Athletics
West Cheshire Athletic Club will be represented in six age groups at next month’s North West Sportshall League Final.
The Stanney Oaks-based outfit celebrated four team victories at the final round of the three-round competition held at Deeside College, and now qualify for the final to be held on Sunday, January 24.
Freya Johnston, Sara Pearson, Scarlett Ross, Imogen Pughe, Stephanie Jones, Grace Scott, Lara Battersby, Libby Dowling, Carys Roberts, Isla Shillington, Dervla Desouza, and Ruby Wisbey combined for the winning under 11 girls squad.
Tamsin O’Keefe, Anna Crayston, Mimi Jayaram, Ambre Richards, Sophie Cribb, Emma Ashcroft, Abigail Cartwright, and Lucia Pyne teamed up for success in the under 13 girls competition.
Jac Goodall, Dave Dentith, Josh Ford, Daniel Pagan, Will Scott, and Ewan Brandon steered the under 15 boys to success.
And the under 13 boys team of Ivor Smith, Matthew Webb, Michael Maxwell, Ethan Butler and Harvey Tegg grabbed glory.
Running
Tattenhall Runners were in action at the latest Borders League race in Caernarfon and also in Shropshire for the annual pre-Christmas favourite, The Cardington Cracker.
The latter his latter is a nine-mile fell race over some of the beautiful fells south of Shrewsbury. This year more than 200 runners completed the testing course, which included 2,600ft of climbing.
The race was won by Ross Campbell from Highland Hill Runners in a time of one hour, 17 minutes and 23 seconds. Peter Taylor led the Tattenhall pack in 14th place in a time of 1:25:34, winning second place in the MV40 category.
The other Tattenhall finishers were: Simon Ellis (39th, 1:33:21); Simon Duckett (63rd, 1:39:27); Nick Holmes (70th, 1:40:45); Rob Chambers (92nd, 1:44:56); Charlie Eldred (108th overall, 1:48:15); James Jenkin (120th overall, 1:50:11); Kate Lightfoot (126th overall, 1:51:16); Mike Corkhill (168th overall, 2:00:39); and Sharon Basford (231st overall, 2:24:37).
Members of Ellesmere Port Running Club were out in force as they mate the trek to Caernarfon for a Borders League 10k meeting.
First home for the club in seventh place was Dave Bennett (35:03). He was followed by John Cole (39:22), Graham Earlam (40:20), Tom Sirett (40:35), Darren Ryder (40:59), Andy Blair (42:02), Steve Edwards (44:08), Patrick Cooney (45:04), Dave Hartley (45:32), Danni Ebbrell (45.36), Kevin Curtis (46:35) and John Harrison (46:42). Close behind were Helen Johnson, Graeme Blair, Helen Lester, Peter Barton, Craig Curtis, Dave Fisher, Robbie Shanahan, Julie Lewis, Angela Best.
Ann Ball, Julie Pearce, Carmel Barnett, Amanda Tooke, Neil Ringstead and Louise Astbury all took part in the Liverpool Santa Dash, joining thousands of others as they took to the streets for the festive fun run.
There were also six members at the Tatton Yule Yomp dressed as elves. Braving the wet and windy weather at the 10k cross country was Sue Ledsom, Rachel Beddows, Julie Winstanley, Elaine Hulse, Gemma Edwards and Carolyn Bott.
Cricket
Tattenhall CC will stage their first Unicorns county championship match in 2016.
The picturesque Flacca ground will host Cheshire’s opening three-day game against Wiltshire from Sunday to Tuesday, June 5-7.
Groundsman Brian Jarrard’s pitch was highly praised by both teams when they hosted the one-day game against Cambridgeshire in 2013, a match Cheshire lost.
Nantwich CC will host the game against Shropshire (July 31-August 2) with the venue for the match against Devon July 17-19) yet to be confirmed,
In the Unicorns knockout, the opening group match is as early as Sunday, April 24 – the day after the County League season begins – when Nantwich will host local rivals Staffordshire in a fixture likely to pack the Whitehouse Lane ground. The venue for the other home group game against Wales has yet to be decided.
Hockey
With the club’s first team enjoying a mid-season break, the star performance at Deeside Ramblers came from the men’s over-50s veterans who travelled to Wakefield and recorded a 2-0 win to reach the National Knock-out quarter finals.
Oliver Unett and Steve Cheshire got the goals to set up a showdown with Forby for a place in the semi finals.
An equally impressive performance came from the men’s 2nds who went top of the table with a 3-0 win over reigning champions Colwyn Bay at Tarporley with Tommy Hill, Lucas Pollard and Phil Johnson on target.
Other results included the men’s 3rds beating Liverpool Sefton 2nds 3-1, the 6ths defeating Northop Hall 2nds 4-3, the Beavers overcoming Macclesfield 3-1 and the ladies 2nds easing past Macclesfield 3-0.
Swimming
Swimmers from The Queen’s School, Chester, were given a taste of Olympic competition during a major competition in London.
The school’s Year 10 swim team enjoyed the experience of a lifetime when they competed in The National Schools Championship at the Olympic Park in the capital.
Sophie Clarkson, 15, Anna Banim, 14, Isabel Anwyl, 15 and Isabel Gelder, 14, all acquitted themselves very well against some of the best schools in the country with a relay time of 2.15:27 minutes.
PE Teacher Gemma Glynn said: “There were three heats of 10 teams and the fastest 10 teams made it to the final.
“We are so proud of our national final swim team who came 20th overall in the whole country and only narrowly lost out on 18th place. What an experience and what an achievement.
“Considering our team entered the competition as team 34/35 they have done amazingly well and all of them thoroughly enjoyed the experience of swimming in the Olympic pool.”
School sport
Bishops' Blue Coat High School pupils have enjoyed sporting success in both football and netball.
The school’s Year 7 girls football team won the Chester & District five-a-side competition, beating Upton High School 4-1 in the final, with Lucy Parry grabbing all four for the victors.
The girls will now go on to represent Chester in the ESFA under-12s Cup.
Meanwhile the school’s U16 netball team impressed on their way to finishing as runners-up in the Chester & District netball tournament.
