Men's British Athletics League Division One - 2004: Match 3, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
Victory in sight - but we can still blow it!
Chaston smashes 30 year-old 'chase record
1 Belgrave H 335; 2 Birchfield H 328; 3 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 297; 4 Sale H Manchester 281; 5 Thames Valley H 245; 6 Newham & Essex Beagles 244; 7 Shaftesbury Barnet H 239; 8 Enfield & Haringey AC 196.
If all BAL team managers were paid, this is a week when they would have earned their wedge. With just one week before the AAA’s Olympic trials the BAL offered local competition of a high order for aspiring Athens-bound athletes. But inevitably many chose to train rather than compete while others selected hotter climes in an attempt to attain Olympic qualifying standards as an insurance against AAA’s disappointment. And additionally UKA had organised an under 20 International against Australia while the AAA’s somehow thought that a low key fixture in Cork was a good idea. We lost eight of our A team men to the U20 match and two to Cork. Take all that and a further 4 athletes withdrawing due to illness and you get the picture. It was tough for us and all Division 1 clubs.
So there we were, a brave band of 25 aiming to strengthen our number one slot. And what a performance they produced, with several pb’s and a quite astonishing League record from Justin Chaston, ensuring a win by the smallest of margins from host club Birchfield.
With five field events taking place before the first track contest we knew that they could provide the key to motivating the rest of the team. And they did not disappoint; with Mick Jones winning the A hammer by a 5m margin while John Osazuwa gave us second spot in the B. Then Cameron Johnston took some quality scalps to secure second in the A pole vault with Mark Allen gaining equal second in the B in blustery conditions. Two more second places followed in the long jump with Darragh O’Farrell leading Jonathan Moore until the last round and Will Sharman starting a busy afternoon that was to ensure he remained our top points scorer in 2004. Good points followed in the discus with Abi Ekoku again winning the B event. Scot Thompson was a bit below par but made amends later in the shot where again he was partnered by Abi in Chris Gearing’s absence. And then two firsts in the high jump with both Ben Challenger and Samson Oni looking sharp; the now gale force headwind had it’s effect on the heights although Ben had one close call at 2.25.
So as the track started we had amassed 109 points from a possible maximum of 140 to give us a clear lead which was to be first widened and then reduced in a nail-biting climax. Noel Levy was our sole 400 hurdler and responded with a fine win in the continuing difficult conditions. Then an injured Chris Moss insisted on competing in the 800 and gained an excellent second spot to Matt Shone a position repeated in the B event by the improving Darren Gauson who was to add further good points in the 1500 which was won easily by a front running Spencer Barden seeking a speed test before the AAA’s 5000. Then to the 100’s with Mark Lewis Francis heading a strong Birchfield challenge. Graham Beasley, complete with blistered foot, sustained in an earlier race in Genoa, held his nerve after a false start to get a fine third spot after his blocks slipped and he had given the field a three metre start. Darren Chin looks to be back after injury as he just held on for maximum points in the B. But both sprinters were not up for the 200 because of their recent injuries and the imminence of the Olympic trials but last minute substitutes Geoff Dearman and Louis Evling Jones acquitted themselves well with the AAA’s newly crowned decathlon champion setting a pb in the B event.
Meanwhile in the triple jump Seni Majekodunmi was gaining the scalp of International Tosin Oke and almost caught Larry Achike to finish a crucial third in the A event. Over at the javelin new member Tom Dobbing returned some respectability to this event (after the sudden early season retirement of Stuart Faben) and was ably backed up by long jump specialist and former decathlete Darragh O’Farrell.
The 400 was expected to be a problem following the withdrawal the day before of specialists Sean Baldock, Set Osho and Gavin Selway due to sickness. But Geoff Dearman stepped up to the plate and ran his best race of the season in the A and Louis Evling Jones gained second spot in the B to keep us ahead of a rapidly closing Birchfield who had two wins in the 5000. Jonathan Blackledge ran within 4 seconds of his pb to show he is over a virus infection but that was only good enough for sixth place in a classy race where Irish International Fiache Lombard could only make third spot. The high hurdles included one of the strongest fields with six of the contestants having pb’s of under 14 seconds. Will Sharman had the worst lane draw in 8 where the headwind was greatest. Nonetheless he ran an excellent 14.10 secs into what was officially a 0.8m/s headwind. Fellow decathlete junior Mark Allen ran a big pb to gain more valuable points in the B race.
