Mini League Reminder

The third match in this league is on Saturday 7th July at Moorways Stadium, Derby. There is only one more Mini League left this season after this match. Remember - we expect all club members to compete!

All up-to-date club members aged 9 to 14 (school years 4 to 9 and must be 9 years min on the day) are expected to take part as there is no training at Ilkeston on this day for these age groups. Information is being given out at training now (printed on yellow paper).

Please ask if you have not received one.

The informal nature of Mini League is ideal for novice athletes as all can take part regardless of ability or experience. Can you beat your previous times or distances? Remember that you could be good enough to be selected for the County team (u13 and U15)for an Inter-Counties competition later in the year, or be awarded Athlete of the Match!

First events start at 10.30am and go on to around 1pm.

AVAC athletes should meet at the stadium by 10am at the latest to collect numbers and warm up.

Event choices are U11's 80m /150m/ 600m/ HJ (girls)/ LJ (boys) 4 x 100m relay

U13's 100m/ 200m/ 800m / hurdles / LJ (girls) HJ (boys) Shot/ relay

U15's 100m/ 200m/ 800m/ hurdles / HJ (girls) LJ (boys) Shot / Discus

Event choices must be logged at training by Thursday 5th Aug or phoned or emailed to Julie Feeney by Friday 6pm.

Heart of England League match 1, Rugby 17th June

Rugby and Northampton AC hosted this first match (out of 3) on a beautiful sunny day, and emerged as convincing winners. This seasons Division 1 (there are 3 divisions in this increasingly popular league) is a quality line-up, featuring long-established clubs with proud history's. The grassed areas were a sea of club tents and seating, with a large and appreciative crowd getting behind all the athletes. There were many excellent races and from a club perspective it was quite difficult to gauge how we were doing overall. With results now in, AVAC finished in 4th place overall. Sadly our U15's were severely depleted, and had we had more athletes available, our finishing position could have been higher.

There weren't too many AVAC 'A' string victories but Shaun Rathbone bagged two for himself winning both the U17 100m and 200m. U13 team mates Jessica Turner and Kelly-Jay Payling won their respective 800m and shot putt. Emma Komocki continued her successful streak at the longer sprint events by winning the U17 400m, whilst Andrew Fenwick won another U13 1500m this time 9 seconds ahead of the athlete in 2nd place.

The middle distance runners seemed to find conditions and competition to their liking with several of our athletes recording PB's yet again. Michael Bosworth recorded his fastest ever 800m to finish 2nd, with Alex Nix smashing his PB to win the 'B' string. Jerome Richards took 4 seconds off his previous best in the U13 800m, and the improving Jack Elliot took 6 seconds off his 1500m time just being edged into 'A' string 2nd place.

Some of our U11's were able to experience this league for the first time, and, whilst finding the opposition very tough, they gained valuable league experience.

Overall results:

1st Rugby & Northampton 8 pts,

2nd = Solihull 6.5 pts

2nd = Worcester 6.5 pts

4th AVAC 5 pts

5th Tipton 4 pts

6th Oxford City 3 pts

7th Stratford 2 pts

8th Tamworth 1 pt

U13B 3rd=

U15B 7th

U17M 1st

U13G 3rd=

U15G 7th

U17W 3rd

U11B 4th

U11G 8th

County Schools Championships, Moorways, 9th June 07

In near perfect conditions several AVAC athletes took part in one of the main high lights of the track and field season with both club athletes and talented school athletes representing their district. The top 2 in each event go on to represent Derbyshire at the Inter-Counties match next Saturday at Cudworth near Barnsley. The interesting thing about the County Schools is that each athlete can only do 1 event, and some tactical decision making goes on to improve chances of selection and victory. It's also so good to see those athletes who don't belong to a club at all doing some very respectable performances, and, of course, it's another chance to try to achieve the high standard English Schools qualifiers. In the warm sunshine it was good to see Moorways very busy with athletes, spectators and officials.

