Jewish Chronicle Athletics News - May 4, 2007

Kastor suffers in the Boston winds

In cool, wet and windy conditions, last year's London Marathon winner Deena Kastor came a disappointing fifth in the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Kastor was part of the leading group of runners at the half-way point, reached in a slow 1 hour 17 minutes. However, shortly after this point Kastor began to suffer from stomach cramps and was forced to take a short rest-room break. She finished in 2:35:09, almost six minutes behind the Russian winner Lidiya Grigoryeva.

"It's hard to deal with a disappointing performance when you've prepared for so much better than you did out there," said Kastor. Nevertheless, Kastor's performance won her the United States Marathon title and a bonus of $25,000 (£12,570).

Jo Ankier at South of England Road Relay Championships, 1st April 2007

Jo Ankier was the fastest competitor on the third 5.4 kilometre stage of the 6-stage South of England Road Relay Championships at Milton Keynes on 1st April. Her storming run took her team, Shaftesbury Barnet 'A', from fourth position into a one minute lead. Shaftesbury eventually finished third out of 25 teams.

Benaim starts track season

16-year-old Sagie Benaim opened his track season last weekend with a 2 minutes 4 seconds 800 metres in the London Inter-Club Challenge event at Hendon's Copthall Stadium. Benaim is due to contest the same event, again at Copthall Stadium, in the Middlesex Championships on 12th May.

Gush Etzion 10 km Championships

Ex-Londoner Daniel Felsenstein, 49, was first veteran, and sixth overall, in the Gush Etzion 10 km Championships in Israel. Felsenstein recorded 38:42 over a hilly and stony course. The race was won by Israeli traithlon champion and Olympic contender Ron Alterman.

Jewish Chronicle “Sport in Brief” - May 11, 2007

Adam Goucher of America, the world's fastest Jewish miler, came second in the One Mile at the Oregon Twilight Meeting in 4 minutes 2.45 seconds last weekend. The race was won by Canadian Ryan McKenzie in 4minutes 1 second.
 

Jewish Chronicle Athletics Profile - May 18th, 2007

Click here to see a screen shot of the following published article

Track stalwart extends his run

In his 50th year of involvement in the administration of athletics, Manchester solicitor Walter Nicholls has been re-elected as Secretary of the Amateur Athletic Association. "We are the oldest governing body for athletics in the world, and my role is really to be the point of contact for the Association".

Walter and his wife Marlene are members of the Sha'arei Hayim congregation of Didsbury, South Manchester. Looking forward to celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary next month, the couple have four children (two boys, two girls) and nine grandchildren.

Nicholls' long career in the service of his sport began in 1958 with his election to the committee of Salford Harriers and with officiating and timekeeping at athletics meetings. While living in Israel for three years in the late 1960's, Nicholls officiated in the 1969 Maccabia Games, and he returned to the Maccabia in 1985 as GB Athletics Team Manager. "When we arrived I found that South Africa had also sent a team, and I realised that our own athletes could be banned if they competed against them, owing to the international boycott that was in place at the time. I persuaded the South African team to have their own competition away from the others, but though the athletes thanked me, it did not make me popular with the Maccabia organisation. Nonetheless, the Israeli Sports Association invited me back as Chief Timekeeper for the following Maccabia in 1989."

Over the last 30 years, Nicholls has served Northern and National athletics in many roles, including Great Britain and England team selection, team management and anti-drugs enforcement. He is a Director of the British Association for Sport and Law, and sits on the UK Sports Dispute Resolution Panel. He represented the English athletics delegation at last year's Commonwealth Games.

A lifetime's service in the running of the sport has not prevented Nicholls from competing as well. "In my fifties I won medals in Northern and National veterans' championships in the discus. I'm 71 now and I've had a hip operation, but I'm still competing."

“Sport in Brief” items

16-year-old London-based Israeli Sagie Benaim came 5th in the Middlesex Under-20 800 metres championships in Hendon last weekend. Benaim recorded a time of 2:02 in a tactical race won in 1:58.

Last week's Israeli 10,000 metre track championship was won by Israeli marathon champion and 2-time Olympian Ayala Satiin in 30:37.5. Runner-up in 30:44.7 was Assaf Mamo, an up-and-coming young Ethiopian from Jerusalem. The Women's race was won in 36:29.7 by Nili Abramski, who will be competing in the marathon at the World Championships in Osaka this summer. It was the tenth time she has won the Israeli 10,000 metre championships.

Ex-Hendoners Daniel Felsenstein and Mindy Ebrahimoff acquitted themselves well at the Gaash cross-country race near Tel-Aviv last Friday. Felsenstein was 10th overall and first over-50's veteran, behind overall winner Tzachi Cohen, an Israeli international 1500m runner. Ebrahimoff, a marathon-runner and mother of four, took second place in the womens over-50's race.