British Athletics League Division 4 – Round 2 – Abingdon 5th July 2003

Havering Mayesbrook’s British League campaign continued at Abingdon on Saturday, with another closely contested affair and another fourth place finish.

Des English made a dramatic return to the team after four years, during which time he has been working in the States. A breakdown on the way meant a 50 mile dash by taxi, arriving 15 minutes before his first event, despite the trauma he still managed a second place in the 800m. Some 90 minutes later he was in action in the 1500m, his 200m surge from 6^th place saw him snatch a win in 3:55.8. He finished his day by anchoring the 4 x 400m relay squad to 5^th place.

Whilst one athlete was making a return to National League athletics two more were making impressive debuts. Andrew Bartlett ran the “B” string 400m, finishing as runner up to former international Paul Slythe and posting a personal best of 50.9, with a superb run. Terry O’Leary finished in 3^rd place in the Javelin with another personal best, hurling the heavier Senior javelin out to 43.93.

Sprint pair Matt Russell and Scott Spencer, both carrying slight injuries, scored well in 100m, 200m and 400m before going on to the relays. A clutch of 3^rd places in the middle distance events kept the points rolling in. Chris Coates continues to improve, recording yet another 800m pb in a tactical race. Trevor Keys ran strongly in “B” 1500m, with Jason Lendon recording his best time for a while in the “A” steeplechase and Rob Warner finishing only just outside his recent pb in the “B” race.

A quiet day for team captain Mark Bishop with only 4 events, grabbing 2^nd in the “A” pole vault, as well as good places in the “B” shot, discus and high jump. Leo Barker took on his customary 7 events, with his best finish being 2^nd in the “A” long jump, he also contested, and got 4^th places in the shot, discus, 110mH, 100m as well as running both relays. 

Another athlete making a return was Matt Bland in the 5000m in 6^th place his storming last lap gave a very creditable time of 15:55.3. Solid performances from throwers Kevin Deacon and Danny Gamester in the Hammer, Sam Harrison in the javelin and with Kevin Tufton winning the “B” pole vault  - a good team performance looked to avoided the recent seasons' annual relegation battle.

Match result

League positions after two meetings

	A STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist			B STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist
100	Matt Russell	6	11.2		100	Leo Barker	4	11.4
200	Matt Russell	4	22.6		200	Scott Spencer	5	22.8
400	Scott Spencer	6	51.1		400	Andrew Bartlett	2	50.9 PB
800	Des English	2	1:53.5		800	Chris Coates	3	2:01.0
1500	Des English	1	3:55.8		1500	Trevor Keys	3	4:10.5
5000	Matt Bland	6	15:55.3		5000	Graham Pritchard	5	16:31.2
3000 s/c	Jason Lendon	3	9:38.8		3000 s/c	Rob Warner	3	10:02.2
110H	Leo Barker	4	15.6		110H	Stephen Kearns	6	17.4
400H	Stephen Kearns	8	62.4		400H	Russ Middleton	8	72.9
L.J.	Leo Barker	2	6.70		L.J.	Steve Prady	7	5.62
H.J.	Steve Prady	5	1.90		H.J.	Mark Bishop	5	1.65
T.J.	----				T.J.	-----
P.V.	Mark Bishop	2	3.80		P.V.	Kevin Tufton	1	3.80
S.P.	Leo Barker	4	12.42		S.P.	Mark Bishop	2	11.56
D.T.	Leo Barker	4	38.09		D.T.	Mark Bishop	2	33.68
J.T.	Sam Harrison	4	48.30		J.T	Terry O'Leary	3	43.93
H.T.	Kevin Deacon	5	43.72		H.T.	Danny Gamester	2	42.29
4x100	DSQ
4x400	Scott Spencer, Leo Barker, Andrew Bartlett, Des English						6	3:28.8