9 AVAC athletes excelled by winning their events. Sprinters Shaun Rathbone (Inter ) and Abbi Langley (Jnr) did just enough to head off the opposition in close 100m races. At 400m Zach Hooper continued his dominance at this event in the junior age group, and Toby Bryce-Jones won the Inter event. Claudia Rogers was equally as convincing a winner in the Inter 300m. Louise Feeney, in her last ever County Schools race, claimed her fifth consecutive sprint hurdles win, this time as a senior. Sisters Tamara and Leila Armoush ran in the same 1500m race, Tamara untroubled in the Inter event whilst Leila took the senior event. Chloe Smith was the only athlete to win a field event (Int long jump) and was part of the winning Inter girls 4 x 100m relay team along with Emma Komocki, Alex Turner and Claudia Rogers, setting a new club record too.

Emma Komocki missed out on gold by point one of a second in a thrilling Inter 300mH. Also taking silver were Alex Turner in the Inter 800m, Charlotte Noonan in the Inter triple jump and Michael Feeney in the Inter 100mH. Special mention goes to Alex Nix who ran a massive personal best in the junior 1500m, to just miss silver, again by point one of second in a dramatic finish.

Five athletes - Claudia, Emma, Alex Turner, Tamara and Zach - have already achieved the tough national final standards and must wait to see if they can improve further at Cudworth next weekend.

AVAC Keep Promotion Pressure On

The third fixture in the National Young Athletes League saw the team travel to Grantham at the weekend in probably the closest competition to date this season. A problem with the host clubs computer scoring system meant that regular points updates never materialised to let us know how we were doing. As it turned out, AVAC won a close-run match to remain in third place in the Midlands Div 1East league overall, keeping promotion hopes alive. The points scores were AVAC 1st 321pts, Leicester Coritanian 2nd 307 pts, Grantham 3rd 289 pts and Stratford-upon-Avon 4th 242 pts.

Emma Komocki got proceedings underway with a superb debut at 300mH recording an English Schools qualifier at the first attempt. She later went on to win the sprint hurdles event too. There were A wins in the 200m for Zach Hooper, Shaun Rathbone and Claudia Rogers, the latter also winning the U17 300m. Kelly-Jay Payling and Emily Heappey scored A and B string wins in the U13HJ, James Morley and Rory Chambers did the same in the 75mH, and Jordan Martin and Dean Bower doubled in the U17 400m.

(Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image)

 Michael Bosworth easily took the U15 800m but was surprised to throw a massive PB in the shot to win this too. Michael Feeney also put a couple of metres on his javelin PB to win the U17 event and Andrew Fenwick continued his PB streak to win the U13 1500m. It was pleasing to see victories in the female throws, with Josie Lockwood and Rachel Breheny both winning their discus events and Chloe Smith taking the U17 shot.

Well done to all our athletes including those picking up valuable points further down the placings, contributing to the team win.

Thank you also to those AVAC officials and volunteers who enable these competitions to take place.

Promotion could be decided at the next match (fourth match out of five) on June 24th. The club travels to the home of Wolverhampton and Bilston, the club that is just above us in the league, where everything will be to play for.

Three medals including two gold's for young Amber Valley athletes, North of England U15/U17 track & field championships - Leeds 26/27th May 2007.

The North of England championships held in Leeds last weekend was the first major competition of the season for some of our U15 and U17 athletes. Held over 2 days this is a key competition for young athletes from all major clubs in the north of England and standards are close to national level.

Amber Valley athletes came away with 3 individual medals including 2 gold - congratulations to Tamara Armoush, Zach Hooper and Alex Turner.

On Saturday 16 athletes lined up for the U17 women's 3,000m race including this years national cross country champion (Laura Park) and many of the north of England's top female endurance runners including Amber Valley's Tamara Armoush in her first year competing as an U17. Park took the lead from the gun and set a challenging early pace quickly stretching out the field but Tamara ran very intelligently conserving energy in the early stages of the 7.5 lap event.

After 4 laps Tamara was at the front of the chasing pack and gradually closed on Park until with 1.5 laps to go she was within a few metres of the leader. As the bell sounded for the last lap it was clear that there was an exciting race unfolding with Tamara and Park close together but the next two girls including Scunthorpe's Rachel Robinson closing on the leading pair. As they raced along the back straight it was Robinson who got in to striking distance of Tamara and Park timing her run to take the lead as they went around the final bend. Park could not respond but Tamara managed to ensure that Robinsons lead was not decisive and the two raced along the finishing straight with Robinson initially around 5m ahead.

