CLUBNEWS

10^th JULY, 2008

AN EXHAUSTING BUT SUCCESSFUL WEEKEND

If anything, the second ‘big weekend’ of the track season was better than the first. Even allowing for the fact that the split between Saturday and Sunday meetings meant that there could be some duplication in the Men’s section (and there was – nine athletes did a second stint) it was quite an achievement for the team managers to turn out 73 Senior-qualified athletes (51 fellers and 22 girls) over the two days. Moreover the competitive record was also a lot better, with two wins and a second for the three teams. We could still do a lot better – there were gaps in all but the British League team which could have been filled – but even so it’s not a bad effort. Clubnews thanks everybody who turned out and picked up points. The Results Page has all the details, as usual.

There’s another vote of thanks as well. There was a whole raft of members who either officialled on one or both days, put in work behind the scenes beforehand, sold teas and carried out drinks to officials, and got stuck in to make both days a success. There are really too many to name individually, but please, everybody, get somebody to give you a pat on the back on behalf of the Club. In addition the staff at South Leeds stadium put on a superb show to run the B.A.L. home meeting, and coped with everything that competitors, equipment and the climate threw at them; Clubnews thanks David Harris and his team for their efforts.

5^th July – British Athletic League, Div. 3, South Leeds

FLASHING TO ANOTHER THUNDEROUS WIN

Last month Leeds City came back to the B.A.L. with a bang; on Saturday they threw in the flash as well! The meeting had an unscheduled interval at about 2.15 when a thunderstorm broke over the stadium; the lightning was striking near enough for the senior officials to decide that proceeding while it continued wasn’t safe. As it happened, the interval divided the match neatly; up to that time the lead was changing hands between Leeds, Kingston and Crawley, but when things restarted the hosts pulled away to another comfortable victory.

The meeting opened with a competitive bang when Bedford’s Glen Kerr took the Athlete of the Match Award with the very first throw – a superb 61.73 with the Hammer. Mark Gulliver responded well with his first effort over fifty (50.77) since his knee injury, and Mark Harrison supported with a good effort. The possibility of bad weather had already led to the Pole Vault being moved indoors, so nobody saw James Sleigh put up another fine effort over four metres (another seven vaulters broke that important barrier), Tom Wagner back up with a good 3.40 – and young official Rachel Cust get clouted by an awkwardly-falling pole (no serious damage, fortunately.) Anthony Timms was an extremely close second in the Long Jump, and while Matt Barton, who’d been off colour all week, wasn’t madly happy with his effort it did bring in another second place. The High Jump caught the opening bit of the storm, with both Steve Linsell and Tom Lindsay being involved in ties (Tom’s was a rare ‘three-way effort for the judges to sort). Matt Allison’s opening effort in the Discus wasn’t quite as good as his continental chuck, but was sound; Mark G, due to his knee, only took standing throws.

The early track events, with one exception, mirrored the field. James Lavin did a fill-in 400 Hurdles, while Matt Hudson ‘went for it’ in the A race and tied up fairly horribly down the final straight. The 800 runners reversed their roles from Kingston, but with similar results; Jake Harman was always close but somewhat outgunned in the A race, while Mike Salter had the luxury of a tactical race which he was able to dominate. Probably the most impressive Leeds City track man of the day was Umar Hameed, who had stacks to spare in winning the 100; Kyle Shaw wasn’t too impressed with his time in the B race, but for a first effort after injury it wasn’t by any means negligible. Two of the happiest were the ‘Chasers; James L. finished a bit down the field, but in a very competitive race in which he was towed to his second sub-ten minute clocking, while the Oldest Debutant of the Day, Martin Farran, stepped in to solve an injury crisis and took half a minute off the Over-45 Record. (Those with long memories, however, remember a youthful Martin running some quick ‘Chases in the 1980s.)

