Division 3N SAL Peterborough 19 May

HARLOW secured a remarkable third place finish in a six team match at Peterborough in the latest round of the Southern Athletic League. It was remarkable as like many small clubs Harlow relies on Under 17 athletes to fill spots in the senior team. With GCSE exams now underway and a Duke of Edinburgh camp weekend clashing with the fixture, Harlow could muster only eleven athletes. In order to achieve any sort of total each athlete had to compete in as many events as permissible. They did so admirably and achieved some noteworthy performances in the process.

The women were hardest hit with only three athletes available. However, Michelle Harryman was persuaded to drop her judging duties and make a return to competitive athletics. She threw both the hammer and javelin in the B competition and picked up 7 valuable points with a third and fourth placed finish.

Dawn Jones competed in seven events including the triple jump. This was a significant for her rehabilitation as she has not competed properly in the event since tearing her Achilles heel over a year ago. Her best jump came in the second round, 8.66m, and secured a fourth place finish in the event. Two other performances of note for her came in the pole vault and shot putt: she entered the pole vault to achieve a point but with only two other competitors declared won it with a clearance of 1.80m. And in the B shot putt 6.47m was good enough for third.

Lucy Kemp was the sole U17 woman available and she had a good day. She was third in the B long jump and fourth in the B 200m. However, her best performance came at the start of the day as she ran the 100m in 13.6s. This was good enough for fifth place in the A race but was more relevant for the seven tenths of a second it cut from her PB.

Beth Harryman had a captain’s day as she was second in the 100m hurdles in a new PB time of 16.1s. She then ran a 27.9s 200m to become the quickest woman in the club over the distance. On the field she won the long jump with a distance of 5.11m and also won the shot putt with a throw of 10.10m. She ended her competition picking up two valuable points by coming fourth in the discus.

There were eight men and with no restrictions for senior men they were able to cover a remarkable number of events. Dave Bauer made a welcome return to competition, having missed the first match through injury. He was fourth in his long throw events the hammer and discus. He then followed these up in the the shot taking second; a satisfying return for a first competitive run out.

Club stalwart, Craig Snook, made his first appearance of the season and his throw of 31.40 in the javelin was good enough for fourth in the A competition.

Jamie Putt threw in the B competition to secure fourth and set a PB for the 800g javelin. He primarily made the trip for the 800m and became involved in a fantastic battle for the win with an athlete from Peterborough. He missed out in the sprint for the line but could console himself with a new PB of 2.02.4mins. His good day ended with a new PB in the 3k steeplechase and a very strong leg in the 4 x 400 relay.

Another Under 20 who had a good day was Leo Chashchin. Due to restrictions placed upon developing athletes he was only able to do four individual events and a relay. He was involved in a very strong high jump competition with five athletes going over 1.80m. Count back saw him placed fourth with 1.83m. He was second in the B 110m hurdles and won both his triple jump and pole vault. The pole vault provided the performance of the day as he went over 3.60m to increase his PB and rewrite the club record for the second time this year.

Teale Cunningham and Harry Woodall ran the sprint distances and then both relays. Woodall managed a third and a fourth in the 100m and 200m respectively. Cunningham ran for second in the B 200m and fourth in the A 400m, just a fraction outside of his current PB time.

The Paxman brothers, Glen and Carl, competed in an incredible eighteen events between them. Many were the energy sapping endurance events just for points but in amongst these were some strong efforts: Glen Paxman won the B discus, the B triple jump and the B pole vault. Brother Carl, won the B 100m and 400m; he took a share of first in the B high jump and was second place in the B steeplechase and B long jump.

Somehow they mustered their last reserves of strength for two very strong relays. The quartet of Cunningham, Woodall, Carl Paxman and Leo Chaschin erased the disappointment of disqualification last time out to win the 4 x 100m. Cunningham and Woodall stepped up once more with Putt and Glen Paxman in the 4 x 400m. Having given so much throughout the day it was perhaps unsurprising that they couldn’t quite hold on for the win and were caught with 50m to go by Luton.

Afterwards, club chair Steve Lott said; “On the coach on the way up senior athletes and I discussed what we thought a good day would look like given the circumstances – and given that on paper, after Round One, we were the fourth best team at this match. We came to the conclusion that pinching third would be good. So we have to be happy with today’s outcome. I am full of admiration for their determination and effort today. Well done and thank you to them all.”

Match result:
Peterborough 333.5, Luton 289, HARLOW 250.5, Biggleswade 231, West Norfolk 93, West Suffolk 75