THURROCK made its debut in the Southern Athletics League, which caters for mixed teams of senior men and senior women, at Dartford on Saturday and were pleased with their 2nd place in the 5 team match.
They were neck and neck with Dartford for most of the match but the home club pulled away over the last hour of the 6 hour competition to win by 282 to 232.
For the men, man of the match was 19 year old Dennis Cross who won the 5k with a time of 16m41s just pipping team mate Scott Rice who was 2s slower. In 4th place in the same race was non scorer David Johnson with a time of 17m35s.
Other A string winners were Nick Houghton 800m, Don Lawless 2k steeplechase, Dan George high jump, Michael Shortall 110m hurdles and Douane Jibonoh in the shot.
Winners in the B string events were Alec Finch 800m, Nick Houghton 400m and Mark Jenkins in the 400m hurdles.
Mark Jenkins was the top points scorer putting in strong performances in 6 events. Aiden Simpson made a good debut in the senior ranks contributing 10 points in the jumps, after Dan George’s withdrawal with knee problems. 17 year old Douane Jibonoh looks an outstanding addition to the squad scoring well in all 4 throws.
Jack Farmer made a storming start to the season with a 52.5s 400m missing first place by a fraction of a second. Orsett’s veteran star Jon Metcalf put in sterling performances in the 400m and relays.
