Hampshire County T&F Championships 2015

Once again Portsmouth provided excellent weather for the County champs, with Robbie racing in the 3000m on Saturday and the 1500m on Sunday, now running bottom year U17’s and up against fellow AFD runners Jack Boswell and Jake Cvetkovic. Heading to Portsmouth on Saturday for the 3000m, with a list of runners we were hoping that Robbie would actually medal behind Jack and Jake, but via the magic of mobile technology Robbie’s chances of a medal improved when Jake notified him that he was injured and wouldn’t be attending. A great shame for Jake, but as mentioned a boost in possibilities for Robbie. That said, it wasn’t to be.  The race was run as a combined U17/U20 race and two battles were thought from the start, with Jack Boswell battling Thomas MacSwayne for first place (despite them being in different races) and in the same manner Robbie battled Philip Maguire for 3rd, a frustrating time for Robbie as Philip seemed intent on being in front, but not intent at maintaining the pace. A hopscotch process began, with Robbie overtaking and leading for 100m, then Philip overtaking and slowing the pace down, forcing Robbie to drop off and go round to bring the pace back up. This happened at least 5 times, and was ultimately detrimental to both athletes, but mostly to Robbie as Edward Mason and Sam Metcalf took advantage of the tussle to storm past and take 2nd and 3rd place in the U17’s.

Saturday, was disappointing, but ultimately was not the most disappointing day of the weekend. The 1500m on Sunday was practically 2 races, although all U17’s. Sam Maher led from the off, running at a tremendous pace, with Jack Boswell giving chase, only to start suffering and slowing as his knee problems returned, the second race saw Robbie leading a peloton of runners around the track, once again, out front, doing all the work, and just not having the confidence to push the pace. Fellow AFD athlete Sean Pocknee slipstreamed the group for the whole 1500m, kicking in to a flying sprint on the finishing straight to take 5th place in a PB time of 4:19:92.

3000m U17’s (Down to Robbie, there were runners behind him)
1: Jack Boswell (AFD) – 8:56.11
2: Ed Mason (Guernsey) – 9:08.37
3: Sam Metcalf (Isle of Wight) – 9:16.91
4: Robbie Coupland (AFD) – 9:18.32

1500m U17’s (Down to Robbie, there were runners behind him)
1: Samuel Maher (Jersey) – 4:01.3
2: Luke Powell (Southampton) – 4:11.5
3: Toby Roe (City of Portsmouth) – 4:18.2
4: Michael Ilott (Isle of Wight) – 4:19.3
5: Sean Pocknee (AFD) – 4:19.9
6: Jack Boswell (AFD) – 4:20.4
7: William Brown (Jersey) – 4:21.6
8: Robbie Coupland (AFD) – 4:22.6

Robbie Leading the Pack in the 3000m

Robbie Leading the Pack in the 3000m

Aldershot District Schools Championships

Another odd day, at least as far as weather is concerned, from glorious sunshine, to black clouds, gale force winds, and even hail on the day adding to the fun. Robbie, running for Calthorpe Park chose to race in the 3000m and from very early on it was fairly obvious that he was going to walk away with the gold. By the 5th lap he had lapped 4 of the 8 competitors, and coming in to the finishing straight on his last lap was chasing down 4th and 3rd place, with 2nd place only half a lap away. A convincing win, but not unexpected in the GCSE exam timetable reduced field, Robbie finishing in 9:35 with second place crossing the line almost a minute later.

As a note: The 1500m race was won in 5:00, Robbie ran the first 1500m of his 3000m in about 4:30. Something that was noted by the selectors, who contacted Robbie and asked him if he would be willing to run the 1500m at the County Championships, because of his win at 3000m he had a confirmed place, but as a district we were struggling for 1500m runners. Robbie subsequently chose to run the 1500m at the Hampshire School Championships.

200m in to the 3000m, already forming a gap.

200m in to the 3000m, already forming a gap.

