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Reports by Rex Bale

Men's Southern League Division Two - 2003 

Match 6, Cambridge, 2 August 2003.

1 Newham & Essex Beagles 139.5; 2 Thurrock 113.5; 3 Cambridge & Coleridge 110; 4 Bedford & County 94; 5 Belgrave H 63.

Chris Huggins is in good form at the moment and turned out to be the only A competition winner with a fine 13 metres triple jump and is also now in six metres territory in the long jump where he placed third. In the throws Grant Sprigings teamed up with Paul Collier and Grant’s 12.17 metres shot put for second was his best performance. 

The middle distance races in particular were hotly contested, particularly in the 1500m where Chris Axe, in only his fourth competitive track race, kept with the pace until the last 300 metres where the first two pulled away and left Chris battling to hold off a Beagle - which he just did whilst surviving a possible disqualification for obstruction close to the finish line. Brad Poore has just returned from Kenya for a spell where he has been training with the Kenyan marathon squad, but either found the middle distances a little short, or has not adjusted to low altitude yet. He is looking forward to a better race over 10,000 metres at Battersea in the SEAA Championships.

The sprinters Kwadjo Adjepong, Gavin Baksh and Jon Regis missed out on top three places in the individual events but they, with Chris Huggins, ran above themselves to finish a close second. 

Mark Humphries missed the mini-bus at Battersea but to his credit made the journey by train and was ‘rewarded’ by being given his first outing in the steeplechase, all other possible races having been run by the time he arrived. Considering the difficulty he had negotiating the barriers his time of 11:29.4 for third place was very respectable.

100m: 4 K.Adjepong 12.1; 3 M.Fasolo 11.9; n/s G.Sprigings 12.3. 200m: 4 K.Adjepong 23.5; 4 J.Regis U20 23.8; n/s N.Travers-Griffen 24.4. 400m: 4 G.Baksh 53.4; 5 R.Collier U17 59.4. 800m: 5 B.Poore 2:11.5; 5 P.Cowling U17 2:29.4. 1500m: 3 C.Axe 4:12.3; 1 B.Poore 4:24.3. 5000m: 5 Don Anderson M45 19:54.7. 400mH: 5 P.Cowling 70.4. 3000mSC: 3 M.Humphries 11:29.4. HJ: =2 R.Collier U17 1.65; =4 P.Cowling U17 1.20. LJ: 3 C.Huggins 6.18; 5 P.Cowling U17 4.81. TJ: 1 C.Huggins 13.05; 4 R.Collier U17 9.18. SP: 2 G.Sprigings 12.17; 5 P.Collier M40 7.54. DT: 4 G.Sprigings 33.12; 4 P.Collier M40 17.52. JT: 5 R.Collier U17 30.23; 5 P.Collier M40 24.51. HT: 3 G.Sprigings 26.48; 4 P.Collier M40 18.16. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 46.0 (M.Fasolo, G.Baksh, C.Huggins, J.Regis).

League standings after five matches: 

1 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 24 (689.5); 2 Enfield & Haringey 23 (650.5); 3  Milton Keynes 23 (629.5); 4 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 21 (611.5); 5 Newham & Essex Beagles 20 (619.5); 6 North Devon 19 (603); 7 Thurrock 19 (601); 8 Tonbridge 19 (585); 9 London Heathside 19 (568.5); 10 Bedford & County 16 (538); 11 Bexley 15 (564.5); 12 Thames Valley H 15 (521); 13 Serpentine 14 (523.5); 14 Guildford & Godalming 14 (522); 15 Ealing S&M/Hillingdon 14 (512); 16 Dartford 13 (522.5); 17 Cambridge & Coleridge 13 (512); 18 City of Portsmouth 13 (510); 19 Royal Navy 13 (484); 20 Bracknell 11 (472.5); 21 Belgrave H 11 (447.5); 22 Hastings 10 (480); 23 Herts Phoenix 7 (415); 24 Oxford City 5 (299.5) 25 Ipswich 4 (177.5).

Match 5, Guildford, 12 July 2003.

