British Athletics League 2005: Match 4, New River Stadium, Haringey
Win streak comes to an end
Bill Laws writes:- Although there was still a statistical chance we could retain our League title the real objective as we entered this match was to end the season with a win. And with a number of season bests and pb’s we almost made it, losing out to a victorious Woodford Green with Essex Ladies team.
Damage limitation achieved
The start was not promising. Only Mick Jones lined up for the hammer and once again finished second best to Andy Frost of WGEL. Points were also down in the pole vault after Cameron Johnson had withdrawn the night before due to injury. Damage limitation was achieved as William Sharman cleared 4 metres for a season’s best and junior Roy Collier equalled his best to get better than expected B points. The long jump saw a welcome return to the fold of Richard Danso - he quit the sport four years ago - who proved that his return was no flash in the pan as he recorded his first ever legal plus 7 metres jump to support a somewhat jaded Adrian Phillips who was recovering from his 30th birthday party celebrations. As Adrian’s head cleared so his jumps improved and two second spots were to mark the change in our fortunes.
Next up was Scot Thompson who opened the discus comp with a near 53 metre effort. A distance he was not to improve on and one which Inter-Counties champion Leith Marar chased but could not match; but third and first spots added valuable points.
Matt Douglas back in form - Ben Challenger supports the team
It was great to see Ben Challenger pair up with William Sharman in the high jump. Ben had delayed his departure to the World Champs warm up camp to support the Belgrave team and pronounced himself satisfied as he had withdrawn from the previous week’s competition at Crystal Palace nursing a slight injury. But here he was, winning, and in the process having some good attempts at 2.30m. William gained a good second place in the B event so the points continued mounting. But we weren’t getting away from WGEL who once again called out the evergreen Dalton Grant. Dalton turns 40 next year and can still clear 2.10m with apparent ease.
Matt Douglas has finally overcome a niggling injury and arrived pronouncing that he would fill in any event to gain points. Silly boy! His win in the A 400H was a comfortable affair after he had gone out easy and ran the home straight in style. But an hour and a half later he was called up for the A 110H as William Sharman felt hamstring pain during his warm up strides. Matt hasn’t run the event for two years and not trained over the high hurdles. His pb of 14.10 looked in danger until he hit the last hurdle but third spot in 14.17 was way above anybody’s expectations. Matt later put in a 48.3 relay leg to confirm that his troubles are over, but too late to make a bid for World Championship selection. By coincidence Dominic Girdler ran the same time as Matt to get second in the B race.
The 800m didn’t go to plan and Graeme Oudney could not explain why he was 7 seconds down on his season’s best as he trailed in last in the A race. With a paucity of middle distance men doing the League this year Chris Axe was a last minute replacement for the B race, arriving 5 minutes before the start and running within a second of his pb. He later ran his first ever steeplechase to make sure that Will Cockerell had a partner - and it was a surprise to all to seem him outkick Will who had, it must be said, just run the 5000m. For someone who has never jumped a barrier let alone a water jump Chris acquitted himself well. More to come?
Sprinters shine
Next to the 100m, followed by the 400m. Originally it had been planned to put Graham Beasley and Darren Chin on the starting line. But Graham wasn’t feeling too good and the arrival of World Youth double gold medallist Harry Aikines-Areetey for the guest 100m and relay prompted Graham to suggest a change to the line up. Harry duly obliged with a second place and in the B race Darren, running from lane one, also gained a valuable second place in exactly the same time as Harry. But whereas Harry’s race was just over the legal limit, Darren’s wasn’t. So a season’s best for Darren and a quick promotion to the B 200 as Graham suggested James Ellington take the A 200m. James duly obliged with his fastest ever run to gain second place and dip under 21 secs for the first time. Darren followed this with a big season’s best so the last minute changes proved a huge success. Set Osho, back from the European under 20 championships with a long relay gold medal, proved to all and sundry that his long awaited breakthrough has arrived as he set a new pb of 47.35sec which he followed later in the long relay with another sub 48sec clocking. In the B race junior Gavin Selway made his now trademark rocket start and headed the field at 200m only to be caught on the line but it was another great effort from this durable young man who still gained third spot.
