National Athletics League Match 4 - August 28th
1st Bristol and West AC 343
2nd Yate and District AC 283
3rd Swansea Harriers AC 209
4th Cardiff AAC 197
5th Yeovil Olympiads AC 78
The sun shone, the wind was less, and those Bristol and West Athletes present flourished. Pride of place goes to Emily Tyrrell who broke the 6m long jump barrier with 6.03m and 14.60 secs 100mH and Jake Burkey with a 7.33m long jump, 1.83m high jump and 44.59m javelin throw with a non-scoring 100m of 11.23 sec thrown in. Jenna Blundell produced more stellar performances winning the 100mH in 13.81 and second in the 100m with 12.33and finally anchoring the women’s sprint relay team of Tamara Jackson, Ella Bowell, Amy Gandhi to a convincing victory of the Cardiff team.
The day started well with Cat Beatty and Anna Lochlin taking maximum points in the hammer, Sarah Kearsey and master Hen Anstey almost the same in the 400mH and Lily Bailey first B and Emily Tyrrell 3rd A string in the high jump, both with 1.60m. There was much excitement on the track with Tom Foxon and Steve Kerfoot both recording 800m PBs of 1.59.21 and 1.59.56. Tom was rewarded shortly after the finish with the bad news of the late withdrawal of our two 400m runners and the question of would he fill in? He did with another PB of 53.66. Meanwhile Chloe Crossman and Hannah Pollak collected maximum points in the women’s 800m, as did Immy Hales and Sarah Kearsey in the 400m, while Ella Bowell posted another PB in the long jump of 5.49m.
The commitment and enthusiasm of our young male sprint squad has been a feature of the NAL meets this summer. True to form they excelled again. Ed Wilson and Joe Carter were first 2nd A string and 1st B string respectively in the 100m, collected maximum points in the 200m and together with James Osala and Yusuf Hussein produced another stunning performance in the sprint relay with a time of 42.37 secs i.e 10.59/leg!
Katy Roy had a good afternoon with a PB in 3000m and then, defying the team manager’s expectation, close to a PB in the 1500m with a strong finish to take 2nd place, with Lucy Wallace 3rd A string and Danni Sinclair 4th B. The men’s 1500m produced another nail-biting finish with Ben Maliphant and Felix Rusby neck and neck both recording sub-4.05 PB’s and taking maximum points in the process. Jack Bancroft, a reliable stalwart this season comfortably won the 5000m and Aled Anderson took a huge chunk off his PB coming 2nd B string.
In the field SW Champion Harry Petyt was second in the pole vault, master Andrew Thomas did likewise in the discus and Ruben Brady was busy collecting points in the shot and discus. For the women Emma Bakare was a star winning both the shot in 11.64m and triple jump in 11.76. It was maximum points in the TJ with Sam Barratt first B. A special mention is due for Moni Brady with 2nd B in the shot, 3rd A string in the discus and 3rd B string in the javelin. Recent British Masters Javelin Champion, Maria Townsend was 3rd A string in the javelin and 4th B string in the discus. The afternoon was completed by the Bristol and West AC teams of last women standing taking on the last men standing in the 4 X 400m relay. A needle match, judged as a draw by the handicapper!
Finally, thank you to all our officials and coaches who have supported the team by their presence throughout the season, and without whom these matches would not be possible. A toast to Julie Alexander, Paula Casling, Emma Clarke, Pete Davenport, Martin Davies, John Deaton, Mike Down, Betti Farkas, Paul Filer, Murray Grant, Steve Grant, Eugene Herravechia, Ken Holmes, Ian Humphries, Jon Jackson, Tristan Jamieson, Mike and Carol Strange, Dave Turner and Paul Weston, and my helpers Roger Brocklesby and Joanna Elson.
Chris Elson
NAL Team Manager