It was the first day of Wimbledon and Roy Hodgson’s England team were battling with Iceland at the European Championships, but the place to be on Monday evening was the Julie Rose Stadium in Ashford where a depleted but determined squad of Harriers battled to an impressive 3rd place finish, to leave us within touching distance of qualifying for the SCVAC League Final on Sunday, September 4th.
The Pole Vault and Hammer Throw were the 1st events, starting simultaneously at opposite ends of the stadium with Tony Tipping dropping down an age group to compete in both. He came 3rd in M35 HT and 4th in M35 PV with performances good enough for 1st place in both M50 events. Wole Odele, competing in the M50 PV failed at the opening height with his first 2 trials but sailed over at the 3rd attempt and went on to clear 2 more heights for a PB to secure 4th place. Peter Wishart was also 3rd in the M50 HT, whilst Warwick Dixon was 6th in the M60 HT. Paris Hunt also competed as a non-scorer, recording a personal best throw.
The next event was 400m, where Dom Fiore, stepped out of his usual comfort zone to take on the difficult A-string race and was rewarded with 5th place in a personal best time. Tim Carter, nursing a calf injury, dropped down 2 age groups for the B-string and placed 6th. Wole won the M50 race, recording another PB.
The Triple Jump was the next event. Tim Carter again dropped down two age groups to come 6th in the M35 competition, whilst Wole, in 4th place until the last round, produced a big final jump to snatch 1st place.
Back on the track, Matthew Preston and Dom finished 4th and 3rd respectively in the A and B 3000m races. Mark Ashby placed 5th in the M50 race and Alan Black comfortably won the M60 race in another personal best time. There was also a non-scoring run by new club member, Ian McCarthy, whose performance would have been good enough for 2nd position.
The final event was the 4x400m relay where the quartet of Wole, Dom, Tim and Mark did well to place 4th - our best relay position so far this season.
Special thanks to David Kitcher (chief timekeeper), Barry Ferguson (timekeeper) and Richard Mann (announcer) for helping to make it all happen along with all the other volunteer officials.
RESULTS: M35 400M Dom Fiore (M50) 65.8 5th M35 400M Tim Carter (M60) 68.9 6th (B String) M35 3000M Matthew Preston (M40) 10.15.09 4th M35 3000M Dom Fiore (M40) 10.42.1 3rd (B String) M35 4x400M Dom Fiore – Tim Carter – Mark Ashby – Wole Odele 4.22.3 4th M35 POLE VAULT Anthony Tipping (M50) 2.50 4th M35 TRIPLE JUMP Tim Carter (M60) 5.95 6th M35 HAMMER Anthony Tipping (M50) 36.09 3rd M50 400M Wole Odele 57.3 1st M50 3000M Mark Ashby (M50) 11.17.9 4th M50 POLE VAULT Wole Odele 1.30 4th M50 TRIPLE JUMP Wole Odele 10.11 1sth M50 HAMMER Peter Wishart (M55) 25.29 3rd M60 3000M Alan Black 11.28.5 1st M60 HAMMER Warwick Dixon (M80) NTR 5th
MATCH RESULTS 1. Dartford 6 / 73 2. Ashford 5 / 55 3. CAMBRIDGE HARRIERS 4 / 49 4. Medway & Maidstone 3 / 46.5 5. Blackheath & Bromley 2 / 46 6. Bexley 1 / 38
OVERALL DETAILS 1. Dartford 297 / 314.5 2. CAMBRIDGE HARRIERS 21.5 / 270 3. Medway & Maidstone 17.5 / 243.5 4. Ashford 14 / 245 5. Bexley 13 / 244.5 6. Blackheath & Bromley 10 / 208.5
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