Page 7 - Summer2016Gazette
P. 7

Athletics Report  7


        The Senior Men…

        British Athletic League 2017

                                Camron Lyttle (sprints), Jordan   tour guide giving his definitive
          A frustrating season perhaps?   Layne (400), Adam Herring   perspective on the South Wales
          Frustration more often comes   (4x400), Pedro Gleadall (pole   towns. Port Talbot came in for
          from gaining great results with-  vault) and Luc Durant (shot).   particular abuse, did he lose in
          out the satisfaction of a tangible   Scott Huggins had an impres-  love here in his distant past? We
          reward and there was much to   sive win in the pole vault and   tried to keep him humoured
          be encouraged by, together with a   we surprised ourselves with vic-  and hoped the refreshments
          slow improvement from the team   tory in the 4x100. It was great to   stall would be open the next day
          year by year, which made one feel   have Louis Mascarenhas back   or we’d never hear the end of it.
          that the Senior Men would gain   in action after missing all of last   After recent terrorist attacks,
          that coveted promotion to the   season.       every station we stopped at in
          top flight which they justifiably   Thanks to Dave Cordell for   Wales was patrolled by armed
          would have merited. But it   bringing the tent along.  police, and, when we arrived at
          was not to be. Blackheath and                 our Premier Inn, the reception-
          Bromley have in the past had   Final Result:   ist informed us that sniffer dogs
          to re-locate when circumstances   1. Cardiff 318, 2. Swansea 316,   had been through the premises
          demanded it. Maybe in the light   3. Harrow 291, 4. Blackheath &   earlier in the week and that
          of what eventually happened this   Bromley 283, 5=. Sale Harriers   we had 24 police officers in
          season the club needs to re-locate   265, 5=.Windsor Slough Eton &   residence.
          to Wales!             Hounslow 265, 7=. Basingstoke
          Pat Calnan reports…                           This was a tricky fixture for us
                                & Mid Hants 208, 7=. City Of   and we had gaps to fill. Team
                                Glasgow 208.            spirit was good, however, and
        Match One, Basingstoke                          the train journey had given us
        6th May.                Match Two, Swansea      the opportunity to address most
        Fourth in the first match wasn’t   3rd June.    of the issues. One of these was
        really one thing or the other.   Flashback to January and I’m   not just who would compete in
        We weren’t far off third place   wondering why there seems to   the vault but would we be able
        but well adrift of the two Welsh   be no accommodation available   to find a pole for them to use.
        clubs. We were the second best   for a Friday night in Swansea.   We finished in 5th place scored
        team in the field events two   In fact there doesn’t seem to be   more points than we did in the
        points behind Cardiff, but the   any in South Wales at all. Ah,   first fixture where we came
        fifth best on the track.  the Champions League Final is   4th. It was a great result partly
        Obvious highlight of the day   taking place in Cardiff on the   because we achieved this with
        was James Whiteaker’s perfor-  Saturday. This could be a prob-  a number of people missing but
        mance in the javelin. He won   lem, but as the football clubs get   more importantly everyone who
        with a distance off 77.03. This   knocked out, the accommoda-  was there made it happen. All
        was a qualifying performance   tion opens up. Arsenal are dis-  events were filled, and athletes
        for the Commonwealth Games   patched 10-2 by Bayern Munich   achieved personal bests, seasons
        though did not guarantee   and we’re in business.  bests and bonded as a team.
        selection. It broke Peter Yates   We welcomed a number of the   Dan Putnam set a personal best
        Senior Club record which had   new athletes to the team, Ross   to win the 200 metres, having
        stood for thirty years and was   Braden, Tim Ayres, Kieran   been pipped in the 100 by a
        of course a Club Junior record   Murphy and youngster Lewis   hundredth of a second. Our
        as well.                Mills. Fortunately we had old   best event was the triple jump
        This was James first appearance   crusty Ken Daniel in our party.   where Jonathan Ilori took the
        for the team and there were   He was able to pass on his expe-  A string with 15.11 and Rob
        some more fine debuts too from   rience and also act as unofficial   Sutherland made it maximum
   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12