And so to the concluding three events. First to the sprint relay where Graham Beasley and Darren Chin represented our total specialist sprint talent and were backed by decathletes - Will Sharman and Louis Evling Jones. Will is becoming a leadoff specialist and as in match 2 gave a respectable lead to Graham who extended it to provide the basis for a fine win in 41.28 secs. Then to the steeplechase where Justin Chaston looked superb as he led from the gun following a pre-race plan to run the first 1000m fast, ease for a 1000m, and then boot the last kilometre. He finished fresh after this solo effort and one wondered if the Olympic A qualifying time would have gone with better conditions and some help with the middle order pacing. This was a new league record breaking the previous best of 8.35.0 set by Steve Hollings of Sale on the 24th August 1974. And long before the final event the team managers had decided it would be impossible to get a long relay team to the start line. Everyone had given a 110% effort to get to this point and there was just nothing left. The other teams thought we had done our sums and were safe but with the point scoring lagging behind the results we were far from certain. But as the long relay points were added in it became clear that we had won by a very small margin. Each and everyone’s contribution had been vital – not least that of our physio Emma Lilley who worked flat out all day to keep the show on the road.
Match 4 and the final result of this year’s league is now firmly in our hands. We can still lose it but will do our best not to. Roll on 31st July.
Justin’s travel troubles
Justin Chaston’s remarkable run in Birmingham on Saturday is even more special when you consider his travelling itinerary. Justin left Denver Colorado on Tuesday, switching airlines in New York before flying the red eye to arrive in Heathrow at 6.50 Wednesday morning. After a lengthy wait it became clear that his bags were somewhere else. (Still in New York) and he was not re-united with them until Thursday when he collected them from the airport before driving to Wales for a re-union with his grandparents. On Friday he drove to Birmingham to stay at the team hotel and the rest as they say is history. To what does Justin attribute his remarkable form? Living at Colorado Springs at 7000ft is the simple answer.
100m: A (+2.6) 1 M.Lewis Francis (Birchfield) 10.39; 2 D.Plummer (Newham &EB) 10.55; 3 Graham Beasley (Belgrave) 10.68; 4 D.Money (Sale HM 10.72; 5 M.Dickson (Woodford GwEL) 10.73; 6 R.Moseley (Shaftesbury B) 10.73; 7 A.Yambasa (Thames V) 10.88; 8 M.Walker (Enfield &H) 10.90. B (+1.9) 1 Darren Chin (Belgrave) 10.55; 2 M.Findlay (Newham &EB) 10.56; 3 S.Barnes (Birchfield) 10.82; 4 I.Kennedy (Shaftesbury B) 10.84; 5 G.Jones (Sale HM) 10.87; 6 J.Thomas (Woodford GwEL) 10.89; 7 J.Niccol (Enfield &H) 10.99; 8 C.Roberts (Thames V) 11.04.
200m: A (+1.3) 1 G.Hedman (Woodford GwEL) 21.02; 2 D.Money (Sale HM) 21.49; 3 D.Plummer (Newham &EB) 21.50; 4 S.Barnes (Birchfield) 21.92; 5 R.Moseley (Shaftesbury B) 22.05; 6 J.Niccol (Enfield &H) 22.37; 7 A.Yambasa (Thames V) 22.44; 8 Geoff Dearman (Belgrave) 22.48. B (+3.0) 1 M.Findlay (Newham &EB) 21.43; 2 J.Stewart (Sale HM) 21.78; 3 A.Gugallo (Shaftesbury B) 21.93; 4 M.Walker (Enfield &H) 22.15; 5 Louis Evling Jones (Belgrave) 22.24; 6 J.Wright (Woodford GwEL) 22.90; 7 T.Patton (Thames V) 23.26; 8 D.Brandwood (Birchfield) 23.48.
400m: A 1 M.Audu (Woodford GwEL) 47.41; 2 L.Beseyni (Birchfield) 47.98; 3 A.Fernandez (Thames V) 48.06; 4 Geoff Dearman (Belgrave) 48.91; 5 I.Lowthian 49.07; 6 R.Nicholls (Enfield &H) 49.18; 7 P.Opperman (Shaftesbury B) 49.45; 8 R.Smith (Newham &EB) 49.48. B 1 R.Tabares (Birchfield) 48.35; 2 Louis Evling Jones (Belgrave) 48.61; 3 A.Wilkinson (Sale HM) 49.48; 4 L.Grant (Woodford GwEL) 49.76; 5 K.Appiah (Enfield &H) 50.02; 6 B.Gibb (Shaftesbury B) 51.85; 7 L.Dale (Newham &EB) 51.87; 8 R.Smith (Thames V) 52.00.
