First 3000m of 2014

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Another gloriously sunny day in Portsmouth see’s Robbie run his first 3000m of the 2014 summer season, with a current PB of 9’53.56″ to beat and an ambitious season target of 9’25” in mind, Portsmouth seemed like a great opportunity to get a good foot in the door for the season. Unfortunately the organisers decided to set the race on age, not ability so once again Robbie found himself out front on his own trying to set a PB. A PB was set, and a great improvement shown, but not close enough to his season target to make him happy. Finishing in 9’41.82″, knocking off approximately 12 seconds from his PB was still a great start, let’s hope he gets a chance to put a good paced time in at some point this summer.

Running for the bell, 2600m and looking good.

Running for the bell, 2600m and looking good.

Youth Development League (YDL) – Match 1 – Portsmouth

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Saturday 3rd May saw Robbie’s first club competitive race of the summer season, selected to compete for AFD in both the 1500m (his ideal race) and as one of 4 in the 4 x 300m  Relay. A good day for AFD coming 4th overall and doing particularly well in the middle distance events. After leading the 1500m for at least 1100m Robbie ultimately finished 2nd to Surrey runner Harry Boyd. The time was good, as was the race with Robbie coming in 10th’s of a second slower than his PB in 4’26.0″. IN his first ever outing as a 4 x 300m relay runner Robbie ran an excellent 3rd leg in approximately 45″ helping AFD to 1st place in the event.

Robbie kicking in to full speed in the 4 x 300m Relay.

Aldershot District Warmer Event

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A preparation event to give all athletes a chance to compete prior to the District championships on May 16th.

Robbie competed in the 1500m, held as a single race for all boys from years 9,10 & 11, he finished second overall, behind AFD team mate Jake Cvetkovic with an acceptable time of 4’30”.

Robbie chasing Jake to the line. Aldershot District School Event.

2014 Track Season Underway

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Last night saw the first event of Robbie’s 2014 Summer Season, a 2 hour trip around a crowded M25 to Watford for a 1500m race. Set off nice and early to ensure we got there on time, last year there was a bit of a panic as we were minutes away from registration closing time when we arrived, held up on that awesome M25. This year, with the early set off, we had a good 2 hours to kill before the 1500m started, Watford Open is a seeded event, so Athletes enter their PB or Target time and the organisers group the Athletes in to races based on those times. Last night there were 6 races, the first being the slowest grouping, the 6th being the fastest, Robbie was seeded in Race 5 along with quite a few adults so it was closer to 20:00hrs by the time he actually ran, meaning we’d been hanging around for quite some time by then.

Anyway the target time for the race was 4’25” which would knock 10 seconds off his 2013 PB, a bit of a steep ask, but where he needs to be in order to get selected by Hampshire Schools. Robbie finished the race in 5th place, in a tim e of 4’25.63″. So overall a great start to the season.

Robbie in Track Mode

English Schools National Cross Country

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The final race of the 2013/14 cross country season is the Schools National event, this year held at the famous Donnington Park near Castle Donnington, Derbyshire.

This is a big event for all involved, teams are selected by county schools athletics associations, each county taking a maximum of 8 runners. Robbie once again being selected to represent Hampshire Schools. The team bus set off for Derbyshire on Friday, the whole team, all age groups heading up to stay in a hotel overnight before the races on Saturday.

We arrived as spectators to a level of confusion as the organisers started to announce changes to the course, extending the Junior boys race from 3.5k to 4.3k. Of course the athletes had already completed their course walks so concern was quite evident, but in the end the changes weren’t massive and the events got under way.

Age Groups: Juniors Years 8 and 9, Intermediate Years 10 and 11, Senior Years 12 and 13 (6th Form)
12:30 Intermediate Girls (Hampshire 13th, Surrey 1st)
13:00 Junior Boys (Hampshire 1st, Surrey 11th)
13:30 Junior Girls (Hampshire 6th, Surrey 3rd)
14:00 Intermediate Boys (Hampshire 1st, Surrey 6th)
14:35 Senior Girls (Hampshire 5th, Surrey 2nd)
15:05 Senior Boys (Hampshire 4th, Surrey 2nd)

Boys aggregate (Hampshire 1st, Surrey 4th)
Girls aggregate (Hampshire 4th, Surrey 1st)

Robbie had a great race, running the first loop in 2nd place before slowly dropping back to 15th place where he sat as they entered the finishing straight a huge effort and burst saw him push past two boys, and drag a number along behind him for the ride, pipped on the line by Will Crisp to knock him back in to 14th position. Still an excellent result, and despite not making the cut for England, it is definitely in sight, with the knowledge that he has beat most of the selected runners at least once over the season. he can finish the year with pride and a lot to look forward to in the future. Now it’s time for track, bring on the 1500m and the 3k. More PB’s to follow.

Robbie holding on to 2nd Place at the end of first loop.

Sunshine and Blue Skies, definitely time to say goodbye to XC.

English Schools XC 2014 -Junior Boys Team Champions

British Athletics Association – National Inter-Counties 2014

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With the XC season rapidly coming to a close, the only races left are big ones, so it was with some concern that we headed up to Birmingham with Robbie just getting over a cold.

The Inter-Counties is a huge event, televised by Sky Sports with hundreds of runners. Robbie raced in his white and green Hampshire vest, selected as the eighth U15 runner. In these major events, the starts are always penned so the lower your selection place, the further back on the grid you start. With Robbie being selected 8th, he started on the back row (4th) of runners. It was never going to be a special result for Robbie, he went in to the race with a target place of top 60 and an aim to try for top 50. Unfortunately the day didn’t pan out as he hoped, ultimately finishing 71st, and limping away from the line at that.

