The members of Dorchester AC celebrated their successful season with the traditional barbecue at Down House Farm.  The sun shone, cars bumped their way up the farm track, wrecking their suspension and tracking for ever, as their occupants were inextricably drawn to the smell of burning sausages.  Gareth presided over the incarcerated foodstuffs whilst wasps gorged themselves on half finished plastic cups of squash. Dean, the jovial host, was his usual happy-grumpy self, taking great pleasure from ribbing his U13 and U15 girls squads and getting back at least as good as he gave from most of them.

 Apple-bobbing, or, more precisely who could push Lucy deepest into the water, was a new attraction this year but not everyone joined in this peculiar form of fun.  Others preferred to laze in their picnic chair learning, in Descartian fashion, that "Cogito, ergo sum", which loosely translates as “I think this sausage is perfectly cooked therefore it is”.  Others chose to banish the taste of charcoal by nipping over to Nikki’s excellent tea-gardens to enjoy the sort of outstanding fare that won her a bronze medal in this years Dorset food awards.

 And, as ever, the highlight was a Tess of the D’Urbervilles style ride to the coast on Dean’s hay wagon.  Few were courageous enough to brave the waves when the entourage reached Eype beach but those that did lied that the water was lovely.  Soon it was time again to climb onto the hay bales and let the tractor take the strain as everyone was hauled back up the hill to the farm.

Whilst all and sundry sat back and recovered, a ceremonial raffle draw rewarded the Edwards family with a trolley load of confectionary.  Another BBQ enjoyed, all that remained was to risk what little was left of the cars’ shock absorbers back down the rutted tracks to the lay-by cafe for a jolly good burger.

SEPTEMBER 2008

DORCHESTER WIN PROMOTION IN A SEE-SAW, FINAL SWAL MATCH

 At the end of the nerve-jangling, final South West League Division Two match of 2008 Dorchester AC secured promotion back to Division 1 – but only just.  They also missed out on finishing as divisional champions – but only just.

 As the match began,  four of the nine teams in the division were in contention for the league title or, failing that, the second, all-important promotion slot. With nine points to the winning team, eight for the second and so on, the provisional position at the top of the league after the first three matches was as follows:

With the chance of a tie on match points, event points might well decide who won the league, who won promotion and who were destined to another season in Division Two.

As the teams filtered into the stadium before the match began, the clubs eyed up their rivals to see who had the biggest, fittest looking squads.  Dorchester were fielding their largest squad of the year in a bid to win the title but what was immediately clear was that Armada and Team Bath had also turned out in strength but North Devon looked less well represented.

Initial impressions seemed to be correct as Team Bath surged ahead in the match, closely pursued by Armada, with Dorchester trailing in a close battle with North Devon for third and fourth place in the match.  At this point, Armada and Team Bath were level on 31 match points but Armada had far greater events points.

With the announcer issuing regular score updates, the topsy-turvy position at the top of the league took more and more twists.  Gradually, Dorchester pulled away from North Devon and edged ever closer to Armada.  At one stage, Armada led Dorchester in the match by just one event point, only to be followed by the next announcement when Dorchester led armada by one event point.  Now Dorchester were second in the match but top of the division, level on match points with Team Bath ahead of them on events points.

For a while, Dorchester and Armada seemed to exchange places with regularity and whoever was ahead was leading the league.  However, all the while Team Bath were pulling further and further ahead. The question was could they get sufficiently far ahead to make up their events points deficit on Dorchester and Armada.

Dorchester are traditionally at their strongest in the latter part of the programme when the younger age groups take more prominence.  Thus they managed to keep just ahead of Armada up until the time of the decisive relays.

Dorchester’s team spirit was astonishing.  Everyone piled in with appearences in unusual events, such as Freddie Cook’s triple jump, in order to win yet more vital points.  And parents and club officials joined in too, with Austin Slade and Wendy Collinson, Dean Exton and Guy Smith notching crucial points and Rich Tuck running on the track for the first time for several seasons.

But nowhere was the spirit better than Hannah Jeanes'.  Tired from her earlier efforts and shortly facing a possible 800m relay leg, it was with trepidation that she agreed to run the individual 800m too – but only, she said to score the most points she could without unduly exerting herself.  This was the tactic she employed for most of the race, with a comfortable second place in prospect.  Entering the last 200m her rival from Team Bath had a clear lead of about 30m.  At this point Hannah suddenly thought to her self, “What the hell, I can catch her” and started a phenomenal, sustained sprint finish that brought her neck-and-neck with her rival on the finish line and victory by the margin of just two one hundredths’ of a second.  Thank goodness for David Cooke’s photo finish device to divide the rivals.

So began the relays, with Dorchester in second place, now just about safely ahead of Armada, but approaching 200points behind Team Bath.  If Bath could increase their lead over Dorchester to 209 points then the league title would theirs.  By the time those relays were over, Dorchester just maintained their narrow lead over Armada and were only 200.5 points behind Team Bath.  Promotion was certainly achieved and it looked likely that Dorchester were the champions – but it was Team Bath who were celebrating the most.  They thought they had won the league.

