Nene Valley Harriers finished in third place at Saturday’s Southern Athletics League meet at Wormwood Scrubs.
It was a great day for the Harriers, with the effort and commitment shown by the big band of athletes being a credit to the club.
The team showed great team spirit and support for the club – and each other – as they just missed out on overall victory by six points.
The men’s team made some quick changes in the day after a couple of withdrawals on Friday and then athletes not turning up as expected on the day. However, spaces were filled promptly with volunteers.
The ladies’ team had been hit hard in the last week but again spaces had been filled, with Emily Maltby competing in five individual events plus a relay. She scored an impressive points tally of 17.5 for the club on the day.
The team pulled together in adversity during the day as well. Poppy Tovey, stepping up in the pole vault, unfortunately cut her leg while attempting 1.70m and needed seven stitches.
Chloe Pavey stepped in to fill her place in the 800m – but this meant that she was too tired for the 2,000m steeplechase later in the day.
Youngster Imogen Woodard said that she would step in for Pavey and run her first ever chase. Despite being given the opportunity to come out before and during the race she went on to produce a very creditable performance.
The club’s throwers went very close to rescuing the match for the city side with the ladies dropping only three points over all throwing disciplines.
Becki Hall extended her club record shot put with an impressive 12.70m, which was equally matched by Andrea Jenkins, whose hammer fell just one centimetre (cm) behind the UK age group record giving her an age group best throw of 50.10m.
Both ladies winning their A string competitions were supported by Lydia Church also recording two wins in the B strings.
The male throwers refused to be outdone, with Martin Tinkler and Simon Achurch recording wins in the shot put giving the club maximum points throwing that hefty ball.
Tomas Sanaurious and once again Achurch also recorded the same feat in the javelin, with Tomas falling just short of 60m.
Achurch had an impressive day with three wins and a second place to his credit.
On the track Daz Holding and Dave Brown completed a 400m double win.
These performances led to an exciting climax to the day with the men’s 400m relay. Blade, Olli Bowling, Dave Bush and anchor man Holding fought every inch of the mile to hold onto second place and make every effort to catch the leaders Chelmsford.
Despite the problem Nene Valley seem to have with getting endurance athletes out on the track, those that are attending are improving every meeting.
Michael Channing’s 5,000m racing performances have shown a marked improvement each time and his time of 15.43.9mins was 1.20mins quicker than he had recorded on the track before and faster than any of his road performances.
He was well supported by John Nash, who also recorded a second place and in the ladies 3,000m Nicky Morgan and Imogen Woodard both gained third place finishes.
Rio Chilvers recorded his first ever steeplechase win in the men’s 2,000m – knocking some 14 seconds off his personal best (PB).
Supporting Chilvers in that race was pole vaulter Pete Lewis.
Rosie Fresen, after her second place in the pole vault, and Imogen Woodard both ran good races in the same event.
The club’s sprinters are getting back to strength with three wins in the ladies’ sprints and four second places, Georgie Ivens with two of those wins and Lily Hughes producing one of her best performances this season.
The men also scored well in the sprint events with Brown competing in all sprint event, including his 400m win.
Ever the club man, Sean Reidy – after leaving the last fixture to get home for the birth of his daughter – did show the effects of early parenthood and the lack of a good night’s sleep as he tired in the 400m hurdles. He still recorded a ‘B’ string win.
Team manager Tim Needham said: “Overall the whole team performed well and it was a gutsy performance which deserved so much more than it got.”
The next league match is at Crawley on July 9.
