We were all back at Central Park for the 3rd fixture of the SCVAC Kent Vets League. The weather once again was kind, as was the traffic but sadly no electronic timing this week.
On the track we had the shortest sprint and middle distances with the 100m and 800m as well as a 4x100m relay and in the field Long Jump, Shot and Hammer.
The night began with wins for Sam Williams (13.7) and Daniela Sage (13.6) in the W35 100m A and B string races and those results were mirrored in the M35 races with Duayne Bovell and James Burton both comfortably winning their races in 11.6 and 12.2 secs respectively.
In the field, an opening jump of 5.39m was enough for Ashley Reid to win the M35 Long Jump – a competition that was condensed due to the scheduling of the Long Jump close to the 100m.
A note for the schedulers – the nature of the event lends itself to sprinters crossing over so a lot of athletes were only able to take one or two jumps before having to head off to the 100m.
One of those was Ian Firla (M50) who still had time to jump a seasons best 4.51m for 4th place, not long before finishing 5th in the 100m (14.1 secs)
Jennie Butler finished one place higher in 4th in the W50 100m with a time of 15.8secs.
Strangely there was no M60 or M70 100m event for the men, but there was for the women with Jackie Montgomery grabbing 3rd place, despite finishing with the same time as the 4th place athlete (18.4 secs)
Jackie’s night was far from finished either as she would later finish 3rd in the W60 Long Jump (2.87m) and 2nd in the W60 Hammer (15.90m) – valuable points for the team which I’m sure were much appreciated.
A 2nd place for Helen Godsell would have continued the upward trend in the 100m races, but as usual she was in a different postcode to the rest in the W70 race finishing nearly 7 secs ahead in 15.8secs
She also won her W70 Long Jump competition in a club record 2.92m – well done Helen!
One event where you don’t usually see athletes crossover is the 100m and 800m, but Sam Williams did just that putting in a captain’s shift, jumping back on the track in the 800m finishing a respectable 4th in the A string (2:52.00) with Sarah Bealon not far behind placing 3rd for the B string with a seasons best 2:56.8
The mens W35 A and B string runners were similarly close together on track, with David Adams placing 4th with a seasons best 2:14.4 and there was personal best of 2:15.2 for Micah Evans for 3rd place for the B string.
Mens team manager Steve Hough was also competing on the night in the M50 800m, finishing 4th in 2.29.5 while there was a 4th place finish for Roger Beswick in the M60 race in a time of 2:38.0.
There was also a first appearance of the season for John Turner who ran 3:33.2 for 2nd place in the M70 race.
Finally, in a close finish Jennie Butler was just edged into 2nd place despite running a season’s best 2.38.3 in the W50 800m.
In the shot put competitions, there were valuable points collected by Sam Williams and Paul Sutherland (both 5th), Tim Ayres (6th) and Rita Awatefe-Aydin (4th)
Rita was also in action in the hammer competition, again finishing 4th, along with Ian Firla (6th), Daniela Sage (5th) and an impressive event debut for Simon Tolson (M55) who threw 21.78m for 2nd place in the M35 event.
Once again the night was finished off with a pair of 4x100m relays.
An impressive last leg from Sam Williams allowed her to reel in the Dartford runner and pip her for second place by 0.1secs (57.3) and there was another dominant victory for the men’s team with a finishing time of 46.4 secs.
On the night the women’s team finished 2nd to remain 2nd in the league, a point ahead of Dartford in 3rd and 4 points adrift of top spot so looking positive to make the finals with 3 fixtures remaining.
The men’s team ended up 4th on the night by an agonising one point and whilst they remain in 3rd place overall, the top two are 5 and 6 points clear. It will be tough to close that down but not insurmountable and won’t be for want of trying I’m sure as we look ahead to fixture 4 at Tonbridge on 11th July.
Ashley Reid