800m: A 1 M.Shone (Woodford GwEL) 1:49.79; 2 Chris Moss (Belgrave) 1:50.59; 3 G.Price (Shaftesbury B) 1:53.95; 4 D.Clark (Thames V) 1:54.84; 5 A.Borsumato (Sale HM) 1:55.29; 6 P.Moores (Birchfield) 1:55.55; 7 L.Dale (Newham &EB) 1:55.66; 8 N.Gamester (Enfield &H) 2:00.76. B 1 S.Bailey (Sale HM) 1:52.98; 2 Darren Gauson (Belgrave) 1:53.44; 3 A.Hennessey (Thames V) 1:54.09; 4 A.Dean (Shaftesbury B) 1:54.86; 5 J.Long (Woodford GwEL) 1:55.34; 6 L.Wells (Enfield &H) 1:57.80; 7 T.Penfold (Birchfield) 2:00.23; 8 B.Hellmers (Newham &EB) 2:06.42.
1500m: A 1 Spencer Barden (Belgrave) 3:52.11; 2 T.Payn (Birchfield) 3:56.11; 3 O.Laws (Newham &EB) 3:57.34; 4 S.Bailey (Sale HM) 3:58.64; 5 A.Renfree (Shaftesbury B) 3:58.74; 6 D.Wardle (Thames V) 3:59.31; 7 M.Davies (Woodford GwEL) 4:06.30; 8 S.Mitchell (Enfield &H) 4:07.32. B 1 J.Moorhouse (Birchfield) 3:58.03; 2 R.Goodwin (Sale HM) 4:01.17; 3 T.Bedford (Shaftesbury B) 4:03.30; 4 K.Johnstone (Thames V) 4:04.62; 5 Darren Gauson (Belgrave) 4:05.37; 6 B.Hellmers (Newham &EB) 4:08.13; 7 L.Mangleshot (Woodford GwEL) 4:15.36; 8 R.Fowler (Enfield &H) 4:41.09.
5000m: A 1 W.Taragon (Birchfield) 14:19.19; 2 P.Jacobs (Enfield &H) 14:21.16; 3 F.Lombard (Woodford GwEL) 14:34.66; 4 R.Russell (Thames V) 14:36.02; 5 S.North (Sale HM) 14:41.69; 6 Jonathan Blackledge (Belgrave) 14:46.92; 7 K.Kyereme (Shaftesbury B) 15:19.53; 8 A.Barber (Newham &EB) 15:28.94. B 1 M.Whitehouse (Birchfield) 14:44.66; 2 G.Raven (Sale HM) 14:50.60; 3 A.Morgan-Lee (Woodford GwEL) 15:11.55; 4 J.Brooks (Thames V) 15:21.91; 5 Hassan Raidi (Belgrave) 15:46.51; 6 S.Major (Newham &EB) 15:55.66; 7 K.Pogue (Enfield &H) 16:11.56; 8 T.Waldron (Shaftesbury B) 16:59.74.
110mH: A (-0.8) 1 R.Newton (Sale HM) 13.68; 2 D.Greaves (Newham &EB) 13.88; 3 A.Scott (Shaftesbury B) 13.88; 4 T.Anthony (Enfield &H) 13.99; 5 Will Sharman (Belgrave) 14.10; 6 C.Baillie (Birchfield) 14.20; 7 R.Alleyne (Woodford GwEL) 14.50; 8 C.Roberts (Thames V) 14.61. B (+1.3) 1 D.Mallins (Newham &EB) 14.42; 2 J.Wright (Woodford GwEL) 15.04; 3 G.Smith (Shaftesbury B) 15.40; 4 A.Hopkinson (Sale HM) 15.44; 5 M.Winship (Enfield &H) 15.51; 6 R.Wood (Thames V) 15.62; 7 Mark Allen (Belgrave U20) 15.99; 8 E.Dunford (Birchfield) 17.27.
400mH: A 1 Noel Levy (Belgrave) 52.35; 2 R.Smith (Newham &EB) 52.80; 3 E.Betts (Thames V) 53.00; 4 B.Yiend (Birchfield) 53.43; 5 R.Scott (Woodford GwEL) 53.50; 6 B.Sumner (Enfield &H) 53.55; 7 T.Carey (Shaftesbury B) 55.36; 8 R.Gascoyne (Sale HM) 56.80. B 1 T.Patton (Thames V) 53.87; 2 D.Brandwood (Birchfield) 54.19; 3 J.Hopkins (Enfield &H) 54.26; 4 K.Deighton (Woodford GwEL) 56.76; 5 D.Hardman (Sale HM) 62.88; 6 Leigh Crispen (Newham &EB) 68.90; dnf Louis Evling Jones (Belgrave).
