Rugby & Northampton AC got off to their best ever start in the Midland League when they finished second in Division 1 on Saturday on a blustery day at Rugby. Being so early in the season and with many athletes being faced with exams it was a day of mixed standards and most clubs struggled to field a full team. However R&N made full use of their home advantage and great team spirit to overcome last minute injuries to some key athletes to set themselves up to better last season’s 3rd place finish.
Craig Murch travelled up from London to get the team off to a great start when almost equalled his PB as he finished 2nd in the Hammer with a throw of 63.71m, whilst Ellie Broome got the ladies off to a flying start by winning the Long Jump with a leap of 5.77m. The club also managed yet another clean sweep of the Javelin events thanks to Glyn Hollingsworth, Kevin Murch, Kerry Murch & Megan Exley As the match progressed the men’s team turned in a succession of solid performances, scoring well in most events and bolstered with wins by Luke Townsend (110H), Adam Wright (800m) & Hollingsworth along with Sierra Leone international Adel Sesay claiming 1= in the 100m and following it by being part of the 4x100m with also finished 1= with Birchfield. There were also strong 2nd places from Zac Stapleton (200m), Daniel Williams (2000S/C), a busy Luke Townsend (400H) and John Moreland in both the Shot & Discus. In the B string 100m Clinton Osaba-George looked in great shape as he claimed a clear victory whilst Hollingsworth also won the Discus. There were also 2nd place B finishes for Tom Cheyne (LJ), Rico Ewer (200m), Jack Murphy (S/C) & Charlie Barker who took 2nd in the 400H in spite of a knee injury.
The Ladies team relied heavily upon U20 athletes who all stepped up to the challenge admirably. The only victories came from Kerry & Ellie but there we excellent 2nd places for Emily Waugh (3000m), Molly Barnett (100H) & Grace Adeyinka (TJ). On a day when may athletes did several events Jess Hull led the way scoring valuable points in the LJ & TJ where she was 2nd along with the 100 & 200m B races and the sprint relay. Hannah Scales was also busy covering both Hurdles race and both relays. Another PB performance came from Lucy Cousins who threw the 4kg Hammer 37.04 whilst she was ably supported by Debbie Murch who took 3rd in the B comp with a throw of 31.24m. Debbie’s performance was also notable in that it completed the ‘family set’ with all of ‘Team Murch’ who are fabulous supporters of the club competing together in a league event for the first time in 2 years.
By the end of the meeting Birchfield were clear winners with 432 pts followed by R&N with 344.5 pts which newly promoted Cheltenham are clearly much improved as they took 3rd with 330 pts. The remaining places were filled by Wolves, Stoke and a very weak Newport outfit who had made the long trip from South Wales. The 2nd round is at Wolverhampton on Sat 6th June where R&N will be looking to turn out another strong squad to consolidate the good start to the season.
