Southern Athletics League Report – Match 2
Southern Athletics League, Division One – Match 2
Basingstoke Sunday 21 May
With the sun breaking through the clouds the 30+ strong team of Belgrave athletes headed to Basingstoke to take on last year’s premiers Chelmsford, league favourites Crawley and a strong home team of Basingstoke. With morale high and a great attitude across the board, the team went at it with all they had as we plugged the gaps on the day and saw a multitude of wins across the board – particularly from our throws team.
Men’s Team
Sprints and Hurdles
Sam Shore opened proceedings on the track for the men with another dominant win in the 400m hurdles before taking second in the 110m high hurdles later in the day.
Stepping up from the juniors to the seniors Kweku Siaw and Nicholas Hamilton joined the SAL team for the first time to put in some great runs in the 100m and 200m. Antonio Jose Araque resumed his position in the A string for the 100m and 200m as he continues to improve his form.
It was not the best day for Matthew Threadgold as a heavily inflamed achilles resulted in him having to jog his 400m whilst Thomas Steindler battled it out with the rest of the men to finish third in the A race.
Middle Distance
It was a double Belgrave debut in the 800m for Neville Harris and Alex Hickmott as a tightly fought race saw Neville dip in for second with Alex finishing third in the B in his first ever 800.
Matt Welsh and training partner Arne Dumez paired up for the 3000m as a tight race in the A group saw Matt dipping under 9 minutes to finish third with Arne taking the win in the B race as he bravely ran solo in between groups for much of the race.
Onto the 1500m and Fraser Logan made the trip down from Scotland to ensure another win in the bag for Belgrave. He ran a tactical sound race to steam away from the lead group on the last lap and claim victory with Matt Welsh collecting the double with victory in the B.
Freshly recruited in the last fortnight Alex Hickmott put in a class display in the 3000m steeplechase as he pulled away from the field with every lap to take the win. A promising sign of things to come!
Throws
The throws was yet again propped up by the consistent performances of Chris Privett and Tom Ikeda as they were breathing down the necks of the first place getters across discus, shot put and hammer as the clinched a bunch of second places. Harvey King also put in another improved throw in the javelin taking second in the A string with Tom Ikeda boosted to first place in the B.
Jumps
It was all hands on deck with gaps to fill in the jumps for the men’s team. In his preferred event Ed Caltieri finished second in the A long jump with a promising leap close to his PB, but not before trying his hand at high jump where he was joined by thrower Tom Ikeda. The boys managed to bag 3 points between them from this heroic show of team spirit, meanwhile Tom continued on his MOM campaign as he also volunteered for the triple jump. He was joined willingly by Gareth Holden who was originally only down for just the 4x4 relay but ended up with an extra 4 points in the pot for his efforts in the long and triple jump.
Relays
Our 4x100 saw the experience of Antonio Jose Araque and Mike Burlsem guiding the young guns of Kweku Siaw and Nicholas Hamilton as they put in a brilliant performance in the tightly run race. Some excellent changeovers across the board set the scene for a back loaded finish as the boys were just pipped into third place on the line. More high drama in the 4x400, as the gun went off our second leg runner Sam Shore had a back spasm and it was all hands on deck to find a replacement in under 90”. Meanwhile Thomas Steindler ran a solid opener before handing over in first to Mike Burslem who was ran strongly after being abruptly bumped up from third to second leg. A quick shoe change and a few pointers from Sam saw Arne Dumez joining the fold as he took over from Mike for the run of his life to get the baton around the third lap. Bringing the team home was an epic run from Gareth Holden as he closed the gap brilliantly down the back straight but ran out of track coming into the home straight to bring us in for third.
Women’s Team
Sprints and Hurdles
Making her SAL team debut Laura Reilly put in a solid performance in the 100m and 100m hurdles taking second place despite having an injured foot in the works that put her out of contention for the relays. She was joined by Emma Watkins who made a welcome return to the SAL team from her 2016 hiatus as she third in the B race.
Meanwhile in the 200m Evie Grogan and Marieke Meleen stepped up to the plate to cover the empty spots with the ladies putting in a fantastic effort into a strong -4.3 headwind as they garnered more points for the team.
SAL team veterans Jessica Case and Rose O’Brien paired up for the 400m hurdles and 400m double. Coming off the back of a lengthy lay off for Jess and a week’s illness for Rose both ladies battled through bravely to put points and the board, highlighted by a 100m hurdles B race win for Jess to round out her day on the track.
Middle Distance
It was a tough and windy day for our runners as Keri Mackenzie and Fiona Maddocks took on the 800m. Both ran strongly to finish third in the A and B race respectively with another seasons best for Keri as she continues to improve.
Another SAL team debutant Sophie Harris put in a steady display of patience in the 5000m as she sat in for the first 9 laps before making a break with 3 to go and storming away with the decisive win. This tactical race meant she had plenty left in the tank to take on the 1500m as she filled in the team sheet gap upon the gentle persuasion from her fellow team members. She was joined by Jojo Rhodes who made her season debut with a brilliant effort (despite Rose’s poor lap counting) to take the win in the B race with Sophie taking second in the A.
Helen Brown put in the mileage on the track as she volunteered herself to the empty B race slot for the 5000m where she finished a brilliant second. All in preparation for her favoured steeplechase where she was once again joined by Mia using it as a casual cool down from her hectic throwing schedule.
Throws
The ladies dominated the throws with an almost clean sweep across the board. Mia Callenberg and Leanne Bettis won their respective A and B discus and hammer throw with some brilliant throws. Then it was onto the javelin with Marieke Meleen stepping up to join Leanne Bettis for another first and first in the A and B. Not to be left out, Vilma Thompson also joined the winners circle with a fine performance in the shot put B with Mia battling it out to claim second place in the A.
Jumps
Another couple of wins for the ladies team came from our jumpers, with Evie Grogan taking out the A high jump and Mia Callenberg topping the ranks in the triple jump A. Meanwhile returning from a knee niggle Emma Watkins put in a fine display to take third in the long jump A with Evie managing the same in the B string. Helen Brown also mustered a third place in the triple jump B with Rose O’Brien doing the same in the high jump B.
Relays
It was the middle distance ladies that saved the day for our ladies relay teams. Claire Stokes, Keri Mackenzie and Rose O’Brien made up the core structure for both the 4x100 and 4x400 teams with Mia Callenberg providing opening support in the 4x100 and Jojo Rhodes slotting in the 4x400 to complete the teams. Both relays were hard fought with the ladies finishing in third for both.
With a big effort from everyone we were thrilled to take second place behind a strong Basingstoke home team.
Thankyou
A big thank you to our ever faithful crew of Tony and Gillian Fairclough and Bill Laws for helping out on the day and ensuring our officials points total was topped up and to our support crew of Nick Buckle and Lauren for cheering us on.
Team Managers Match Awards
Man of the Match – Tom Ikeda for a strong turn in the throws and filling in for the high jump and triple jump.
Woman of the Match – Mia Callenberg for a dominant display in the throws and a brilliant opening leg in the 4x100 relay before stepping in to cover the 1500 steeplechase.
NEXT MATCH: SATURDAY 17TH JUNE AT WELWYN