National Junior Men's League, Thames Division, Ipswich 20 June 2004

With Herts Phoenix leading the Thames Division on match points from Havering Mayesbrook only a win would do if the team were to realise their ambition of making the Promotion Match in August.

There were four late withdrawals from the team, two sickness, one had another sporting commitment and another had Exam work to do. All in all 12 athletes travelled to Ipswich to give it their best shot.

Junior League Debutant Christian Newton showed that he will be a major asset to the team next season.  The under 17 thrower competed in the Discus, throwing the junior weight for the first time ever he managed to throw just short of 30m to win the B string event.  He also tackled the javelin and Hammer finishing 3rd B and 3rd A respectively.  Another Under 17 thrower Harry Tyler improved his Personal Best with the 800g Javelin, finishing 3rd in the A string.  With a good winter behind these guys, they will certainly be the ones to look out for next season.

Multi-Eventer Aaron Edwards was another athlete in determined form.  He picked up 1st B in the High-Jump, 2nd A in the Shot and Discus, 3rd A in 110m Hurdles and Pole-Vault. With the next fixture falling on the same weekend as the South of England Combined Events Championships, the team look certain to lose this valuable member of the squad.

Scott Keating, had a dip in his usual good form in the High-Jump, only managing to clear his opening height which was 15 cm below his season's best.  He went on to the Shot with a bit of anger at his High-Jump performance and recorded a Personal Best.  He finished 4th A in the High-Jump and 1st B in the Shot.

Sprint Duo Luke Stott and team captain Simon Parker were on fine form in the 100m and 200m. Both finished 2nd in the 100m and 1st in the 200m with Luke equalling his Pb in the 200m. Luke went on to record a 1st in the B 400m Hurdles and 3rd in the A Long-Jump.  Simon tackled the Hammer for the first time ever, finishing 4th in the B and 4th in the A Triple-Jump.

Mark Gardiner tackled the Long-Jump and Triple-Jump finishing 2nd B and 1st B respectively.

Michael Waller, another fine Under 17 athlete, tackled the A 400m Hurdles, B 400m Flat and the B 110m hurdles. He finished 2nd, 1st and 2nd respectively.  400m Partner Adam Shaw ran a comfortable 400m to win the A by 15m or so.

Lewis Huckfield, in his first season and only his 2nd Junior League meeting finished 2nd in the A 3000m in a difficult race. 

Others on the track were Andrew Meech who had a comfortable win in the A 800m, with partner Daniel Quinn completing a clean sweep with victory in the B 800m.  Both went on to fill in, in the 1500m where Andrew finished 4th in the A and Daniel 2nd in the B.  Daniel went on to a comfortable win in the 2000m Steeple Chase.

On to the Relays.  The 4x100m team consisting of Mark Gardiner, Simon Parker, Adam Shaw and Luke Stott won comfortably.

The 4x400m Relay squad have set their sights on the Club record this season.  At the last fixture they recorded 3m35s and at this fixture the team of Michael Waller, Andrew Meech, Daniel Quinn and Adam Shaw clocked 3m28s to win by over 250m and finish just 4 seconds off the club record.  The relay squad will be pushing much harder next time round to try and break the record of 3m24.0 which has stood since 1980.

The team travel to Woodford Green on the 25th July for the final League Match of the season and will be looking to continue their winning streak.