Too Hot To Handle - Another Win for Belgrave in the SAL
Southern Athletics League Match 4 - Croydon
Saturday 4 July 2015
The Belgrave hot streak continued as the team graced the Croydon Arena on a glorious summer’s day with a super-strength team and game plan of win, win, win. With a big weekend of sport on across the UK with the Grand Prix, British Athletics Championships and Wimbledon the hottest ticket in town was definitely the top of the table clash in the Southern League Division 2 East match.
With a win pretty much ensuring either Croydon or Belgrave promotion to division one it was all to play for on the day. There were some pretty spectacular performances across the board from the Belgrave squad with many last minute changes and great team spirit shown throughout the day. In the end it was a comfortable win to solidify our spot at the top of the table and virtually guarantee promotion to division one next season.
Women’s Team
With our biggest ladies team to date there were plenty of events to go around and the shared workload ensured great performances and the highest points haul for the ladies this year.
For our sprints and jumps ladies Carla Doukrou did the sprints double in the A 100m and B 200m with sister Julia Doukrou competing in the triple jump before both took up their places in the relays. Whilst Emma Watkins kick-started her day with a win in the A long jump followed by a handy couple of second places in the B 100m and B triple jump and a sprightly lead out leg in the 4x100m.
Both returning from trips of albeit entirely different natures, Florence Skinner and Georgia Patterson showed their team dedication by turning out on minimal sleep ready to go. Flo managed to make it around the B 400H to finish a respectable second whilst Georgia took a win in the B high jump and second place in the B long jump. Joining Georgia in the high jump and proving her class and continued improvement Milla McKenzie jumped yet another PB in the A string with a jump of 1.57m to take the win.
The throws team were back in force with Elena Narozanski returning to the team to add some firepower and win her A shot put and B discus, with throws stalwart Leanne Bettis completing a trio of throws in the B hammer, A discus and A javelin. The ladies were also joined by Rachel Basford in the A hammer and B shot put before she mixed it up as usual and flitted off to cover the A pole vault, A 100 hurdles and a speedy anchor leg in the 4x100 relay.
In between taking snaps with the camera Helen Brown managed a win in the B 1500m steeplechase, she was joined by Rose O’Brien who after an epic 8 hour pre-dawn journey from Italy had a pretty successful day as top scorer for the women’s team collecting a points in the B javelin, B pole vault with notable wins in the A 400, A 1500 steeplechase and 4x400m relay. Returning to the team with not a wedding or hen do in sight Jess Case had a super day on the track going undefeated across all of her events with wins in the A 400H, B 400m, B 100H and 4x400m relay.
In the long distance Nicole Toft had a gutsy run in the A 800m to finish a close third before running a brilliant leg in the 4x400m team to cap off her Southern League debut, whilst fellow debutant Sally Underhill had a very successful day taking wins in both the B 800m and B 1500m.
Finally the road and cross country crew had been lured to the track with Zoe Doyle running strongly in the A 1500m to take second place, whilst Zoe Smith but in a gruelling effort in the heat to take the win in the A 5000m.
The ladies capped off the day with a strong win in the 4x400m relay to show they are a force to be reckoned with and maximised the points score for the day.
Men’s Team
On paper the men’s team was a force to be reckoned with and they certainly did not disappoint when it came to their performances, having a Commonwealth Games medallist doesn’t hurt either.
Top points scorer for the men’s team Sam Shore started off his day with an A high jump and A 400m hurdles combination before a win in the A 400m and a last minute stand in throw in the A javelin to take second place, before leading out the undefeated men’s 4x400m relay.
It was certainly a day for the sprinters in the men’s team with Matt Threadgold and Sam Ige smashing the field in the 100m races and Laurence Oboh and Pierre Walker teaming up in the 200m to also win. The reinforcements in the sprints department meant freed up some lactic for Matt who ran two superb anchor legs in the relays, notably clocking a 48.4 in the 4x400m. It was also great to have Sam back to lead out the 4x100 team who had a close battle with Croydon.
Being lured away from their natural one-lap habitat, Adam Cameron and Mark Silvester had no idea what was in store for them when agreeing to give the 800m a go other than the warning of “don’t go out too hard” and “it’ll probably hurt but you’ll be fine”. It was a valiant effort from the duo for their first trot and was the theme of the day as they readily raced wherever needed with Mark backing up for the B 400m shortly after and Adam running two cracking legs in both relays. Love your work guys.
Heroes of the day JC Doukrou and Nick Smallwood pushed through the heat to team up again in the men’s 3000m steeplechase with the former deciding to ditch his shoes mid race and the latter incorporating a full body water jump dismount into his race to cool off after having had a quick turnaround from the 1500m. This feat capped of a full day for JC who had a win in the B 400H before a second in the triple and last minute team change to compete in the B long jump. Whilst in the middle distance events Andrius Jaksevicius came to the rescue with some last minute drop outs to churn out a B 1500m and an A 3000m run where he was joined by Ryan Krook who fared well across the B 3000m in the unforgiving heat.
On his road to recovering from an injury earlier in the year Tommy Green Cup winner William Sharman dropped by to wow the crowd with his hurdling prowess. It was a highlight for many as he flew across the hurdles in his first race for the season leaving the other runners in his wake to break both the venue and league record.
Our throws team had a tough battle on their hands with Chris Privett winning the B discus and battling it out for third in the A hammer and B shot put. Meanwhile leading overall top point scorer Pete Mayfield had a full day with a string of second places in the A pole vault, A discus and B hammer whilst securing a win in the B javelin. Whilst Jon Goodall continued his run of PBs in the pole vault before a once in a lifetime race in the 110m hurdles.
Another great performance from our men's team who have come up against some strong competition throughout the season so far but have always managed to show their class and pushed all the way for the win, none moreso than in the 4x400m relay where they have remained undefeated this season.
Special thanks
As always our super support team of Charlie Dickinson, Bob Bridges, Tony Fairclough, Gillian Fairclough and Bill Laws were out amongst it officiating and making sure the day ran smoothly. The work from all on the day and behind the scenes is a big factor in our success so thank you one and all.
There is a nice little break now before the final fixture on August 15th at Luton – we’ll be going for the win as usual so don’t miss out!
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