CLUBNEWS

4^th JUNE, 2008

31^st May/1^st June – English Senior & Under-20 Combined Events Championships, Birmingham

ALMOST THE DREAM DECATHLON

There is an ideal towards which, The Scribe suspects, all multi-eventers aspire and dream but are most unlikely to achieve – the day (or days) on which they set a Personal best in every event, shatter their own highest-ever score and break some record. Reality, and the very nature of the competition itself, suggests that it can almost never happen. Last weekend it came about as close as it’s ever likely to get when Dan Gardiner won the England Under-20 Decathlon with a score of 7207, just seven points over the standard required for selection for the European Junior Championship; in the process he set eight new PBs and a Decathlon best, and ravaged by over 350 points the new Club record he’d set only a fortnight earlier. Moreover, apart from a ‘windy’ Long Jump all the marks were legal this time.

It wasn’t an easy competition; Dad Kevin reckoned that of the 20 entries “seven or eight had a realistic chance of winning.” However, the first day certainly indicated that Dan wasn’t messing; he started with 11.04 in the 100m, and then frightened the life out of the opposition by opening the Long Jump competition with a wind-assisted 7.23 (just to show he could, he put in a legal 7.08 which exceeded his previous best as well). The Shot was not only another PB, but a Club record of 14.67achieved on the second round; and to follow that he cleared 1.88 in the High Jump and “might have gone higher but his run-up mark moved and he lost it.” He rounded off the day with 400m in 52.00, and though “he was a bit disappointed as he was hoping for around 51.” A straight five PBs, and naturally a highest-ever first day of 3911, and he was “beginning to think of another potential Championship.”

It didn’t help the cause that Birmingham suffered as much as anywhere else from the lousy weather of Sunday, but if everything else was damp Dan’s efforts weren’t! He opened with a OB Hurdles of 15.67 into the wind (again he’d hoped for more), and then in most unhelpful conditions advanced his Discus distance in each round to finish with 41.83 – his first miss of a PB, but his best by two centimetres in multi-event competition. If the weather didn’t help in the Discus it was potentially disastrous in the Vault, a competition which ran on for four hours in the rain; but Dan rose above the weather, the bar and his own PB to clear 4.15. Then came the disappointment; a Javelin somewhere near his 48-metre Best would have made matters comfortable, but he ‘only’ found 43.39, and left himself with a daunting prospect – to get the 7200 mark for European qualification he needed to break his PB over 1500 by nine seconds! Aiming to run at 4.45 pace he was just outside with 300 to go, but ‘found a bit’ to finish with 4.41.06 – the eighth PB, and just enough to make the grade.

To put the performance in real perspective, Dan now lies third on the British All-Time Under-20 rankings – and in Kevin’s words, “somebody called Dean Macey’s in fourth place!”

1^st June – UKA Young Athletes’ League, Northern Premier Division, Gateshead

SLOG ON THE TYNE IS ALL FINE, ALL FINE

(Apology – Due to problems with the Y.A.L. website, full results and League tables can’t be included with this report. The report is also incomplete due to further problems with the computerised results program.)

There are three possibilities when the Club goes to Gateshead – it’s wet, it’s freezing or it’s both! On Sunday the third alternative combined with the brilliant scheme (dreamt up by a certain cheerful Gateshead official who shall be nameless) of doubling up the match with a Division 2 fixture to ensure that the Club team had a long, damp day of it in the slightly faded glory of the International Stadium – and the Club’s officials, of whom The Scribe was one, had probably an even longer and damper one. (Dorothy Lunn sends her thanks to everybody who helped, and hopes there aren’t too many cases of pneumonia.) The only redeeming feature of the whole affair was that with a much-weakened team (due to exams and holidays) the Club came a reasonably close second to Gateshead to keep up its challenge for another Final appearance in September.

