National Junior League 2001: Match 3, Guildford
Going into the third match at Guildford five points covered the first four clubs with Belgrave in fourth spot. Six hours later, and in spite of having seven blanks on the team sheet, it was announced that Belgrave had finished a close second to Harrow but scrutinisation of the results later revealed that Belgrave had in fact narrowly won the meeting and now a mere three points covered the top four clubs. It's all to play for in the last match although whatever happens, Paul Ireland and his team are well on course for a place in the National Final where the top four Southern teams will meet a corresponding quartet of clubs from the North.
The sprints provided rich pickings in the search for points as Tim Abeyie cruised to easy victories and was well backed up by the 400 metre runners Jon Simpson and Andrew Bennett. Greg Beard and Grant Sprigings proved to be a formidable duo in the throws and young Gary Wilson turned in another great long jump competition but the man who popped up everywhere was John Dickinson – hammer, pole vault, long jump, 400m hurdles – it was all the same to him as he scoured the arena for points.
Teams: 1 Harrow AC 306, 2 Belgrave H 299; 3 Shaftesbury Barnet H; 4 Enfield & Haringey 296; 5 Blackheath H 211; 6 Aldershot F&D AC 203; 7 Milton Keynes AC 199; 8 Swansea H 130.
100m: 1 T.Abeyie 10.6; 2 J.Ellington 11.2. 200m: 1 T.Abeyie 21.4; 3 J.Regis 22.9. 400m: 1 J.Simpson 49.3; 1 A.Bennett 49.9. 800m: no runners. 1500m: 7 J.Skilbeck-Nelson 4:35.2; 8 B.Sharpe 5:13.2. 3000m: 7 D.Mallin 9:24.6; 6 J.Skilbeck-Nelson 10:31.5. 110mH: dnf T.Sinclair. 400mH: 1 A.Bennett 55.6; 1 J.Dickinson 62.7. 2000mSC: no runners. HJ: 1 J.Hardie 2.00; 2 B.Sharpe 1.70. LJ: 1 G.Wilson 6.75; 1 J.Dickinson 6.61. TJ: 1 S.Majekadumno 14.34; 2 D.Wellstead 13.28. PV: 3 J.Dickinson 3.70. SP: 1 G.Beard 17.33; 1 G.Sprigings 13.56. DT: 1 G.Beard 49.51; 1 G.Sprigings 38.25. JT: 3 J.Hardie 43.61; 3 J.Dickinson 37.27. HT: 5 G.Sprigings 33.97; 4 J.Dickinson 23.65. 4x100m: 2 Belgrave 43.4 (J.Simpson, J.Ellington, J.Regis, T.Abeyie). 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 3:23.6 (D.DeEmmony 53.1, D.Mallin 52.6, A.Bennett 50.2, J.Simpson 47.7).
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.