Match 3 of the Southern Athletic League saw a vast improvement in the weather from match 2. Hosted by Cambridge Harriers at Sutcliffe Park Athletics Track, the venue was much more accessible by public transport than our previous events, giving us a higher turn out for the competition.
The first event of our day was the women’s hammer throw, U23 Abbie Stewart made it to her first SAL of the season. Just a few days ahead of her university graduation (congratulations!) She won her string with a throw of 47.92m. Also in the hammer was SAL regular U20 Sapphire Houston-Ball who placed 2nd in the B string. U17 Charlotte Bloodworth made her SAL debut and threw a non scoring Hammer and senior weight PB of 27.11m! First on the track was Chinedu Ndukwu (U20) and Richard Holt (V50) scoring a combined 8 out of the 10 available points in the 400m hurdles and a SB over the senior height for Richard!
I must admit I missed much of the morning due to my own pole vault warm up and competition, clearing 3m to place 2nd in the A string. Joining me in the women’s pole vault was U23 Hannah Lewis who also leapt to a PB of 3m to win the B string. A massive congratulations to Hannah!
Around the same time and competing solo in the men’s high jump James Nightingale also set a PB of 1.75, while U20 long jumpers Jessie Sargeant and Charlotte Hosp both placed 3rd in the strings with a PB for Charlotte – well done!
Over on the track Chloe Sharp had a massive lead in the 800m, winning the A string almost 15 seconds ahead of the next athlete! U20 Olivia Magee-Brown won the B string and was 4th across the line overall for the race just 0.03s behind the 3rd place A runner. U20 Gerard McGrady made his SAL debut with an impressive 2:02.66 for A string 2nd following an over 3 hour drive from their home in the west country – a big thank you for your commitment to the team! U17 Connor Wray stepped up to score in the senior league to race as the B string. The 800m also saw Lola Bischoff (U20, non scorer) run just outside her seasons best and Ryan Alford-Smith (U17, non scorer) set a new PB of 2:09.80!
In our 100m Chanelle Cole (U23) scored vital points with a seasons best in the A string and was closely followed by Louisa Vallins (V45) who placed 2nd in the B string. Our non scorers were Poppy Ellis-Jones (U17), Rebbeca Abegunde-Williams (U23), Anais Hemetsberger and Daniela Sage (V45) who all raced well! Everyone’s favourite powerhouse, Duayne Bovell (V35), placed 2nd in the A string with Daniel Olatunji (U17) coming 3rd in the B string. Matt Knight, racing for the first time since August 2023, took on 7 Cambridge Harriers in the non scoring mens race, coming out on top to win the race with a speedy 11.36s.
The men’s hammer saw another solo field performance with points scored by Roger Platt (M50). The women’s shot saw debut performances for both our throwers; Joyce Nzekwe (U20) competed in the league for the first time and for Cayen Wang (U23) it was both her first league and club competition! Both athletes placed second in their strings with PBs of 10.72m and 9.15m. In the men’s long jump Ashley Reid (V40) and Chinedu Ndukwu (U20) both had identical jumps of 5.30m. In the men’s shot Brydon Duncan placed 3rd in the A string with 12.82m while Nehemiah Dick (F20, U17) stepped up to the B string after rail replacement services caused chaos for Pat Apntaku’s travel. Nehemiah threw a massive senior weight PB of 7.65m ranking him 4th across all athletes in the category! Pat was allowed to step in on round 2 as a non scorer and went on to throw 10.75m.
Training partners Bailey Marks-Belaon and Joseph Merry both placed 2nd in their strings in the 400m with a PB for Bailey. The decision was made for Zuriel Nwogwugwu (from the same training group) to race as a non scorer due to a recent return from injury and he went on to run the fastest overall time of the day with 50.57s. The women’s 400m saw two 1st place finishes from our U17 runners Leah Kyriacou and Megan Barlow, along with season’s best from non scorer Samantha Williams (V45).
The women’s javelin went well for multieventers Jessie Sargeant and Joyce Nzweke with Jessie placing 2nd and Joyce in 1st with a seasons best. However the celebration of success was unduly cut short as both athletes had to make their way straight to the hurdles where despite already being on her way they decided to run a singular A&B race meaning that although Jessie had already arrived before the race began the starters considered her late and didn’t allow her to run much to the frustration of both Jessie and her teammate Joyce. Joyce went on to win the A race and both athletes went on to prepare for their next events.
The men’s pole vault saw 3rd place and 3.20m for Roger (V50) with good attempts at his PB height of 3.40m. Alan Hardy (V65) also placed 3rd in the string scoring plenty of points for the team! Meanwhile some of the vaulters had to avoid being speared by the javelin throwers, who’s runway crossed the pole vault run up. In the Javelin Ben Platt (U20) threw a season’s best of 43.78m and Pat offered to step in to fill the B string. The women’s triple jump went well for our U20 athletes with a season’s best for Charlotte Hosp (10.40m) and a personal best for Emily Hayden de Carbonnaires (10.13m)!
Back on the track 3000m runners Megan Slattery (U20) and Aurelia Osborne (V45) both did well placing 2nd and 3rd in their strings and both running season’s bests! The men’s 5000m and 110 hurdles disappointingly had no available athletes on the day making our next event the 200m. Our 100m women’s A & B duo returned for the 200m in Chanelle Cole and Louisa Vallins, accompanied by the non scorers Poppy, Rebecca and Samantha who set another season’s best. The men were represented by Sam Mowa (U20) who placed 3rd and Duayne Bovell (V35) who ran a season’s best. They were joined by non scorers Chima Ndukwu (U23) and Harrison Vallins (U17).
Women’s Discus saw Cayen along with Lottie Palmer (U17) and the collection of 6 points between them! Jessie on her next event took the win and set a season’s best in the high jump while Chloe, always up for helping the team, jumped 1.25m to score some points. Pat made yet another appearance in the triple jump to earn yet more points for the team while Brydon threw 38.95m for 3rd in Discus and Simon Tolson (V55) made his first 2024 SAL appearance throwing 21.63m for B string 4th.
The 1500m was packed full of our younger runners, and every runner in both the mens and women’s set PB’s during the race! Mark Constable (U20) ran 4:09.24 for A string 4th, Lucas Elmqvist (U17) won the B string in 4:11.38 and Ben O’Grady (U17) ran 4:18.87. In the women’s Islay Pearson (U17) set a PB of 5:39.43! Desperate for the points, I filled the gap in the B string also running a PB of 6:34.10, not too bad for a pole vaulter with a 20m run up!
Our final races of the day were the relays and women’s steeplechase. The club did well in the relays, winning 3 out of 4! Chloe came straight from a 2000m steeplechase win and PB of 6:52.68 into the 4x400m relay!
Relay results were as follows
Senior Women 4×100 – 51.31 3rd place
Senior Men 4×100 – 44.15 1st place
Senior Women 4×400 – 4:15.15 1st place
Senior Men 4×400 – 3:35.78 1st place
A big thank you to all the athletes, parents, coaches, spectators and officials who helped to make match 3 such a great event!
