British Athletics League Results & Reports 2008: Match 3, Barnet Copthall Stadium

Deep in the mire

League positions after three matches

Newham & Essex Beagles

Woodford Green with Essex Ladies

City of Manchester

Enfield & Haringey AC

Birchfield H

Shaftesbury Barnet H

Belgrave H

Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow

Injury epidemic brings us down

Belgrave has eight sub 10.8 sprinters but on the day before this match only two were available for competition. On match day this had fallen to just James Ellington as Darren Chin had pulled an abductor doing Friday evening start practice. But worse still was to come; James had a trapped sciatic nerve which reduced his stride length. As a result of these woes the sprints produced meagre points and we couldn’t even get a sprint relay squad to the start line. And it didn’t end there. Set Osho, running the B100, tweaked a back injury and pulled out of the A400m. New member Ryan Preddy sportingly moved up to cover but not surprisingly struggled to match exalted company. Junior Melvyn Anukum was drafted into the B400m at the last moment and also ran in a scratch long relay team which did well to manage fifth spot.

Matt Douglas pulled a hamstring in the A400H and limped at walking pace for a few precious points. Jean-Charles Roghi ran well for third place in the B400H.

And the injuries weren’t confined to the sprinters as Scot Thompson pulled out of the shot after his first throw which tweaked an old injury and multi-eventer, Louis Evling Jones, struggled through the long and high jumps with Achilles tendon problems – yet somehow managed to gain a fine second spot in the B110H after William Sharman had continued with his third win in the A event for us this season. At last some good sprint points.

Traffic problems didn’t help

Those who travelled early to this joint fixture (with UKWL Div 1) found the traffic easy. But just one hour later and the M1 and M25 were gridlocked. The hammer was a bit later than usual in the programme and Mick Jones got stuck in this traffic finally giving up and returning home as we informed him by phone that the final cut after the third round had taken place. Mark Allen only got one throw in and finished way down in the A event. Earlier, Scot Thomson arrived after the discus had started so missed that event and Samson Oni arrived after the start of the high jump and competed without warm up. The team managers had seen nothing like it in 30 years!

With several of our regular middle distance men unavailable a newish look distance squad produced a welcome rush of points. Phil Burkart stepped down a distance to get fourth spot in the A800m while Mark Pollard running round for points in the B800m fought hard for fifth. Mark went on to gain second in the B1500m while Darren Gauson, making a welcome return, took the lead in the A1500m only to get pipped down the home straight. Simon Jones and James Kelly made it a double victory in the A and B 5000 to produce maximum points. New member Graeme Hyett brought respectability to the ‘chase, finishing close to his best in a good class field; but no B runner meant more squandered points.

Our sole pole vaulter Cameron Johnston fought hard for a season’s best of 4.60m and spearman James Everard, body still aching from injury sustained while high jumping in BAL3, was close to 60m to place 4th.

But when the final count was announced, Belgrave were down in an unenviable seventh spot just a tantalising 24 points off fifth place. It was a case of “what might have been” on a day when nothing went right. Relegation beckons.

100m: 4 J Ellington 10.78/-1.8; 8 S Osho 11.61/-1.0. 200m: 8 J Ellington 22.38/-0.6; 5 W Sharman 22.02/+0.7. 400m: 8 R Preddy 48.90; 8 M Anukam 52.09. 800m: 4 P Burkart 1:52.93; 5 M Pollard 1:56.07. 1500m: 3 D Gauson 3:51.41; 2 M Pollard 3:58.00. 5000m: 1 S Jones 14:34.67; 1 J Kelly 14:52.93. 3000mSC: 7 G Hyett 9:47.71. 110mH: 1 W Sharman 13.95/-0.3; 2 L Evling Jones 14.71/-0.8. 400mH: 8 M Douglas 71.60; 3 J-C Roghi 54.37. 4x400m: 5 Belgrave 3:19.88 (R Preddy 49.2, J-C Roghi 50.4, Melvyn Anukam 50.9, S Osho 49.4). HJ: 2 S Oni 2.15; 7 L Evling-Jones 1.85. LJ: 6 L Evling-Jones 6.94/1.1; 5 G Wilson 6.94w/3.2. TJ: 4 G Wilson 13.90/-1.9; 5 D Wellstead 13.22/0.4. PV: 6 C Johnston 4.60. SP: 5 M Allen 15.57; 1 S Thompson 15.06. DT: 6 L Marar 49.43; 5 M Allen 43.90. JT: 4 J Everard 59.94; 6 S Thompson 40.98. HT: 7 M Allen 50.57.

Match: 1 Newham & Essex Beagles 363; 2 Woodford Green wEL 314; 3 Enfield & Haringey 313; 4 Shaftesbury Barnet H 306; 5 Birchfield H 255; 6 City of Manchester 231; 7 Belgrave H 231; 8 Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow 128.

Above: Louis Evling-Jones was struggling with a sore Achilles tendon but nevertheless placed 2nd in the B sprint hurdles. Simon Jones was in great fettle, going to the front early and then running away from the 5000m field.

League positions after three matches	League Points	Match Points
Newham & Essex Beagles	24	1038.5
Woodford Green with Essex Ladies	20	951
City of Manchester	16	864
Enfield & Haringey AC	12	826
Birchfield H	12	767.5
Shaftesbury Barnet H	11	790.5
Belgrave H	10	775.5
Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow	3	489

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