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British Athletics League Premiership, 2010 |
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Report by Bill Laws, photographs by Derek Riley. Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Match 4 Match 4, Lee Valley, 21 August 2010. Relegated! Match: 1 Newham & Essex Beagles 417; 2 Birchfield H 335; 3 Shaftesbury Barnet H 284; 4 Woodford Green w Essex Ladies 271; 5 City of Manchester 257; 6 Enfield & Haringey 226; 7 Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC 194; 8 Belgrave H 186.
With headwinds down the home straight gusting to 5m/sec and rain clouds looming conditions reflected the gloom pervading the Belgrave camp. Only twenty athletes remained standing to contest this match which was close to our smallest team ever. And then Set Osho reported troubles while warming up. So his day was over before it started. Add to that Mark Wiseman reporting he had been stationary for two hours on the M25 and couldn’t make it and we were down to a record low total of just 18 athletes. Remember Mark drove back from Hungary to make the previous match so it takes something special to stop him. M25 say no more! Big points were lost in the sprints and throws and there was further damage when our sprint hurdler was adjudged to be the culprit in what most agreed was a blanket false start. James Everard supported a below par Cameron Johnston in the pole vault which operated in two pools. The A Group higher altitude men suffered the worst of the savage cross winds with several not clearing a height and James’ tentative efforts resulted in him exceeding the predicted one point. He then became our only high jumper safely negotiating a clearance before contributing to a great javelin result in which Clifton Green threw a season’s best and narrowly failing to win the B Group. On the track Sean Reidy overcame work commitments to support the team and recorded his fastest 400H time for the season- remarkably into a 4.4 m/sec headwind. The middle distance men did what they have done all season and contributed huge points with Paskar Owor running the 800m, 1500m and 3000m events with the 3000m taking place just 25 minutes after a tough 1500. Steve Davies ably contributed in the B 800m and 1500m while Simon Jones made a welcome return to gain second in the B3000m. Other highlights included Greg Beard closing in towards 17m in the shot after only eight weeks into a comeback following a “rest” period of eight years. Watch out for him next year. And in the jumps Paul Ogun contributed with a new pb in the triple jump and good points in the long jump. Decathlete David Feeney showed few signs of his previous week’s decathlon as he mixed and matched to fill gaps. But by the end of the afternoon there were just not enough walking wounded to complete the relays and Belgrave were relegated with but a whimper. 100m: 8 J Hussain 11.82/-4.2; 8 D Feeney 11.77/-4.1. 200m: 8 J Hussain 24.80/?; 6 M Threadgold 22.98/-4.4. 400m: 7 M Threadgold 49.31; 8 J Hussain 51.48. 800m: 3 P Owor 1:53.64; 4 S Davies 1:55.15. 1500m: 2 P Owor 3:56.45; 3 S Davies 3:58.53. 3000m: 3 P Owor 8:26.77; 3 S Jones 8:35.21. 110mH: dq D Feeney; 7 S Reidy 17.71. 400mH: 6 S Reidy 54.70; no B competitor. 3000mSC: 7 M Morgan 10:17.64; 5 W Cockerell 10:19.09. HJ: 8 J Everard 1.80; no B competitor. LJ: 5 P Ogun 6.89/1.5; 5 D Feeney 6.47w/4.4. TJ: 4 P Ogun 15.11; 5 D Wellstead 13.28. PV: 7 C Johnston 3.60; 6 J Everard 2.20. SP: 6 G Beard 16.41; 8 D Feeney 11.46. DT: 7 L Marar M40 50.87; 8 G Beard 43.85. JT: 4 J Everard 61.69; 2 C Green 58.74. HT: 4 M Jones M45 65.57; 4 M Richards 60.09. 4x100m: 8 Belgrave (J Hussain, M Threadgold, D Feeney, R Aspden). 4x400m: no team. Match 3, Thames Valley Athletics Centre, Eton, 31 July 2010. Acts of dedication ... but a frustrating climax Match: 1 Newham & Essex Beagles 368; 2 Birchfield H 349; 3 Woodford Green w Essex Ladies 278; 4 Shaftesbury Barnet H 268; 5 City of Manchester 263; 6 Enfield & Haringey 227; 7 Belgrave H 217; 8 Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC 204.
