www.belgraveharriers.com
Report by Bill Laws
Men's and Women's Golden Jubilee Cup - 2004
Golden Jubilee Cup Final, Bedford, 21 August 2004
The closest of finishes - goes against the Bels
1 Birchfield 199.5; 2 Belgrave 198.5; 3 Shaftesbury Barnet 187; 4 Woodford Green w Essex L 184; 5 Trafford 177; 6 Sale H Manchester 167; 7 Windsor SE&H 146; 8 Newham & Essex Bgls 128.
With more than 50% of GB’s Athens squad coming from the participating Cup teams it was inevitable that there would be some unexpected results in this closely fought match. And so it turned out as the lead constantly changed throughout the day and finally only 15 points covered the top four teams.
Left: Bernard Yeboah set a new Belgrave U20 record of 7.62 in the long jump and should have done enough to earn selection for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Australia. Photo by Rex Bale.
As we started we knew that the men had put together a competitive squad but the women were weak, without any top line sprinters or middle distance runners. Victory was not anticipated but a series of superb performances kept Belgrave in contention throughout and even leading by 2 points as we entered the last event, the men’s long relay.
The day started with the first events at 10.30. Up to the line came Bernard Yeboah in the men’s long jump and he culminated a fine series with a big legal 7.62m to put him at the head of GB juniors, break his own junior club record and hopefully booked a trip to Australia for the Commonwealth Youth Games in November. In the sprints Darren Chin clocked another sub 10.40 time even though his blocks slipped and Graham Beasley produced another sub 21sec 200m to win by a street. For the second match in succession we were without any specialist 400m men and decathlete Louis Evling-Jones ran well to get within one place of Birchfield’s Du’aine Ladejo. Tim Bayley then won an exciting 800m, Jonathan Blackledge, drafted in at the last minute, acquitted himself well to get a fourth in the 1500m. Add to that Mark Thompson’s second in the 5000m and Will Cockerell’s third in the 10,000m plus his 2 valuable points in the chase. Then stir in two third spots in the high and long hurdles, and the men’s track squad had performed above our best hopes. But they were eclipsed by our throwers with Mick Jones gaining an inevitable win in the hammer while Leith Marar threw a season’s best in the discus to win by 2 metres. Tom Dobbing was second in the javelin and the ever improving, (Captain of our junior squad), Chris Gearing was once again going over 17m in the shot for third spot. That made 31 points out of the 36 on offer for these 4 events.
Above: The final race - the 4x400m. The Bels must finish no more than one place behind Birchfield - and after Will Sharman's first leg handover to Louis Evling-Jones, we are right behind the leaders, Trafford. Photo by Alan Mead.
Samson Oni upped the anti with a fine win in the high jump while Cameron Johnston had a big clearance in the pole vault at 4.80 but then couldn’t get the next height. His equal third with Christian North shows he will be cutting it with the big boys next year. And so to the relays with three superb legs and changes from Will Sharman, Graham Beasley and Wade Bennett Jackson. Darren Chin, still boiling from the 100, blasted out on the anchor leg but then had to slow and wait for the incoming Wade. What would have been a sub 40sec clocking and first place turned into a second spot and at the same time a red flag by the take-over judge was raised. Disaster changed to euphoria as the culprits turned out to be Windsor SE&H. And so to the long relay consisting of two decathletes (Will and Louis) followed by a 400m hurdler (Ryan) and an 800m runner (Tim). This makeshift squad had to finish no more than one place behind Birchfield for victory and a third consecutive Cup win. And with 200 to go it was Trafford ahead of Birchfield with Tim Bayley for Belgrave just behind. Down the finishing straight and to the cheers of a large crowd Du’aine edged Birchfield just ahead as the line approached and the worst possible scenario for us unfolded. Victory to Birchfield by just 1 point. Well done to them. A truly exciting and nail-biting day of athletics.
There were a few excellent performances from the depleted women’s team but the only win came from Julie Hollman in the long jump. Julie, now back after injury, is competing in a heptathlon next week. But here she also gained valuable points in the javelin, high hurdles and long relay. She produced 18 points while Eva Massey gained 7 more with a second place in the shot and Jennifer Culley collected a good third spot in the 400 hurdles.
