Cornishman sport extra February 16

Athletics

SPORTSHALL ATHLETICS:

Cornwall entered U11 boys' and girls' teams in the annual South West Regional Indoor Sportshall Championships, facing counties such as Devon, Dorset, Avon and Somerset.

Teams are selected from county Sportshall days, of which there were four last year organised by Mo Pearson. Athletes came from Newquay and Par AC, Cornwall AC, Mounts Bay Harriers and Hayle Runners.

Teams of 15 boys and 15 girls are allowed to take part in a mixture of events such as sprints, hurdles, agility tests, balance, speed bounce, throwing soft javelin, chest push with medicine ball and jumps (triple and long) plus many more.

At the last minute, Cornwall lost a few athletes to illness so ended up with 12 boys and girls – the minimum requirement. Because of this many children had to do extra events which put the county at a disadvantage to the larger counties but every athlete from Cornwall gave it their all.

Some had only been doing athletics a few weeks and it was a great achievement that the girls came third and the boys a close second with only a few points in it. There were some outstanding individual results.

Four team managers – Jay Cross, Carol Cully, Colin Matthews and Kieran Rowe – looked after the teams and all did a great job.

Organiser Paul Lowe said he would like to thank all the athletes and their parents for their commitment to the day and a special thanks to the team managers.

He also thanked for Williams Travel who they used for the past three years, providing excellent service and happy drivers.

He said they will be entering teams of under 13s and under 15s at Torbay in March and if anyone was interested to contact him via email – Paul Lowe jlowe2@sky.com

HAYLE PRESENTATIONS:

Hayle Runners Junior Athletic Club have recently held an awards presentation to celebrate their achievements in 2011.

The award for best attendance in 2011 went to Tear Lily Rogers and the award for special achievement went to Matthew Thomas.

The club's awards were made in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Hayle who sponsored them and Norman Emberson, president of the Rotary Club, came along to make the presentations.

Hayle Juniors meet each Tuesday during term time, 5.30pm-6.30pm at Hayle Community School, High Lanes, Hayle.

The junior club have a team of enthusiastic and talented coaches to ensure the juniors can train in a safe and friendly environment. During winter the training is indoors in the school hall. Juniors from 8-15 are welcome.

Senior coach Scott Abraham said: "Come along and see what we do; we cover all aspects of athletics and cater for all abilities."

Badminton

MIXED FORTUNES FOR MOUNTS BAY TEAMS:

The first of three matches played on January 27 was at home between the Ladies' B team and the First Edition A team from Camborne.

The match was unfortunately affected by an injury of the away number 2 that caused her withdrawal and a walkover for three of the six rubbers to the home side.

The remaining three rubbers were very close, and the side were pleased that their number 1 and 4 players managed to beat experienced opponents, securing a 4-2 win; their first of the season.

On the adjacent courts there was a titanic battle of the B teams, both of whom are new to the top flight men's division. Mounts Bay Men's B team entertained a strong Tecans B team (Pool). A lengthy and ferocious battle unfolded with long and aggressive rallies with many rubbers going to three ends.

The home side had a mixture of experience and new enthusiasm, and after the first two rubbers were drawing one apiece. A frustrating end where a game point was missed may have made the difference in the end and after two hours the Tecans side edged to a 4-2 victory.

The same evening in Penryn the newly formed Men's D team were away to the freshly formed Penryn Men's A side.

The new sides are both improving all of the time and Mounts Bay have clearly taken on board some of their recent coaching, consequently pushing the home side in many of their matches. However, eventually the young university team were too strong for them and won 6-0.

Mounts Bay Men's C team were hoping to exact revenge for the D team's defeat when they travelled to Penryn on February 3.

The matches were hard fought and after several three enders there was little to separate the sides. However, the Penryn energy and home advantage accounted for the Men's C team 4-2. An admirable display by both sides was testament to the improving standard of the new teams in the growing West Cornwall League.