Tamara was certainly in no mood to settle for silver and gradually, stride by stride she closed on Robinson with sheer grit and determination getting ahead just 5m before the line. The crowd were really appreciative of this scintillating finish and this race was generally considered to be the highlight of the day. Tamara's time of 10:03.2 was a massive PB and puts her 6th in the current UK U17 rankings.

The small band of Amber Valley supporters had hardly recovered their voices when the next race started with Zach Hooper in the U15 boys 400m in his first competitive season at this level. Zach ran strongly in the one lap race to take gold in 53.09 seconds. It was really good to see two Amber Valley athletes winning gold in quick succession.

The weather was particularly bad on Sunday with plenty of rain and a driving headwind along the exposed back straight so times were generally down on the norm in all the distance events. Alex Turner comfortably qualified for the final of the U17 women's 800m in the morning and lined up for the final along with a high quality field. Alex had pretty well dominated 800m running last year as an U15 but it was always going to be a lot tougher as a lower end U17.

During the first lap all 8 girls were pretty well bunched together with Alex in the middle but they stretched out along the back straight on the second lap and Alex moved up just behind the leading two girls as they rounded the final bend. At the start of the home straight it was a battle between the leading 3 of Stephanie James, Kerry Harris and Alex and the girls finished in that order with just over a second between them - another exciting finish.

The only other Amber Valley athlete competing was Sean Rathbone in the U17 men's 200m who ran his heat in 23.53 seconds but missed out on a place in the final.

 Weekend Action

All but AVAC's senior athletes were in action over the Bank Holiday weekend.

First off on Saturday were the U15's and below, competing in match 2 of the Derbyshire Mini League at Moorways. Depleted by the inevitable holiday absences the team again finished in second place to Derby AC, with Chesterfield in third. However around 50 young athletes turned out to compete, some getting their first tastes of track and field action.

At U11 there were second places all round for Rory McColgan (80m), Jethro McGraw (600m & 150m), Sharnie Richards (600m) and Jayson Fenwick (Turbo Jav). The quartet of Rory McColgan, Jethro McGraw, Mark Rathbone and Jayson Fenwick set a new U11 4 x 100m relay club record.

Promising James Morley was awarded male Athlete of the Match for his Grade 2 75m hurdles and anchored home a winning 4 x 100 relay team. Andrew Fenwick had another decisive win in the 1500m, reducing his PB yet again this season. Rory Chambers easily won the long jump. Kelly-Jay Payling claimed two second places , in the shot and high jump, whilst Jennie Lockwood pushed hard to also take second in the 1500m.

Simon Killips marked his club debut by winning the U15 boys 1500m in a determined run. Gaining valuable team points for second places were Abbie Langley (100m) and Leanne Cartledge (1500m).

Final match result 1st Derby 304pts, 2nd AVAC 245pts, 3rd Chesterfield 227pts.

Full results are on www.dcaa.org.co.uk

Team CDAV, the club's joint U20 team with Chesterfield AC, had a 200 mile round trip to Corby to compete in the second National Junior League match, but were rewarded with a win over close rivals Charnwood AC. Match result: Team CDAV 477, Charnwood 468, Coventry 230, Rugby 203, Team Arrows 144, Leamington 59, Nuneaton 10.

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Training Cancelled

Training on Saturday 26th May at the Rutland Sports Park, Ilkeston is cancelled for all age groups. Due to the Derbyshire Mini League and Northern Championships taking place this weekend (and being a holiday weekend) we have been unable to recruit enough available coaches to lead the sessions. All other training sessions remain unaffected.

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Young Athletes League Match 2, 20th May, Moorways

AVAC played host to the second match in this league on Sunday. In the lead from the start it was clear that it would only be a two-horse race between ourselves and Coventry Godiva, and whilst the visitors closed the gap with a finishing flourish of wins in the relays we did enough to win by 19 points. The win now takes us from 5th to 3rd overall (at the time of writing) in the league (top 2 gain promotion to the Midland Premier League next year).

Claudia Rogers and Zach Hooper were judged track Athletes of the Match with their Grade 1 performances in 300m and 200m respectively. They also won their 200m and 100m races.

Click on the thumbnail pictures below to see a larger version.

