Four Years, Four Doubles - Chelmsfords Golden Run Goes on.

Our last EYAL fixture of the season took place at Chelmsford on 6^th September as we played hosts for the long awaited Top-6 Final match.

We went into this fixture knowing a win would secure an unprecedented League & Cup double - this being the 4^thconsecutive season so a ‘quadruple double’ as it were. This wasn’t however a match we could afford to take for granted as nowadays we have a massive bulls-eye on our vests with everyone else in the East Anglian region desperate to beat us.

Our opponents on the day were Havering, the combined Southend/Enfield & Harringey team, Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Bedford and Norwich – all worthy opponents, and earning their right to be in this final by finishing in the Top 6 within the league format.

Despite a few weary late season legs (especially from those who’d already been in action the prior few days at the Loughborough School Games), we came out victors again with a fantastic CAC team total of 711 points, beating Havering on 636, SSA/E&H on 553, SBH on 525, Bedford on 509, and Norwich on 369. This was another show of strength across all age categories, proving the club has a great pipeline of junior members ready to move up the ranks as our older athletes move onto representing our senior squads.

3 out of 6 of our teams won their age category outright – and well done to the ladies for making it a clean sweep. Our U14B came 4^th in a very tough segment, our U16B were joint winners with Havering and our U18M came 2^nd to the same club who fielded a number of their star athletes. As usual every CAC team thoroughly contributed to the overall result, and its tribute again to that marvellous strength in depth that we came out outright winners. Team of the day was the U18W with a huge 138pts, and a big shout-out to our wonderful officials who scored the maximum 70pts for their hard work and meant the long throws went very smoothly.

The club would like to say a huge thank-you to every athlete that contributed to another remarkable season of junior success, and to all those behind the scenes that make this club function so well. We owe a great deal to the coaches, team managers, scorers, parent-helpers, track & field officials, tea-hut volunteers, t-shirt printers, photographers and website/social media designer as well as the CSAC staff for making sure it all comes together seamlessly.   A literal high 5 to all those involved…….

Highlights by Group:-

U14G – 100pts, 1^st Place

Win for Bella K in ‘A’ 800m

Win for Sadie D in ‘B’ 800m

Win for Jessica H in ‘B’ 1500m

Win for Joey J in ‘A’ Pole Vault

Wins for Uju N in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘A’ Hammer

U16G – 122pts, 1st Place, Winners of 4*100m Relay

Win for Chloe A in ‘B’ 100m

Win for Abigail N in ‘A’ 300m

Wins for Ava K in ‘B’ 300m & ‘A’ 800m

Win for Everly P in ‘A’ Long Jump

Win for Abigail M in ‘A’ Triple Jump

Wins for Adanna U in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘A’ Discus

Win for Olivia M in ‘B’ Shot Put

U18W – 138pts, 1^st Place, Winners of 4*100m Relay

Wins for Evelyn S in ‘B’ 100m & ‘B’ 200m

Win for Lily H in ‘A’ 400m

Win for Lucy B in ‘B’ 400m

Win for Niamh R in ‘B’ 800m

Win for Jessica W in ‘A’ 1500m

Win for Amelia G in ‘B’ 1500m

Wins for Amelie S in ‘A’ Long Jump & ‘A’ 100mH

Win for Milana T in ‘B’ 100mH

Win for Alicja Y in ‘A’ High Jump

Wins for Monica M in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘B’ Discus

Wins for Matilda H in ‘B’ Shot Put, ‘A’ Discus

Win for Madison P in ‘A’ Hammer

U14B – 78pts, 4th Place

Win for Freddie B in ‘B’ 1500m

U16B – 105pts, Joint 1st Place with Havering

Win for Fred F in ‘A’ 1500m

Win for Harry H in ‘A’ Pole Vault

Win for Jake R in ‘A’ High Jump

Win for Oliver J in ‘B’ High Jump

Win for Hector J in ‘A’ Hammer

U18M – 98pts, 2^nd Place

Win for Daniel P in ‘A’ 1500m

Win for Oscar D in ‘A’ Hammer

Win for Daniel B in ‘B’ Javelin

For the full gallery click here.

Report written by Richard Lee.

FOUR-MIDABLE! CAC Make it Four EYAL Titles in a Row.

Our final league fixture of the season took place at the UEA Sportpark on 16^th August.

