British Athletics League – Promotion Qualifier – Abingdon 13th September 2003  

(Photos: Fred Gamester)

Havering Mayesbrook failed in their attempt to regain the British Athletics League spot they lost two weeks ago, in a sun drenched finale to the season at Abingdon on Saturday. Despite seven victories on the day they didn’t accumulate enough points to overcome some tough opposition.

Mark Bishop was at his bullish best, competing to great effect in six events. He won the “A” pole vault with a mighty 4.10, hurled the javelin just short of 52 metres for second place. He still found the energy to run the 110m high hurdles, leap 6.45m in the long jump as well as throw the shot and discus - a performance typical of his efforts for the Club over the years.

Another immense performance on the day was put in by Matt Russell, beaten in to 2^nd place in the 100m by the thickness of a vest; he recorded his best time for 4 years with 10.7 secs, the same as the winner. An hour later he ran his first ever Senior 400m, running superbly to get 2^nd place in a remarkable 49.6 seconds. Only 40 minutes later he stormed to victory in the 200m with a time of 22 seconds, he then rounded the day off by running a leg in both relays.  

Whilst Mark and Matt were the busiest athletes on the day, the others were more than bit part players. Des English was victorious in the 800m but was squeezed in to 2^nd in the 1500m. Hammer throwers Kevin Deacon and Danny Gamester dominated the event recording “A” & “B” victories. Sam Harrison was close to his recent pb when winning the “B” javelin, pole vaulter Kevin Tufton, despite being under the weather still managed victory in the “B” event.  

Despite slipping out the National League there’s plenty of  good young athletes in the pipe line. Sprinters Simon Parker and Jonathon Buckler worked hard and accumulated plenty of points. High Jumpers Steve Prady and Scott Keating both performed well on the day. The whole team gave it their all to overcome the absence of a number of injured athletes, most notable absentee being multi-eventer Leo Barker, who pulled a hamstring just a few days prior to the match. Next season will see the team return to Division One of the Southern League, for the first time since 1996. But the promise is to overcome this setback and return to National League athletics for 2005!!

Match result

	A STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist			B STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist
100	Matt Russell	2	10.7		100	Simon Parker	5	11.7
200	Matt Russell	1	22.0		200	Simon Parker	6	23.8
400	Matt Russell	2	49.6		400	Jonathan Buckler	6	54.1
800	Des English	1	1:54.2		800	Rob Dickenson	4	2:01.6
1500	Des English	2	3:55.9		1500	Rob Dickenson	4	4:18.9
5000	Ryan Prout	5	16:06.9		5000	Trevor Keys	3	17:03.3
3000 s/c	Rob Warner	7	10:14.5		3000 s/c	Graham Pritchard	7	11:20
110H	Mark Bishop	4	16.2		110H	Steve Kearns	5	18.1
400H	Steve Kearns	7	63.7		400H	Rob Warner	6	69.1
L.J.	Mark Bishop	4	6.45		L.J.	Jonathan Buckler	7	5.51
H.J.	Steve Prady	4	1.90		H.J.	Scott Keating	4	1.80
T.J.	Dave Leonard	6	11.99		T.J.	Jonathan Buckler	5	11.66
P.V.	Mark Bishop	1	4.10		P.V.	Kevin Tufton	1	3.60
S.P.	Brett Heath	4	11.88		S.P.	Mark Bishop	4	10.95
D.T.	Brett Heath	3	39.01		D.T.	Mark Bishop	3	33.99
J.T.	Mark Bishop	2	51.94		J.T	Sam Harrison	1	51.73
H.T.	Kevin Deacon	1	44.85		H.T.	Danny Gamester	1	44.30
4x100	Matt Russell; Simon Parker, Steve Prady, Jon Buckler						6	45.8
4x400	Jon Buckler, Simon Parker, Matt Russell, Des English						3	3:29.8