British League Bedford

British League Div 2 at Bedford on Sat 15^th July 2017

  What a day! The Gods conspired against us in this shambles of a match where the powers that be decided to host all 5 British League matches at the same venue. We very narrowly came home in a disappointing 6^th  place just 0.5 points behind one team and only 14 points away from 3^rd place. 

 We had our worst spell of injuries on the day in living memory as we lost 3 A string competitors in Owen, Sean and Jonathan with injuries well before they could contribute to the cause. This left us with only 16 men fit and healthy which eventually cost us dearly.

  On a rainy day to start with, and a packed stand full of competitors, we started pretty well in the 3000 m where John Gilbert led all the way only to be outkicked but he came a creditable 4^th in the A race and Jordan Weaver ran a solid race as he came home in 3^rd place in the B string. Sean Breathnach performed well in the Discus as he came 2^nd with a throw of 43.20 m but he aggravated an injury as he chased the win which meant that he could only just stand in the Shot and had to scratch from the Hammer.

  Next up was Jonathan Browne who suffered a recurrence of an old injury yet he still managed 4^th place in a competitive 100 m but had to withdraw from the 200 m and the 4 x 100m. New boy Nathan Brown then ran well to secure 3^rd in the B string before a solid run in the 200 m where he ran well replacing Jonathan and came home in 5^th place – not bad at all in moving up a level for the first time !

  In the field an unusually early Triple Jump saw another of our long distance travellers, Chuxx Onyia, perform well as he jumped 15.23 m and secured our first win of the day before moving on to the long Jump where he earned more good points with a jump of 6.59 m. He was backed up well by David Wellstead who secured maximum points for us in this event as he jumped 13.15 m. Next up for us was one of our most reliable competitors, Ben Harding, who secured 3^rd place in the A race in a really tight finish and he was backed up by Owen Hind who had to withdraw after this event as he was obviously suffering from illness as he made it three withdrawals from our original team.

  We were scrapping for points hard and welcome relief came from Irish star, Rory Gunning, who won the Javelin with a throw of 55.64 m with non helpful wind conditions and with the competition lacking atmosphere as it was held outside the main stadium. He went on to secure more points for us as he competed in the B string Discus and Shot for us. Team Captain Joe Appiah was scoring steady points across 4 events, filing in holes well and running a good 110 m hurdles where he came home in 5^th place in a very good standard race.

  We however did well in the 3000 m steeplechase as Chris Greenwood and Richard Phillips came 3^rd in the A race and 2^nd in the B race which earned us 22 key points.  This was after Shaun Mulligan came 5^th in the A 400 m hurdle sand Jean-Charles Roghi earned great points by coming 3^rd in the B race. Next up was Ben Harding who ran well in a competitive 1500 m as he secured good points by coming home in 3^rd place in the A string and late placement Jordan Weaver then ran well securing 4^th place in the B race.  After a long wait for his main event Shawn Wright ran extremely well as he judged his pace well in the A 400 m  and he secured a welcome win before quickly moving on to the B 200  m where he replaced Jonathan and he secured more valuable points as he came home in 5^th place despite still having lactic in his legs.

 However last but by no means least Ron Taylor and Shaun Mulligan were filling in events all over the place taking the pressure of the rest of the team and they secured a total of 25 points across several events – great from two real team guys!

  We just managed to fill both Relays which secured us 8 more points but we were edged out into 6^th place on the day and only 4 points away from  4^th place. Still we go into the last match with a chance of promotion if we win the match so the season is far from over ! 

British League Div 2 – after 3 matches

1. Kingston & P             20    (891)
2. Herne Hill                  18    (883)

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3. KENT AC                  16    (851.5)
4. Crawley                     14    (835)
5. Newquay & P            14    (800)
6. Bournemouth            13    (837) 

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7. Bristol & W               10    (770.5)
8. Enfield & H                 3    (652)