Friday 17th May saw the return of the Southern Counties Vets League, with a home fixture held at our own Norman Park track.
For those new to SCVAC Vets League here’s a brief overview of the format:
- There are 6 fixtures across the season
- Each fixture has 2 track events and 3-4 field events. 4 of the fixtures also include relays.
- There are 3 age categories, V35-50, V50-60 and V60+
- Each club enters one athlete per event (except in the V35-50 track events where there is an A string and B string race)
- There are 2 divisions, with 6 clubs in each (both Blackheath & Bromley Mens and Womens teams are currently in Division 1) therefore 6 athletes per event.
- The winner of each event gets 6 points, 2nd gets 5 points and so on.
- At the end of each fixture the points are totalled up and as with the individual events the teams get 6 points for a win, 5 points for 2nd etc…. in the league table
Hope that all makes sense…..!
The track events for Fixture 1 were 400m and 3000m for both genders, Triple Jump and Discus for the women and Long Jump, Discus and Pole Vault for the men.
The women kicked off the evening with the W35 400m where Daniela Sage finished 2nd in a PB time of 67.6 secs behind the very impressive Dartford athlete. In the B string race Laura Bestow secured 3rd place in a time of 73.4 secs.
In the W50 race, Jennie Butler finished 2nd with a time of 69.2secs, whilst in the W60 race Helen Godsell won in a new W70 club record time 77.8 secs.
There was another W70 club record for Helen in the W50 3000m finishing 6th in a time of 15:41.7 – congratulations!
In the W35 3000m, Carole Coulon won the A string race with a time of 10:45.3 whilst in the B string race Sarah Bealon secured 5 points finishing second in 12:18.9.
In the field events, Daniela Sage jumped 6.21m for 6th place in the W35 Triple Jump, whilst Jackie Montgomery achieved a 5th place finish in the W50 category with a jump of 6.32m
Despite being injured and unable to race in her favoured 400m, Sam Williams still pulled on her club vest (over her jacket) and threw her discus 16.01m to grab a point in the W35.
Jennie Butler claimed 4th in the W50 Discus with a throw of 13.25m, whilst Jackie Montgomery threw 13.88m for 2nd in the W60 event.
The combined score across the evening for the women was 44 points, which was enough to finish 2nd overall behind Tonbridge AC who finished on 52 points – well done ladies!
In the Mens events, Ashley Reid was on track first in the A string M35 400m finishing 5th with a 60.6 second clocking.
In the B string race, James Burton, making his debut for the B&B Masters team, also finished 5th in a very impressive 58.3secs – what makes it even more impressive was James’ first time ever racing a 400m having only taken up athletics in September last year – awesome work!
In a competitive M50 race, Ian Firla was able to secure 3rd place in 60 flat and in the M60 event, Steve Pairman finished 5th with a time of 75 secs.
In the M35 3000m there were 4th place finishes and personal bests for both Micah Evans (9:17.1) and David Adams (9:35.3) in the A and B string races respectively, whilst in the M50 category Luca Ercolani won his race in a time of 10:13.0.
In the field events, there is very rarely a pole vault competition at the club without a Platt involved and this one was no exception with Roger dropping down an age category to finish 2nd in the M35 category with a vault of 3.22m.
This also allowed Alan Hardy to drop down from M65 to the M50 category and finish 5th with 1.92m on the board.
In the Discus, a late running Tim Ayres was able to make it on time to secure a valuable point with a throw of 14.90 in the M35 event, and there was a 3rd place finish for Simon Tolson in the M50 with a PB throw of 25.13m.
In a very long, Long Jump competition there was a win for Ashley Reid in the M35 category with a jump of 5.42m.
In the M50, Ian Firla finished 4th with 4.12m and Steve Pairman jumped a PB 3.01m to secure 5th in the M60 category.
Overall the Mens team were able to score 46 points, to grab 3rd place……just one point ahead of Cambridge Harriers in 4th, with Tonbridge AC making it a double win finishing top with 62 points – a solid start gents!
The full results and league tables can been seen here: Match 1 Results
The next fixture is on 31st May hosted by Tonbridge AC with another strong showing expected from both teams – hope to see you there!
Ashley Reid
