Following their 5th place in the first round at Yate on 22nd April, Rugby & Northampton AC headed to Tamworth on Sunday with a much stronger team and looking for an improved performance.
The team did not disappoint and in spite of an early injury setback when Charlie Barker fell as he crossed the line to win the 400m Hurdles, the team built an impressive set of A string victories as the meeting progressed, together with a string of personal bests. At the end of the meeting R&N were in a clear 2nd place behind winners Gloucester and have now moved up to 3rd place in the league table.
The best performances came in the Javelin Competitions where both Men & Women scored A&B string victories with both Fenton Bishop Timmings and Kerry Murch taking Bonus Points. Fenton’s throw of 57.14 was a Personal Best and he followed it up with a fine 2nd place in the Shot. Overall the club won 5 out of 8 throws in both the A&B strings thanks to Fenton, Kerry, Grace Pollard, Kevin Murch & Al Nisbet. The other area of strength was the sprints with the Men taking winning doubles in both the 100m & 200m races thanks to Caleb Downes, Chris Morgan, Fabien Powell & Marvic Pamphile. The ladies also scored solidly with Isabel Mur marking her debut in the league with a victory in the B string 100m. Ellena Ruddock also rolled back the years to take 2nd place in the 400m race. The ladies 4x100m then combined to win the relay by a clear 50m from the rest of the field.
In the middle distance events the club also had some excellent performances with Jack Bond & Megan Stenhouse claiming double victories in the 3000m, whilst Finlay Ward (Steeplechase) and Ava Rogerson (1500) narrowly missed out on victories after front running their respective events. The main area where the club needs to improve is in the Jumps, but Arthur Tilt had an encouraging day when he took 2nd place in Triple Jump whilst the improving Oke Okere was 2nd in the High Jump.
The next round is at Rugby on Sunday 17th July where the club will once again be looking to turn in a strong performance in spite of a clash with the National U20/U23 Championships.
