Three Taunton AC medallists at South-West Championships (From Somerset County Gazette)

Three Taunton AC medallists at South-West Championships

9:29am Wednesday 7th January 2009

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A STRONG contingent of Taunton AC junior runners attended the South-West Championships on the challenging course at Bicton Park in Devon.

There were a healthy number of entries from across the South-West with 50 to 60 club runners lining up at the start of each of the junior age groups and Taunton produced three individual medallists.

Unfortunately, there were no individual gold medals but the club showed strength in depth with a further three athletes finishing in the top ten and the club winning the team event in one of the age groups and finishing third in another.

Several members of the clubs also picked up medals for their contribution to the county team competition that was also going on between Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Avon & Wiltshire.

Medal winners included Simon Cooper (third in the U-15 boys), Holly Brown (third in the U-13 girls) and Naomi Taschimowitz (second in the U-20s and fourth overall in the seniors).

Just missing out on the medals in fourth was Blair Brown (U-15 boys) and there were also top ten placings for Joe Merriweather (U-13 boys) and Rachel Heard (U-20 women).

Brown, Joe Merriweather, Cooper and Brown all picked up golds for their contribution to the Somerset winning age group teams.

Further down the field there were some very promising performances by Harriet Rogers, who was Somerset’s third scorer from four and looked impressive on the tough hill sections of the course. Rachel Langbein also ran very well and produced a superb finishing surge on one of the trickiest bits of the course to help Taunton to a third place for the club along with team mates Isla Ness and Emily Ruffell-Hazell.

Taunton’s U-15 boys picked up the clubs only gold medals of the day with an impressive team effort led by Cooper and Brown, but completed by a stirling performance from Connor Banks who, given he was not feeling well, has plenty more to come and from Isaac Taschimowitz whose dogged effort ensured the team clinched gold from Bristol and West.

In the senior women’s race, despite still suffering with a cold Naomi Taschimowitz looked like an athlete with plenty more to come.

Teammate Rachel Heard (U-20) ran with her usual determined style but was cruelly pushed back from fourth to sixth in the final stages.

Overall this was a successful day for the club.

MEMBERS of Taunton Athletics Club did not let the Christmas festivities get in the way of their competitive spirit when they gathered together for the second fixture in the Wessex League season on Sunday, December 28.

Competing on an icy and hardened terrain on the levels at Langport, Taunton runners put in some strong individual and team performances.

Taunton entered athletes in six of the eight race categories and produced three individual winners, four runners up and three team victories.

Holly Brown (U-13 girls) was the first Taunton winner of the day with a lead of nearly a minute over second-placed runner. Simon Cooper (U-15 Boys) produced the second win of the day while Naomi Taschimowitz won by a clear minute in the Senior Women’s race.

There were runner up positions for Joe Merriweather (U-13 Boys), Harriet Rogers, running strongly in the U-15 Girls, Blair Brown (U-15 Boys) and Rachel Heard (senior women).

With six runners representing Taunton AC in the U-15 boys and scooping five of the six top places they easily won the team event with the added bonus of the B team taking second place.

The other two team victories came from the senior men’s and women’s races with Hannah Taunton and Sharron Kington playing strong supporting roles to Taschimowitz and Heard.

The men’s team continued their run of form with third, fourth and fifth individual spots going to Mark Lewis, Tom Mellor and Martin Pearse.

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