At a time when support for team competition appears to be declining a few acts of dedication brought comfort on a day when Belgrave’s fight to avoid relegation all but evaporated. First Mark Wiseman, who last week won the European Masters throws pentathlon in Budapest, drove back from Hungary to not only compete in the hammer, shot and discus but also beat two of his previous week's distances. Add to that the fact that James Everard who flew in from Spain in the morning, collected his javelins from home, battled the worst of the M25 and in the evening flew out to South Africa - and in the interim gained third place in the javelin with a throw which was just a fraction short of his life time best. And then there was the late call up for Abi Ekoku who hasn’t picked up a discus for two years and has a fractured finger on his throwing hand; he frightened the 50m mark to gain third spot in the B event. Finally the heavy squad saw the welcome return (after an eight year layoff) of Greg Beard whose 15.56m effort after only four weeks training promises much more in the future. If the throws were looking up then the same could not be said for the sprints, pole vault and hurdles where the 100 per cent figure applied only to the list of injured athletes - nine in total. Mixing and matching was the order of the day with a few bright spots including Set Osho’s pb in the 200m A race. New member David Feeney added respectability to the sprint hurdles but other than that there was little to cheer on the track with one notable exception. And that exception was Paskar Owor who produced an incredible afternoon's work with 4th in the A800 (1.50.96), 2nd in the A1500 (3.48.88) and 3rd in the 5000m (14.32.89). Three fine performance all in the space of four hours. But we were leaking too many points despite the efforts of Samson Oni in the high jump, Boris Bozhinov in the long jump and Gary Wilson in the triple jump. As we scrambled to get scratch relay squads together we held a narrow lead over Enfield and Haringey and WSEH. If we could hold sixth spot there might be hope for the last match. But it was not to be as first the sprint relay team was disqualified and then the long relay squad were forced back to seventh in an exciting but frustrating climax. 100m: 1 J Hussain 10.85/1.9; 8 G Wilson 11.41/1.5. 200m: 7 S Osho 21.49/1.2; 4 J Hussain 21.82/1.0. 400m: 7 S Osho 48.55; 8 M Threadgold 49.18. 800m: 4 P Owor 1:50.96; 3 S Davies 1:53.15. 1500m: 2 P Owor 3:48.88; 3 J Blackledge 3:57.02. 5000m: 3 P Owor 14:32.89; 6 W Cockerell 15:47.80. 110mH: 4 D Feeney 14.34w/3.3; 6 R Aspden 17.64/0.3. 400mH: 7 R Aspden 58.52; no B competitor. 3000mSC: 8 M Morgan 10:06.47; no B competitor. HJ: 3 S Oni 2.20; =3 T Gardner 1.90. LJ: 4 B Bozhinov 7.010.8; 3 P Ogun 6.81/1.9. TJ: 3 G Wilson 14.37/0.4; 4 D Wellstead 13.91/1.5. PV: 8 D Feeney 3.80; no B competitor. SP: 6 G Beard 15.63; 2 M Wiseman M40 14.75. DT: 6 M Wiseman M40 51.97; 3 A Ekoku M40 47.65. JT: 3 J Everard 64.20; 4 C Green 55.76. HT: 7 M Richards 59.72; 8 M Wiseman 48.26. 4x100m: Belgrave dq (S Osho, W Bennett-Jackson, J Hussain, G Wilson). 4x400m: 7 Belgrave 3:19.4 (M Threadgold 49.9, J Hussain 49.0, R Aspden 50.5, D Feeney 49.9). Match 2, Birmingham, 3 July 2010. The gulf widens Match: 1 Birchfield H 360; 2 Shaftesbury Barnet H 310; 3 Newham & Essex Beagles 306; 4 City of Manchester 284; 5 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 275; 6 Enfield & Haringey 262; 7 Belgrave H 225; 8 Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC 166.