Of course, there were several excellent performances and athletes to give a rousing home cheer to. Of particular note this time round were gutsy runs from James Barker (U17 3K), David Narborough (U13 1500m), and James Morley doing a double at U13 200m and 75mH. Hurdles victories came from Emily Butlin (U15), Emma Komocki and Michael Feeney (U17). Alex Nix and Ross Kusik claimed A and B U15 400m wins. Michael Bosworth doubled in the U15 800m and shot putt, whilst there were wins in the discus from Rachel Breheney, Nick Rowton and Charlie Waterhouse.

A fine team performance then, not only from the athletes, but also the many AVAC officials and volunteers who worked so hard to host this match. Around 25 people officiated, refereed, announced, team managed and scored to make it an extremely well run competition and thanks go to all those people, including those individuals who offered their services from other clubs. Thank you everyone.

Final Scores 1st AVAC 372pts, 2nd Coventry Godiva 353 pts, 3rd Leamington C & AC 206 pts and 4th Bridgnorth & Shrewsbury 135 pts.

League places and info can be found on www.natyal.co.uk. The next match in this league is on 3rd June at Grantham.

Derbyshire Mini League Reminder

The second match in this league is on Saturday 26th May at Moorways Stadium, Derby.

All up-to-date club members aged 9 to 14 (school years 4 to 9 and must be 9 years min on the day) are expected to take part as there is no training at Ilkeston on this day for these age groups. Information is being given out at training now (printed on yellow paper). Please ask if you have not received one.

The informal nature of Mini League is ideal for novice athletes as all can take part regardless of ability or experience. Can you beat your previous times or distances? Remember that you could be good enough to be selected for the County team (u13 and U15)for an Inter-Counties competition later in the year, or be awarded Athlete of the Match!

First events start at 10.30am and go on to around 1pm.

AVAC athletes should meet at the stadium by 10am at the latest to collect numbers and warm up.

Derbyshire County Championships, Day 2

Despite some very testing conditions for athletes, day 2 of these annual Championships produced further success for AVAC athletes. The great British weather disrupted the afternoons proceedings for a while but couldn't dampen the spirit of the AVAC athletes and supporters, and several performances stood out despite the conditions.

The sprinters had a successful day. Golds in the 100m went to Rory Chambers (u13), Josh Cartledge (U20) and Zach Hooper and Shaun Rathbone added theirs to the 200's they won on day 1. Abbie Langley won a well-deserved 200m, Claudia Rogers won an eagerly anticipated 300m and David Feeney took the mens 400m.

It was encouraging to see Emma Komocki taking a step nearer to full fitness when winning the U17 long jump and 80m hurdles. Michael Feeney added the triple jump gold to his long jump and hurdles from day 1 and Tamara Armoush claimed the 1500m county title that has eluded her in recent years.

The anticipated rain fell steadily for most of the day and it was business as usual for athletes, officials and spectators until a torrential downpour left areas of the track and perimeters under several inches of water. In the interests of safety the remaining field events and relays were cancelled, but the final track events went ahead.

All results can be found on www.dcaa.org.uk

County Track and Field Championships Day 1, Moorways, 12th May

The combined Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire track and field Championships are a high-light of early season competition every year. This years event, superbly managed and hosted by the Derbyshire Athletic Association, suffered from a drop in numbers in the younger age groups, yet other events were keenly contested.

Zach Hooper did the double by winning an exciting U15 200m and 400m. David Feeney set a new Championship Best Performance in the Senior Mens 110m Hurdles. Alexandra Turner and Tamara Armoush won their respective events (U17 800m and 3K) but just missed out on new CBP's by the tiniest of margins.

Newcomer Ben Higson won the U13 boys Javelin in his first ever competition. There were gold medals for Kelly-Jay Payling (U13 shot and High Jump), Michael Feeney (U17 100mH and LJ), Jessica Turner (U13 800m), Louise Feeney (U20 100m), Claudia Rogers (100m), Rory Chambers (U13 LJ), Shaun Rathbone (200m) to name but a few.

 National Young Athletes League, Match 1 Burton 6th May

There were some excellent performances from a largely inexperienced AVAC team at Burtons Shobnall Stadium. Rugby and Northampton were the eventual match winners(465 pts), with AVAC finishing a comfortable second (349 pts), Kettering third and Burton fourth. Personal bests came thick and fast for most of our athletes, just reward for those who put the work in over the winter training months, and several club records were broken too. The sprinters were blessed by a following wind which no doubt assisted many to good times, but a ferocious headwind on Burtons exposed back straight proved challenging in the longer events. A good proportion of the team consisted of athletes, particularly in the younger age groups, whose first track and field season this is, and they largely justified their team selection, with lots of promise for the future.