Darren Gauson, fresh from a 3min 45sec pb in Belgium, joined Stephen Sharp in a tactical but classy 1500m. With third place in the A for Stephen and second in the B for Darren more good points as we briefly hit the front for the first time. A terrible triple jump then moved us back down the placings only for an excellent near max points in the shot for Chris Gearing and Scot Thompson to move us back up again. A high quality javelin competition meant less points than expected although Wesley Smith threw a lifetime’s best and James Everard competed even though he is due for a knee operation on Monday. His spirit exemplified the team’s efforts as at last we seemed to be firing on all cylinders.
Exciting relays
Finally to the relays. Graham Beasley ran his usual second sector, despite not being well, as the team struggled with another lane 1 draw. Darren Chin’s blocks slipped to add to the tension but then he, Graham, James and Harry clocked the fastest club time in the UK this year and finished some 0.65 seconds ahead of second placers WGEL.
The 400m relay was even more exciting. Matt Douglas led the first stage passing to Graham Oudney who fought hard and passed the baton to Set in third spot. Set cruised and then kicked hard to give Gavin Selway a two metre lead ahead of a chasing pack which ominously included Chris Rawlinson for Trafford and Ewan Thomas for the Beagles. Gavin held them until 30 metres from the line, finishing in third spot to record a season’s best for the club. A photo of that finishing straight shoot out would have a memorable place in Gavin’s album. Any shots out there?
And yet, after all these heroics, WGEL prevailed. Gladys Bird and her merry men were rightly ecstatic. They have come close to taking the BAL title on several occasions and finally they have achieved their ambition. Congratulations to the WGEL team - but we aim to get it back next year!
100m: 2 H Aikines-Ayreetey U20 10.53w/2.3; 2 D Chin 10.53/1.7. 200m: 2 J Ellington 20.94w/2.4; 1 D Chin 21.30w/3.4. 400m: 4 S Osho U20 47.35. 3 G Selway U20 49.03. 800m: 8 G Oudney 1:58.62; 7 C Axe 1:59.03. 1500m: 3 S Sharp 3:49.59; 2 D Gauson 3:50.87. 5000m: 3 K Tadesse 14:57.86; 4 W Cockerell 15:45.47. 110mH: 3 M Douglas 14.17w/2.4; 2 D Girdler 14.17/1.9. 400mH: 1 M Douglas 50.82; 8 P Beaumont M40 58.76. 3000mSC: 8 C Axe 10:26.40; 6 W Cockerell 10:29.76. HJ: 1 B Challenger 2.20; 2 W Sharman 2.00. LJ: 2 A Phillips 7.23; 2 R Danso 7.07. TJ: 8 F Mepandy 13.81; 7 D Wellstead 12.46. PV: 7 W Sharman 4.00; 3 R Collier U20 3.40. SP: 2 C Gearing U20 16.11; 1 S Thompson 15.26. DT: 3 S Thompson 52.93; 1 L Marar 51.69. JT: 5 W Smith 64.06; 4 J Everard 52.04. HT: 2 M Jones M40 67.51; no B competitor. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 40.44 (D Chin, G Beasley, J Ellington, H Aikines-Ayreetey). 4x400m: 3 Belgrave 3:14.26 (M Douglas 48.4, G Oudney 50.3, S Osho U20 47.6, G Selway U20 48.0).
1 Woodford Green wEL AC 356; 2 Belgrave H 335; 3 Newham & Essex Beagles 288; 4 Enfield & Haringey AC 282; 5 Shaftesbury Barnet H 257; 6 Birchfield H 245; 7 Trafford AC 234; 8 Border H 184.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.