We went into this match knowing a win would secure maximum points and ensure we retained our EYAL lead, which would make it an incredible fourth title on the trot. This wasn’t however a match we could afford to slip up at with SS/E&H waiting in the wings in another fixture should we falter.

Our opponents on the day were Norwich, Colchester Harriers, Ipswich, Harlow, Colchester & Tendring and West Suffolk giving it a distinctly Anglian feel.

Despite a few struggles (given the holiday season), we filled as many events as we could and ended up scoring a very respectable  851pts, ending up 141pts in front of Norwich who are traditionally strong competitors at their home track.

4 out of 6 of our teams won their age/gender category outright – with only the U16G & U18M missing out on top spot, but even they both finished a close 2^nd. As such every team thoroughly contributed to the overall win, and it’s a tribute again to our marvellous strength in depth that we came out victors. Team of the day was the U18W with 150pts, and a big shout-out to our travelling officials who scored 64/70 pts for their work and meant we were the best staffed club.

The final standings for the season mean the following 6 clubs will contest a Cup-Final on Sunday 6^th September which is conveniently being hosted by us at Melbourne Park:-

Team                                        League Points   Match Points

Chelmsford                               28                   3,458

SS Athletics/Enfield & Haringey 27                    3,341

Havering                                   25                    2,974

Bedford                                    24                    2,672

Norwich                                   22                    2,697

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers      22                    2,602

So with the first leg in the bag, can we pull off the cup win to complete the double and make it a quadruple of both?

As always, the club sends a big thank-you to every athlete who travelled a couple of hours each way to compete and help make sure we won those vital points, plus the parents who got them there and those that supported our officials in completing our other duties on the day. An extra shout-out for the team managers, who I know worked tirelessly to ensure we made maximum use of those athletes available to fill events - it’s cheesy but true, Teamwork makes the Dreamwork!

Highlights by Group:-

U14G – 140pts, 1^st Place

Wins for Breanna D in ‘A’ 100m & ‘A’ Long Jump

Win for Lola O in ‘B’ 200m

Win for Bella K in ‘A’ 800m

Win for Sadie D in ‘B’ 800m

Win for Chloe H in ‘B’ 1500m

Win for Abigail K in ‘B’ 200mH

Wins for Joey James in ‘A’ Pole Vault & ‘B’ Long Jump

Wins for Ivy-Rose H in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘B’ Javelin

U16G – 132pts, 2^nd Place, Winners of 4*100m Relay

Wins for Abi M in ‘A’ 100m & ‘A’ Triple Jump

Wins for Chloe A in ‘B’ 100m & ‘B’ 200m

Win for Abi N in ‘A’ 300m

Win for Isla K in ‘A’1500m

Win for Everly P in ‘A’ Long Jump

Win for Olivia M in ‘A’ Hammer

Win for Timmy O in ‘B’ Discus

Win for Zenobia W in ‘A’ Javelin

U18W – 150pts, 1^st Place, Winners of 4*100m Relay

Win for Jasmin R-L in ‘B’ 100m

Win for Evelyn S in ‘B’ 200m

Wins for Lily H in ‘A’ 400m & ‘A’ 400mH

Win for Alicja Y in ‘B’ High Jump

Win for Katie L in ‘A’ Triple Jump

Wins for Chelsea C in ‘A’ High Jump & ‘A’ Long Jump

Wins for Monica M in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘B’ Discus

Wins for Matilda H in ‘B’ Shot Put, ‘A’ Discus & ‘A’ Javelin

Wins for Madison P in ‘A’ Hammer & ‘B’ Javelin

U14B – 127pts, 1^st Place

Win for Freddie B in ‘B’ 1500m

Win for Toby S in ‘B’ 200mH

Win for Noah H in ‘A’ High Jump

Wins for Mason P in ‘B’ High Jump and ‘A’ Pole Vault

Wins for Zach F in ‘A’ Discus and ‘B’ Javelin

U16B – 122pts, 1st Place

Wins for Felix C-B in ‘A’ 300mH and ‘A’ Long Jump

Win for Oliver J in ‘B’ 300mH

Win for Ben R in ‘B’ Long Jump

Win for Jayden A in ‘A’ Triple Jump

Win for Hector J in ‘A’ Discus

Win for Jacob O in ‘B’ Discus

U18M – 116pts, 2^nd Place and Winners of 4*100m Relay

Win for Jack N in ‘B’ High Jump

Wins for Jack W-G in ‘A’ 200m & ‘A’ 400m

Wins for Zach W in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘A’ Javelin

Win for Tommy H in ‘B’ Javelin

Win for Daniel P in ‘B’ Discus

Report written by Richard Lee.