1 North Devon 129; 2 Royal Navy 106; 3 Thames Valley H 105.5; 4 Guildford & Godalming 103; 5 Belgrave 73.5.

With far too many blank spaces on the team sheet this match was a struggle from the outset.  In scorching weather we fell a long way short of avoiding 5th and last team place. It will take a lot of effort in the remaining fixture at St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, to ensure that we don't drop into division three for 2004. The call of the British League meant that several of our regulars were ineligible for Southern League duty - but it must be said that we do have the depth to cope. We acknowledge that Southern League division 2 competition is not that appealing to some of our athletes but we can only imagine that the competition in division three will be even less so!

Having said all that, we were able to offer a full complement and more of sprinters, with Ian Deeth struggling to recover from injury but nevertheless picking up a good win in the 400m. Charlie Dickinson's boys filled out the shorter middle distance events where personal records fell. Leading from the gun and in very hot conditions Hassan Raidi won the 5000m by a street while Grant Sprigings did the rounds of the throws to collect 14% of our total points score. Max Marsden made his first appearance in the team - and collected his first win in the B discus while fellow newcomer Chris Axe ran to a promising second in the A 1500m.

So, we have three weeks to get something going for that final match on August 2nd.

100m: 3 I.Deeth 11.3; 3 G.Baksh 11.6; n/s 2 K.Adjepong 11.6; 6 N.Travers-Griffen 12.4. 200m: 4 K.Adjepong 23.7; 2 G.Baksh 23.6; n/s N.Travers-Griffen 24.8. 400m: 1 I.Deeth 49.1; 5 M.Marsden 64.1. 800m: 4 R.Marcus 2:08.2; 3 A.Cowmeadow 2:13.7. 1500m: 2 C.Axe 4:20.2; 2 R.Marcus 4:35.1. 5000m: 1 H.Raidi 15:23.3; 2 A.Boubeh 17:29.5. HJ: =4 R.Collier U17 1.65. LJ: 5 M.Wendt 5.70; 4 N.Travers-Griffen 5.41. TJ: 5 R.Collier U17 11.16. SP: 2 G.Sprigings 12.16; 5 P.Collier 7.84. DT: 2 G.Sprigings 32.28; 1 M.Marsden 30.68. JT: 5 M.Wendt 38.33; 5 M.Marsden 25.15. HT: 4 G.Sprigings 28.52; 3 P.Collier 18.54. 4x100m: 3 Belgrave 45.7 (G.Baksh, K.Adjepong, N.Travers-Griffen, A.Cowmeadow). 4x400m: 4 Belgrave 3:41.0 (I.Deeth 51.4, R.Collier U17 56.6, A.Cowmeadow 60.0, G.Baksh 53.0).

League standings after four matches: 

1 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 19 (545.5); 2 Enfield & Haringey 18 (530); 3  Milton Keynes 18 (488.5); 4 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 17 (499); 5 Thurrock 16 (484); 6 Tonbridge 16 (462); 7 Newham & Essex Beagles 15 (493); 8 London Heathside 15 (444.5); 9 North Devon 14 (474); 10 Bedford & County 14 (464); 11 Guildford & Godalming 12 (419); 12 Thames Valley H 12 (415.5); 13 Ealing S&M/Hillingdon 12 (408.5); 14 Bexley 11 (440); 15 Dartford 10 (419.5); 16 Serpentine 10 (406.5); 17 City of Portsmouth 10 (401.5); 18 Bracknell 10 (383); 19 Belgrave H 10 (374); 20 Cambridge & Coleridge 9 (402); 21 Royal Navy 9 (378); 22 Hastings 8 (387); 23 Herts Phoenix 6 (329.5); 24 Oxford City 5 (299.5) 25 Ipswich 3 (112.5).

Match 4, Haringey, 28 June 2003.

Details of team and individual results not known.

League standings after three matches: 

1 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 15 (419.5); 2 Enfield & Haringey 13 (392); 3 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 13 (383.5); 4 Thurrock 13 (377.5); 5 Milton Keynes 13 (370.5), 6 North Devon 12 (380); 7 Tonbridge 12 (344); 8 London Heathside 12 (334.5); 9 Newham & Essex Beagles 10 (343); 10 Ealing S&M/Hillingdon 10 (335); 11 Guildford & Godalming 9 (316); =12 Bedford & County and Belgrave H 9 (314); 14 Bracknell 9 (305); 15 Dartford 8 (317); 16 Cambridge & Coleridge 8 (312.5); 17 Bexley 7 (306); 18 Serpentine 7 (291.5); 19 Thames Valley H 7 (282.5); 20; Hastings 6 (292); 21 City of Portsmouth 6 (285.5); 22 Royal Navy 6 (259.5); 23 Herts Phoenix 4 (240.5); 24 Oxford City 4 (235.5) 25 Ipswich 2 (91.5).