Bad fortune again contributed to a disappointing overall team performance. First, Joe Ive, fresh from his pole vault win at the previous week’s UKA trials, pulled a calf muscle warming up which resulted in Cameron Johnston contributing just 4 points from an event which had promised much more. A dismal start, but in the hammer Mick Jones then finished a fine second while Matthew Richards broke 61m to improve his pb for the second time this year. The jumpers found a swirling wind difficult and newcomers Paul Ogun and Levi Edwards failed to make the long jump cut with distances almost a metre shy of their season’s bests. Gary Wilson made some amends in the TJ, finishing third, but David Wellstead could not repeat his match 1 performance. More points lost. The high jump saw the welcome return of Darvin Edwards, shepherded up on the day by Will Cockerell. Darvin who hasn’t trained for the last year soared a magnificent 2.15 for second equal spot. While he was celebrating our B jumper was the picture of dejection having failed to clear his opening height. Again, an opportunity to rack up good points had been lost. In match 1 both sprinters had pulled up injured. This match saw the successful conclusion of a good 100 meters with Wade Bennett-Jackson improving to fourth in the A race and newcomer Craig Fleming gaining second spot in the B. But in the 200 our sprints gremlin struck again with Craig Fleming pulling up on the bend clutching a dodgy knee. Big points lost. The B 200 saw the welcome return of Jason Hussain (also from an earlier hamstring pull) and his second place spot was greeted with a disproportionate cheer as the team managers counted the lost points. Apart from the hammer the throws had produced few points in Match 1. Top discus and shot man Mark Wiseman had already indicated he would miss this one and despite the best efforts of Leith Marar and Mark Allen the shot and discus only produced the anticipated reduced points. Better news in the javelin where we saw the return of Clifton Green who last competed for Belgrave eight years ago. Fired up, enthusiastic and encouraged by several groupies Clifton finished fourth in the B javelin adding precious points to James Everard’s third place in the A event. 18 points from the javelin was much better than expected. To add to our woes Matt Douglas was our sole hurdler. While Will Sharman was wowing them in Madrid Matt manfully hauled his large and unfit frame round the single circuit and then surprised himself by clocking a sub-16 sprint hurdles. There's life in the old dog yet and we may see more in match 3 Set Osho won the A 400 by just one hundredth of a second, looking right when the danger was to his left. But a win is a win. Matt Threadgold produced solid points in the B 400 finishing fourth. With Craig Fleming out, Set later led out a scratch sprint relay team which also included triple jumper Gary Wilson on the last leg. The main aim was to get the baton round and in the circumstances fourth spot in a time of 41.91sec was considered very respectable. It was left to the middle distance men to bring things back to normality. Paskar Owor and Nick Goolab repeated their big point performances from match 1. Paskar narrowly missed third spot in the A800 but made amends with a fine second place in the A1500. Nick was not happy with his second spot in the B1500 but even more unhappy was Jonathan Blackledge who faded badly to sixth spot after leading out the B 800. The steeplechase saw Matthew Morgan run a season’s best which was still not good enough to get him into big points. Our B steeplechaser had pulled out the day before due to work demands and that sinking feeling came back. James Fairbourn started a bit fast in the 5000 and paid the price whereas Will Cockerell started conservatively and added to the day’s excitement when he nearly caught James on the line. Will was rewarded with anchor leg on the 4 x 400 relay in a final scrabble for points but it was too little too late. We had blown it. 100m: 4 W Bennett-Jackson 10.60/1.0; 2 C Fleming 10.85/1.8; n/s 4r1 C Flemming 10.68/2.0; 4r2 G Wilson 11.1. 200m: dnf C Fleming; 2 J Hussain 21.82/0.8. 400m: 1 S Osho 47.80; 5 M Threadgold 49.71. 800m: 4 P Owor 1:53.12; 6 J Blackledge 1:58.62. 1500m: 2 P Owor 3:52.05; 2 N Goolab 3:53.79. 5000m: 8 J Fairbourn 15:46.34; 4 W Cockerell 15:48.78. 110mH: 7 M Douglas 15.79/-0.2; no B competitor. 400mH: 8 M Douglas 57.87; no B competitor. 3000mSC: 7 M Morgan 10:10.72; no B competitor. HJ: 3 D Edwards 2.15; ? no height. LJ: 6 P Ogun 6.65/1.0; 6 L Edwards 6.34/1.1. TJ: 3 G Wilson 14.43/1.7; 4 D Wellstead 13.48/0.0. PV: 8 C Johnston 3.60; J Ive no height. SP: 6 M Allen 13.71; 11 C Green 9.53. DT: & L Marar 47.37; 4 M Allen 45.10. JT: 3 J Everard 62.22; 4 C Green 56.42. HT: 2 M Jones M45 68.57; 4 M Richards 61.18. 4x100m: 4 Belgrave 41.91 (S Osho, W Bennett-Jackson, J Jussain, G Wilson). 4x400m: 8 Belgrave (M Threadgold, P Owor, J Hussain, W Cockerell) 3:39.72.
Above: Wade Bennett-Jackson makes a powerful start in the A 100m. Match 1, Copthall Stadium, Barnet, 5 June 2010. Much room for improvement
This was to be the day when Belgrave regrouped and started the fight back to the top flight. It turned out to be a damp squib. First, overseas duties had removed our best sprinters, jumpers and distance men, then injuries took away several others. And if this was not enough several disasters on the day saw a few dedicated men scrambling about to cover events. But to no avail. The meeting started badly with confusion as to whether the pole vault was in one or two groups. In the event it didn’t matter as one man didn’t turn up and the other no heighted. Nil points – a Belgrave first. The first track event - the A400 hurdles - saw the first appearance of Christian Roberts fresh from exams with Richard Aspden our 33 year old ex-high jumper covering the B race. We had expected minimum points but Richard delivered a bonus. Seventh and eighth places followed in the long jump - and we had racked up only 12 points from a possible 84 in the first three events.