Mounts Bay teams: Ladies' B: –J Edwards, W Smith (c), P Gridley, H Gardiner. Men's B – J Wotton, A Morrison, P Smith (c), D Thomas. Men's D – C Nicholls, D Telesford, J Franklin (c), R Osbourne. Men's C – R Hosken (c), S Harker, S Norris, P Woods.

Any juniors or seniors interested in the Mounts Bay Club or the West Cornwall Leagues, call Trevelyan Searle on 07842 959 231 or visit mountsbaybadmintonclub.co.uk

County badminton, page 73.

Table tennis

DOCKS DOMINATE:

The West Cornwall League, sponsored by Ignition Credit plc, continues with Falmouth Docks occupying the top three places in the Premier Division, although Bridge C are well placed in fourth.

St Austell B have had problems fielding full strength sides this season and indeed have had to concede a couple of matches, and this has resulted in them lying joint bottom with Bridge B in the Premier Division.

Mylor A head Division One with 72 points, although Mounts Bay A are only 4 points adrift with a game in hand. Docks E have a 9 point margin to make up but have 2 games in hand and so this looks like getting close as the season nears it's end.

In Division Two Penpol look favourites to take this title, having amassed 79 points from their 10 games so far, well ahead of 2nd placed Mylor C with a game in hand.

Firmly rooted to the bottom are the youngsters of Saracens B, but the experience of playing at this level can only stand them in good stead for the future.

Division Three looks the closest so far with Cape Cornwall leading with 79 points from 10 games. St Ives C lie in 2nd place a mere 2 points behind also from 10 games. These two sides clashed last week with Cape Cornwall coming out on top by an 8-2 margin and this result has meant the two sides swapped places at the top.

The newcomers from Falmouth Docks are benefiting from league experience and although points have been hard to come by, will hope to improve on results through the second half of the season.

Shooting

PENZANCE TARGET TROPHY:

Penzance & St Ives Rifle Club shot against 25 time league winners Truro last week.

Keeping up their good run of scores the Penzance club shot 493 ex 500 to Truro's 470, Doug Kernick with a maximum 100 led the way and Stuart Smith 99 Konrad Spalek, John & Patricia Emmerson with 98's completed the scoring.

Penzance have won all six matches this season and with two to go it looks good for Penzance & St Ives to retain the Shoulder to Shoulder trophy.

Tetrathlon

WESTERN HUNT PONY CLUB:

The Western Hunt Tetrathlon squad sent 13 members to Okehampton last Saturday for the Eggesford Hunt Pony Club's Triathlon Competition.

Pony club triathletes pistol shoot, run across country and swim. The weather provided typical cross country conditions of cold rain and muddy ground. Despite this the competitors had a wonderful day playing games together between disciplines and performing to a high standard.

In the Minimus Boys' class (11 and under) the Western team of Shea Cornish, Matthew Vincent and Tom Tieken (picture below) won their class by a strong margin with Matthew who is ten years old, coming first individually with Best Shoot score in the class, Tom was second with Best Swim and Shea third with Best Run.

In the Minimus Girls class the Western team of Freya Haase, Poppy Burford, Darcy Wilson and Stephanie Sampson also won by a strong margin with Freya winning the individual competition with Best Swim, Darcy coming second with Best Run and Poppy coming fourth. Ismay Cornish-Murphy and Tilly Tieken have recently moved up into this class and competed really well.

In the Junior Girls (14 and under) the team of Rowan Burgess, Olivia Haase, Lauren Cotterell and Jessica Bode came sixth with Rowan achieving the Best Swim score in the class.

Youth football

SAINTS ON THE MARCH:

St Ives Town U11s recently played a double header against teams from Helston and Culdrose.

Playing Helston at St Uny School on the Saturday, St Ives let a 3-1 half-time lead slip as Helston scored four second half goals to win 5-3.

Bailey Stevens (2) and Aeden McNamara scored the St Ives goals.