Match 3, Battersea Park, 31 May 2003.

1 Milton Keynes AC 125.5; 2 Belgrave H 119; 3 Dartford H 97.5; 4 City of Portsmouth AC 96.0; 5 Bexley H 94.0.

The result of this match hinged on the last event, the 4 x 400m relay, where Milton Keynes AC finished well clear of the home team to win the match by a 6.5 points margin. The ‘Spanish Plume’, the area of extremely hot weather, had moved northwards to settle over southern Britain, and triple jump winner David Wellstead remarked that without a cooling breeze, Battersea felt hotter than Valencia the previous weekend where he competed for the Club in the European Clubs Cup. David’s event was one of two in the field where we scored double firsts, the other being the shot where Greg Beard and Grant Sprigings did the business. Grant also competed in the discus as a non scorer, his distance of 33.52 just 3cms short of that of new member Max Marsden, second in the B, with Greg taking second in the A (42.76). In the javelin Wesley Smith’s last two almost identical throws (54.64 and 54.70) ensured that he won by a comfortable margin. In the jumps James Tuson made a welcome return to form in the long jump with second place (6.44), an event in which Chris Huggins won the B (6.20) and went on to do the same in the triple jump. U17 Roy Collier achieved yet another pb (1.75) in the high jump.

The highlights of the track events were the three double wins in the 400m flat, 400m Hurdles and 5,000m. U17 Set Osho demonstrated what a talent he is by winning the B in 48.8 seconds, faster than Ian Deeth’s winning time in the A (49.3). Matt Douglas and Ryan Dinham showed total control in the lap hurdles where Matt's 50.5 turned out to be a Southern League record (the old one had stood to Mark Bishop of Havering since 1990).  In the 5,000m Hassan Raidi and Club Secretary Roger Alsop were likewise dominant in the gruelling heat. Finding someone to compete in the 3,000m steeplechase is always a problem particularly in these conditions but Warren Lynch and 110m Hurdles winner Paul Beaumont duly obliged - and survived, Warren being rewarded with third place in the A with a respectable time of 11:08.5.

The thirty degrees temperature did not seem to please the equipment too much - the public address system gave up, a malfunctioning camera shutter ruled out photo-finish (and hence electric timing) and a bracket snapped on the pole vault bar support during the first practice jump !

100m: 3 G.Baksh 11.7; 4 J.Regis U20 12.5; n/s 1 K.Adjepong 11.6; 2 M.Fasolo 12.1; 3 N.Travers-Griffen 12.3. 200m: 4 R.Dinham 23.5; 2 K.Adjepong 23.3; n/s M.Fasolo 24.5; N.Travers-Griffen 24.5. 400m: 1 I.Deeth 49.3; 1 S.Osho U17 48.8. 800m: 5 J.MacRae U17 2:12.9; 5 A.Cowmeadow 2:17.3. 1500m: 3 L.Greatorex 4:23.9; 4 A.Cowmeadow 4:50.1. 5000m: 1 H.Raidi 15:50.8; 1 R.Alsop 15:55.6. 110mH: 1 P.Beaumont M40 17.6. 400mH: 1 M.Douglas 50.5; 1 R.Dinham 54.6. 3000mSC: 3 W.Lynch 11:08.5; 4 P.Beaumont M40 13:11.3. 4x100m: 4 Belgrave 46.6 (C.Huggins, K.Adjepong, J.Regis U20, G.Baksh). 4x400m: 4 Belgrave 3:55.3 (R.Collier U17 57.9, G.Baksh 55.0, A.Cowmeadow 62.8, L.Greatorex 59.6). HJ: 4 J.Tuson 1.80; 1 R.Collier U17 1.75. LJ: 2 J.Tuson 6.44; 1 C.Huggins 6.20. TJ: 1 D.Wellstead 13.59; 1 C.Huggins 12.82. PV: cancelled - damaged equipment. SP: 1 G.Beard 15.76; 1 G.Sprigings 12.36. DT: 2 G.Beard 42.76; 2 M.Marsden 31.55; n/s G.Sprigings 31.52. JT: 1 W.Smith 54.70; 5 C.Privett 32.63. HT: 5 G.Sprigings 25.27; 5 C.Privett 22.29.

