personal best of 14.3 for Evie hancox in the same event. Sophie Decker, a newcomer to the team, put in a top performance in the high jump to finish thrid overall with 1.30m. George Unsworth won both the 200m (25.6) and long Jump (4.98m) in his first team match for the Club, with James Cash jumping a 4.78m personal best in the Long Jump for first place in the 'B' competition. Peter Bridgland and Andy O'Connor finished second and third in the discus with 18.70 and 17.67m respecitively, with the Boys relay team finishing a close second to a strong Trafford team.

Sam Carter-Blyth ran a new best time of 25.1 to finish third in the 200m 'A' race for the Under 17 Boys. in the Senior Men, Craig Birch ran a season's best of 12.0 in the 100m before a thrilling finish to the 800m which saw Pete Crean (2:20.5), Craig (2:21.1) and Paul Doherty (2:21.4) battle it out along the home straight. In the Ladies Team (which includes Under 17's in this League), there were second place finishes for both Laura Pegler and Charlotte Ogden in 13.3 in their 100m races, before a great win for Ellie Staley in a personal best time of 13.1. Laura Pegler leapt to her second furthest ever distance of 4.93m in the long jump, with Charlotte Ogden winning the 'B' string in 4.78m.

It was great to see so many athletes, parents and volunteers supporting the Club in the first match of the year and at our home track. We hope to maintain our League position over the remaining three matches, which will continue at Ellesmere Port on Saturday 8th June.

There are a great number of errors in the match results thanks to scoring errors on the day, which we have flagged up with the League and hope to see fixed soon. Nevertheless, the results can be found online now on both the power of 10 and Cheshire AA websites.

Read more...

On Sunday 25th March, eight DASH AC Coaches and Coaching Assistants attended the first ever North West Networks Coaching Conference at SportCity, to meet up with Coaches from clubs across the region and attend workshops across a range of events. The centrepiece of the event was a well-received keynote presentation by former Olympic 400m medallist and current TV athletics commentator, Catherine Merry.

As part of the Club's commitment to the development of a top-class coaching staff, the Club funded access to the Conference for all eight delegates. The Coaches and Assistants who attended were Catherine Muirhead, Mike Frost, Craig Birch, David Jackson, Mark Ainley, Sarah Wood, Lizzie Martin and Charlotte Liebezeit. The Coaches attended workshops on events from Sprints and Youth Development to Pole Vault and Rotational Throws.

The club's next Coaches meeting will be a chance for those who attended to feed back to the rest of the Coaching Team on what they learnt on the day.

Read more...

On Wednesday 7th March, DASH AC's Joe and Mike Frost re-visited Cheadle Hulem High School for another afternoon of Sportshall Athletics - this time for the Year 8 Pupils.

All the pupils in the year group took part in an afternoon of fun and competitivie sportshall athletics. At the end of the afternoon every pupil was given information on how to join the Club and, with the help of the PE Staff, DASH AC Head of Coaching, Joe Frost, was able to identify and speak to those who had performed extremely well to encourage them to develop their talents by joining the Club.

Next week the series concludes with the Year 9 pupils!

Over the coming week, all DASH AC members will be receiving their membership renewal forms, along with the summer 2012 fixture list. Whilst the fixture list contains all Club League Matches and Championship events, there are also a large number of Open Meets that are open to our athletes.

Whilst your Coaches will guide you on which competitions to enter, Athletes and Parents can take greater ownership of an athlete's development by finding and entering the individual competitions (open meetings) that you would like to take part in and that you thing would benefit your development.

Below, you can find details of all upcoming competitions in March and April, along with details on how you can enter them:

Download Summer 2012 Fixture List HERE

Download March-April Competitions Guide HERE

Competitions for March & April 2012:

Blackpool Winter Warm Up, Sun 11 March (U9-Seniors) ADVANCE ENTRIES ONLY (Download Info)

(INDOOR) Midland Counties 3rd Birmingham Open, Sat 24th & Sun 25th March (U13-Seniors) ADVANCE ENTRIES ONLY (Download Info)

Warrington AC Open, Sun 1st April (U9-Seniors) (Download Info)

Trafford Medal Meet, Mon 9th April (U11-U15) (Download Info)

SportCity Young Athletes Indoor Open, Sat 14th April (U9-U15) (Info Will Appear Here When Available)

UKA Liverpool Jumps & Throws Festival, Sat 14th April (U15-Seniors) (Download Info)

DASH AC Club Championships, Woodbank Park, Sun 15th April (U9-Seniors) ( Download Info)

Cheshire League Match 1, Woodbank Park, Sun 22nd April (U11-Seniors) (Team Managers Will Provide Further Info - All Athletes Aged 8+ Expected to compete)

FOR MORE INFO ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, PLEASE SPEAK TO YOUR COACH OR JOE FROST, HEAD OF COACHING & COMPETITION: 07974743639 / joefrost@dashathletics.co.uk

Under 15 Girl, Evie Hancox, followed up a big weekend at the National Indoor Championships in Birmingham last weekend by competing in Sheffield on Sunday in the Aviva England Athletics U17/U15 Indoor Combined Events Championships.

There was a disappointing start to the competition in the 60m Hurdles and High Jump, with Evie hitting the final hurdle hard  after a good start to the race. This affected Evie's confidence going into the High Jump, her least strong event, where she no-heighted. However, Evie pulled it back with a good performance in the long jump with 3.95m before a strong performance in the shot with a throw of 7.58m and a fantastic final event, coming from the back of the field in the 800m to almost win the heat with a time of 2:55.48.

Evie finished the competition with a score of 1517, a points total that will be dramatically improved with a clear competition. It is great to see Evie setting a good example for many other athletes in the Club by pushing herself way outside of her comfort zone to take part in the big championship events. Well done to Evie and thanks to Craig Birch, Emerging Group Coach, who travelled to Sheffield with her. The Club is proud to see Athletes challenging themselves and representing us at the top level and we hope that many more athletes will follow Evie's example as we move into the summer season and beyond.

Five DASH AC Athletes competed in Sunday's final event in the SportCity Indoor Open Meeting Series in Manchester, one of only a small number of chances left to run indoors before the start of the outdoor track season in April.

Ten year-old Katie Waterworth, competing several years out of age group in the Under 15's ran very close to her personal best in the 60m, with a time of 9.7 seconds despite a poor start - showing us that there's much more to come when everything comes together. Katie also jumped 3.56m in the Long Jump.

David Ward ran a personal best in the Under 15 Boys 60m, with 8.95 seconds to go under the 9-second barrier for the first time before winning the 60m Hurdles in a time of 11.03 seconds. David completed a very positve competition with s great run in his first ever 300m race to finish second in a time of 46.69 seonds. Sam Doherty finished second in the 60m Hurdles in a time of 12.49 seonds and third in the 300m with 48.34 seonds. Joe Mullin also had a good day, finishing second in the 600m with a season's best time of 1:58.15. 

Ellie Staley ran a great race to finish a close second in the Under 17 Girls 60m with a time of 8.57 seconds.

Well Done to all the Athletes who came along to compete and to the parents and Coaches who supported.

Don't forget that there are open meeting staking place almost every weekend throughout the year and they are a perfect opportunity for you to get 'race fitness' and prepare for the bigger LEague and Championship events. They are also a great opportunity for athletes to work towards achieving personal bests and achieve qualifying standards for Championship events later in the year. You can find details on upcoming open meetings that we are supporting on the training and competition page of our site by clicking HERE. Athletes and Parents can and should use their own initiative in seeking out suitable competitions that you feel would help you in your development. Speak to your Coach for more information.