Match 1 was our furthest fixture of the league this season, taking the team over 2hours and 30minutes to The University of East Anglia’s Sportspark and venue of host club, City of Norwich AC. Being such a distance away we struggled to field a full team and as athletes set off from Bromley, grey skies dampened the mood. Further disappointment came when on arrival we discovered the lack of electronic timing!
Thankfully the weather soon brightened up and the mood lifted. Our small team of 10 women and 19 men attempted to cover A & B strings across 17 track and field disciplines as well as the relays. Their hard work paid off and we managed to score 201 points at the meet.
In the women’s events Alyssa Firla ran a 100m, 400m and the 4x100m relay, setting PB’s in both the 100m and 400m. Louisa Vallins raced the 100m and 4x100m, also setting a PB of 12.7s, placing her 1st in the UK (2024) for her age group and 4th of all time (age group). Silvia Gadzama made her senior league debut in the 200m and earned herself a 26.2s PB in the process! Julia Newman competed 400m and also completed her first 400mH race. Olivia Magee-Brown really went the distance on the track, covering the 800m, 3000m and 2ooom steeplechase! Katy Sugden joined Liv in the chase having also competed in the 1500m. Training partners Hannah Lewis and Elsa Pawson won their strings in the pole vault with Hannah also making her club debut. Showing her multi-event talents Jessie Sargeant leaped in the long jump, launched a javelin, sped over the 100m hurdles, comfortably cleared 1.55m in the high jump and then made her way to leg 2 of the 4x100m relay! In true team manager desperation I competed in 6 events myself; covering the 400m hurdles, shot put, 200m, 100m hurdles, discus and then the 4x100m relay.
Over in the men’s events Duayne Bovell ran a 100m, 200m and a leg in the 4x100m. Dennis Savage joined Duayne in the 100m and relay but also scored points for the team in the horizontal jumps. Leon McBean ran well in the 200m placing 3rd in the string. The 400m saw Bailey Marks-Belaon step up to the A string with a seasons best, later paired with an incredible comeback final leg in the 4x400m relay. Joseph Merry finished the 400m with a PB and also had a strong leg in the relay. Thomas Sugden raced well over the 800m and also formed part of the triumphant 4×400 team. Harrison Vallins also stepped up for the team, after his 200m he then went on the do the relay double! Joseph Scanes, Tiago Ward and Charlie Platt made their senior league debuts, competing in the 1500m, high jump, pole vault and relay respectively. The rest of the Platt family also competed with Roger in the pole vault and hammer and Ben in the javelin. Harry Fage, Mark Constable and Peter Brooks pounded round the track in their races of various distance. Harry set a 3000m steeple chase PB and Peter set an ‘on track’ PB in the 5k! Nehemiah Dick (U17) threw a senior weight PB of 6.63m in the shot put despite the difference to his usual competition weight. Brydon Duncan threw 3/4 available implements, helping the club score lots of points across the discus, shot and hammer. Ian Firla also collected points over a number of events helping to cover the discus, high jump and long jump.
Finally, a big thank you to our officials, without whom the matches would not be possible.
Despite the challenges, overall it was a great day for the team, finishing 4th for this match. I hope to get more athletes out at our next (and closer) match in Woking next month!
Holly Platt