YDL2 – Wycombe

A very sunny yet windy day left a number of spectators with decidedly pink skin, a full on afternoon of spectating for us, Robbie raced in the 3ooom at 14:05 we arrived at the very new and very nice Wycombe Phoenix track at about 12:30, just missing Jack Boswell winning the U17’s 1500m. This time wee remembered our chairs, so a little comfort in our spectating, and we managed to kick back and simply watch a good chunk of the days activities, waiting around for the 4 x 400 at the end of the day, which in the end we were short of 1 runner in and had to pull out.

The 3000m was run at just after 2pm, and was, due to numbers run as a single combined race including both A and B stream U17’s and A and B stream U20’s the inclusion of the U20’s added some competition, but with a starting grid of 7 runners, not a lot. From the bell there was a determined charge to lead by Toby Clyde from Thames Valley Harriers who went on to win the combined race, as an U20, in 9’12”, Robbie came second overall but won the U17’s race in 9’33”, the second place runner (from Chiltern) in the U17’s finished in 10’17” so a very convincing win. Fellow AFD athlete Dan Rickards came 2nd in the U20’s finishing 3rd overall with a time of 9’49”.

A good, and quite tactical run, Robbie decided not to go with the U20, partially convinced that he would die, and to some extent not worried since he wasn’t in that race. Still slow compared to last season, but with all the problems hopefully behind us it is nice to trim another few seconds off his seasons best.

Robbie starts fast behind Thames Valley Harriers, Toby clyde

Robbie starts fast behind Thames Valley Harriers, Toby Clyde before settling down to run the race at a steady 77 second per lap pace.

AVB 1 – Hillingdon

A trip inside the M25 to the first Alder Valley Boys event of the season, some changeable weather conditions, cloudy one second, sunny the next and once again, fairly strong winds. Robbie racing for AFD in the B stream 1500m hoping to improve on his previous outings so far this season. Improvement wasn’t to be though, with the A & B stream merged in to a single race, and with an exceptional line up, including James Daly, Chey Kemp and Ollie Percival a very fast race was expected, but once again at the first bend Robbie is sat out in front setting the pace, despite not wanting to and with his tactical plan to sit behind the leaders shattered, it wasn’t until way past the half way point that the others started to apply pressure, with Chey Kemp (Reading) going past, followed by Alex Rodrigues (Camberley) and Ollie Percival (AFD)  and finally putting some pressure on the front, a battle of will ensued and saw both Robbie and Ollie trying to push past Alex, only to find themselves drifting wider, with Robbie breaking away on the finishing straight and Alex slowly falling back. The chase was on, the little battle of wills had allowed Chey to pull 10 meters in front and Robbie put a concerted effort in to close the gap and was very successful, kicking hard at the bell, but with 200m to go his steam ran out, Chey was still 5 meters in front and now Ollie and James Daly were closing in on Robbie, and were right on his back as they hit the finishing straight. A finishing straight that with flagging legs, saw Robbie drop back from 2nd to 5th, pipped by the second Reading runner in the last 10 meters to knock him down in to 2nd place for the B stream race, and 5th place overall.

Still a good run, tactics didn’t work out well, but lessons were learnt and there is still more in the tank, faster times to come.

Robbie pushing the pace from the front.

Robbie pushing the race from the front.

Aldershot District Inter School League – 1 – Basingstoke

First of the school summer track and field events saw Robbie up against fellow AFD runner Jack Boswell in the 1500m, despite both boys stating that they were going to take it easy, the race set off at a fair pace, hitting 300m in approx 49 seconds with Jack in front and Robbie just off his shoulder. The race continued to build as expected with Jack slowly pulling away from Robbie, and ultimately finishing approx. 15 seconds in front of Robbie, who in turn was probably 15 seconds in front of 3rd place.

Jack winning in 4:15 with Robbie coming in at about 4:29.

 

Robbie chasing Jack in to the line for the first time (300m point)

Robbie chasing Jack in to the line for the first time (300m point)

SAL 1 – Braunton

Well a busy weekend had me completely forgetting to post a report on this one, but hey, better late than never.

Saturday 25th April saw Robbie take to his first ever Senior event racing in the Southern Athletics League for AFD in the 1500m, a very long journey to deepest Devon, with three generations in tow, a day trip of sorts with a look round Braunton, and exploration in to a Braunton pub and a lovely lunch in a Braunton cafe pre-race.