Thus far the team was up with the leaders, but hadn’t succeeded in moving away; the rain seemed to change all that. Matt H. fought out another close battle with Southampton’s Ben Richardson in the short Hurdles, while Tom Casey went over the tall ones for the first time this year in creditable style. Rhys Smith was in a class of his own in the 400, looking to have it in hand off the bend, and Gary O’Neill battled as he ever does. As a contest the 1500 was as good as anything all afternoon, with a bunch of five chopping and changing; Simon Deakin led in the early stages, then James Wilkinson took it on, and though both were shut out in the sprint finish it was probably a good work-out for their different ambitions for next week. Tom Mosley ran a splendid B 200 into a really strong wind, but again the really impressive sight was Umar; not only did he dispatch the field, but he almost equalled his time of last week at Bedford – but this time into a wind which would have made his run ‘illegal’ if it had been the other way round. He did have one rival for impressiveness; James Walsh went straight to the front in the 5000, allowed Bedford’s Mark Janes to track him for 3½ kilometres, and then “put down the loud pedal” and ran away from him. Mike Burrett was solid in support, in spite of his Tuesday-night traumas.

The lead had steadily expanded to about thirty points, but when the last three field events came in all at once and the relays followed it just grew apace. The Triple Jump was unusual in that Matt B. got beaten – but only by a single centimetre after his interrupted training. Tom L. did a good supporting job in an event he was ‘dropped in’ late. The Shot saw the ever-reliable Matt A. supported by another late replacement in Anthony T., but though the latter had never put the Senior Shot in competition before he’d done the event often enough at other levels, and he coped well. However, the surprise packet was the Javelin – no surprise that Matt A. won it (in spite of continuing his policy of caution and only taking two throws) but that it was a maximum-point event when the B-string competitor was 16-year-old Ben Sleigh, who’d never thrown the 800-gram Spear in competition before. He wasn’t far short of fifty metres, either! The 4x400 team, with two 800 runners in it, ran a workmanlike third; and while in any other sprint relay team the decision of Umar not to run (he’d got a bit of a niggle, and was being cautious) would have been disastrous, the quartet of Matt H, Anthony, Tom M. and Kyle were well up to the task.

So does promotion beckon? The answer is, why not but it’s down to the lads. The fact that Crawley beat Kingston meant the Club as a three-point ‘cushion’ at the top of the Division, but only 3½ points over third; one more win at Bedford should seal it, but two more would be even better. The team may be thinned a bit by holidays (August is always the cruellest month for that), but there are enough people about to be able to put out a decent team on at least one of the above occasion. So commit, lads, and go up; you’re worth it!

6^th July – Northern Senior League, Div. 1, Wakefield

DOMINANCE RE-ESTABLISHED

It’s a sign of the growing skill and confidence of the team management team that after the comparative debacle of Blackburn the Club team bounced back in splendid fashion to get out a much better team and record a narrow win. A sound Men’s team managed without Martin Gostling’s presence (with a very good excuse) to score heavily throughout – apart from one hiccup at the end when the Men’s 4x400 team disintegrated when Les Lavin was otherwise occupied, but that was just unfortunate; while the Women, pretty weak last time out, produced an altogether better effort with no gaps other than the Vault, even if Veronique Marot had to fill an emergency gap in the 800 by doing it herself – and setting a new Over-50 record by doing so. They faced determined opposition from the much-improved Blackburn squad, to say nothing of Sale and Wakefield, but moved into a lead at half-way and were not really in danger of being caught thereafter.

The Women benefited from two massive individual efforts. Kirsty Parr has missed quite a bit of competition this year, but made up for it by doing the maximum number of events and scoring a massive 41 points, including wins in the A Long Jump and B High Jump and Shot. On the track Sheryl Punter tackled the Sprinter’s Nightmare – 100, 200, 400 and two Relays – with sufficient gusto to register a season’ best and two near-misses, and was still battling down the straight on her grand finale anchoring the 4x400 squad. In the two shorter ones she backed an impressive pair of runs from Naana Adusei, who’s really finding a rich vein of form this summer. Liz Best took on both Hurdles and set season’s best in both, and even chucked a Hammer to keep sister Jessica company, as she and Jess Dobson (who had a good 400 Hurdles and a better Relay leg) did their ‘sticking-plaster’ act. Kirsteen Young and Jennie Guard did middle-distance doubles, Kirsteen winning A 3000 and B 1500 (supporting another impressive gun-to-tape winner in Celia de Maria) and Jennie doing an unaccustomed 800 which put her in a good mood for the 3000. Jenny Lumley continued her comeback by doing relays and 400, and Carrie Simpson made an advance to full fitness by turning out in the Javelin (“I just stood on the line and slung it”) as well as the Shot. There were two other winning contributions; Amy Marchant just dropped in for the Long Jump and took the B event comfortably behind Kirsty, while Caroline Park, back from foreign parts in her gap-year, resumed High-jumping –not quite at the level of last year, but with a nice little win!