Needless to say outstanding performances were at a premium, particularly in the field events; it’s not easy to throw anything out of a flooded circle or jump into soggy sand. Thos was clearly obvious in the Under-17 Women’s events, where Stacey Evenden was way down on her best hammer and both Amy and Katy Marchant only really made token efforts in the Javelin off a slimy runway. They did rather more in the Jumps, doing one each, and a lot more in the Hurdles where Katy was just nipped in one of the afternoon’s more rousing contests. There was some sound sprinting , with Rachael Speight running a good 300, Rachel Sidebottom clearly getting over her injury problem, Chloe Gordon running a couple of sound races and both Lauren Cahill (who probably surprised herself with the hammer) and Rosie Bridger being the latest members of the ‘sticking-plaster crew’ (filling whatever gaps are offered). Besides partnering Katy M. in the High Jump Rosie Trudgen had another bash at both 800m and 300m Hurdles, taking two seconds off her best in the latter; and Rachel May slogged round 7½ very wet laps to cut five seconds off her Blackburn time – it always seems to pour when Rachel does a 3000!

With a number of people missing there were some interesting sights in the Under-15 Girls’ ranks. Chloe Harley, for instance, had two wins – an imperious front-run 800 and a rather less majestic but equally handy B Discus. She also joined another ‘irregular’ Hurdler in Katie Radcliffe, who for once only did one throw (the Shot) so she could cover other things. Charlie Nicholson handled the wet Discus about as well as anybody, middle-distance runner Becky Whitfield filled in with the Javelin, and Caitlin Regan was seen sprinting as well as partnering Johanna Wilton over 1500 to good scoring effect (though Johanna did hit the front a bit early.) Emily Robinson and India Wilson continued their reputations for versatility, Emily winning the B 800 and producing quite a decent non-specialist’s Long Jump as well.

The seven members of the Under-13 Girls’ team once again were worth their combined weight in points, their ‘try-anything’ attitude being personified in several ways - by Gemma Keir holding off a much stronger-looking girl to win the 800 and following it with second in the Shot – and a PB – or by Millie Parkinson, already having hurdled and won the B High Jump, keeping going with a bad attack of stitch to complete the 1200, to name but two. Alyssia Carr and Lana Morgan both sprinted well in strong fields to rack in yet more points, Grace Coburn ran within a second of her PB for 1200 in unhelpful conditions, Melissa Fletcher added a PB Long Jump to a gritty run in the 800, and Nicola Sawyer also managed a best in the Shot as a reward for being the smallest piece of ‘sticking-plaster.’

There was one competitor who certainly wasn’t dampened down by the weather; Tom Mosley chose Sunday to prove his injuries aren’t holding him up any more by running 11.1 and 22.5 and winning both Under-17 Lads’ sprints by a distance. The older lads went well for points, with maxima ain the Javelin from Ben Sleigh and Tom Connor and in the Triple from Tobin Carey-Williams and Adam Pape, all of whom did a full range of events. There as support in the Throws from Karl Evenden and Jonathan Foster (though the latter had a torrid time in the Hammer), while Mark Fuszard did a sound Jumps double and Joe Walker and Tom Webber backed up sprinting (Tom even essaying a rare Long Jump). On the track Sam Lowry narrowly lowered his best 400 (and ran a storming relay leg), and Andr‚ Parker-Laing backed up after a somewhat traumatic 400m Hurdles where he clobbered the last couple. There was also some striking ‘doubling’ in the middle distances – not only Mike Wood’s fairly regular 800 and 1500, but Danny Davies running an 800 (and winning the B race) and Rob Torch a solid 3000 against older lads (in the other match) before taking a maximum in the ‘Chase by virtue of being the sole starters, and Lee Allsopp taking on the tough 1500/3000 ‘double’ and scoring well. Again, a smallish number of lads covered a lot of ground and picked up a lot of points.

There was some powerful opposition in the Under-15 Boys’ competition, which made the efforts of the Leeds lads look a lot less good than some of them were. Elliot Todd, for instance, was left for pace over 800 – but ran within fractions of his recent Best; ad Gordon Benson, though not quite at his best (he’ll no doubt blame the Hammer-throwing for it!) ran faster than his last year’s PB even so. There were a couple of Maxima; Matt Wagner and Jacob Gardiner (who for once didn’t throw) took the Hurdles well, with Jake lowering his PB (they almost did a repeat in the Vault), while Stephen Coles (who apparently prefers jumping to 400s) and Connor Morley stitching up the High Jump, both of them picking up points elsewhere. Besides Gordon, Alex Hart also added a fill-in throw to his 1500, giving Jake Armstrong unusual partners as he picked up his usual ration of 11 points, only the Shot being anywhere near his Best (again, no surprise in the conditions.) Luke Murray and Jamie Higgins both produced their points (Luke’s ‘special’ this time being a Long Jump), but Jack Mosley had an off-day sprinting and Liam Braithwaite, though he’s improving, is still a little lad in with the Big ‘Uns. His day will come.

