Track & Field News
Read on for race reports from: Rosenheim League match 1 (9 May), Southern Counties Veterans' AC League nr. 1 (14 May), Southern Athletics League nr. 2 (19 May)
Southern Athletics League nr. 2, Lee Valley - 19 May
Last Saturday saw our second SAL match of the season at Lee Valley: a clash with the Green Belt Relay, Highgate 10,000m, Royal wedding and a few holidays meant we had to dig deep in the club to put together a competitive team, but the aim still was to improve our first match result (and we did it).
The weather was on our side for once, with a perfectly sunny, nearly wind-free afternoon (huge improvement from the XC-like conditions back in April), which made it a very enjoyable day outdoors and helped many to get PBs and strong performances across the board. We won several races: very well done to newbies Henry Kemp (400m) and Lamal King (shot put, 3rd all-time Serpie throw), Marta Bagnati (5,000m, 5th Serpie all-time result) and Rhiannon Needham (400m hurdles) plus to all B string winners. Great to have some of our juniors with us: they had a storming 100m with a PB for Jaden Forde in a highly competitive race. Rhiannon was also top Serpie woman scorer (33.25 points from 9 (!) events before shooting off to run a Green Belt leg!) with Daniel De Palol (20 points) for the men. Thanks to everyone for taking part and supporting: we impressed some of the other clubs for the level of participation and commitment to our team cause!
Match-wise, we had a close fight with Basildon alternating the lead over the entire afternoon, but towards the end of the day they built a small gap and had the best of us at the end. Full results can be found on the SAL website. Final standings were:
- Basildon 350
- Serpentine 311
- Enfield & Haringey and HAWCS 232
- Huntingdonshire AC 204
- Chiltern Harriers/Bedford & County "B" Team 56
As usual, our invaluable officials made our match possible and also scored 20 points for the team: thank you to Sally and Ian Hodge, Sammy Li, Steph Vaatz, Sarah MacKenzie, Thomas Martini and Andy Maynard for spending most of their Saturday with us.
The next match is our home match at Battersea track on Saturday 23rd June. More details will follow, but this will be our first home match of the season and we will need athletes and helpers to make it happen. Please get in touch with the captains for more information or if you are interested in taking part and helping.
Southern Counties Veterans' AC League nr. 1, Battersea - 14 May
Spurred on by the enthusiasm of the Serpie officials and helpers, the ladies vets team convincingly won the first match of the SCVAC league last Monday at Battersea.
We had 9 individual wins on the track (Rhiannon Needham, Jacqueline O’Connor, Andrea Sanders-Reece, Avril Riddell, Jen Bradley and Catkin Shelley) followed by a great win in the 4 x 400m relay. Cath Ferguson was just 1 second behind the winner in her 1,500m and our regular walkers, Marianne Morris and Margaret Lang, both won their 2,000m race walks. In the throws Mary Davies came first in the shot and Margaret Sills provided valuable points for the shot and the discus (the latter an age group down). Rhiannon took on the jumps at the last minute and won the high jump. Hel James came first in the long jump and went on to score in the 100m, shot, discus and high jump.
The men were narrowly pushed into third place behind Herne Hill and Hillingdon, we won many more points than Hillingdon on the track, but unfortunately in the field events, especially the jumps, they were too good for us. David Hinds won both the 100m and 400m, while Bartosz Porzuzek and Andrew Roberts won their respective age groups in the 1,500m.
Thanks to Bev Thomas for managing us on the night and to all the Serpentine members who officiated or helped without whom a bunch of oldies would not have been able to have a great evening.
Match 2 is on Monday 4 June at Perivale; any members over 35 who are interested in competing please contact me or Andrew Maynard. (Report: Catkin Shelley; results page)
Rosenheim League nr. 1, Battersea - 9 May
Our men’s team won the opening match to go top of the Rosenheim League with strong performances across all events. We didn’t win any single event but there were 2nd spots for Miles Kershaw (100m & 400m), Nic Barberis (2,000m steeplechase), Dave Robinson (triple jump), the 4 x 200m relay and an excellent debut from Jonah Kramer with a 2:05 800m. The league tends to get stronger after the first two matches so it was great to get off to a good start and give ourselves the best possible chance of making the final in August. The Ladies team finished third behind very strong Belgrave and Wimbledon teams and there were 2nd places from Rhiannon Needham (2,000m steeplechase) and Camilla Allwood (hammer throw).
Thank you to everyone else who competed in scoring and non-scoring events, with a number of people covering events at short notice due to injury and timetable changes. Our next fixture is at Croydon on 23rd May. Please come and join us if you can. Contact Richard Taylor or Dave Robinson if you need any further information. (Report: Dave Robinson; results page)
Eda Korkmaz
communications@serpentine.org.uk
Submitted: 23 May 2018