Rugby & Northampton AC Mens & Ladies team produced their best ever performance on Sunday when they won the 3rd round fixture of the Midland League at Rugby. In a very close match the winning margin was just 3 points over Birchfield Harriers and it was such a close match that 5 teams were separated by just 16 points at the end of a thrilling days competition. On a day when every point by every athlete counted victory was only secured when John Moreland overtook the Birchfield athlete with his final throw in the Discus, the final event on the day.
The team went into the match lying in 6th & last place in the league in spite of their fighting 3rd place in the previous round at Wolverhampton. This meant that a really strong performance was needed if relegation is to be avoided. The day started well in a high class Hammer Competition with a brace of 2nd places for Craig Murch & John Moreland whilst Jess Hull & Kerry Murch took 2nd A & 1st B in the Long Jump. Unfortunately Kerry aggravated an old injury and had to withdraw from her other scheduled events on the day. In such a competitive match A string victories were hard to come buy but Emma Wilshire made the long journey from Cardiff & won both the 100m & 200m as well as being part of the winning 4 x 100m relay squad. She was also part of a double win in the 100m with Ellena Ruddock who won the B race. Other winning doubles came from Megan Moran & Evie Harris-Jenkins in the Javelin & Moreland & Glyn Hollingsworth in the Discus. The only other A winner was Jacob Allen who once again won the 1500m having previously recorded a Personal best as he finished 2nd in the 800m. Emily Waugh came 2nd in the 3000m and then proceeded to win the B string 1500m in the company of league debutant Mel Wood. Other 2nd place finishes came from Clinton Osaba-George in the 100m, Craig Murch in the Shot & Glyn Hollingsworth in the Javelin where Kevin Murch once again won the B string. The only other B string winner was Katie Clubb in the 400 Hurdles, but there were also a string of 2nd places from Rosanna Andrews, Gemma Scales, Ian Gidley and Zac Stapleton,
However it wasn’t just a day of winners it was also a case of Masters athletes like Sam Berry, Richard Bowers, Ian Gidley, Gary Wallace & Debbie Murch stepping in at the last minute to cover events where people had pulled out through injury and other athletes taking extra events to support the team. Busiest man on the day was Charlie Barker who covered all 3 jumps as well as the 110 Hurdles and the 4 x 100m Relay.
The final match result was:
Rugby & Northampton 351
Birchfield 348
City of Stoke 343
Wolves & Bilston 339
BRAT 335
Notts AC 236
This puts R&N in joint 3rd place, but only one point behind the leaders, so the whole season will hinge around the final round at Stoke on Sat 2nd August when R&N know that another victory should give them the league title, whereas a poor performance could still lead to relegation.
