National Junior Men's League, Thames/Cam Division, Bedford 28 April 2002

Encouraging Start for Junior Men

Havering Mayesbrook AC’s Junior Men’s team did well to finish fourth of eight teams in their opening National Junior League match at Bedford on Sunday.

Despite lacking sufficient athletes to compete in every event, there was just a handful of points between five other teams with the position changing throughout the afternoon on an event-by-event basis.

Best performance for the local Club came from Kevin Deacon who smashed the Junior Men’s Club Hammer record with a throw of 45.71m. The throwers had a good meeting with Andrew Tierney winning the ‘B’ Hammer and taking third in the Discus (in which Tom Melrose won the ‘B’ event).

Also in the field, the high jumpers gave warning of a good season ahead with Steven Prady taking second in the ‘A’ despite an ankle injury and Mark Connelly winning the ‘B’.

The only individual win on the track came from Andrew Bartlett (an under-17) who took the 'B' 100m in a time close to his best. He also took third in the 200m with Connelly performing likewise in the ‘B’ string.

If there was an award for guts, it would go to Ashley Roberts who, in his first year as an under-17, knocked 26 seconds off his previous best in the 3000m.

Another gutsy performance from the 4 x 400m squad (Joe Golding, Connelly, Roberts and Martin Heys) saw Havering Mayesbrook overhaul Norwich by one point to take fourth place overall in the match.

The next meeting is at Woodford on Sunday, 23^rd June when, with a fuller complement of athletes, HMAC will be looking to move up the table.

Final placings:

FULL HMAC RESULTS