The Saints were then up against Culdrose at St Uny School on Sunday, hoping to put Saturday's result quickly behind them.

The Saints managed to score a penalty just before half time which was brilliantly put away by captain Oakley Clary-Brom to make it 1-0 at half-time.

The second half saw Bailey Stevens, Alex Pascoe and Alistair Pearson add further goals as St Ives ran out 4-0 winners.

St Ives Town U11s: (v Helston) – Alex Keast, Aeden McNamara, Kieran Eastwood, Oakley Clary-Brom (c), Alistair Pearson, Bailey Stevens, Devin Parsons, Archie Pickin, James Narbett & Ethan Barlow. (v Culdrose) – Alex Keast, Aeden McNamara, Alex Pascoe, Oakley Clary-Brom (c), Alistair Pearson, Kieran Eastwood, Bailey Stevens, Devin Parsons, Archie Pickin & Ethan Barlow.

LUDGVAN LIONS JFC:

The Lions U11s were almost made to pay for a host of missed chances as they laboured to a 2-1 win at Leedstown on Sunday morning.

The visitors came out of the blocks the stronger but struggled to find the net and were punished when Leedstown scored from a corner on the stroke of half time.

However, their pressure was rewarded when Ike Roskilly popped up to level the score with 7 minutes remaining. This set up a grandstand finish and it was Roskilly again who slotted home an injury time winner.

The Lions' penultimate league game is this Sunday morning at home to Illogan.

The Lions U12s bounced back from last week's disappointing defeat to win 6-0 at Culdrose Tornados on Sunday.

The breakthrough came when Austin Lister reacted quickest to a corner from Toby Horsell.

Culdrose started the second half better and for 10 minutes put Ludgvan under pressure.

Some great interplay led to a free kick being awarded just outside the Culdrose penalty box which Toby Horsell superbly converted.

Man of the match Louis Graham was involved in the next four goals, all the result of great passing and interplay. Austin Lister netted the third and completed his hat-trick with the fifth, either side of goals from Piran Tanner and Josh Otto.

GOAL RAIDERS:

Penzance U10s Raiders 10, Leedstown 1

It was back to winning ways last Sunday as the Penzance AFC Raiders dismantled the Lions with style and stunning football.

Within minutes the home side were leading by two goals and it looked like more to follow as the defensive midfielders joined in the attack.

Ellis Hart notched up another hat-trick as did Jamie Nankervis. Pasha Wilson added another two to his tally and a stunning brace from Mawgan Kewn put the team back in the running for the La Liga title.

Cricket

ARGUE WITH THE UMPIRE:

Want to know more about umpiring? Want to be able to discuss decisions from a position of knowledge? The Cornwall Association of Cricket officials will be holding their highly-interactive introductory course, Argue with the Umpire, in Penzance CC's exciting new pavilion on Monday February 27 at 7pm. Any questions, please contact cornwallumpires@gmail.com or just turn up on the night.

Penzance Cricket Club's annual general meeting will be held in the new pavilion on Monday February 20, at 7.30pm. All current members and any new playing and non playing members wishing to join the club are welcome to attend.

Cornish Pirates

BUMPER CROWD EXPECTED FOR VISIT OF BRISTOL:

The Cornish Pirates are expecting a big crowd at the Mennaye Field on Sunday for the visit of league leaders Bristol (kick-off 2pm).

Tickets can be purchased from the ticket office, open Mon-Fri 9am-noon, on-line at www.cornish-pirates.com, from Warrens bakers shops and on the day.

CROSS KEYS TICKETS:

It has been confirmed that the British & Irish Cup semi-final encounter between Cross Keys and the Cornish Pirates will be played at Pandy Park, Cross Keys RFC, on Easter Saturday April 7 (3pm).

Supporters should note that Stand tickets are limited and it is best to buy in advance. For more information it is recommended to contact Cross Keys chairman Colin Vernall on 07970776698, or email c.vernall@btinternet.com.