The overall results from this years Greater Manchester Sportshall League have been punished, and they've proved to be very good reading indeed for Trafford AC.
u11g - Finished 4th - identical to last year

u11b - Finished 3rd, missing second by 2 points! A big step up from last years 5th

u13g - Winners! Well done girls - great to retain this title from last season.


u13b - Winners! Perhaps the most pleasing turn round as we had very few lads turning out last season when we could only manage 7th


u15g - Winners! The core of last years victorious u13g team have moved up and dominated this league with the aid of a couple of last years u15's who'd finished 2nd


u15b - Finished 3rd, same as last year.

So congratulations to the u13 girls, u15 boys and u15 girls teams; and well done to all who participated.

We've had a few athletes undefeated in their events over the course of the three match series - Jamall (u11b) in both the 1 Lap and the Standing Long Jump; Joe (u15b) in the 6 lap; Josh (u15b) in the 4 Lap; Imojene (u15g) in the 4 lap; and the stand out performance is from George - unbeaten in all three events - 6 Lap, speed bounce & Standing Long Jump - over all three matches!

The County Championships is Sunday 26th January; those wishing to compete must inform us by Thursday 9th January

Match 3 in this years Manchester Cross country league took place last Saturday (7th) at Sherdley Park, St Helens.

A number of the young athletes took part, so well done to Drew, Alex, Seb, Lian, Ethan, Siobhan, Danielle, Marnie, Colin and Beth.

The next round is at Boggart Hole Clough, Manchester on 12th January - please speak to Neil or Sue if you wish to take part.

The third and final match in this years Greater Manchester Sportshall League took place at Sportscity on Sunday 8th December.
Again we had some great performances and pleasing results
The results are linked below, the highlights are


u11g - Finished 4th in a very close match with less than 30 points between first and fourth. The Obstacle Relay and 4x2 Lap relay teams both finished 3rd and Laura won the Vertical Jump.

u11b - Finished 2nd. The Obstacle relay team finished 3rd, Sandy finished 3rd in the Standing Long Jump and 2nd in the Javelin. The 4x2 Lap relay team won and Jamall kept up his high standards with wins in both the 1 Lap and the Standing Long Jump.

u13g - Finished 2nd - which is a very impressive result considering some of the athletes that were missing from this team. Jasmin finished 3rd in both the 6 Lap and the Standing Triple Jump; Molly was 3rd in the 4 Lap; Ngozi was 3rd in Vertical Jump that was won by Stephanie. The 4x2 Lap relay team was second.

u13b - Having totally dominated the previous two matches, the lads could only manage 4th due to lack of numbers. George, however, continued to dominate this age group; three wins in three matches in 6 Lap, Standing Long Jump and Speed Bounce

u15g - The girls made it 3 wins out of 3 matches. Emily was 2nd in the 4 Lap; Lili was 2nd in Standing Long Jump. Allana won the 6 Lap and got second in the Speed Bounce; Zalika was 2nd in the Standing Triple Jump and 3rd in the Vertical Jump. Emily and Lili finally got the win in the Parlauf that they have been striving for. Imojene was outstanding, with a second in the Vertical Jump and first in both the 4 Lap and Standing Triple Jump. Well done girls - consistently dominant!

u15b - a couple of new faces in the u15 boys team lead to a 2nd place finish - good to end on a high! Joe won the 6 Lap, Josh the 4 Lap and the Standing Triple Jump, the pair of them then paired up to finish 2nd in the Parlauf.

We now await official notification of where each team has finished overall in the league.

As ever our gratitude goes to those who contributed to making the competition happen - Gavin, Jacque, Le-Shai, Chanelle and Lewis - your help is very much appreciated by the organisers. And of course we extend our thanks to Dave & Elaine and everyone who helps put the event on.

Next its the County Championships - you must let us know if you wish to enter(!)

Girls Results

Boys Results

As a result of his performance in the European Cross Country Championships in Serbia last week, Zak Miller has now been selected to run for Great Britain Juniors against USA & Europe at the Edinburgh Cross Country International next month.

ZAK MILLER won the English Schools cross-country title earlier this year and is off to Belgrade this week as part of Britain’s team for the European Championships.   Yet until this year the 16-year-old from Manchester was better known for his exploits in the
boxing ring, writes Jason Henderson.
Miller is a five-time North West champion in boxing and in 2010 he won the national title. He reckons he’s ranked about No.3 in the country for his age and weight, but his athletics achievements are quickly overtaking his fighting performances.
Remarkably, Miller doesn’t turn 17 until March, which means he’s more than two years younger than the Euro trials winner in Liverpool last week, Jonny Davies of Reading.
Miller could have run the under-17 men’s race in Liverpool, but instead gambled on taking on older rivals in the under-20 race – and it paid off with fourth place and a guaranteed spot in the GB team for this weekend’s European Championships in Belgrade.
“After the national cross-country relays in Mansfield my time there led me to think I should go for it in Liverpool,” he says. “It was still a bit of a surprise to finish as highly as I did, though.”
Yet Miller is not entirely unknown to the cross-country community. In March he won the English Schools title at Catton Hall despite having a boxing coach, Wayne Heywood at Ashton Albion Boxing Club, but no one to guide his running career.
Now, he is coached by Paul Shaw at Trafford AC and his daily diet of long, steady runs has been improved by the addition of harder, quality sessions.
“I’ve been boxing since about 10 or 11 years of age,” he explains. “I think the training for each sport helps each other. They complement each other.”
But he adds: “My running is going so well that I’m putting it first at the moment.”
Miller also used to play centre midfield for Stockport County but kicked that into touch after seeing team-mates get so easily injured.
“I’d like to be part of the scoring team in Belgrade,” he says. “And then I’ll hopefully have a few more chances to do well in the event due to my age.”
Who knows, Miller could eventually become a “British Benson Masya”. The late Kenyan distance legend won the Bupa Great North Run four times in the 1990s, but he also began his sporting life in the boxing ring.

PS. Zak finished a credible 31st out of over 150 entrants in his race. The GB team just missed out on a team medal, finishing 4th. Zak will be able to compete in this age group for three more years and we look forward to seeing what the future holds!