Joydens Wood 5km (Wed. 26th July)
Another excellent turnout by club members for this local popular 5km series of trail runs in Joydens Wood with our runners filling six of the first ten places and age group wins for James Macdonald (M40), Susan Dixon (W45) and Sally Carr (W55).
Results: 2. James Macdonald 18:07, 3. Luke Ford 18:35, 4. Brett Baker 19:01, 6. Liam Carr (U20) 20:06, 7. Mark Penny 20:10, 9. Ray Ramsey 20:45, 23. Catherine Gonzalez 22:22, 25. Susan Dixon 22:32, 27. Graham Maynard 22:42, 30. Joe Sheldrake 22:59, 37. Paul Ford 24:08, 43. James Collis 24:52, 52. Sally Carr 25:41, 54. Rose Baker 26:27, 62 Joanne Barber 27:54, 74 Angela Ford 29:28, 85. Maria Macdonald 31:11, 87. Peter Hadley 31:51.
Tracksmith London Twilight 5000m, Olympic Park Community Track (Thu. 27th July)
What began as a low-key 5km on the esplanade in Boston, USA, has grown to become an international series of track meets featuring the same accessible distance, with paced races for runners of all abilities in 20 cities across the US, Mexico, Canada and the UK. Last Thursday's was the first of two Twilight 5000m events to be held in London this summer.
Race 6 saw a win for Luke Ford (pictured) in a personal best of 16:31.9s, having run the Joydens Wood 5km the previous evening. Running in an earlier race Daniel Easton also secured a new personal best of 17:44.8s.
Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC Summer Open, Norman Park (Thu. 27th July)
A handful of club members swapped Thursday night training session at Sutcliffe Park for competition at Norman Park at the Blackheath & Bromley Summer Open. There were personal bests over 800 metres for Delilah Lester (2:34.71s) and Imogen Flint Panesar (3:57.27s) and a 800m seasons best for Nebojsa Jovanovic of 2:06.77s.
Southern Counties Veterans AC Kent Division 1, Dartford (Fri. 28th July)
Mixed fortunes for our Masters teams at their final league match. Unlike most other T & F leagues the SCVAC league still operates separate men's and women's competitions.
Our men's team finished third on the night to finish fourth in the league, and retain their Division 1 status. Three wins were recorded - Steven Marlow in the M35 discus (37.14m), Wole Odele, M55 long jump (4.93m) and Paris Hunt in the M60 100 metres with 14.0s.
The women's team knew they were up against it to avoid relegation after many year's in Division 1, but with a number of events left uncovered, especially in the field, they finished fifth on the night and fifth in the league resulting in relegation to Division 2 for next year. There were no wins on the night, but special mention to Cara Oliver who covered five events.
Derek Crookes Under-13 Inter-County Track & Field, Walton (Sat. 29th July)
Representing Kent, Miya Cook added 81 centimetres to her javelin personal best with a throw of 19.77m.
Be Fit Today Track Academy Outdoor Series, Lee Valley (Sat. 29th July)
Windy 100 metre personal best for Immanuel Jegede (U15B) with a 12.20s clocking.
UK Youth Development League Upper - Southern 1B, Eltham (Sun. 30th July)
The YDL is a big competition spanning the country that provides great opportunities for Under 20’s and Under 17’s to compete in and feel part of a team, writes Mick Bond. With “only” 152 slots to fill on the team sheet, it is a real test of a club’s strength in depth and the team manager’s skill and perseverance! Realistically no clubs manage to fill all the events. So it does mean it becomes a game of quantity as well as quality through the season.
We were promoted last season and after the first three matches this year we were lying in second just behind Havering, with only the top team being promoted to Southern Premier Division. With the last match at home we were optimistic knowing that if we beat Havering, we would draw level with them on league points and get promoted as we would have more match points (which act like goal difference when teams are tied). And so, the scene was set for a last match showdown with athletes volunteering to cover where they could (Quantity) and every win over Havering vital (Quality).
We beat Havering with ease as they didn’t put up much of a fight, though Medway and Maidstone ran us close with the win only assured after the last events were in. The wet weather dampened celebrations and meant there was no need to chuck the team captains in the water jump, as they were already soaked!
Some of our YDL team after they had dried out after Sunday’s win
Under 20 Men: Co-captains Shaquille Fernandez-Folkes and Jack Adams led from the front winning both 400m strings in 51.40 and 52.46 respectively. Osagie Imanswuomo ran a very impressive 100m PB of 10.89s into a -2.7 headwind and at the end of the days Osagie combined with Shaquille, Moshood Erinfolami and Dante Legister for an impressive win in the 4 x100 relay. It was good to have Angus Vosper back racing over the middle distance and alongside David Pongui they picked up virtually maximum points in the 1500m and 3000m. Jack Ebanks despite being mainly a 200/400m runner covered all four throws to add points to the team score.
Under 20 Women: Amira Mohammed-Hassan excelled herself competing in all her five permissible events and racking up great points for the team, 400 hurdles (2nd), high jump (3rd), 100mH (2nd) and even steeplechase 2nd and concluded her day with the short relay. Hannah Bridge only did four events but won three (shot, discus & B-string javelin) and was second in her 4th the hammer. Viyenze Efadue and Inez Rice won both strings of the 400m whist Katie Marsh won the A-string javelin in the middle of the heaviest downpour of the day.
Under 17 Men: There were strong 400m runs courtesy of Daniel Nyong and Tomisin Awolowo, who also added a 1.80m high jump PB and a win in the B-string 100m hurdles. Josh Baker was just outside his PB winning the A-string hurdles. New member Pelumi Akande won the triple jump and B-string javelin whilst it was good to have Israel Olaigbe back in the team picking up good points across hammer, shot and discus. Olly buck won the 3000m and finished second in the 1500m then much to his team manager’s surprise was on the start line for the 800m where he won the B-string race.
Under 17 Women: Faith Assah was only fractionally outside her PB winning the 300m in 40.91s whilst Keziah Olaleye working with a new stride pattern won the 300m hurdles with ease in 46.25s and then ran on to the hammer where she finished second with a throw of 26.89m. Gabby Noyce won the B-string 80m and 300m hurdles. Amelia Lawrence won the 3000m after a second place in the 1500m and special mention for Ciara McGinty, doing her once a year 1500m steeplechase for the team.