At the final reckoning we had totalled 198.5 points of which the men contributed an outstanding 132.5. Overall team manager John Jeffery does not take defeat well and his reaction made Matthew Pinsett appear like a wind-up comic. He was last seen in a darkened room.
Men
100m: 2 D.Chin 10.39w/2.4. 200m: 1 G.Beasley 20.98w/3.5. 400m: 4 L/Evling-Jones 48.47. 800m: 1 T.Bayley 1:50.94. 1500m: 4 J.Blackledge 3:55.73. 5000m: 2 M.Thompson 14:47.03. 10000m: 3 W.Cockerell 32:34.95. 110mH: 3 W.Sharman 14.00w/4.0. 400mH: 3 R.Dinham U20 54.37. 3000mSC: 7 W.Cockerell 10:25.96. HJ: 1 S.Oni 2.10. LJ: 2 B.Yeboah U20 7.62/1.2. TJ: 5 D.Wellstead 14.06w/2.9. PV: =3 C.Johnston 4.80. SP: 3 C.Gearing U20 17.02. DT: 1 L.Marar 53.20. JT: 2 T.Dobbing 61.55. HT: 1 M.Jones M45 68.76. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 40.99 (W.Sharman, G.Beasley, W.Bennett-Jackson U20, D.Chin). 4x400m: 3 Belgrave 3:15.65 (W.Sharman 49.7, L.Evling-Jones 48.5, R.Dinham U20 49.4, T.Bayley 48.1).
Women
100m: 8 M.Nestor U20 13.26w/3.6. 200m: 8 J.Culley 25.15w/3.2. 400m: 5 M.Carey 55.50. 800m: 6 L.Collier U17 2:19.20. 1500m: 7 L.Horrobin 5:07.96. 3000m: 5 L.Cooper 10:40.19. 100mH: 5 J.Hollman 14.45w/2.5. 400mH: 3 J.Culley 60.77. HJ: 4 M.Nestor U20 1.55. LJ: 1 J.Hollman 6.41w/2.5. TJ: 6 C.Stead 12.00/0.8. PV: 6 J.Searle 2.30. SP: 2 E.Massey 15.69. DT: 7 L.Fox 35.47. JT: 5 J.Hollman 39.48. HT: 5 D.Holden 48.90. 4x100m: 8 Belgrave 50.42 (C.Stead, L.Collier U17, M.Nestor U20, M.Carey). 4x400m: 5 Belgrave 3:49.69 (L.Collier U17 61.4, M.Carey 54.8, J.Culley 57.3, J.Hollman 56.3).
Golden Jubilee Cup Semi-Final, Eton, 18 July 2004
Bels safely through to the final
1 Belgrave H 271.5; 2 Blackheath & Bromley AC 249; 3 Basingstoke &MH 167; =4 Walton AC & Southend AC 153; 6 Herne Hill H 144; 7 Bedford &CAC 89.5; 8 Swansea H 74.5.
Sixteen clubs arrived at Eton early on a wet morning to go into a draw for places in two concurrent matches. Seeded in match 1 were yours truly and in match 2 Windsor (WSHE) After the draw it became clear that in our Match 1 we had serious competition from the combined men and women of Blackheath and Bromley and local rivals Herne Hill could not be discounted.
The problem with a competition in which there are two powerful clubs is that any weak events can lead to point losses which are difficult to recoup in the stronger events. And so it proved with Blackheath and the Bels vying for first spot in practically every event.
Starting at the ungodly hour of 10.30 Diana Holden got us off to a great start in the women’s hammer with a season’s best win followed by wins in the men’s long jump by Darragh O’Farrell and pole vault by Cameron Johnston. Add to that a second in the high jump by Will Sharman and the start was nigh on perfect. But the key was not to give away big points in any event and so every event had to be filled and points maximised. Come in: Malachi Byansi to get unexpected points in the 10,000 metres, Mark Humphries in the steeplechase, and veteran Paul Beaumont in the 400 hurdles. For the women Hannah Stares added high jump points to victories in the short and long hurdles while Andrea Abrams came out of retirement in the women’s long jump. All performed above expectations to add to our points score in what was to be a close match.
