WHAT a week for the Harriers. One event followed another with hardly a chance for athletes and officials to catch their breath between each meeting.
The central event was the 4th round of the Southern
Athletics League at Braintree, which to the delight of the team management the
Club won.
Man of the match has to be Joe Winn. He leapt over 2m for the
first time. His is only the 3rd man in the Club’s history to achieve this mark
and before long the 16 year old student will surely overtake the club record of
2.03m. He also won the long jump with a good 6.17m.
Ben Gibbs, although
performing to his usual high standard in 7 events, notched up his only won in
the B 110m hurdles. However, his 28 point contribution was invaluable.
Michael Shortall earned 33 points in 7 events including an excellent win in
the 400m hurdles and the B 200m in a seasons best time of 23.6s.
Other winners with Glen Rawlinson in the javelin with his first competitive throw over
40m. Nigel Instance gave him excellent support by winning the B string. Aiden
Simpson won the B high jump with 1.75m and pole vaulted to 2nd place. V50
veterans were well to the fore. Jon Metcalf’s 2m15.7s 800m will rank him 4th
nationally in his age group for this event. Mark Jenkins won the B pole vault
and took 2nds in the B hammer and shot.
The middle distance squad made a strong contribution. Scott Rice won the 3k comprehensively and finished 3rd in the steeplechase. Adam Dowman won the B 3k and the B steeplechase and filled in strongly in the 400m hurdles by finishing 2nd in the B string.
Alec Finch won both the 800m and 1500m in good times and ran a really strong leg in the 4 x 400m. Luke Strudewicke returned easily his best effort in club colours by
running 56.6 in the 400m. It was great to see Jack Farmer, also back from
University but short of training, returning a very good 55.2 400m which earned
him 3rd place.
The seven women who competed made strong contributions to the team
effort. Natalie Le Beau won the 100m, high jump and long jump as part of her 27
point contribution. The throws as always were a treasure trove of points for the
club. Sue Lawrence won the shot, discus and javelin, Maddie Cannell won the B
discus and 2nd in the B javelin. The very promising Natalie Cockerell was 2nd in
the B shot and B hammer. At last the middle distance event threw up some great
performances. Brooke Mensah won the 1500m and earned good points in the long
jump and 400m. Rebecca Barnard making a very welcome return in club colours was
3rd in the 800m with the good time of 2m28s. She also won the B high jump.
Charlotte Edwards, like Rebecca back from Uni, earned a total of 14 points in
the 400, 800 and 1500m.
Final score Thurrock 311, Huntingdon 298, Braintree
244.5, Loughton 201.5, West Norfolk and Dereham 111.
Winning medals in an
Essex Endurance Championship is always an exciting achievement and on Sunday the Club won a total of 5. The women’s team took bronze medals. Toni Noble (43m39), Jodie Farrell (44m31) and Victoria Peacock (46m41m) constituted the team and should feel very proud of this effort. Jodi Farrell’s performance earned her
silver in the V45 section. Mick Bumstead was the 5th medallist winning gold in
the V60 section. It will be interesting to see how many medals this talented
athlete has won over the past 30 years.
Other finishers were David Johnson, back to Thurrock from his home in the north east, with a personal best of 34m. Keith Willett 37m47 (personal best) and Paul Mitchell 44m56. 414 athletes
finished.
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The veterans team has been a great success this year and in a tightly fought match at Chelmsford finished 3rd. However their target must be to reach the regional final by finishing 2nd in the league. They can do this by finishing in the top 2 in the last match at Lee Valley.
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In the Eastern Valley
Championships there were some hither to unreported great performances. Amber
Pullinger (under 15) 800m 1st 2m18.04 (pb). Harry Parker (under 13) 800m 1st
2m25.6. Finley Lowe (under 15) 800m 2m30s. Demi Eaves (under 13) 800m 3rd 2m35.7 (pb). Sam Smith (under 17) 800m 5th 2m8.22 (pb). Hayley Instance (under 13)
1500m 5th 4m59.1 (pb). Michael Shortall (senior man) 400m hurdles 54.47 season’s
best in 2nd, 110m hurdles 15.86 season’s best in 2nd.