Five new club records were set in the U17 girls age group. Claudia Rogers claimed new standards for the 200m and 300m, Charlotte Noonan added to her existing triple jump record by going over the 10m barrier for the first time, and Emma Komocki added the long jump record to her collection. All three girls won their respective events. Collectively Claudia, Charlotte, Emma and Chloe Smith broke the 4 x 100m relay record with an easy win.

In the U13 age group James Morley and Kelly-Jay Payling had two firsts each. James shattered his pb's in the 100m and 200m to win A string in both, whilst Kelly-Jay did likewise in the high jump and shot putt. Andrew Fenwick ran an intelligent 1500m to smash his PB for the event and take victory in the A string too.

At U15 there were also double wins for Michael Bosworth in the 800m and shot putt, and Zak Hooper in the 200m and 400m.

The U13 girls 4 x 100m relay team of Amy Holloway, Maddie Cusack, Rhiannon Barr and Emily Heappey showed that they are a quartet to watch as they won an exciting race. Three out of the four girls are new-comers to the team and still have another year left in the age group. A further relay victory came in the U15 boys 4 x 400m. In a nip and tuck battle with the Rugby & N'hants team the lead yo-yoed until Alex Nix ran a decisive third leg leaving Michael Bosworth with the task of maintaining his form to claim a win, much to the delight of those AVAC supporters still there in the closing stages of the match.

National Junior League, 29th April, Coventry

AVAC enjoyed its first foray into the National Junior League. This year we have joined forces with our friends Chesterfield DAC to enter Midlands Trent Division as 'Team CDAV'.

Taking the best of both clubs' U20 athletes with some U17s resulted in an excellent second place behind Charnwood AC.

 Match result: Charnwood 519, Team CDAV 445, Coventry Godiva 369, Rugby & Noton 277, Team Arrows 242, Nuneaton 132, Leamington 115.

AVAC performances of particular note came from Andrew Szarkowski (400m),Alexandra Turner (400m), Tamara Armoush (1500m), Richard Szarkowski (Pole Vault) and Louise Feeney (400mH) who all came 1st in A string races, whilst Shaun Rathbone (200m), Leila Armoush (3K), Charlotte Noonan (triple Jump) and Richard (High Jump) all came first in the B string events.

Important Membership News

Membership renewals were due on 1st April 2007 and we allow one month for these to happen. That time is now up and there are still many 'active' members who have yet to re-new. Are you one of these?

As from 1st May those people who have not renewed will revert to 'non-member' status. This means that you will be charged £2.50 per training session and you may not be eligible for team selections.

We value all our members but we have to draw the line somewhere! Membership forms are available from training or download here. Please return, with your fee, to Nigel Smith (Membership Secretary) or to the payment desk at training.

Derbyshire Mini League, 21st April

With 60 athletes taking part in the first track and field Mini League match of the season this was probably the clubs best attendance ever at this event. It was also most peoples first chance at track and field this season and many of our younger athletes grabbed the opportunity to shine, just like the beautiful weather!

In the U11 age group Chloe Peplow had strong runs in the 80m and 150m to record the days second-fastest times at both distances, whilst Rory McClogan notched up two victories in the boys long jump and 150m.

At U13 James Morley had a fantastic day by winning the 75m hurdles and 100m, and recorded the second-fastest 200m time. Jessica Turner showed the opposition a clean pair of heels by winning the girls 800m whilst Kelly-Jay Payling and Rosie Blount came 2nd in the shot and 70m hurdles respectively.

Michael Bosworth has eased into his first year at U15 by winning both the 200m and 800m. Abbie Langley won an exciting nip-and-tuck 200m race, Leanne Cartledge came 2nd in the 800m, and newcomer Josie Lockwood also came 2nd in the shot.

Well done to all athletes who took part and thank you to all our team managers and officials who worked non-stop during a very busy 3 hours.

The next match in this league is on 26th May at Moorways. Information will be going out to athletes at training soon.

