Southern Athletic League, Eton – Sunday 19th May 2019

Medway and Maidstone AC’s Ladies and Men contested there 2nd Southern Athletic League fixture last Sunday at Eaton track in Berkshire, finishing overall 3rd placed team. There were some outstanding performances.

In the men’s match, Lewis Heffernan and George Blake got the team off to great start with a double victory in ‘A’ and ‘B’ 400m hurdles with times of 56.36s and 61.27s. Lewis also claimed 2nd placed ‘A’ in triple Jump and 3rd ‘A’ long jump in 6.07m where Brad McIntyre was 3rd ‘B’. The 100m saw Reece Dimech 11.55s 3rd ‘A’ and Rory Kuypers 2nd ‘B’ with 11.57s. George Clements had a season’s best performance in the 400M with 50.95s and Finn Rodgers 55.62 in ‘B’. The 800m ‘A’ saw 3rd place for Jacques Cunningham Marsh with a seasons best, 1.59.1 and 2nd ‘B’ for Andrejs Safars 2.02.6. Andrejs again having a busy afternoon winning ‘B’ 110m hurdles 20.64s, 3rd ‘A’ High Jump 1.63m and 2nd ‘B’ Triple Jump 10.59m and also competing in the Hammer and Pole Vault. Jacques also went on to finish 3rd ‘A’ 1500m in 4.14.75s with Ryan Maunders 2nd ‘B’ in 4.23.64s. In the 3000m, Tewelde Menges 2nd ‘A’ 3000m equalling his 8.52.0s PB and Marley Godden 1st  ‘B’ 8.55.4s, taking a massive 16s from his PB. Tewelde then went on to win the 3000m S/Chase ‘A’ 9.59.19s and Tom Collins also winning ‘B’ in 10.28.77s.

In the field events, Sonny Nash had a 51.27m winning throw in the ‘A’ Javelin with Sean Rodwell 3rd ‘B’ with a 32.59m PB. A best also for Will Blake in the Shot with 9.97m and a 28.13m Hammer for Charles Flynn. There were great season bests for Alex Donnelly 2.06.11s and Reegan Archer 2.10.46s in the non-scoring 800m and a PB of 10.36.32 s for Jack Crossley in 3000m s/chase.

The 4x100m relay squad of Rory Kuypers, Bradley McIntyre, Lewis Heffernan and Reece Dimech had a thrilling victory in a time of 43.77s. The final event of the day saw the 4x400m joint men and women relays competed for the first time ever. With the two men and women teams finishing 3rd in ‘A’ with a time of 3.43.0s and the ‘B’ team 2nd in 3.51.92s.

With some female athletes missing due to the Loughborough International match, the ladies team got away to a great start with 2 strong performances in the 400mH Elle Wastell 3rd ‘A’ 400mH and Emily Featherstone with a PB for 2nd ‘B’ 66.79s. Emily also contesting the 100 ‘B’ 13.71s for 3rd and Olivia Harrison 4th in a PB, 14.01s. In the 200m, Elle taking 3rd place 27.36s and Erin Hughes 4th 29.45. Billie Rouse had an exceptional day with 2 second places and PBs in both the ‘A’ 400m 61.54s and ‘A; 800m 2.23.15s. Erin Hughes was 3rd in the 400m ‘B’ 69.21s and Bernadette Harrop 4th ‘B’ 2.57.50s in the 800m. Bernadette also covering the 1500m for 4th A’ 6.03.75s and Mo Fazakerley 4th ‘B’ 6.31.17s. In the 5000m ‘A’ Emily Hale run well for 3rd and a PB, 19.44.58s Also covering the 1500m ‘A’ Steeplechase with a PB run for 4th place 6.07.41s and Bernadette Harrop 4th ‘B’ 6:59.19s.

The High Jump saw 3rd place for Olivia Harrison ‘A’ 1.38m and 2nd for Grace Adeleye ‘B’ 1.33m. Both then taking 3rd places in the Triple Jump with a PB for ‘A’ Olivia 9.47m and Grace 9.27m. An extremely high standard in the Long Jump with 1st and 2nd 5.84m and 5.80m respectively, Erin Hughes did well for 3rd ‘A’ 4.38m and Bernadette Harrop 4th ‘B’ 2.79m. There were strong performances in the throws. In the Shot Vanessa Hannam 3rd ‘A’ 10.20m and U17 Zara Obamakinwa 1st with a PB (4K shot) 10.03m. Both then contested the Discus with Zara 2nd ‘A’ 39.10m and Vanessa 1st ‘B’ 35.79m. In the Javelin ‘A’ Vanessa also taking 2nd place and a PB, 29.70m with Jess Blake 3rd ‘B’ 10.35m. With strong competition in the Hammer Grace Adeleye 2nd ‘A’ 40.81m and Jess Blake 1st ‘B’ 39.41m. The 4x100m saw 3rd place for the M&M ladies with the 4×4 mixed teams reported above.

Well done to all the team.