Of the nine Men who came out on Sunday for a second go, two in particular stood out for contributing points. Mark Gulliver – dodgy knee and all – turned out in all four throws to score massively, and in the Discus risked turning again with apparent success to put up his best effort of the season. He had excellent support form David Milnes in Hammer – where he finished second in a tight B-string three-hander – and javelin, and in the other two from the resurgent Paul Armstrong, who appears to be enjoying his ‘second childhood’ in athletics and improved his Shot mark as a Veteran. Even more ubiquitous was the most unexpected top scorer in any Club team, Tom Lindsay, who took on both Hurdles and three of the Jumps; his reward was a PB in the B 400m Hurdles and wins in the B High Jump and Long Jump.

In four of the five events he was partnered by a ‘yesterday’s man’; in the High Jump he and Steve Linsell put up identical marks for the second day, his Long Jump featured James Sleigh, who in view of his back limited himself to one event per day after his decathlon heroics, while his hurdling partners were Matt Hudson (who also did a swift 200) and Gary O’Neil, who attacked the A race like a tank and was just about as unstoppable. His other partner was returning after a longer gap; Julien Gittens competed in a team for the first time in about two years. The other three were Anthony Timms, who turned sprinter for the day with success, Tom Wagner, who’s getting used to spending his summer indoors and put up a better vault than the previous day, and Umar Hameed, who ran another 10.8 but this time without the help of a breeze.

It would hardly be expected that the longer races would see many repeat performances (though see the next report!), and so it was; but there were some interesting combinations. The 400 was left in the hands of the youthful pairing of Sam Lowry and Tom Roberts, and they covered it well; a slightly older duo of Aidan Adams and Adam Grice doubled 800 and 1500, Aidan managing a B win in the latter, though Adam found it hard finding an 800 gear. The 5000 was dominated by Blackburn’s Ben Fish (it might have needed somebody like James Walsh to stop him winning), but Adam Osborne, in his first track outing of the summer, put in a workmanlike performance, and James Smith, promoted after his Division 4 win last time out, cut twenty seconds off that time to take the B event. The most interesting, if not unlikely, pairing was in the Steeplechase, where Gavin Chatterton made his track debut in his first ‘Chase for three years (he used to do it quite regularly for Chelmsford A.C., The Scribe understands) partnered by Eddie Mason, whose total ‘Chasing experience was one Junior League 2000 the previous week. Both ran creditably for second places behind a good Blackburn pair (even if one of them sounded like imminent death all the way round!)

Of course, the point has to be made that it was easy for those who wished to double up this time, with matches at Leeds and Wakefield; whether people will be so willing in August when the venues are Bedford and Manchester remains to be seen. However, some of the doublers were filling in because other people weren’t available, so it may not be all bad. What’s really needed is that the Women turn out a good team on August 3^rd, and the men support them as best they can – and then, with luck, the title can be reclaimed and the Women can have another pop at National League status.

6^th July – Northern Senior League, Div. 4WC, Oldham

WORTH REARRANGING THE THIRD MATCH

This was the match that nearly didn’t happen! It was almost abandoned when a certain club decided that promoting for a fourth consecutive year was beyond its resources (so how does Leeds City promote four times a year for the last twenty years, eh??) and was rescued by Oldham stepping in to do a second home match at a month’s notice. It gave Kevin Ritchie another match to get the hang of raising teams; and while the team that eventually turned out wasn’t quite as strong as he’d hoped (he had at least two people ‘pinched’ late for Wakefield) it certainly put up the best show so far under his management – and he only had to do three events himself!

