Havering Mayesbrook young athletes left it late but overhauled hosts Herne Hill to place second at Battersea on Sunday to keep alive their hopes of a place in the end of season Regional final  

The strong Under 17 Men again led the way with eight individual victories. Josh Olawore contributed two, smashing his triple jump best with a winning 13.62m, fifth best ever by a club u17, taking the long jump and just losing out in the 100m hurdles. Andrew Kerr added another double with victories in hammer and pole vault and Patrick Lear added javelin full points.  On the track Josh Connors and Adam |Wileman made it a steeplechase one-two both in new PBs, and Wileman also smashed his sprint hurdles PB. Massi Dendani was a fine 800m winner and improved his 400m career best in third, with Dale Marks-Swain also setting a new PB in second. Hoseah Gikungu was first home in the 3000m. Danny Wilson was discus runner up. Marks-Swain, Dendani, Olawore were joined by Jon Seekings as the 4x400m squad were second.

The Under 17 Women had three wins and six runners up spots. Rachel Sadler returned to action with victory in the 3000m with Patsy McWeeney in second, while Becky Stanley won the 1500m in a season’s best after equalling her 800m PB in second. Deborah Knight was a good javelin winner and was close to her bests in the 100m and 200m.   Sophie Baggs was second in the discus and Laura Drew the hammer. Jess Seekings was second in the high jump and also set new PBs in both 300m & 300m hurdles.  Jess, Becky, and Deborah were joined by Nicola Peachey in the 4x300m relay team which placed second.

There was a good team display from the Under 15 Boys who had three wins and no fewer than 10 second placings.  Alex Law leapt to long jump victory – with Alex Habbershaw second – and improved his 200m & javelin bests in placing second in both. The fast improving Ben Thompson had a great day with discus victory – to go fifth on the club all-time list – and runners up in shot and hammer .  Ben joined Finbar Smyth, Nick Duffey and Nathan Jackson in the winning 4x400m quartet. Jackson was earlier runner up in the individual 400m in a new best and equalled his pole vault best in second. Other runners up placings went to Nick Shade (1500m PB), Karl Tucker (80m hurdles), and Jack Downes (high jump).

There were four victories and a club record from the Under 15 Girls.  Mercy Gutteridge again improved her pole vault club best with a 2.10m clearance for victory and all rounder Bethany Chambers long jumped further than before to take the honours in that event. There was a fine one-two in the 1500m as Lydia Hallam was a class apart with Francesca Smith’s PB securing a great second.  Georgie Taylor won the discus and was second in the javelin before joining Bethany, Mercy and Nicole Blunt (hurdles PB) in the sprint relay team who were second.

Heidi Surman-Wells provided the stand-out results for the Under 13 Girls with winning PBs in the 800m and 70m hurdles, with the fastest time by a club u13 since 2003 to go into the all-time top 10. Michelle Hughes celebrated her league début with second in the high jump and 75m & 150m PBs and Amy Baggs set a new PB to finish second in the shot.

There was a glut of PBs by the Under 13 Boys but Fraser Scott’s 1500m PB earning him maximum points. Thomas Pitkin’s long jump best placed him second while third places were gained by Alex Hewitt (100m & 200m) and Zachary Jackson (shot). Alex was joined by Robert Woodgate, Liam Norman and Ryan Green in the sprint relay squad who were second.

With placings based on event points rather than match points the youngsters need a big points tally in the final fixture on 18^th July at St Albans.  The top four qualify for the Southern Regional Final and with top two Enfield & Haringey and Blackheath & Bromley bagging two of the places it looks like a three-way battle between Herne Hill (1716 points), Croydon (1710 points) and the Havering Mayesbrook squad (1673.5 points) for the other two places.