British Athletics League Division 1, Match 2, Kingsmeadow

The topsy-turvey world of BAL National One

Alice in Wonderland may well have been at home here, writes Bill Laws. What, you may ask is going on when the winning team of match 1 finishes last in match 2 and the second last placed team in match 1 wins match 2? Something surreal is going on in this topsy turvey world of track and field athletics.

And in the lead up to this match Belgrave had its own déjà vu moments as five of our top sprinters reported unavailable for duty leaving Greg Cackett as the only one at the top of his game while Laurence Oboh nursed a thigh strain through the B100 and sprint relay. At one point there were no 200 sprinters for Belgrave! But after running a pb in the 400 a buoyed up Matt Threadgold agreed to jog the A200 for points just 20 minutes later and was rewarded with a time approaching his pb. Another 30 minutes later he anchored the sprint relay and then the long relay teams. Matt was not the only one fighting for points as Will Cockerell ran the B 1500 for a point and an injured Mike Trees slowed dramatically in the 3000 also to gain a point.

What might have been ... but flashes of brilliance

As usual these days it was another case of what might have been. No representation in the B200, B400, B high jump and B steeplechase meant we weren’t contesting 48 points. Add to that 3 fouls in the A hammer and you get the measure of the task ahead.

But several flashes of brilliance and some pleasant surprises kept the team on track for a well fought fifth spot resulting in a League standing of third after two matches. Greg Cackett shaved his pb in winning the A100m in windless conditions. Jonathan Blackledge looks to be coming back to top form as he finished third in a fast finishing A800 won by Harrow’s Olympic contender Andy Baddeley. And ex triple jumper Gary Wilson who has reinvented himself as a sprint hurdler over the winter chose the B110H to run his first ever race over the sticks and was rewarded with a respectable wind legal 15.79 sec timing for third spot.

Once again our middle distance was not well represented and Paskar Owor was left to again give the points an air of respectability finishing second in the B 800 (1.54.37), second in the A1500 (3.52.20) and third in the A3000 (8.23.93) being narrowly beaten by Blackheath and Bromley’s super star Scot Overall; all the more remarkable because all three events took place in within a period of just 1 hour 50 minutes. Not a bad training session.

Throws and jumps men saved our bacon

But once more the throws and jumps men saved our bacon. Greg Beard’s 17.70m win in the shot was a season’s best. Mark Wiseman accumulated 34 points which included a win in the B shot and second in the A discus. Good to see Leith Marar back and to welcome new spear chucker Aaron Crawford. Again throws leader Clifton Green’s “lads” had performed well amassing 74 points for the four throws. Meanwhile Tony Ganio’s jumps squad were doing their best to upstage the throwers. Rob Warensjo won the A pole vault with soon to be married Cameron Johnston backing up with solid B points. Our only representative in the high jump Tom Gardner finished second in the competition. Amosu Babatunde won the A triple jump and David Wellstead leapt a season’s best to gain second spot in the B. With Paul Ogun gaining third place in the A long jump and David Wellstead adding a few points in the B the jumpers had amassed 76 points to again pip the throwers.

Determined to scrap for every point relay teams were assembled which comprised few specialists. The sprint relay team was led off by triple jumper David Wellstead. More renowned for his spring than speed the other teams were well down the back straight while an inexperienced Greg Cackett tried to contain his instinct to flee. Eventually the baton was safely passed and the real business started and a sixth place achieved; more valuable points, even with last place in the long relay which concluded the meeting. With two 400 hurdlers and an 800m man it was left to specialist Matt Threadgold to unsuccessfully avoid the wooden spoon, But the four points gained proved invaluable as fifth place on the day was secured. Their time would have secured 6th place in Match 1 so a valiant effort all round.

Again our physio Chris Lewis helped a number of athletes from both Belgrave and Gateshead to remain in one piece and our grateful thanks to him for a great day’s work.

100m: 1 G Cackett 10.52/0.4; 4 L Oboh 11.11/0.4. 200m: 8 M Threadgold 22.64/-1.0; no B competitor. 400m: 5 M Threadgold 48.31; no B competitor. 800m: 3 J Blackledge 1:51.89; 2 P Owor 1:54.37. 1500m: 2 P Owor 1:52.20; 8 W Cockerell 4:38.60. 3000m: 3 P Owor 8:23.93; 8 M Trees M45 10:34.83. 110mH: 7 JC Roghi 16.58/-0.7; 3 G Wilson 15.79/0.4. 400mH: 6 JC Roghi 54.68; 4 A N'dabia 56.09. 3000mSC: 8 W Cockerell 10:39.30; no B competitor. HJ: 2 T Gardner U20 1.90; no B competitor. LJ: 3 P Ogun 6.98/1.1; 6 D Wellstead 6.27/-0.8. TJ: 1 A Babatunde 15.43/0.2; 2 D Wellstead 13.92/-1.0. PV: 1 R Warensjo 5.00; 4 C Johnston 3.60. SP: 1 G Beard 17.70; 1 M Wiseman M40 14.98. DT: 2 M Wiseman M40 51.35; 1 L Marar M40 47.49. JT: 5 A Crawford 58.58; 5 C Greene 54.16. HT: 5 M Wiseman M40 46.14; 3nt M Richards. 4x100m: 6 Belgrave 44.63 (D Wellstead, G Cackett, L Oboh, M Threadgold). 4x400m: 8 Belgrave 3.24.82 (A N'dabia 52.6, JC Rohgi 51.6, J Blackledge 51.3, M Threadgold 49.4).

Match result: 1 Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC 318; 2 City of Liverpool 298; 3 Kent AC 290; 4 Harrow AC 278; 5 Belgrave H 274; 6 Crawley 259; 7 Blackheath & Bromley H 238; 8 Gateshead H &AC 237.

League positions after two matches: 1 Kent AC 13 (590); 2 City of Liverpool 11.5 (575); 3 Belgrave H 10 (571); 4 Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC 10 (550); 5 Harrow AC 9.5 (555); 6 Gateshead H &AC 9 (551); 7 Blackheath & Bromley H 5 (506); 8 Crawley AC 4 (476).

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.