Mind the gaps

Southern Athletics League Div 2 (S) Match One, Ashford, Kent.

Saturday 19th April

Down at Ashford in Kent our track team came together for the first South Athletics League outing of the year.  A nice little posse of under 17s and under 20s came into the team but we struggled to fill out the team sheet in what will probably be our toughest match and paid the penalty.

In an opening match reminiscent of last year's there were eleven gaps on the team sheet and we struggled to make an impact on the meeting.  Let’s hope, also like last year, that we can storm the remaining four fixtures and rocket up through the league table. It could happen, for the competition at Ashford featured some of the toughest clubs we’ll meet and even with a frail team we were still only 10 points off second place.

What was good, though, was to see our under 17s breaking into the team – and scoring well. Carla and Julia Doukrou both earned good points in the women’s team, abetted by U20 Sandra Dike, while Sam Ige, Rawleigh Tucker and AJ Bennetts impressed among the men.

Nelle Quispel and Jojo Rhodes gave a big boost to the women’s middle-distance events. They started the afternoon with a double 800 metres win and while Nelle moved down to the one lap sprint for her next event, Jojo tackled the 3000 metres, sitting in for seven laps before unleashing a withering sprint. Then they both came together for the 1500m. A Tonbridge lass had broken clear but Jojo worked on her and was lining herself up for the win when a claret streak came from way back. Nelle overtook them both and it was another double win.

Great to see Matt Threadgold in the team again: a super one-lapper – with or without hurdles – he has moved down to the pure sprints now and in spite of slipping on his blocks clocked 10.9 to win the 100 metres and followed up later with an equally impressive 200 metres.  Pierre Walker took double ‘B’ wins behind him.

Men. 100m: 1 M Threadgold 10.9; 1 P Walker 11.2; n/s S Ige U20 11.3; 3 R Tucker 11.5; 7 E Adesina 14.6. 200m: 1 M Threadgold 22.3; 1 P Walker 23.2; n/s 1 S Ige U20 22.9; 3 L Johnson 24.7. 400m: 3 M Silvester 54.4; 4 L Johnson 56.6. 800m: 4 F Logan 2:17.9; 4 R McMillan 2:31.6. 1500m: 4 F Logan 4:37.4; 4 R McMillan 5:53.1. 5000m: 3 J Browne 16:50.6; 3 P Willis 17:52.9. 110mH: -. 400mH: -. 2000mSC: -. HJ: 4 AJ Bennetts U17 1.65; 4 P Walker 1.40. LJ: 4 AJ Bennetts U17 5.51; 4 R Tucker 4.50. TJ: 4 P Mayfield 9.19; 4 P Walker 8.37. PV: 2 P Mayfield 3.40; 1 R Tucker U20 3.00. SP: 3 P Mayfield 10.99; 2 C Privett M50 10.16. DT: 1 P Mayfield 37.31; 1 C Privett 33.24. JT: 4 P Mayfield 30.71; 4 C Privett M50 37.44. HT: 2 C Privett M50 38.95; 2 P Mayfield 31.88. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 44.4 (AJ Bennetts U17, M Threadgold, P Walker, S Ige). 4x400m: 3 Belgrave 3:35.2 (L Johnson 56.2, M Threadgold 50.5, AJ Bennetts U17 55.0, P Walker 53.5).

Women. 100m: 3 S Dike U20 13.4; 2 J Doukrou U17 13.5. 200m: 2 C Doukrou U17 27.1; 2 S Dike 27.8; n/s F Skinner U17 29.6. 400m: 2 J Case 65.5; 2 N Quispel 65.9. 800m: 1 N Quispel 2:21.6; 1 J Rhodes 2:22.8. 1500m: 1 N Quispel 5:00.2; 1 J Rhodes 4:05.0. 3000m: 1 J Rhodes 10:50.6; 3 H Brown 14:09.2. 100m H: 3 J Case 19.1; -. 400mH: 1 J Case 73.7; -. 1500mSC: 3 H Brown 8:08.0; -. HJ: 2 J Albrow 1.50; 2 J Doukrou U17 1.40. LJ: 4 C Doukrou U17 4.44; 4 S Dike U20 3.71. TJ: 4 H Brown 7.84; -. PV: 3 E Hunter 1.70; -. SP: 4 H Mead W35 6.96; 4 E Hunter 5.48. DT: 3 H Mead W35 19.66; 4 E Hunter 13.77. JT: 1 J Albrow 35.10; 1 J Doukrou U17 18.92. HT: 3 H Mead W35 25.34; 2 E Hunter 16.57. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 51.5 (J Doukrou U17, C Doukrou U17, J Albrow, S Dike U20). 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 4:22.2 (J Case 66.7, N Quispel 64.6, J Rhodes 69.8, J Albrow 60.0); n/s inc. F Skinner, S Dike, H Brown.

Match: 1 Tonbridge AC 231.5; 2 Ashford AC 165.5; 3 Bexley AC 165; 4 Belgrave H 156.

League: 1 Tonbridge AC 231.5 4; 2 Crawley AC 220 4; 3 Dartford H 206 4; 4 Andover & Overton 198 4; ... 13 Belgrave H 156 1; ... 16 teams.