British Athletics League Results & Reports 2010: Match 1, Copthall Stadium, Barnet

Much room for improvement

After one match

Woodford Green w Essex Ladies

Newham & Essex Beagles

Birchfield H

City of Manchester

Enfield & Haringey

Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC

Shaftesbury Barnet H

Belgrave H

This was to be the day when Belgrave regrouped and started the fight back to the top flight. It turned out to be a damp squib. First, overseas duties had removed our best sprinters, jumpers and distance men, then injuries took away several others. And if this was not enough several disasters on the day saw a few dedicated men scrambling about to cover events. But to no avail.

The meeting started badly with confusion as to whether the pole vault was in one or two groups. In the event it didn’t matter as one man didn’t turn up and the other no heighted. Nil points – a Belgrave first. The first track event - the A400 hurdles - saw the first appearance of Christian Roberts fresh from exams with Richard Aspden our 33 year old ex-high jumper covering the B race. We had expected minimum points but Richard delivered a bonus. Seventh and eighth places followed in the long jump - and we had racked up only 12 points from a possible 84 in the first three events.

Above, left to right: Dan Mulhare led from gun to tape in the 3000m. Plenty of height - but only 7th for Gary Wilson in the long jump. Returning from injury Matt Threadgold forsook his speciality, the 400 metre hurdles, but ran first leg in both relays and close to his best in the flat 400. Matthew Morgan is a regular now in the steeplechase - it was his fifth consecutive A string BAL run.

Commonwealth qualifier for Mick Jones

Shafts of sunlight were glimpsed, first as Mick Jones produced a Commonwealth qualifying and World Best M45 distance of 70.38m in the hammer to beat men half his age and then when Paskar Owor claimed second spot in both the A800m and A1500m. Jon Blackledge made a welcome return in the B800 after a year out with injury and despite fading produced more good points. The middle distance men fought hard with Nick Goolab outsprinting Moumin Geele to win the B1500 in a combined race, just a step behind Paskar. Both men were rewarded with 400 relay legs where Paskar recorded 51.4 sec and Nick 52.6 sec. Dan Mulhare and James Fairbourn then lined up for the 3000m. Dan was a class apart, leading from the gun to record a comfortable 8.06.97. James, who is improving race by race, produced a new pb with a fine 8.42.79 effort for fourth spot in the B. In the steeplechase David Mason hung on to Matthew Morgan till 3 laps from home and then hit “the wall” and several barriers on the way but nonetheless we scored 10 points through our chasers.

Fast opener from Set Osho

Elsewhere the sprints were producing mixed fortunes. New member Luke Giblin slowed in the B100 with hamstring tightness and played no further part in proceedings while Wade Bennett-Jackson ran a season’s best in the A100 but slowed up in the A200 and retired hurt. Meanwhile Set Osho ran his fastest first race of any season to come third in the A400 in 47.48 sec. He then replaced Luke in the B200 to gain a season’s best of 21.84sec and second spot. A very good day’s work for him.

James Everard was pulling in points in the high jump, javelin and triple jump, while Richard Aspden added the B110H, and both relays to his earlier 400H effort. His long relay split of 49.8 must surely inspire him to start doing some training. Matt Threadgold too returned from injury and although unable to run his specialist 400H event contributed with solid performances in the B400, and both relays.

So the jumps and sprints had struggled and the throws too (with the exception of Mick Jones) had underperformed. Mark Allen hadn’t picked up a shot since the last match, last season, so his support was much appreciated.

There is much room for improvement in many areas and with the enthusiasm of new younger members we hope for better days ahead.

100m: 5 W Bennett-Jackson10.61/1.1; 7 L Giblin 11.22/-1.4. 200m: 7 W Bennett-Jackson 22.11/-0.6; 2 S Osho 21.84/-0.9. 400m: 3 S Osho 47.48; 6 M Threadgold 49.69. 800m: 2 P Owor 1:51.71; 4 J Blackledge 1:55.54. 1500m: 2 P Owor 3:49.40; 1 N Goolab 3:49.83. 3000m: 1 D Mulhare 8:06.97; 4 J Fairbourn 8:42.79. 110mH: 7 J Evling-White 17.60/-1.7; 5 R Aspden 18.12/-1.1. 400mH: 8 C Roberts 56.12; 7 R Aspden 58.88. 3000mSC: 6 M Morgan 10:20.26; 5 D Mason 11:35.74. HJ: 7 T Gardner 2.00; 7 J Everard 1.80. LJ: 7 G Wilson 6.89/0.3; 8 D Wellstead 6.10/0.3. TJ: 6 D Wellstead 14.21/-1.3; 5 J Everard 12.42/-1.0. PV: S Colgate nht; no B competitor. SP: 7 M Wiseman 14.31; 4 M Allen 13.84. DT: 7 M Wiseman M40 51.24; 5 L Marar M40 48.63. JT: 6 J Everard 60.23; 4 W Smith 54.54. HT: 3 M Jones M45 70.36; 5 M Richards 57.14. 4x100m: 7 Belgrave H 44.94 (M Threadgold, R Aspden, J Evling-White, S Osho). 4x400m: dq Belgrave 3:24.6 (M Threadgold 50.8, R Aspden 49.8, N Goolab 52.6, P Owor 51.4).

Above, left to right: It was Set Osho's fastest ever opening 400m of the season. Luke Giblin made his debut for the Bels in the B 100 but a tight hamstring took him out of further action.

James Fairbourn (11) hustled to an 8:42.79 personal best in the BAL Premiership 3000m at Copthall Stadium on June 5th and is headed here by Owain Jones (Windsor SE&H) and trailed by Dave Norman (City of Manchester) and Bertie Powell (Woodford Green wEL).

After one match	League Points	Match Points
Woodford Green w Essex Ladies	8	348
Newham & Essex Beagles	7	322
Birchfield H	6	278
City of Manchester	5	277
Enfield & Haringey	4	258
Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC	2.5	240
Shaftesbury Barnet H	2.5	240
Belgrave H	1	209

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