When the provisional results were published it looked like Team Bath’s celebrations were premature and Dorchester had, in fact, won the league.  The provisional final table looked like this:

However, there was one more twist in the tale.  Team Bath had not claimed their officials’ points for match 3.  Teams can win up to 50 points depending on how many officials they supply for judging purposes, with one qualified official being worth 10 points.  No-one could remember how many officials Team Bath fielded in match 3, not even Team Bath.  However, everyone, Dorchester included, agreed that there had been at least one Team Bath official on duty. Thus, Team Bath were awarded 10 more events points and this gave them the league title by the minuscule amount of just 2.5 events points.  Nonetheless, Dorchester had finished in a proud second place and had won back their division one place again after an absence one year.

JULY 2008

TEAM DORSET CROWN METEORIC RISE WITH PROMOTION TO THE PREMIERSHIP

In the autumn of 2006 officials Dorchester AC, Poole AC and Wimborne AC met in the Royal Oak in Bere Regis and decided to form a composite club. They called the union Team Dorset. In no way could they have foreseen that their momentous decision would pay such high dividends for the young athletes of the three clubs.

Amazingly, just two years later, at Yeovil on 20^th July 2008 found themselves crowned champions of the Young Athletics League Southern 1 West Division. As a result, the combined team gained promotion to the Southern Premier League for the 2009 season. This will see their talented young members, in the 11-16 age range, lock competitive horns with the Chelseas and Arsenals of the English athletes world, such as Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC and Enfield & Haringey AC.

The victorious Team Dorset team after their final match at Yeovil

Photo courtesy of Gary Fitch, Creative Images – www.cimages.co.uk

 After a narrow win over Aldershot and Farnham AC in match one of the five match season, Team Dorset were never troubled as they racked-up four more impressive wins to end the season unbeaten.  So dominant were the team that their end of season points tally was greater than any other team in the five regional first divisions. Amongst their defeated opponents were local rivals Bournemouth AC and Poole runners  Full results of the five matches can be found in the results section.

Southern West Division 1 – Final League Table

 The undefeated season in 2008 followed on from promotion in the inaugural year in Division South 2 West in 2007, so fulfilling a meteoric rise in fortune, which has seen a growing bond of co-operation and friendship across athletes and officials alike within the three clubs.

JULY 2006

 TWO BRONZE MEDALS FOR DORCHESTER AC AT THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS

Three Dorchester AC athletes represented Dorset Schools in the English Schools’ Championships at Gateshead International Stadium on 7/8 July 2006 and maintained the club’s outstanding medal winning tradition this century.

In the Senior Girls’ 800 metres Nikki Hamblin won her heat comfortably in 2 minutes 15.07 seconds. In the final next day she was in contention with just over 200 metres to go, and despite being hampered by shin problem came away with a bronze medal to add to her collection of 3 gold and a bronze at these Championships over the last 5 years.

In the Inter Girls’ javelin Jemma Tewkesbury added another bronze medal to the one she won in the Junior   Girls’ last year with a throw of 33.95 metres early in the competition.

In the Inter Girls’ 800 metres, Hannah Jeanes qualified for the semi-final by finishing 2^nd in her heat on Friday in 2 minutes 14.58 seconds. In the semi-final later the same day, however, she had no energy left and finished 8^th in 2 minutes 23.87.

 MAY 2006

BRONZE FOR HANNAH AT THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

CHELMSFORD 27/28 MAY 2006

Dorchester AC’s Hannah Jeanes won the bronze medal in the under-17 women 800 metres at the SEAA Championships at Chelmsford over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Hannah, a student at the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, won her heat comfortably on the Saturday in a time of 2 mins 17.65 seconds, despite being delayed in traffic on the M25, which meant she arrived with only 20 minutes to spare.

In the final Hannah tracked Joanne Harvey (Exeter Harriers) and Rachel Stringer (City of Norwich AC) for the first of the 2 laps. On the second lap Harvey pulled away to win in 2.12.42 with Hannah just behind second placed Stringer in a time of 2.14.66.

In the British Miler Club Grand Prix at Loughborough University on 20^th May, Nikki Hamblin finished first under-20 in the women A race in her first 1500 metres for 18 months. Nikki, 18, a student at Millfield School in Somerset, clocked a time of 4mins 23.07, putting her in third place in the UK under-20 women rankings so far this season.

 NOVEMBER 2005

 NIKKI HAMBLIN:

BASC YOUNG FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2004

Millfield schoolgirl Nikki Hamblin, 17, of Dorchester AC, was presented with the British Athletics Supporters' Club Young Female Athlete of the Year Award. 2004, at Millfield School, Somerset, on Tuesday November 29, 2005.

BASC secretary Richard Harris and committee member Sandra Hogben made the award of a cheque for £100 and a framed certificate to Nikki in the school's theatre in the presence of her parents, coach Nick Nicholson and over 200 of her upper sixth schoolfellows.

Nikki, a middle-distance runner from Weymouth, had an extremely successful 2004. She took the Commonwealth Youth Games 1500 metre silver medal at Bendigo, Australia after winning the English Schools title for 800 metres and the AAAs age group title for 1500. Her best times are 2.06.18 and 4.19.45, giving her the top outdoor rankings for both events in 2004. She ranks in the all-time top six for both events.