Kev is turning into a really promising Team Manager, and the Club should be glad he volunteered his services. He’s also done something the other Team Managers haven’t so far – written a report on the fixture, which follows below:-

“The day began with an intense downpour but ended much brighter - sunshine and a second place finish, leaving the team with an outside chance of promotion going into the last meeting (which incidentally has been moved to Blackburn on Sunday August 3^rd.)

Debutants at opposite ends of the age scale, Andre-Parker Laing and Martin Horbury both splashed their way to 3^rd places in the opening track event the 400m hurdles. There was standing water on the track when the 800s set off. It was as you were regarding the age differential, this time the youth in the shape of Rob Torch, 4^th in the A race in his senior debut. He was followed home by Vet Martin Horbury 3^rd B, who didn’t wait long to double his contribution having switched from 400mH warm down to 800m race, due to the unfortunate non arrival of Danny Davies (navigational problems).

On the ladies side, 800m, good points were earned from Fiona Maddocks 2^nd A, leading home Lucy Turner who won the B race. Both lined up for the 400m later, this time the finishing order was reversed, but both recorded 2^nd places. Fiona completed a cracking day’s work by finishing 2^nd in the 1500m.

Our Female sprint stalwart Danielle Carr backed up a solid 100m, 3^rd A string, by comfortably winning the 200m A race. Support and good points were provided by young debutant and promising multi-eventer Lauren Cahill 1^st B 100m and the more experienced and ever willing Jo Westerman 2^nd B 200m. Lauren confirmed her multi eventer status with a 4th & 3^rd placed long and high jump. Jo also throw a discus finishing 4^th A string.

Jo was supported in the discus by the remarkable Ros Evenden, 2^nd B. Ros (and family) are the backbone of this side, almost monopolising the throws, willing officials and filling in where possible. For the record Ros also added A string finishes of 3^rd Hammer, 4^th Shot and 4^th Javelin. Young Stacey provided the support with B string finishes of 1^st Hammer, 2^nd Shot and from a standing throw due to a foot injury 2^nd Javelin. Last but not least Jennie Harrison, tired from Wednesdays Hyde Park 5k, nevertheless got round the 3000in a solid 4^th place.

A makeshift 4X100m team comprising Ros, Jo, Lauren and Danielle did well to finish 4^th. From the team manager’s point of view it continues to disappoint our inability to put out a ladies 4x400m side, big points are going begging! Aside from that it was a good all round performance from the ladies.

Back to the men, the future looks good for 400m running at the club. The class act of the side was a returning Mark Gilmer ran a storming winning 400m (at 51.5s I thought I’d be accused of planting a ringer!) as well as 4^th place in the 200m and 100m (the latter 0.1secs outside a PB). Nice to have met you Mark but the A Team beckons from here; good luck mate. The future looks good in the shape of a young lad having only his second ever race, 15 year old Danny Brownbill. Coach John Westerman may just have unearthed the next addition to a long line of quality Leeds City quarter milers. 2^nd B in 55.7s in a senior race is a sound start for the lad. Another regular Nathan Wells remains in good form with 4^th place in the B 100m and 200m. He also took in the A Long Jump finishing……4^th! Once again frustrating for each way punters! With the minimum of fuss Andre Parker-Laing took the B Long Jump, one jump - job done- thank you very much.

On the track the middle distance section were good for points all afternoon. Good to see stable mate and fellow injury returnee Trevor Wilks back competing, 2^nd B here, no doubt the times will soon start to drop Trev. Ahead of him though was unofficial ‘club photographer’ Alex Davy for 2^nd A string, Alex was a bit disappointed with his time but stick at it pal, I’m sure it will come good. The club’s only double 1^st came in the 5000m and not in the order expected. Lined up was former 1500m class act Pete Steel, sporting a heavily strapped calf following the injury sustained last time out at this very track, supported by another of the walking wounded, due mainly to his 3K steeplechase exertions of the day before, in his BAL debut, top vet Martin Farran. Martin proved too strong on the last lap to power home, Pete still with a bit of work to do after his enforced lay off.

