Wet and Wonderful Victory for Belgrave in St Albans
Southern Athletics League Match 3 - St Albans
Saturday 20 June 2015
Sitting in second place on the SAL table it was always going to be a tight fixture for Belgrave as we trooped up to St Albans to try for the third time to get a clear victory and ensure our promotion position was safe.
We anticipated a light shower or two and duly packed the Belgrave tent and thank God we did as the torrential rain from 3pm onwards was of biblical proportions. Showing the true competitive nature and team spirit everyone pushed through and endured to take the win from Havering in another down to the wire day out.
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Women’s Team
It was a small but elite squad of ladies who faced up to take on the unknown with everyone chipping in to fill every event and maximise points for the team.
Bouncing back from an injury scare at UKWAL Emma Watkins put in a strong performance stepping up to the A string 100m, long jump and triple jump and contributing a handy six points to the team before dashing off. She was joined in the long jump by Electra Lanyon who solidified her spot in the team running a fierce 200m A string to finish second before two stellar runs in the 4x100 and victorious 4x400 relay.
Almost foiled by trains yet again Leanne Bettis managed to make the bus and led the charge in the throws taking on all of the A string spots. A PB throw in the hammer to take the win was followed up with a SB in both the discus and shot put along with a solid javelin performance and doing her time on the track in the 4x100 relay.
Basking in the post exams glory Florence Skinner dropped in to complete the hurdles double winning the 400H B race and taking third in the 100m hurdles before dashing off to celebrate. Lizzie Goldie-Scot made her Belgrave debut doubling up for the 1500m and 3000m A string but not before being roped into some last minute, give-it-a-go pole vault action. With a 60 second brief on the basics and a few practice jumps she managed to clear it on the first attempt to join an intimate group of Belgrave pole vault alumni.
Super sub Helen Brown saved the day on more than one occasion dabbling in a bit of shot put and discus in between her 100m and steeplechase B strings runs, she even found the time to slot in a cheeky non scoring triple jump as well as the 4x100 relay.
After a brilliant run to win the 200m B string Milla McKenzie outdid herself by jumping a PB in the high jump amidst the extreme downpour – imagine what she can do in the dry! She was joined by Georgia Patterson who made a successful return to the team in the high jump and non-scoring long jump.
Determining that pole vault was never going to be her event came at the price of knee ligament injury for Fiona Maddocks. Luckily for the team this was not immediately apparent or most likely ignored by the tough Northerner as she soldiered on in heroic fashion to compete in the B strings for an unenviable programme of 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m, claiming victory in the 400m and 800m along the way.
Mixing it up as usual Rose O'Brien cracked on with her 11 event schedule giving triple jump, hammer and javelin a go amongst appearances on the track with wins in the 400H, 400m and 800m A races and a glorious last place in the sprint hurdles before slogging it out in the rain in the 4x100, 4x400 relays and steeplechase.
Men’s Team
With a strong team on paper the men’s team was always going to be tough to beat. The forecasts proved fruitful as the lads all put in stellar performances across the board to take multiple victories and outscore the ladies for the first time this season.
Following a PB and SB at Watford on the Wednesday Adam Dudgeon and Sam Shore took charge in a speedy 800m with a sprint finish giving Adam second in the A and Sam victory in the B race. Sam also managed a slinky high jump before leading out the victorious 4x400m relay team.
AJ Bennetts stepped up to the 100m B race against a strong field to finish third before leaping to second place in the long jump after winning the high jump B string. His best performance of the day came in the non-scoring javelin with a stunning PB of 44.11. Returning from a college track season in the States Alastair Prenn cruised to victory in the 400m B string with training partner Adam Cameron taking second in the 200m B race before the boys joined forces to take up the middle legs of the 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
It was a great day for Dom Boman-Flavell as he ran PBs in both the 400m hurdles A race and 400m non-scoring before leading out the 4x100 relay. Whilst in between snapping pics of the team on the track and field Jon Goodall managed another PB in the pole vault to win the B string and came third in the A string 110m hurdles.
Sprint star Matt Threadgold put in another stellar performance on the track running a blistering SB of 10.9 to win the 100m A string before claiming victory in the 400m, second in the 200m and second in the triple jump. He completed the day with two killer anchor legs in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays to ensure victory for the third match in a row in the final event of the day.
With a reprieve from some of the jumps our throwing hero Pete Mayfield took victory in the hammer B, shot put A and javelin B string and finished second in the discus and pole vault for good measure. Not to be outdone, Chris Privett outclassed the field taking wins in the hammer A and shot put B before a close finish in the discus. Tom Ikeda completed the Trojan trio with an awesome run of PBs across shot put, hammer and javelin in which he took second in the A string.
Having pried him away from the park run circuit, Belgrave cross country and road running star Taras Telkovsky proved exceptional as he took the win in the 5000m A race, with Ryan Krook taking up the challenge in the B race. With heavy legs and a dubious stomach, Taras then battled it out in a tight 1500m A race to be pipped to third in a sprint finish.
Nick Smallwood focussed his efforts of the day in the 1500m B race with a victory and PB before taking a warm down lap or 5 in the pouring rain to finish third in the steeplechase. Joining him in the downpour was JC Doukrou who managed second place after a successful day that had included wins in the triple jump and 400m hurdles B strings and second place in the 110m hurdles. Michael McBrinn also put in a good performance coming out to run a 100m and 400m non-scoring race to continue his seasons good form.
Special thanks
In the most trying of conditions we have to thank our amazing support team of officials Charlie Dickinson, Bob Bridges, Tony Fairclough, Gillian Fairclough and Richard McMillan for slogging it out in the rain to enable us to take full points and victory. Also to all our coaches and supporters who came out on the day to cheer us on, your support is always welcome.
With two matches to go promotion is within our grasp – another win is certainly on the cards at Croydon on the 4th July.
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