League standings after two matches: 

1 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 10 (280.5); 2 London Heathside 10 (242.5); 3 North Devon 9 (257.5); 4 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 9 (252.5); 5 Thurrock 9 (248.5); 6 Enfield & Haringey 8 (250); 7 Milton Keynes 8 (245), 8 Bracknell 8 (231); 9 Ealing & Hillingdon 7 (236); 10 Tonbridge AC 7 (212) ... 18 Belgrave H 5 (195); from 25 clubs.

Match 2, Perivale, 17 May 2003.

1 Tonbridge AC 124.5; Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 123.5, 3 Ealing & Hillingdon 116; 4 Belgrave H 84, 5 East Herts. Phoenix 69.

Our sprinters were out in force at the second match; so much so that the Bels monopolised a non-scoring 100m race as well as taking nigh-on maximum points in the match events.  Lawrence Oboh had a tremendous win in the 100m with 10.5, half a second faster than his win in the Middlesex Championships the week before. This was no doubt partly attributable to wind direction, having to face a strong headwind in the County event but enjoying a tailwind in this one. Peter Walsh gave good support, coming 2nd in the 100m B and winning the 200m B. Michael Parper shows he is back with a vengeance winning the 200m A race. Team manager on the day, Paul Beaumont, led by example winning the first track race, the 400H in 59.8 and was later second in the sprint hurdles in 17.7.

In the 1500 Alaster Stewart led the chasing pack back to the runaway leader of Ealing & Southall but a Tonbridge athlete blasted down the home straight to take the front runner on the line.

In the high jump, James Tuson had a tough assignment in very blustery conditions in his first appearance of the season, clearing 1.85 along with two other competitors but coming third on number of failures. He was, however, given the benefit of a difficult decision for the officials on his third attempt at 1.80 when the wind was judged to blow the bar off after he had rattled it on his way over. Roy Collier was second in the B competition with a pb of 1.70.

In the triple jump, David Wellstead, who snatched victory in the Surrey Championships in the very last trial of the competition, placed 3rd here with 13.79 metres. Wesley Smith had a busy afternoon with the throws, flitting from one event to the next.

Perhaps the event of the day from a Belgrave perspective was the debut of Simon Marwood in Belgrave colours.  Having set a personal best in the BUSA Championship steeplechase a couple of weeks earlier, here he smashed that best by a further 14 seconds to front run to victory over the barriers.  There's no doubt that this performance gives him a very strong claim to a place in our British League team.

100m: 1 L.Oboh U20 10.5; 2 P.Walsh 11.4; n/s 1 I.Deeth 11.3; 2 G.Baksh 11.5; 3 K.Adjepong 11.6. 200m: 1 M.Parper 22.4; 1 P.Walsh 23.0; n/s 4 G.Baksh 23.6; 5 K.Adjepong 23.7. 400m: 5 R.Collier 60.5; 5 R.McMillan 66.7. 800m: 4 J.MacRae U17 2:09.0; 5 R.Collier U17 2:23.8. 1500m: 3 A.Stewart 4:08.8; 2 J.MacRae U17 4:38.2. 5000: no competitor; 110mH: 2 P.Beaumont M40 17.7. 400mH: 1 P.Beaumont M40 59.8. 3000mSC: 1 S.Marwood 9:13.5. 4x100m: 3 Belgrave 47.2 (P.Walsh, D.Wellstead, C.Huggins, G.Baksh). 4x400m: 4 Belgrave 3:52.4 (G.Baksh 57.8, R.Collier 60.2, J.MacRae 58.8, M.Parper 55.6). HJ: 3 J.Tuson 1.85; 2 R.Collier U17 1.70. LJ: 5 C.Huggings 5.70; 4 J.Tuson 4.83. TJ: 3 D.Wellstead 13.59; 2 C.Huggins 12.92. PV: no competitor. SP: 5 C.Privett 9.93; 2 W.Smith 9.58. DT: 5 J.Tuson 14.09. JT: 1 W.Smith 54.50; 3 M.Wendt 40.29. HT: 4 C.Privett 33.07; 5 W.Smith 22.94.