After his earlier efforts an apprehensive Martin Horbury decided to have a crack at the 3K steeplechase, without any barrier training whatsoever. Things started OK, faulty barriers meant they were ‘waved round’ the first two, then the dreaded water jump, where Martin, like most of the horses I back refused! At least you had a go pal, I will strongly resist any attempt to tarnish your reputation with a Timeform Squiggle!* (* For non-horse fanciers the 'Timeform squiggle' indicates that the horse is unreliable for temperamental or other reasons – e.g., a poor jumper.)

Meanwhile on the field, the day’s events got underway with the Hammer and a 2^nd and 3^rd for the club. Sam Allan and Karl Evenden were the scorers. Sam awaiting an operation on his Javelin throwing arm (preventing most throwing actions) seemed pleased to be competing and gave the team a great start. Karl went on earn valuable points in the Shot 6^th A and Javelin 6^th B as well as his ‘officials’ duties. A late dash from work saw Ivan Roberts provide throws back up with Javelin 5^th A string , Shot Putt 6^th B string and Discus, although no result is recorded for discus despite being certain of at least one legal throw. Further discus-ions required to get to the bottom of that one! Team manager Kevin Ritchie had a reasonably quiet day due to the numbers of athletes attending, and only filled in 3 events - 6^th Discus (owes a pint to Tim Agar of Skyrack for losing the head to head), 3^rd Triple Jump (disappointed- peaked at Accrington) and the ‘highlight’ 4^th High Jump (dined on that for the rest of the day). Simon Hill joined in the Triple Jump, 3^rd B, in fact setting 2 PBs in the process, as he jumped progressively further. Full credit to Simon, again another injury returnee, he came to the event without a guaranteed run, as filler in, also ended up an official, and saved the 4 X100m relay team to boot. Every team needs a Simon Hill that’s a fact.

Due to a breakdown in communications (partly due to the fact team manager was on the opposite side of the track assisting the changeover flag man) it became apparent we only had a 3 man relay squad! In stepped Simon Hill to complete the quartet with Andre, Nathan and Mark G to finish in 5^th place. The 4x400m squad were all shattered but battled well to finish 3^rd. Rob Torch on leg one the highlight (middle distance stamina must help) with Andre, Danny B and the fastest of all Mark G on his 5^th event of the day, completed but had too much to do on the last leg despite closing in significantly on 2^nd.

With a match to go 3 points separate 1^st to 4^th.There are 2 promotion places up for grabs, if we want one of them its there for the taking. Over to you folks.”

It’s still a bit of a task for the ‘bottom team’ to gain promotion; the high finish this time was partly brought about by Division leaders Pudsey & Bramley finding themselves very short of personnel. However, if Kevin can only find half a dozen more bodies – especially female ones – to fill some of those spaces, there could yet be a shock; and The Scribe has to speculate what might have been if Hazel Barker had not been away at a major veterans’ event. (Incidentally, it won’t be too difficult for readers to work out one of Kev’s other interest in sport!)

28/29^th June – Regional Schools’ Combined Events, Doncaster

A NUMBER OF EXCELLENT COMBINATIONS

Leeds City’s young multi-eventers were out in force at what must have been the first meeting of any importance on the new track at Doncaster – where there hasn’t been one since the days of the old cinder track at Hexthorpe, laid out with four straights and four right-angle bends to fit a cricket field in. (The Scribe trained there in his youth, and it wasn’t the only ‘square track’ in Yorkshire!) They certainly gave it something of a baptism; ten first-claim and two second-claim members turned out, and there were a hatful of PBs and one Club record to mark the occasion. Results were supplied by Kevin Gardiner – for which much thanks.

Two West Yorkshire teams qualified for the national event in September, and both of them were heavily laced with Leeds City members, the Senior Boys (Under-20) Decathlon team consisting of James Sleigh, second-claimers Adam Timms and David Dempsey, and approximately two-fifths of Dan Gardiner (who only did selected events as the West Yorkshire team was certain to win anyway, being the only complete one.) For that matter James didn’t go full-out on everything, which was understandable as he’s still recovering from a fragile back; this explains the slightly bizarre 4.17 Javelin throw and more or less jogged 5.55.5 1500, while his High Jumping was restricted to one effort at 1.60. However, it didn’t stop him setting a new personal mark in the Vault with 4.30, and as the rest of his performances (11.4, 6.44, 11.02, 53.2, 15.4, and 36.22) ranged from competent to somewhere near his regular standard it still added up to a handy 5432. Adam won the event with 6111, including PBs at 100 (11.0), High Jump (1.90), 400 (53.1)and Vault (3.00); David’s 4840 also included four new PBs 911.7, 1.81, 3.80 and 15.9 Hurdles), while Dan did the three throws (13.96, 41.37 and 42.59 in the wet – the Javelin was stopped at one point) plus a PB Vault of 4.20.