3000mSC: A 1 Justin Chaston (Belgrave) 8:30.52 (League Record); 2 D.Mitcheson (Newham &EB) 9:06.65; 3 Z.Kihara (Birchfield) 9:19.99; 4 A.Hennessey (Thames V) 9:24.43; 5 R.Williams (Shaftesbury B) 9:26.58; 6 J.Bailey (Sale HM) 9:26.84; 7 K.Murphy (Woodford GwEL) 9:31.02; 8 S.Mitchell)Enfield &H) 10:19.91. B 1 G.Cornish (Sale HM) 9:32.30; 2 J.Sear (Woodford GwEL) 9:43.65; 3 K.Kyereme (Shaftesbury B) 9:58.61; 4 S.Norris (Thames V) 10:06.76; 5 Will Cockerell (Belgrave) 10:09.33; 6 E.Merlin (Newham &EB) 10:16.73; 7 K.Ndugu (Enfield &H) 11.11.90.
4x100m Relay: 1 Belgrave 41.28 (Will Sharman, Graham Beasley, Louis Evling Jones, Darren Chin); 2 Sale HM 41.78; 3 Thames V 41.95; 4 Woodford GwEL 42.02; 5 Enfield &H 42.12; 6 Shaftesbury B 44.85; dnf Birchfield & Newham &EB.
4x400m Relay: 1 Sale HM 3:14.76; 2 Woodford GwEL 3:15.09; 3 Birchfield 3:15.42; 4 Thames V 3:20.23; 5 Enfield &H 3:21.11; 6 Shaftesbury B 3:30.36; dq Newham &EB; dns Belgrave.
High Jump: A 1 Ben Challenger (Belgrave) 2.15; 2 D.Stone (Shaftesbury B) 2.10; 3 A.Scarr (Enfield &H) 2.00; 4 D.Plank (Birchfield) 1.95; =5 M.Uddin (Thames V) & G.Dyball (Woodford GwEL) 1.90; 7 D.Etheridge (Sale HM) 1.90; 8 N.Obah (Newham &EB) 1.75. B 1 Samson Oni (Belgrave) 2.05; 2 E.Dunford (Birchfield) 1.90; 3 R.Wood (Thames V) 1.90; 4 G.Wiencke (Shaftesbury B) 1.85; 5 G.Plunkett (Sale HM) 1.80; 6 J.Wright (Woodford GwEL) 1.75; 7 L.Tavenier (Enfield&H) 1.70; 8 T.Salou (Newham &EB) 1.60.
Long Jump: A 1 J.Moore (Birchfield) 7.38/1.8; 2 Darragh O’Farrell (Belgrave) 7.13w/4.1; 3 L.Edwards (Newham &EB) 6.84w/3.6; 4 G.Smith (Shaftesbury B) 6.83w/3.5; 5 J.Ramos (Enfield &H) 6.73/1.9; 6 N.Dowsett (Woodford GwEL) 6.71/1.7; 7 S.Benson (Thames V) 6.44/1.6; 8 R.Reeder (Sale HM) 6.16/1.3. B 1 S.Faulkner (Birchfield) 6.95/1.6; 2 Will Sharman (Belgrave) 6.73w/3.3; 3 T.Salou (Newham &EB 6.44w/3.0; 4 C.Baily (Shaftesbury B) 6.37w/3.0; 5 S.Nash (Thames V) 6.17w/4.7; 6 K.Thompson (Sale HM) 6.10w/2.4; 7 L.Okoroafo (Woodford GwEL) 6.08/1.6; 8 L.Tavenier (Enfield &H) 5.53w/2.8.
Triple Jump: A 1 P.Ferdinand (Birchfield) 15.65; 2 L.Achike (Shaftesbury B) 15.37; 3 Seni Majekodunmi (Belgrave) 15.19; 4 T.Oke (Woodford GwEL) 14.85; 5 T.Salou (Newham &EB) 14.73; 6 J.Hilton (Sale HM) 14.56; 7 S.Benson (Thames V) 14.14; 8 T.Isinkaya (Enfield &H) 13.34. B 1 S.Ojo (Woodford GwEL) 14.45; 2 G.Wiencke (Shaftesbury B) 14.06; 3 M.McKernan (Birchfield) 14.01; 4 David Wellstead (Belgrave) 13.01; 5 J.Ramos (Enfield &H) 12.22; 6 R.Gascoyne (Sale HM) 11.88; 7 R.Cameron (Thames V) 11.54.