Above, left to right: Dan Mulhare led from gun to tape in the 3000m. Plenty of height - but only 7th for Gary Wilson in the long jump. Returning from injury Matt Threadgold forsook his speciality, the 400 metre hurdles, but ran first leg in both relays and close to his best in the flat 400. Matthew Morgan is a regular now in the steeplechase - it was his fifth consecutive A string BAL run. Commonwealth qualifier for Mick Jones Shafts of sunlight were glimpsed, first as Mick Jones produced a Commonwealth qualifying and World Best M45 distance of 70.38m in the hammer to beat men half his age and then when Paskar Owor claimed second spot in both the A800m and A1500m. Jon Blackledge made a welcome return in the B800 after a year out with injury and despite fading produced more good points. The middle distance men fought hard with Nick Goolab outsprinting Moumin Geele to win the B1500 in a combined race, just a step behind Paskar. Both men were rewarded with 400 relay legs where Paskar recorded 51.4 sec and Nick 52.6 sec. Dan Mulhare and James Fairbourn then lined up for the 3000m. Dan was a class apart, leading from the gun to record a comfortable 8.06.97. James, who is improving race by race, produced a new pb with a fine 8.42.79 effort for fourth spot in the B. In the steeplechase David Mason hung on to Matthew Morgan till 3 laps from home and then hit “the wall” and several barriers on the way but nonetheless we scored 10 points through our chasers. Fast opener from Set Osho Elsewhere the sprints were producing mixed fortunes. New member Luke Giblin slowed in the B100 with hamstring tightness and played no further part in proceedings while Wade Bennett-Jackson ran a season’s best in the A100 but slowed up in the A200 and retired hurt. Meanwhile Set Osho ran his fastest first race of any season to come third in the A400 in 47.48 sec. He then replaced Luke in the B200 to gain a season’s best of 21.84sec and second spot. A very good day’s work for him. James Everard was pulling in points in the high jump, javelin and triple jump, while Richard Aspden added the B110H, and both relays to his earlier 400H effort. His long relay split of 49.8 must surely inspire him to start doing some training. Matt Threadgold too returned from injury and although unable to run his specialist 400H event contributed with solid performances in the B400, and both relays. So the jumps and sprints had struggled and the throws too (with the exception of Mick Jones) had underperformed. Mark Allen hadn’t picked up a shot since the last match, last season, so his support was much appreciated. There is much room for improvement in many areas and with the enthusiasm of new younger members we hope for better days ahead. 100m: 5 W Bennett-Jackson10.61/1.1; 7 L Giblin 11.22/-1.4. 200m: 7 W Bennett-Jackson 22.11/-0.6; 2 S Osho 21.84/-0.9. 400m: 3 S Osho 47.48; 6 M Threadgold 49.69. 800m: 2 P Owor 1:51.71; 4 J Blackledge 1:55.54. 1500m: 2 P Owor 3:49.40; 1 N Goolab 3:49.83. 3000m: 1 D Mulhare 8:06.97; 4 J Fairbourn 8:42.79. 110mH: 7 J Evling-White 17.60/-1.7; 5 R Aspden 18.12/-1.1. 400mH: 8 C Roberts 56.12; 7 R Aspden 58.88. 3000mSC: 6 M Morgan 10:20.26; 5 D Mason 11:35.74. HJ: 7 T Gardner 2.00; 7 J Everard 1.80. LJ: 7 G Wilson 6.89/0.3; 8 D Wellstead 6.10/0.3. TJ: 6 D Wellstead 14.21/-1.3; 5 J Everard 12.42/-1.0. PV: S Colgate nht; no B competitor. SP: 7 M Wiseman 14.31; 4 M Allen 13.84. DT: 7 M Wiseman M40 51.24; 5 L Marar M40 48.63. JT: 6 J Everard 60.23; 4 W Smith 54.54. HT: 3 M Jones M45 70.36; 5 M Richards 57.14. 4x100m: 7 Belgrave H 44.94 (M Threadgold, R Aspden, J Evling-White, S Osho). 4x400m: dq Belgrave 3:24.6 (M Threadgold 50.8, R Aspden 49.8, N Goolab 52.6, P Owor 51.4).
Above, left to right: It was Set Osho's fastest ever opening 400m of the season. Luke Giblin made his debut for the Bels in the B 100 but a tight hamstring took him out of further action.
James Fairbourn (11) hustled to an 8:42.79 personal best in the BAL Premiership 3000m at Copthall Stadium on June 5th and is headed here by Owain Jones (Windsor SE&H) and trailed by Dave Norman (City of Manchester) and Bertie Powell (Woodford Green wEL). |
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