Match 1, Battersea Park, 3 May 2003.

1 Serpentine R 123.5; 2 Bracknell 115; 3 Belgrave 113; 4 Oxford City 105; 5 Ipswich 51.5.

The men opened their account with a host of good performances with the youngsters in the team gaining a clutch of personal bests and gaining valuable points in the process to help the team to a total of 113 points for third place, just behind Bracknell with 115. Hosts Serpentine won the match with 123.5 points. 

Sixteen year old Roy Collier won the pole vault with 2-60 metres, and was fourth in the high jump clearing the same height (1.65, pb) as the second and third jumpers but having more failures. He is becoming a force on the track too with a pb of 56.5 in the 400m (3rd B string). Jamie MacRae, also 16, ran a pb in the 800 (2:07.9), tackled the 1500 and also leapt 5.03 in the long jump to place 2nd. Chris Catto jumped a metre further to come 2nd in the A competition. A third under-17 competitor Gary Mabbutt had a super 400/800 double with 56.4/2:13.3. Kwadjo Adjepong won the 200 in 23.7 and the 100m B race in 11.6. In the 5,000 metres Malachi Byansi set the pace and the others were content to sit behind him until they took off with four laps to go. Warren Lynch with a good winter of road and cross country behind him, also overtook Mal, finishing 4th in the A race, with Mal 2nd in the B.

Paul Beaumont made it a hurdles double triumph winning the sprint in 20.1 and ducking under the minute for the lap event. 

There were Belgrave double wins in both javelin and triple jump. Moritz Wendt was getting too much height with the spear at first but flighted his last effort perfectly for his best effort of 43.09. Chris Privett gave good support in this event (35.18) and in the shot with a 2nd B placing (10.41). Greg Beard with good rotational technique heaved that monster 7.26kg weight beyond 15 metres. Back to the triple, David Wellstead won the A with 13.17 and Chris Huggins the B with 12.36. The discus saw Greg Beard in action again placing second with 38.59.

It was a close call in the 4 x 100 relay as we saw in the Womens League the week before. Anchor man Kwadjo's dip at the line was not quite good enough to get the verdict as Don Anderson's photo finish picture proved. In the 4 x 400 the Bels came second again with 3:42.8. 

This fixture was hosted by Serpentine but we had an officials team which was probably a record for an 'away' match, seven for the track and five for the field - that was in addition to team manager Bob Bridges, who did his customary hammer and pole vault events, and assistant Paul Beaumont.

Mix of manual and auto times. 100m: 3 P.Walsh 11.96/?; 1 K.Adjepong 11.60/1.2; 200m: 1 K.Adjepong 23.68/0.9; 5 R.McMillan 29.41/0.5. 400m: 4 G.Mabbutt (U17) 56.35; 3 R.Collier (U17) 56.54. 800m: 4 J.MacRae (U17) 2:07.81; 3 G.Mabbutt (U17) 2:13.29. 1500m: 5 J.MacRae (U17) 4:30.39; 3 M.Byansi 4:38.97. 5000m: 4 W.Lynch 16:42.0; 2 M.Byansi 17:04.4. 110mH: 1 P.Beaumont M40 20.01/1.5. 400mH: 1 P.Beaumont M40 59.36. 3000mSC: no competitor. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 47.1 (C.Huggins, D.Wellstead, P.Beaumont, K.Adjepong). 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 3:42.8 (P.Beaumont 53.7, R.Collier (U17) 57.0, 3 J.MacRae (U17) 57.2, G.Mabbutt (U17) 54.9). HJ: 4 R.Collier (U17) 1.65; 4 P.Beaumont 1.00. LJ: 2 C.Catto 6.02; 2 J.MacRae (U17) 5.03. TJ: 1 D.Wellstead 13.17; 1 C.Huggins 12.36. PV: 1 R.Collier (U17) 2.60; 2 R.Bridges (M50) 1.04. SP: 1 G.Beard 15.05; 2 C.Privett 10.41. DT: 2 G.Beard 38.59; 3 M.Wendt 21.06. JT: 1 M.Wendt 43.09; 1 C.Privett 35.18. HT: 5 R.Bridges (M50) 22.29; 3nt C.Privett.