The event hosted at the North Devon Athletics track targeted senior athletes but all athletes from U17 upward can compete so Robbie took the opportunity to have a go, representing AFD as their “B” stream runner. A combined A & B stream race fired off quickly at quite a pace, a pace that had it been sustained would have seen Robbie smash his PB, though that wasn’t to be, the race slowed somewhat in the middle before kicking off again in the last lap it was a very good race for Robbie, quite fast, but not too fast, quite competitive, but not too busy and ultimately it saw him taking the 5 team points for winning the B stream, with team mate Macgregor Cox taking 4 points for second place in the A stream, the actual race saw Robbie in third place overall, but as mentioned winning the B stream race for maximum points in an official time of 4:20.0 (though I had him down at 4:19.9) just over a second off his PB, not a bad start to the season.

Robbie with the leading pack in the Southern Athletics league 1500m - Match 1

Robbie with the leading pack in the Southern Athletics league 1500m – Match 1

YDL 1 – Oxford

Over to Oxford today for the first competitive track race of the season, Robbie competing in the U17’s 3000m. The weather was nice, sun shining but the wind was horrendous and would effect times throughout the event. The 3k started very quick, Robbie blasting out in front of the combined U17/U20 runners and completing the first 1k in an astonishing 2’46”, the wind and starting speed took their toll though and the pace simply could not be sustained, Robbie overtaken by 6 U20 runners, including AFD’s Dan Rickard, the last 400m saw Robbie claw two of those runners back in, finishing the race in 5th place, but winning the U17’s race by 3 seconds. The time of 9’36” was disappointing, but not unexpected given conditions and recent injury traits. A good run for Dan coming 4th in the under 20’s and setting a new PB of 9’31”.

Finally a shout out to Daisy D’Santos who won the U20’s women’s 3000m in a very convincing performance, lapping everyone except the 2nd and 3rd place runners.

So for Robbie, 1st race, 1st win, shame about the time but a great start all the same.

Robbie taking the bull by the horns.

Robbie taking the bull by the horns.

Robbie’s Summer Event Timetable 2015

Robbie’s Summer 2015 Event Timetable
This page should form the definitive statement of events and results for Robbie in 2015. As dates change I will update them here, as results come in I will add them here.
A one stop shop 🙂

Wednesday
22/07/2015
Saucony Grand PrixBasingstoke150000:00....

Date Meet Location Event Event Time Result Time Result Pos. Team Result Awards
18/04/2015 YDL U17
Oxford 3000 14:05
9:36:00 1st N/A N/A
25/04/2015 SAL
Braunton 1500 15:30 4:20:00
1st N/A N/A
29/04/2015 Aldershot District Inter School – 1 Basingstoke 1500 16:20 4:29:00 2nd N/A N/A
09/05/2015 AVB Hillingdon 1500 15:35 4:20:00 2nd N/A N/A
16/05/2015 YDL U17 Little Marlow 3000 14:05 9:33:00 1st N/A N/A
Tuesday
19/05/2015
Aldershot District
Schools Championships
Reading 3000 13:10 9:35:00 1st N/A Ind. Gold
23/05/2015 Hampshire Championships
Portsmouth 1500 16:30 9:18:32 4th N/A N/A
24/05/2015 Hampshire Championships
Portsmouth 1500 13:30 4:22:57 8th N/A N/A
03/06/2015 Watford Open Watford 3000 21:30 9:05:94 N/A N/A PB
13/06/2015 Hampshire Schools Portsmouth 1500 00:00 4:23:60 2nd N/A Ind. Silver
22/07/2015 Saucony Open Basingstoke 3000 18:30 9:17:24 N/A N/A N/A
29/08/2015 John Hewitt Club Champs Aldershot 1500 16:10 4:20:00 N/A N/A Ind. Gold
30/08/2015 National Junior Championships
Bedford 3000 17:30 9:16:83 21 N/A N/A

 

British Inter-County Championships

Once again Cofton Park in Birmingham hosts the British Inter-County Championships, with runners from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland adding to the usual crowd. That said, the Scottish contingency was substantially reduced due to an event clash, someone managed to organise the Scottish Schools XC on the same day as the UK Inter-Counties, and on the topic of “event clashes” Sky TV’s presence was once again obvious in it’s non-existence due to their coverage of the World Indoor Athletics, apparently they can only film one athletic event at a time.