A Must win Match at a Sweltering Hornchurch Stadium.

Our 3rd fixture of the season took place at a scorching Hornchurch Athletics Stadium on 5^th July.

Given our opposition, this was a must-win shoot-out against 2 clubs who like us, had taken maximum scores in their opening two matches. The pre-match table stood at CAC, SS/E&H and Havering all on 14 league points with us ahead only on total-points-scored difference.

As EYAL Champions 3 years in a row, we were determined to preserve our streak and not fall at this difficult hurdle. Our opponents on the day were Havering, SS/Enfield & Haringey, C&C/Ely & Newmarket, Brentwood, Harlow and West Suffolk.

The Chelmsford AC team scored a spectacular 863.5pts and ended up 26.5pts in front of our nearest rivals of the combined SS and E&H team, and 77pts in front of the traditionally strong Havering home squad.

2 out of 6 of our teams won their age/gender category outright – the U16G and U18W, but no group came worse than 3^rd or scored <115pts. As such every team thoroughly contributed to the holistic win, and it’s a tribute to our strength in depth that we came out victors against our nearest rivals.

All we have to do now is either win away at Norwich in match #4 on 16^th August , or do better than SS/E&H or Havering in their final fixture and we will become Champions again. We also sit handsomely on top of the Leaderboard for entry into the Top-6 Cup Final in September.

Thanks as always to our all of our graded officials and parent-helpers who ensured that our rota of events ran very smoothly.

I’d also like to give a big shout-out to the dedicated team managers who ensured we filled as many slots as possible, despite this being an away fixture at the peak point of the summer season with multiple demands on athlete attendance.

Lastly, huge congratulations to the green and gold horde that performed so tenaciously in sweltering conditions. Every single person scored valuable points in what proved to be a narrow win.

Highlights by Group:-

U14G – 115.5pts, 3^rd Place

Win for Felicity C in ‘A’ Pole Vault

Win for Breanna D in ‘A’ Long Jump

Wins for Obianuju N in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘A’ Discus

U16G – 156pts, 1^st Place, Winners of 4*100m Relay

Wins for Abi M in ‘A’ 100m & ‘A’ Triple Jump

Win for Chloe A in ‘B’ 100m

Wins for Abi N in ‘A’ 200m & ‘A’ 300m

Win for Orla M in ‘B’ 300m

Win for Hattie B in ‘B’ 800m

Win for Isla K in ‘B’1500m

Wins for Shindara A-A in ‘B’ 80mH & ‘B’ Shot Put

Win for Lucy A in ‘B’ Long Jump

Wins for Olivia M in ‘A’ Shot Put, ‘A’ Hammer & ‘B’ Discus

Win for Timmy O in ‘A’ Discus

U18W – 161pts, 1^st Place, Winners of 4*100m Relay

Wins for Jasmin R-L in ‘A’ 100m & ‘A’ 200m

Wins for Lucy B in ‘B’ 100m, ‘B’ 200m & ‘A’ 400m

Win for Alicja Y in ‘B’ 400m

Win for Jessica W in ‘A’ 800m

Win for Niamh R in ‘B’ 800m

Wins for Chelsea C in ‘A’ 100mH & ‘B’ Long Jump

Win for Milana T in ‘B’ 100mH

Win for Katie L in ‘A’ Triple Jump

Wins for Monica M in ‘A’ Shot Put & ‘B’ Discus

Wins for Matilda H in ‘B’ Shot Put & ‘A’ Discus

U14B – 115pts, 3^rd Place

Win for Jacob A in ‘A’ 80mH

Win for Noah H in ‘A’ High Jump

Win for Luca W in ‘B’ Long Jump

U16B – 141pts, 2^nd Place

Win for Harry H in ‘A’ Pole Vault

Win for Jake R in ‘A’ High Jump

Wins for Hector J in ‘A’ Discus & ‘A’ Hammer

U18M – 121pts, 3^rd Place

Wins for Tom O in ‘B’ 200m & ‘A’ Pole Vault

Win for Ben S in ‘B’ 400m

Full gallery here

Report written and compiled by Richard Lee