National Junior Athletics League 2004: Match 3, Palmer Park, Reading

Men and women heading for promotion

Our small teams - 8 women and 10 men - travelled to Reading with no great expectations. Both men and women had won in the previous round but for this match the men's team, in particular, had been hit by exams and the fact that four of our top points scorers were on international duty in Mannheim, Germany. Imagine, then, the delight with which the women's results were received at the end of the afternoon, with Belgrave in first place. And ten minutes later, when the men's team scores were announced it was cause for double celebrations when our lads were declared winners by a single point! (No doubt the results will be scrutinised carefully.)

With one more match to go both teams now look destined for promotion to the Southern Premier Division and a crack at the National Championship in 2005. The men have been there before, of course, but this is the first ever year that our women's team have contested the National Junior Athletics League - and when one sees the enthusiasm and effort they put into their competition one has to say, "why didn't we do this before?".

Again Toks Hassan did some heavy points scoring in the sprints and she was well backed up by Fran Gregory and Sharena McGregor. Where did that 27.5 in the 200m come from Sharena! Michelle Nestor looks every inch a class triple jumper; she won the long jump too and showed up well in the high jump and shot. Louise Collier front ran an exciting 800, where the Reading girl stuck to her like glue for 750m, and also impressed in the 400m and long relay.

Meanwhile, in the middle distances, Imogen Ainsworth might have been racing without a Belgrave B string as a companion but she looked majestic as she completely dominated the 3000 metres and turned out again to pull off a win in the 1500 metres as well. She has done this now in each of the three matches - what a talent.

For the women a terrific afternoon was rounded off by Toks Hassan's attempt to catch the leaders in the last lap of the 4x400 metres relay. Maybe 50m down at the takeover, she stormed the first 150m, cruised ever closer down the back straight and then turned it on again for the final bend. The task was just too much but she clocked an outstanding 58.5 for her split.

As with the women's team, much doubling and trebling up of events enabled the majority of events to be covered by the men. Kevin Sempers and Mark Allen, fresh from their exploits at the AAA U20 Decathlon Champs at Stoke the previous weekend, gave us eight key wins. Aaron Abiri won both horizontal jumps while 200m/400m men Jason Hussain, Gavin Selway and Set Osho were dominant in their events and contributed greatly to our two relay wins. But when the winning margin is only a single point, one can look at the results and see how every single effort was important: Jonathan Regis - pulling up in the A 100 metres with a knee problem and then running through in last place to get his points; Jamie Macrae - filling in as many places as he could to cover the middle distances; Roy Collier - adding the 800 metres to his normal jumps and throws.

Let's not forget the officials either. Their presence earned 35 points - enough to sway both matches our way. And the spectators too, in particular Mr and Mrs. Dinham who came along to add their support even though their son Ryan was in action in Germany.

Well done Team Managers. What a great couple of teams you run.

U20 Men.

1 Belgrave 299; 2 Milton Keynes 298; 3 Vale of Aylesbury 272; 4 Reading 210; 5 Hillingdon 195; 6 Oxford City 80; 7 Thames Valley 51; 8 Sutton & Dist. 38.

100m: 6 J.Regis 16.0; 1 K.Sempers 11.3; n/s 1 J.Hussain 11.1. 200m: 1 J.Hussain 22.7. 400m: 1 G.Selway 50.1; 1 S.Osho 49.4. 800m: 4 J.Macrae 2:11.6; 4 R.Collier 2:14.2. 3000m: 4 J.Macrae 10:58.1. 110mH: 1 K.Sempers 14.6; 1 M.Allen 15.6. 400mH: 4 L.Sargeant 74.6; 2 J.Macrae 68.8. 2000mSC: J.Macrae 7:30.6. HJ: 1 K.Sempers 1.90; 1 M.Allen 1.75. LJ: 1 A.Abiri 6.22; 4 L.Sargeant 4.88. TJ: 1 A.Abiri 13.37; 4 L.Sargeant 7.53. PV: 1 M.Allen 4.20; 1 R.Collier 9.87. SP: 2 M.Allen 15.08; 3 R.Collier 9.87. DT: 1 M.Allen 46.30; 1 K.Sempers 35.41. JT: 3 K.Sempers 42.40; 3 J.Regis 14.06. HT: 3 R.Collier 35.41; 2 J.Macrae 13.27. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 44.9 (G.Selway, J.Regis, S.Osho, J.Hussain). 4x400m: 1 Belgrave 3:28.2 (R.Collier 56.4, G.Selway 50.1, J.Hussain 50.1, S.Osho 51.6).

U20 Women.

1 Belgrave 228; 2 Reading 213; 3 Harrow 180; 4 Hillingdon 156; 5 Thames Valley 129; 6 Vale of Aylesbury 92; 7 Oxford City 16 (places 2 to 7 unconfirmed).

100m: 2 T.Hassan 12.9; 2 F.Gregory 13.2. 200m: 1 T.Hassan 26.5; 1 S.McGregor 27.5. 400m: 2 L.Collier 61.1; 2 F.Gregory 66.0. 800m: 1 L.Collier 2:21.7; 2 S.McGregor 2:42.4. 1500m: 1 I.Ainsworth 5:14.1; 3000m: 1 I.Ainsworth 11:08.3. 100mH: 2 S.Kemp 20.4. HJ: 2 M.Nestor 1.50; 1 S.McGregor 1.40. LJ: 1 M.Nestor 5.12; 1 T.Hassan 4.44. TJ: 1 M.Nestor 11.07. SP: 3 M.Nestor 6.92; 3 S.Kemp 5.77. DT: 6 I.Ainsworth 13.61. JT: 4 F.Gregory 14.36; 2 L.Collier 9.17. HT: 5 S.Kemp 11.83. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 53.0 (S.Kemp, F.Gregory, M.Nestor, S.McGregor). 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 4:14.2 (I.Ainsworth 64.7, L.Collier 63.4, F.Gregory 67.6, T.Hassan 58.5).

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