Pole Vault: A 1 C.North (Woodford GwEL) 4.80; 2 Cameron Johnston (Belgrave) 4.60; 3 M.Beharrell (Sale HM) 4.60; 4 G.Conlon (Thames V) 4.60; 5 S.Day (Shaftesbury B) 4.20; 6 P.Hoad (Enfield &H) 4.00. B 1 D.Pradier (Sale HM) 4.20; =2 A.Davies (Woodford GwEL) & Mark Allen (Belgrave U20) 4.00; 4 S.Leader (Enfield &H) 3.80; 5 W.Huber (Shaftesbury B) 3.00.
Shot: A 1 S.Rider (Birchfield) 17.11; 2 E.Van Vreumingen (Thames V) 17.05; 3 M.Goldebourne (Sale HM) 16.11; 4 Scot Thompson (Belgrave) 15.64; 5 N.Loggenberg (Newham &EB) 15.55; 6 A.Soalla-Bell (Shaftesbury B) 14.84; 7 F.Melie (Enfield &H) 13.45; 8 S.Fricker (Woodford GwEL) 13.30. B 1 A.Thomas (Birchfield) 15.08; 2 S.Hayes (Newham &EB) 14.61; 3 N.Vince (Shaftesbury B) 14.23; 4 G.Sluitor (Thames V) 14.09; 5 Abi Ekoku (Belgrave) 14.06; 6 M.Wiseman (Sale HM) 13.76; 7 C.Saggers (Enfield &H) 13.34; 8 A.Davies (Woodford GwEL) 12.53.
Discus: A 1 E.Udechuku (Woodford GwEL) 57.38; 2 M.Wiseman (Sale HM) 52.91; 3 E.Van Vreumingen (Thames V) 51.90; 4 S.Rider (Birchfield) 51.63; 5 Scot Thompson (Belgrave) 50.35; 6 N.Loggenberg (Newham &EB) 50.16; 7 F.Melie (Enfield &H) 44.67; 8 N.Vince (Shaftesbury B) 39.66. B 1 Abi Ekoku (Belgrave) 49.12; 2 G.Sluitor (Thames V) 46.44; 3 S.Herrington (Birchfield) 43.85; 4 N.Woolcott (Enfield &H) 43.65; 5 S.Fricker (Woodford GwEL) 41.33; 6 M.Goldebourne (Sale HM) 40.15; 7 S.Westlake-Cann (Shaftesbury B) 38.80; 8 W.Beauchamp (Newham &EB) 30.88.
Javelin: A 1 M.Roberson (Newham &EB) 70.74; 2 A.Lovett (Enfield &H) 66.91; 3 D.Carter (Woodford GwEL) 65.89; 4 Tom Dobbing (Belgrave) 65.80; 5 A.Van der Merwe (Birchfield) 64.49; 6 D.Parker (Shaftesbury) 62.70; 7 S.Millar (Thames V) 60.66; 8 G.Plunkett (Sale HM) 59.88. B 1 S.Bennett (Woodford GwEL) 61.25; 2 M.Tarran (Birchfield) 59.38; 3 D.Macdonald (Thames V) 58.97; 4 J.Lundman (Newham &EB) 57.98; 5 Darragh O’Farrell (Belgrave) 49.84; 6 L.Tavenier (Enfield &H) 43.26; 7 C.Baily (Shaftesbury B) 42.47; 8 T.Davison (Sale HM) 26.77.
Hammer: A 1 Mike Jones (Belgrave M40) 72.17; 2 W.Beauchamp (Newham &EB) 67.94; 3 M.Bell (Birchfield) 63.85; 4 C.Saggers (Enfield &H) 61.49; 5 C.Howe (Woodford GwEL) 57.93; 6 C.Walsh (Shaftesbury B) 56.28; 7 D.Robinson (Thames V) 48.27; 8 M.Wiseman (Sale HM) 35.75. B 1 S.Bown (Newham &EB) 66.29; 2 John Osazuwa (Belgrave) 58.41; 3 R.Earle (Woodford GwEL) 54.51; 4 M.Sutton (Birchfield) 51.23; 5 G.Allan (Shaftesbury) 50.44; 6 R.Kidner (Thames V) 47.57; 7 J.Joseph ((Enfield &H) 43.54; 8 T.Davison (Sale HM) 27.65.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.