SAL - Match 4 report - Elthan, August 19th

Last match of the 2023 season for our SAL team at Elthan: a strong team and many PBs/SBs were not enough to avoid relegation to Div 3 for 2024.

Ahead of the final SAL match of the season our task was clear - win or all hopes for another year in Division 2 were gone.

In the days leading up to the event, there were some encouraging signs, as we had a couple of new club members expressing interest in joining the men's team, promising reinforcements in the sprints and middle distances. The women's team also looked in good shape with strong performances at the Rosenheim final. Some of the optimism proved short-lived as we once again had some last-minute changes to the team due to illness/other commitments while newbie Niall's Serpentine debut was cut short due to an injury in the 800m race (all the best for your recovery).

Nevertheless, we were determined to put our best foot forward on the day in order to end the season on a positive note. We certainly did this, achieving a total of 19 season's or even personal bests between us. Some of the standout performances worth mentioning were the 5000m with Victor (2nd A-string), Brendan (1st B-string) and Tash (2nd A-string) against a strong team effort from Cambridge Harriers that included several men running as pacers, an almost clean sweep of the steeplechase races (3 first, 1 second place for Dave, Frank, Tash and Lili) and a nail-biting finish in the mixed 4x400 that nearly saw Brendan claw back an almost 100m gap on Highgate on the anchor leg.

Despite all these great performances, we once again had to realise that all the other teams also have really good athletes, especially in the field events so in the end there was no Aguero style miracle finish to our season and it'll be back to division 3 in 2024.

The final results of the day were:

1Cambridge Harriers315
2Bexley AC271
3Basildon AC207
4Enfield & Haringay165
5Highgate Harriers/Mornington Chasers161
6Serpentine RC122

leaving us second from the bottom in the overall SAL table, but still ahead of Highgate, who finished ahead of us the previous season.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to compete, officiate or help in any other way, we can't have these events without you:

Alex, Andrew, Brendan, Dave, Deb, Eoin, Ewan, Frank, George, Hel, Holly, Jeremy, Katy, Liam, Lili, Luke, Malcolm, Mary, Matt, Meghan, Michele, Niall, Nic (x2), Philip, Sammy, Sodiq, Sophie, Steph, Stuart, Tash, Tom, Tony, Victor, Victoria

Keep an eye out for an invite to our track and field end of season social in the next few weeks.

Thanks

Frank
SAL's men captain

Submitted: 31 August 2023

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