Left: Amy Forsyth takes first leg in the 4x100m
Our other women’s victories included: a 1500 win for Birhan Dagne, a triple jump victory for Caroline Stead, and a fine win in the discus for Shelley Newman who turned in her second best comp of 2004 to follow a 60 metres plus throw at Loughborough the previous day. Shelley went on to get second spot in the shot.
The highlights for the men were: victory for Darren Chin in the 100, a clear high hurdles win by Will Sharman, a 40 second win by Mark Thompson in the 5000m, another 15 metre plus win for Seni Majekodunmi in the triple jump and combined wins in the discus and shot by Scot Thompson. Mick Jones in the hammer and Tom Dobbing in the javelin ensured maximum points from all our throwers - an achievement which had the statisticians thumbing through the record books.
And then there were the other notable performances. Our young Darren Gauson, fresh from a pb 1500 in Cardiff clung like a leach to Mike Skinner to lower his 800 pb by nearly a second. And Spencer Barden front ran the 1500 to be pipped by the redoubtable Skinner whose double win for Blackheath made the closing relays interesting. Our women then ensured victory with two seconds as did the men’s sprint relay squad. But a final triumphant men’s long relay put the icing on the cake - with a storming last 47.1 closing leg from Set Osho to snatch victory on the line.
And for you stats buffs: our women scored 120 points from 18 events (an average of 6.66 points per event) while the men scored 151.5 points from 20 events ( an average of 7.57 points per event). Bearing in mind you get 9 points for a win, 7 points for a second etc., the overall performance may be judged. Incidentally we had no woman pole vaulter so you could argue that on a basis of 17 events contested the women’s actual average was 7.06. Can we beat that in the final? Over to you Team Managers!!
Men
100m: 1 D.Chin 10.7w/4.7. 200m: 3 J.Hussain U20 21.9/1.1. 400m: 2 S.Osho U20 48.7. 800m: 2 D.Gauson 1:52.4. 1500m: 2 S.Barden 3:47.4. 5000m: 1 M.Thompson 14:20.5. 10000m: 4 M.Byansi 35:27.2. 110mH: 1 W.Sharman 14.2/0.3. 400mH: 5 P.Beaumont M40 59.3. 3000mSC: 7 M.Humphrey 11:21.2. HJ: 2 W.Sharman 1.95. LJ: 1 D.O'Farrell 7.11. TJ: 1 S.Majekodunmi 15.11. PV: 1 C.Johnston 4.60. SP: 1 S.Thompson 15.78. DT: 1 S.Thompson 54.03. JT: 1 T.Dobbing 64.05. HT: 1 M.Jones M40 71.05. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 42.5 (G.Selway U20, W.Sharman, J.Hussain U20, D.Chin). 4x400m: 1 Belgrave 3:21.8 (G.Selway U20 49.6, J.Hussain U20 50.1, R.Poulter 55.0, S.Osho U20 47.1).
Women
100m: 3 T.Hassan U17 13.1/1.5. 200m: 4 T.Hassan 26.7/0.5. 400m: 2
J.Culley 57.5. 800m: 3 L.Collier U17 2:21.7. 1500m: 1 B.Dagne 4:27.6.
3000m: 3 L.Cooper 10:35.1. 100mH: 1 H.Stares 14.4/2.0. 400mH: 1 H.Stares
60.8. HJ: =4 H.Stares 1.55. LJ: 4 A.Abrams 4.83. TJ: 1 C.Stead 12.20.
SP: 2 S.Newman 10.67. DT: 1 S.Newman 56.89. JT: 4 A.Forsyth 26.06. HT: 1
D.Holden 50.04. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 51.3 (A.Forsyth, H.Stares, A.Abrams,
T.Hassan). 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 4:07.9 (L.Horrobin 64.8, L.Collier 61.2,
A.Forsyth 63.3, J.Culley 58.7).