The Intermediate (Under-17) Girls also qualified in their Heptathlon with three Club members in the team, Amy Marchant winning the individual event with a score of 4463 which included two new PBs – 12.0 for the Hurdles and 9.63 in the Shot – and in everything else was a fine display of solid competence. She racked up high scores in three others – 1.66 High Jump, 26.8 200m and 5.27 Long Jump – and rounded off with a competent 2.41.9. Sister Katy (4^th with 3968) might have pushed her close but for a disastrous three no-throws in the Javelin, one of her stronger events, which Kevin suggests was mainly due to the weather; the rest of her marks (11.6, 1.63, 8.37, 27.4, 5.20 and 2.33.8) were pretty formidable, the High Jump, Shot and 200 all being PBs and adding up to a superb first day. Third team member Rosie Trudgen produced 3610, with a performance which was well up to form in the running and jumping events (13.0, 1.57, 28.0, 4.76 and 2.40.0) but fell away a bit in the throws (6.89 and 16.58).

There was nearly a third qualifying team – but the Junior Boys (Under-15) missed out by just 23 points. Club members filled the first two places, and it was here that the new Club record had to come – had to, because last week Jake Armstrong set a record, and if one Jake does something the other’s seldom far behind. Jacob Gardiner’s new mark of 2709 included three PBs – Hurdles (12.3), Long Jump (6.07) and 800 (2.27.1) – and his other two (1.54 High Jump and 13.24 Shot) weren’t too far off either. In second place Matt Wagner went one better in the PB stakes – only his 1.45 High Jump wasn’t! He set new marks with 5.71, 11.32 and 2.29.5, and equalled his week-old Hurdles (11.9), so needless to say his 2462 was a new best. Against that Connor Morley’s 1311 looks a bit tame, but it was a considerable advance over his one previous effort (indoors), and included three PBs – 7.57 Shot, 4.45 Long Jump and a cut of over twenty seconds in the 800 to 2.38.4. Moreover, Connor is a good year younger than the other two. His other marks were 18.6 and 1.39.

There were two other individual competitors. In the Junior Girls’ Pentathlon Fran Coldwell put up 2711 points with a display of all-round consistency which saw her equal her best Hurdles (12.0) be fractionally down on two other Bests (5.07 Long Jump and 1.39 High Jump), and put in 7.54 with the Shot and a solid 2.37.8 800. Tobin Carey-Williams almost made the qualifying standard in the Intermediate Boys’ Octathlon; he scored well in the jumps (5.70 and 1.62) and had a particularly good Hurdles with 15.9, threw competently (8.27 Shot, 22.78 Discus and 31.72 javelin), put in 56.7 for 400 and lopped almost half a minute off his 1500 with 4.49.3.

AND IN OTHER PARTS ….

The most recent Trafford Grand Prix at Stretford, on July 1^st, saw an intriguing battle in the 1500 when Mike Burrett, stepping down for some pre-BAL speedwork no doubt, ran 4.14.62 for 1500 – and finished one place behind 14-year-old Elliot Todd, who yet again lowered his PB to 4.13.42. There were also PBs for Robert Torch (4.27.50) over 1500 and Lee Allsopp (2.13.74) over 800, and a first track appearance of the season – or at all in Leeds City colours – for Alan Buckley, who turned in an 8.50.85 3000.

ANOTHER BRIEF APOLOGY

The Scribe has had to hold over a couple of things – notably an account of the first Hyde Park 5k –due to having been away on gardening leave. Now he’s finished running about the country for a bit he hopes to do rather better next week.