On track to make it big

Jul 7 2005 By Christopher Beesley, Ellesmere Port Pioneer

ATHLETICS: WEST Cheshire AC chairman Dennis Wall is hoping that his club will soon rival the region's finest after another superb display which earned them a fistful of medals.

Competing on their home track at Stanney on Sunday, a series of impressive performances in the Cheshire County Track Relay Championships ensured WCAC's recordbreaking season continued in fine style.

Dennis said: 'Our track is acting as a magnet for talent and our ambition has to be to hold on to the youngsters who in the past have leaked away to Manchester and Liverpool. If we can provide them with competition, there's no reason why this area cannot serve a big athletics club. 'UK Athletics are looking at possible satellite areas and we have a population of over 100,000 in Ellesmere Port and Chester.

'Nobody could have envisaged that we'd have had so much success in such a short space of time but our numbers have exploded out of all proportion since we got the track.'

WCAC's U15s section has more than doubled to include 70 registered members and the club's major headache is finding enough coaches to train them.

Dennis said: 'If anyone has got an appetite for sport and can devote some time to us by coming down and helping then they'd be greatly appreciated.'

In Sunday's championship, gold medals went to:

U11 girls 4 x100m: Jenni Potter, Francesca Wright, Kelly Baker and Alice Jennings (1:02.2); U11 boys 4x100m: Sam Pierre Louis, Tom Deponeo, Callum Pridding, and Michael Haynes (1:05.2); U15 girls' 4x100m: Daisy Flynn-Piercy, Shona Valentine, Emily Done and Sian Kelman (50.2 -new county record); U15 boys 4x100m: Gareth Preston, Andrew Whitton, Matthew White and Callum Scott (48.6); U17 youths 4 x100m: Tom Price, Carl Van Schie, Martin Jones and Sam Bateson (45.6); Men's 4x100:Paul Bateson, Dave McKay, Lee Hearn and John Manning (46.8); Men's 4x400m: Paul Bateson, Lee Hearn, John Manning and Russell Kirk (3:46.4). nIf you'd like to join WCAC as an athlete or coach, contact Dennis Wall on 0151 201 1254.