On Camp with Kelly (and Alex!)

AVAC's rising star Alexandra Turner spent Easter camping – without a tent or muddy field in sight! The fifteen year old joined the cream of young female 800m and 1500m talent on Kelly Holmes’s ‘On Camp With Kelly’ mentoring and education initiative. All 15 girls, of which Alex was the youngest, had been hand-picked by the double Olympic gold medalist herself to take part in the 10 day-long residential camp at Loughborough University.

Holmes started the scheme two years ago to provide support, inspiration and practical advice that she herself had gleaned from 20 years at the top in athletics to help smooth the sometimes rocky path encountered by aspiring athletes. The aim is to work with young athletes who are seen as potential senior internationals and their coaches to guide them through the crucial years when they make the transition from club athletics.

Holmes was certainly no absentee celebrity:

 ‘Kelly was present most days’ says Alex. ‘She led most of the training and classroom sessions, ate her meals with us and was generally available for a chat at any time’

During her stay Alex had a full bio-mechanical assessment, experienced aqua-running and a tough circuit training session lead by Holmes, classroom sessions on injury prevention and psychology and was even featured on TV interviews. The most unusual element was a ‘trip’ to China! ‘Out of the blue’ Alex explains:

 ‘we were told to pack our bags and leave our rooms at the University halls of residence. We were told we were competing in China (venue of the 2008 Olympic Games). We went to East Midlands airport and even had our bags checked-in! Our ‘flight’ took us to a hotel in Loughborough (5 mins from where we were originally staying) where we were told that our bags had been ‘lost’ at the airport and that we had a race next day. It was a good lesson in thinking of all eventualities and how to prepare for when things might not go to plan when preparing for a big race.’

Alex now hopes that her OCWK experience will help her performances this coming track and field season. ‘My aim is to break 2m 10 for the 800m and win a medal at both English Schools and AAA’s Championships.

The camp doesn’t just end there. Other training and competition opportunities are available and Kelly is available to give advice to both Alex’s parents and coach Jim Feeney (who, along with the other girls’ coaches, was able to spend some time on the camp) as well as Alex herself.

 'Kelly has a fantastic support team working with her on the camp. Most of the team are either former international athletes or highly experienced coaches with a wealth of experience which they were able to pass on.’

‘It was great to meet all the other girls and get to know them, and talk to each other about training and race experiences. Some of us will be running against each other this season, but we will still be competitive towards each other, even though we trained together at the camp!’

‘It was a wonderful experience. The training was tough but being with the other girls and having Kelly and as a mentor has inspired me and has given me so much confidence to be the best athlete I can be’

Track and Field Mini League

Get your first taste of action on the track this season with the Derbyshire Mini League. The first match (out of 4) is on Saturday 21st April at Moorways Stadium, Derby. First events start at 10.30am. The league is open to all club members who are aged 9 (on the day) to 15 (school year 9) i.e. U11, U13 and U15's (U17's can guest if liked).

The league is primarily an inter-club competition in which all young athletes can take part regardless of experience and ability. It is ideal for novice athletes as it's very informal, yet competitive nonetheless!

Information is on club notice boards at Ilkeston and is being given out at training but the basics are:

Athletes chose from a list of events that they want to compete in. Choices must be with team managers Julie and Judy via training by Wed 18th at the latest.

Turn up on the day and meet the rest of the team in the stand by 10am at the latest to receive your competition numbers.

Pay £1 to team managers.

Wear your yellow club T-shirt or club vest.

Run, jump and throw and enjoy yourself!

The event is usually completed by 1.30pm

More details and results on www.dcaa.org.uk

Tennis Centre Closure

The Tennis Centre is going to be closed on Wed 25th and Sat 28th April for repairs to lumps and bumps in the floor.

This means we will be down on the track for training, so come with warm clothing on and registering will be done on track side as well.

UKA Officials courses.

There are 2 UKA officials courses being held in Derbyshire in April, Moorways on the 14th and Repton on the 15th.

You can see more details here, and an application here.

If you are interested in taking part AVAC will fund your place on the course - all we ask is that you then use your newfound skills to help officiate some of our events when you can.

Colin Potter Memorial 10K

There is a 10km multi-terrain course around Darley Park in aid of Cancer Research on Friday 29th June.

Please see download for details.