After two victories in each of the first four matches, there was some measure of progress as the victory count went up to 3 for the 5th match at Erith. Wole Odele picked up maximum points in the M50 400m and Triple Jump, whilst Jerry Carnell kept up his 100% record in the league this year by winning the M60 3000m. Despite having to cope with a heel injury and giving away about 20 years to most of the field, Warwick Dixon placed third in the M60 Hammer. Andy Inglis also secured our best finish in an M35 track event this season, with third place in the 3000m. Another highlight was a PB for Dom Fiore in stepping out of his comfort zone for the difficult 400m A-string. Paris Hunt also got a PB in dropping down an age group for the M35 Hammer.
The first two events were the Pole Vault and Hammer starting simultaneously in the field with Paris Hunt involved in both. Paris improved his PB for the 7.26kg Hammer from 12.87m to 14.82m for 6th place. Peter Wishart was 4th in the M50 with a throw of 25.11m. Warwick came 3rd in the M60 event with a throw of 24.10m.
Wole cleared his first two jumps in the M35 Pole vault before heading off to compete in the M50 400m. By the time he came back after the 400m, the bar had gone higher and coupled with the after-effects of the 400m, he was unable to jump any higher, placing 5th with 1.3m. Paris also placed 5th in the M50 event with a season’s best of 1.9m.
The 3rd event was the 400m where long distance runner, Dom put the team’s interest first to take on the A-string and was rewarded with a PB of 63.9s for 5th place. Ray Daniel dropped down 2 age groups to come 5th in the B-string in a season-best time of 65.8s. Wole won the M50 race in 58.6s. Videos of the 400m races, courtesy of Tonbridge AC, can be seen at the linke below – men’s races from around 3:34.
The Triple Jump was the next event with Paris and Wole involved again. Paris dropped down an age-group to compete in the M35 event and his best jump of 8.75m for 5th place, would have been good enough for a podium placing in the M50 competition. Under pressure from a faulty first jump, Wole’s 2nd attempt in the M50 competition, was a cautious 9.6m to move into provisional 2nd place but he improved on his 3rd and last jump to win with a season-best jump of 9.94m, which would also have been good enough to win the M35 competition.
The action moved back to the track for the 3000m races. Andy Inglis made his first appearance this season to come 3rd with 9:31.9 in a closely contested A-string race, just missing out on 2nd place by 0.2 seconds and Matthew Preston came 4th in the B-string race finishing in 10:11.5. The M50 & M60 competitions were run as a single race. In the M50 competition, Mark Ashby came 5th in 12:02.3 whilst Jerry Carnell won the M60 competition in a season’s best 11:35.1.
Tonbridge AC’s video of the combined M35 race and M50/M60 race below:
The final event was the 4x400m relay where the quartet of Wole, Ray, Mark and Andy got round in 4:41.4 for 5th place. Video below – men’s relays start from about 5:03:
Special mention for Ray Daniel who travelled all the way down from his new home in Felixstowe for this and previous matches. Thanks also to the Cambridge officiating team of Dave Kitcher, Tony Wright, Barry Ferguson and Richard Mann.
The final match is at Gillingham on Monday July 17th.
Full results are on the SCVAC website.
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