A Cold, a bad start position and a pulled Glute muscle all contributing to the final place and a disappointing race.

Hampshire Results: (Team Pos. 6th)
8: Jake Cvetkovic 16:29
38: Sam Costley 17:12
53: Ted Yeates 17:22
60: Sam Maher 17:26
71: Robbie Coupland 17:33
127: James Beeks 18:08
172: Edward Mason 18:36
NS: Luke Powell N/A

Seconds before his Glute goes Ping.

English Athletic Association – National Championships

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22nd of February, Robbie’s first run as a fourteen year old, The National Championships, Wollaton Park, Nottingham.

Well for a change the weather was great, arrived at the park to glorious sunshine, it did cloud over by the time the boys ran, but for February it was warm, and generally a great day, weather wise that is.

AFD U15 Boys are still without Jack Boswell, and with the strength of teams like Tonbridge, Bedford and Leicester, his absence would guarantee no team medal. The Aldershot boys took it in their stride and went all out to try to push the team forward in the team results, with great performances from both Oliver Percival and Harry Grace adding to the team points.

AFD Runers:
08: Jake Cvetkovic 14’23”
44: Robbie Coupland 15’09”
116: Ollie Percival 15’53”
126: Harry Grace 15’56”

The AFD Boys start their battle.

Robbie – Looking Strong passing the Lake

The Battle for the End. – Robbie holds off John Howorth from TeamBath.

AFD 2012/13 Awards Ceremony

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The Couplands spent this afternoon, Sunday 9th Feb. from 2pm onwards in the Cody Sports and Social club, cheering and clapping as the AFD awards were handed out to the good, the great and the outstanding.

With the like of Steph Twell, Amelia Gorecka, Ian Bailey and Steve Connor mounting the stage it was great to see Robbie called up for the second year running. Last year Robbie got an achievement trophy based on his improvement on track, specifically his 800m time. This year the acknowledged was for his preferred discipline of Cross Country. Congratulations to Robbie Coupland, awarded the AFD U13’s of the year, (for last year) Cross Country Trophy.

Robbie with his XC Runner of the year (U13’s) Trophy.

Hampshire League – Salisbury (5 of 5)

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Unusual for this season, but we set off to Salisbury in glorious sunshine, things changed after we parked up and headed to the race start though. Wind whipped across the fields, driving the very air from your lungs, and as the U13 girls got under-way the rain started and swiftly turned in to hard and sharp hail stones. The U13 girls running head on in to a gale force wind, driving pellets of ice in to their skin, was not a pleasant to watch, and must have been much worse to experience. The shower, all be it very nasty, was brief and by the time the U13 girls had finished the skies were once again blue, and the sun was once again out. It didn’t last though, and the U15 boys experienced the same driving wind and pellet like hail as they raced to the line.

Robbie finished 8th on the day, adding an improved position to his event scoreline. With this being the last race of the league, both individual and team positions would be calculated in a hurry, and medal ceremonies were set for 14:15. So post race, it was leg it to the scout hut, buy hot chocolate and cake and try to warm up as we waited for the final positions to be announced, and the medal ceremonies to be completed.

Just before the Hail Storm started, with James Beaks.

Going in to this final event AFD were clinging on to first place in the team event, but Reading, with the return to form of Matt Rawlings looked likely to be a huge threat on the day.

AFD U15 Boys Hampshire League Results.
2: Jake Cvetkovic Best 4: 4,4,2,1: 11
9: Robbie Coupland Best 4: 10,10,8,8: 36

U15 Boys Team Results
1: Reading: 8
2: AFD: 9
3: Southampton: 16

Over the period of the Hampshire League this year, 5 AFD runners contributed to AFD coming 2nd in the team event. The most obvious of which was Jack Boswell, who is still injured and couldn’t make today’s event.

But well done to all contributors.
Jack Boswell, Jake Cvetkovic, Robbie Coupland, Sean Pocknee, Michael Try.

Jake, Robbie and Sean collect the Silver medals on behalf of AFD U15 Boys.

Southern Schools Inter-County Cross Championships

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Yesterday (Saturday 1st of Feb.) Robbie ran in the Southern Schools Inter County XC Championships. Initial hopes were for a top 10 place, in the end he came 5th, which was great, but with a depleted field, not as great as it sounds. With the field as it was, he was very close to medal contention, and indeed spent most of the race in 3rd place, unfortunately, a fall on a climb allowed the gap behind him to close and the long down hill to the finish didn’t play kindly and he ultimately finished 5th. Great position, strong run but there is definitely more to offer. This race also acted as a replacement for the Hampshire Championships, in which Robbie had hoped to come first and walk away with the Hampshire Schools Champion title, as it happens, one of those two runners that took advantage was a Hampshire runner, knocking Robbie in to runners up place for Hampshire. But Hey, if you are going to come second in a long distance race, who better to be beaten by than someone of Ethiopian descent.

Good day all told (Except the England v France result) and a good run by Robbie, an awesome run by Zac Mahamed and a great overall result for Hampshire, coming 2nd in the Southerns, and Robbie coming 2nd in the Hampshires. 2 Silver medals in one day, can’t complain 🙂

Robbie gets away to a great start, Hampshire (in red) looking strong.