Midland League Div 2 – Round 2, Worcester, Sat 2nd June

After finishing 4^th in the first round at Rugby, the team headed to Worcester for the second match of the season on what was probably the busiest weekend of the summer for the club. With National League matches also taking place on both days and in the height of the exam season, it was effectively a B team which made the journey. After an exciting afternoon’s competition with a very young team, several of whom recorded Personal Best’s the team finished 5^th which still leaves them 4^th in the league and in a dogfight with old rivals Stoke in order the avoid relegation. The main challenge on the day was the inability to fill almost half of the men’s events whilst the ladies team was complete with the exception of the Pole Vault and some of the hurdles races.

 

The best performances came in the Ladies Field events where the club had their only 2 victories of the day, Hayley Murray who dominated the Hammer with a throw 58.21m and debutant Ella Watford who won a tightly contested High Jump by clearing 1.55m at the first attempt. Ella also took 2^nd place in a tightly contested Long Jump with a leap of 5.11m, she was supported by Adele Blenkinsop who took the B string in 4.93. Hayley was also 2^nd in the Shot whilst Lily Pursey took 2^nd in the Discus and Effy Katsogiani was 2^nd in the Javelin. The ladies also had further victories in the B string thanks to Lily Pursey (Hammer & Shot) and Eloise Nowill (High Jump), whilst Parisse Linton-Shaw was 2^nd in the Javelin. On the track top 3 positions were hard to come by but Karen Gomes, Tia Lynch, Maddison Wells & Adele Blenkinsop combined superbly to take 2^nd place in the 4x100m relay at the end of the meeting. In the endurance races Emily Cooper, Tilly Lea, Lauren Nash, Lorna Latimer & Rhea Cooper all battled hard to pick up vital points.

 

The men found the going harder and the best position was John Moreland who took 2^nd in the Hammer along with 3^rd in the Shot and 4^th in a very competitive Discus competition. There were a string of 3^rd places for Danny George (100m & 200m), Joe Musgrove (800m), & Tom Saunders (100H & 400H) whilst Sam Whittaker, Joe Childs and Myles Martin all recorded Personal Bests. In the B string the best performances were 2^nd places for Bradley Whitehead (100m) & Richard Latimer (1500m) whilst John Gercs took three 3^rd places in the throws and Ben Lole, on debut, was 3^rd in the triple jump.

 

The next round is at Abingdon on 7^th July and with several athletes available after exams the team should be much stronger and will be looking to hunt down the hosts and move up the league table