THURROCK’S senior track and field squad had a tough outing at Hemel Hempstead on Sunday. They finished 5th in a 6 team match but their points score of 206.5 represented the equivalent of a football team scoring 5 goals and still losing!!
Remarkably 139 of those 206 points came from just 5 athletes. Top scorer on the day with a total of 34 points was Ben Gibbs. His best performance was an excellent win in 100m and his 11.92m triple jump earned him 3rd place.
As always Michael Shortall’s contribution was mammoth. He dominated both hurdles events and, pleasingly took two 2nd places in the sprints. His other efforts came in jumps which earned the team 8 points.
Dan George has been competing in these matches for 18 years now, and in spite of restricted training opportunities turns in quality performances. On Sunday his best effort was a win in the B string high jump with 1.75m.
Under 20 athlete Aiden Simpson scored a pleasing win in the high jump and pole vaulted to a pb of 2.60m for 3rd place in that event.
For the ladies Sue Lawrence, still nursing a painful neck injury, managed 3 good wins in the throws and took 2nd place in the javelin to be the women’s top points scorer.
Another eye catching performance on the ladies side was Natalie Cockerell’s debut in the hammer. She won the B string with a good throw of 24.83m. Another throws winner was Madeleine Cannell who won the B string discus and was 3rd in the B string javelin.
Seniz Jessener made a promising debut in the triple jump where she finished 2nd leaping to 9.10m.
The women’s team were boosted by the contribution of 2 under 17s; Libby Milne and Maisie Webb whose best efforts came in the long jump where they each finished 3rd.
Another young debutant on the mens side was Emmanuel Orebela who showed promise in the sprints, particularly for the 400m.
The middle distances provided stiff competition for the men. Best effort was Scott Rice’s 9m37s for the 3k. Scott, Adam Dowman, Luke Strudwick and Jon Metcalf performed manfully to cover all the endurance events. V55 Jon Metcalf’s 2m18s for the 800m will give him a spot at the top of the national age ranking lists.
If the team are to earn promotion in this division there are obvious weaknesses that need to be addressed. However, judging by the opposition on Sunday the competition in this division is going to test all the clubs strength and depth.
