British Athletics League Division 4 – Round 4 – Norwich 30th August 2003

After two years of clinging on to National League status Havering Mayesbrook’s Senior Men’s team slipped to relegation in dramatic style on Saturday at Norwich.

Going into the match four points clear of the drop only a wonderful performance by Swindon could close the gap – Swindon performed and Havering were down!!

The team can still look back on the day and reflect on some good performances. They recorded 8 season or personal bests. 

Kevin Tufton gained 2^nd place in the Pole Vault with 4.00m, team captain Mark Bishop won the “B” vault with 3.90m, both season best performances. 5000m duo Trevor Keys and Ryan Prout both produced personal bests, but in a high class field were only able to grab a 6^th and 4^th place respectively. Brett Heath made his first appearance this year to throw the discus over 39 metres. Sam Harrison launched the javelin 51.49 to record a new pb, Matt Russell recorded season best performances with 10.8 for 2^nd place in the 100m and won the 200m with a time of 21.7secs.

Des English returned from injury to score well grabbing 2^nd places in the 800m and 1500m, he was supported by Rob Dickenson making a rare appearance in the 800 and Chris Coates running his preferred 1500. Gavin Maley picked up points running in the 400m Hurdles and steeplechase in a season that’s been blighted by injury and illness.

Hammer throwers Danny Gamester threw over 41m for 5^th place in the “A” but fellow thrower Kevin Deacon injured his shoulder and could only manage just over 37m, but still good enough to claim a 3^rd in the “B” string.

The drama of the day unfurled for the final event, the 4 x 400m relay. The points were so close that 3 teams were fighting to stay up, Havering, Swindon and host club Norwich. Last season Havering went in to the final event of a 4 month campaign with relegation dependent on the outcome, this season was the same, but the outcome was dependent on other teams results. From an early stage of the race the teams positions couldn’t be worse, if Norwich beat Swindon – Havering survived, if Kingston beat Norwich - Havering survived, if Havering beat Bolton by 5 places – Havering survived. But after the first leg Swindon were in the lead, Havering in second place – just ahead of Bolton in 3rd with Norwich near the back – and Kingston had been disqualified. Despite the best 4 x 400m time of the season from the local athletes the position remained the same throughout the race.

Although relegated Havering Mayesbrook AC now have a “second chance” the Club have been accepted to compete in qualifier match at Abingdon on Saturday 13^th September. The top 2 gain promotion to Division 4 of the British Athletics League. Havering are optimistic of regaining their place in National League Athletics.

Match result

Final League positions

	A STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist			B STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist
100	Matt Russell	2	10.8		100	Simon Parker	7	11.5
200	Matt Russell	1	21.7		200	Simon Parker	6	23.4
400	Scott Spencer	7	52.7		400
800	Des English	2	1:57.2		800	Rob Dickenson	7	2:04.6
1500	Des English	2	4:02.8		1500	Chris Coates	4	4:18.0
5000	Trevor Keys	6	15:34.9	PB	5000	Ryan Prout	4	15:42.9 PB
3000 s/c	Rob Warner	6	10:30.8		3000 s/c	Gavin Maley	6	10:51.4
110H	Leo Barker	7	15.7		110H	Mark Bishop	5	16.3
400H	Graham Pritchard	8	74.9		400H	Gavin Maley	6	63.2
L.J.	Leo Barker	2	6.81		L.J.	Mark Connelly	5	5.73
H.J.	Mark Connelly	6	1.70		H.J.	Mark Bishop	6	1.65
T.J.	Jonathan Buckler	8	11.71		T.J.	Simon Parker	8	11.14
P.V.	Kevin Tufton	2	4.00		P.V.	Mark Bishop	1	3.90
S.P.	Leo Barker	4	12.38		S.P.	Brett Heath	4	11.33
D.T.	Brett Heath	5	39.34		D.T.	Leo Barker	5	31.56
J.T.	Sam Harrison	4	51.49	PB	J.T	Leo Barker	4	43.41
H.T.	Danny Gamester	5	41.51		H.T.	Kevin Deacon	3	37.36
4x100	Matt Russell; Simon Parker, Jon Buckler; Leo Barker						7	44.9
4x400	Matt Russell, Scott Spencer, Leo Barker, Des English						2	3:23.4