Unusually Cofton Park displayed a serious lack of mud, with just one short 5 meter sticky section at the bottom of the new starting straight, confusion rained down in heaps on arriving runners as they discovered that programs did not contain maps, and that the map posted on-line was incorrect, and that the distance of the course was substantially further than advertised and … wait I don’t think there was anything else, but still.

Anyway, down to business. The U15’s, like all the other races got under way from a very compressed start location, meaning that a distinct advantage was given to those runners in the front line, elbows flew, shoulders barged and more than one runner found himself sprawled on the floor, a fast paced almost full on sprint down the hill to “the sinking sand bend” or if you like the only bit of mud on the course, then in to a very long uphill climb, before zig zaging down, and back up that same hill. The start saw a lot of top notch runners further back than expected, but the hill sorted the order to some extent, Robbie hit the mud way back in the pecking order with over 100 runners in front of him, bottom of the first “Zag” and he’d worked his way up to 42nd, bottom of the second “Zag” and back on to the original course and he was in the 20’s.

Ultimately the good footing, steady hills and long flats led to a very fast race, the original course was marked at 4.5k, the additions to the course must have taken the distance well over 5k and the winning time of 16’58” by Zac Mahamed from Hampshire showed the pace.

Some good times were clocked up and the order of finishing was somewhat juggled about compared to the English Nationals two weeks ago, the top 5 runners in Birmingham being Zac Mahamed (Hampshire), Dan Slater (Merseyside), James Puxty (Kent), Toby Osman (Yorkshire) and Oliver Barbaresi (North Wales). George Groom who won the Nationals only managed 8th place in Birmingham and Harry Boyd who came 3rd at Parliament Hill was well outside the top 10 this time round. So there was some elements of great satisfaction and great disappointment on the day, Robbie had a great run managing 22nd place and coming in as the 3rd runner for Hampshire, showing signs that he is definitely on his way back to fitness.

Disappointment for North Wales who managed to have the best team results for the first two runners (Oliver Barbaresi and Matt Willis scoring 12 points between them) but only managed 10th in the overall team placings. North East Counties took first place with 48 points, followed by Yorkshire with 91 and Hampshire with 91, Hampshire getting bronze based on the position of their 4th runner.

Congratulations to the Hampshire team on their Bronze medal, shame we couldn’t have made up one more place and grabbed that silver, but still an outstanding performance from all the boys, with 3 of those 4 scoring runners being from the bottom year, Hampshire are looking good for U15 boys in 2016.

Zac, Robbie and Lachlan collect their Team Bronze Medals

Zac, Robbie and Lachlan collect their Team Bronze Medals

English National Cross Country Championships – Parliament Hill

The biggest event of the year for AFD, and the first race back for Robbie. Without the injury and enforced month off we’d have been expecting a top 10 finish this year, as it was Mick advised Robbie to take it easy, slow the start and pick people off with a target of top 50. Robbie ran the race exactly as told, looking strong but not really stepping up on the finishing straight where he got knocked back a couple of places, still he finished 40th, out of 371 finishers and 582 registered runners and was the first AFD runner on the scoreboard so not a bad return all in all.

Congratulations to George Groom (Shaftesbury) who had a stunning race to finish 1st in 15’48”, Zac Mahamed (Southampton) who finished 2nd in 15’59” and was the 1st boy from the lower year over the line and also Harry Boyd (Guildford) who had a great result picking up 3rd place in 16’05”.

AFD U15 Boys
40th Robbie Coupland 17’08”
57th Ollie Percival 17’21”
81st Sean Pocknee 17’41”
190th Billy Smith 18’46”
240th Matt Oakley 19’15”

Putting AFD in 12th position in the team event, somewhat disappointing for the team, but a hard course that even finishing deserves praise.

Well done everyone who competed.

English National Cross Country Championships