National Junior League, Southern Premier Division, Bedford 24 June 2001

Third place again as Junior ladies head for final place

A good all-round team effort secured third place for the Havering Mayesbrook Ladies Under 20 team in the second round National Junior League, Southern Premier Division, fixture at heat-soaked Bedford on Sunday.  The Havering Mayesbrook squad entered the last event, the late-running discus in fourth position, trailing third place Shaftesbury Barnet by five points but a personal best by Mel Harrison and a good effort from Melissa Felton gained two third places, compared to two fifths by the Shaftesbury throwers, enough to claw back the deficit and win third in the match. Mel Harrison had earlier claimed a hammer PB.

Lydia Comley, in winning the B 400m from the outside lane, was the only Havering Mayesbrook individual success after placing fifth in the 800m A. But the highlight of the day came when 4x100m relay squad of Fran Rigby, Hannah Gamester, Gemma Tyler and Laura Jones produce a slick display of baton passing before anchor runner Laura just held off a fast finishing Ashford quartet to claim an unexpected win. Fran had earlier placed second in the B long jump, in which Hannah had taken A string third place points, following a pole vault runners up spot.

Lauren Deadman returned from injury to place second in the 1500m and has two weeks to sharpen her form before she competes in the gruelling 3000m in the English Schools Championships at Exeter. Helen Biscoe supported well in third in the B string, having already claimed the same position in the 800m B event.

Two newcomers claimed second places. New recruit Hayley Mottram finished strongly to come through to second in the 400m A, while Siobhan Dennehy, a second-claim member (able to compete in this competition under league rules) was runner-up in both high jump and 100m hurdles. She was backed up well in the hurdles by Melissa Felton, who also ran to second in the B string, after placing third in the 400m hurdles.

Nina Brennan tackled the 400m hurdles and hammer for the first time, placing third and fourth, and sandwiched between these also gained triple jump points.  Completing the team were Sarah Benton who gained two B string fourth places in the javelin and triple jump, and Laura O’Neill who ran the 3000m and a leg of the 4 x400m relay.

At the half-way stage in the four-fixture programme, the squad look on target to gain one of the four qualifying places for the national final at Derby in September in their first year at this level.

Match Result

League Positions

	A STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist			B STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist
100	Hannah Gamester	6	13.5		100	Laura Jones	4	13.7
200	Laura Jones	4	27.9		200	Gemma Tyler	5	28.8
400	Hayley Mottram	2	61.6		400	Lydia Comley	1	62.6 PB
800	Lydia Comley	5	2:24.0		800	Helen Biscoe	3	2:27.4
1500	Lauren Deadman	2	4:42.6		1500	Helen Biscoe	3	5:12.9
3000	Laura O'Neill	6	12:19.1		3000
100H	Siobhan Dennehy	2	17.0		100H	Melissa Felton	2	19.3
400H	Melissa Felton	3	72.5		400H	Nina Brennan	3	75.7  PB
L.J.	Hannah Gamester	3	4.85		L.J.	Francesca Rigby	2	4.63
H.J.	Siobhan Dennehy	2	1.55		H.J.	Gemma Tyler	5	1.30
T.J.	Nina Brennan	6	8.87		T.J.	Sarah Benton	4	8.59
P.V.	Hannah Gamester	2	2.10		P.V.
S.P.	Mel Harrison	4	8.60		S.P	Siobhan Dennehy	3	8.34
D.T.	Mel Harrison	3	32.16   PB		D.T.	Melissa Felton	3	25.06
J.T.	Siobhan Dennehy	5	28.77		J.T	Sarah Benton	4	18.98
H.T.	Mel Harrison	3	25.93   PB		H.T.	Nina Brennan	4	15.44  PB
4x100	Fran Rigby				4x400	Hayley Mottram (62.6)
	Hannah Gamester					Melissa Felton (64.5)
	Gemma Tyler					Laura O'Neill (70.5)
	Laura Jones	1	51.4			Helen Biscoe (64.8)	5	4:22.0