Tom M. wasn’t the only impressive Leeds City sprinter around; the Under-13 Lads produced a double in the 100 with Elliot Hurley looking impressive and Dylan George looking aggressive – a contrast in silky speed and sheer grit. Dylan also ran a good 200 (in which Kendle Hardisty set a Best), while Elliot Long-jumped effectively. Bradley Metcalfe is beginning to look the part as an 800 runner (what might he do on a bit of winter mileage?), winning confidently; he also did his usual combination of Hurdles and Shot, accompanied in them by the very juvenile Jack Gape (The Scribe has been reminded recently that he’s not 11 for another month, though he’s competing as an Under-13 regularly), who joined Chris Giff to cover the High Jump. Sean Flanagan and Ben Tootall again took on 1500, Ben being close to his last effort for time, while another ‘just old enough,’ Daniel Harrison, made a sound shift of the B 800.

A WEEK OF TRACK

There was a contingent of three young members at the Trafford Medal Meeting for Under-15 athletes on Bank Holiday Monday, and they had a successful day, all coming home with at least one PB. Under-13 Nicola Sawyer set a shot PB of 4.75, in addition to running 150m (25.2) and 600m (2.16.2); while Under-11s Emma Claughton and Caoimhe Crampton also set new marks, Emma in the Shot with 5.03 and over 150m with 23.5 (she also equalled her 75m best of 11.6) while Caoimhe extended her Long Jump to 3.81 in addition to running sprints in 11.2 and 2.4.

The wonder is, after the rain that fell for most of Wednesday the 28^th, that anybody actually went to the West Yorkshire League meeting at Cleckheaton; in the event those that did, and it wasn’t a huge turn-out, got the best bit of the day for weather. There was certainly some good springing; Sheryl Punter and Danni Carr were involved in a Senior 100 so close that a good-size tablecloth could have been thrown over the first three (all of whom ran 13.0), and in the Under-17s Lauren Cahill (13.8) was shut out in a similarly close encounter. Jack Mosley (12.3) got the better of a close (but not that close) Under-15 contest, and Elliot Hurley (11.1) was near to his best time in winning the Under-13 80m. He also produced a sound Long Jump (4.19), while little brother Louie won the Undeer-11 Shot (5.13) and placed second over 75m (11.5). Chloe Harley set a new Best in the Under-15 1500 with 5.19.9, besides doing a bit of sprinting for fun; and in the Under-11s Caoimhe Crampton tried something a bit longer, running 2.04.8 for 600m.

The Nike B.M.C. Meeting at Sport City, Manchester on Saturday, saw several Club members in pretty swift action; indeed the year’s list of 5000-metre performances was totally rewritten. Fastest of the day was Simon Deakin with 14.30.56, while Adam Grice ran 14.42.18, Martin Gostling moved up the All-Time List with 14.49.28 and Mike Burrett produced 15.25.49. Run of the day, though has to be James Wilkinson’s 14.38.88; this not only took him on to the Senior List, but is the fourth-best time achieved by an Under-20 member. On the distaff side Alex Gostling wasn’t far behind her best-ever time with 17.23.29, while over 1500 metres Mike Salter advanced below four minutes by a substantial amount (3.56.76).

A WEEKEND ON WHEELS

Paul Moseley has e-mailed in the latest exploits of the youngsters in the Wheelchair racing group, in the second of the CP Grand Prix series meetings on Saturday last – though he omitted to include where the event took place (The Scribe thinks it was at Nottingham). “It was a very productive day, seeing Matthew Hickling smash his PB's in the 100m (20.87), 200m (42.43) and 400m (1:28.10) and he could go quicker, as he needs to do some work on his starts! Chris Maw, who’s a comparative newcomer to racing, set his own markers with good PB's in the 3 races - 100m 23.02, 200m 49.82, and 400m 1:41.99 and again, he could also go quicker as he is still getting used to his chair and the technique! Dagan Roberts set some season's bests in the 100m (37.23) and the 200m (1:22.03), but it was the 400m which saw him break his PB, coming home in 2:32.87. A good day all round!”