Division 3 North SAL Match 3, Parliament Hill

HARLOW’S athletes put in a spirited performance in a match involving runaway league leaders, Dacorum and Tring; a strong Highgate home team, and Biggleswade, who had beaten them at the last match in Peterborough. The day ended seeing Harlow in third place by just two and a half points.

The match began with 400m hurdles and surprisingly only Harlow fielded a female athlete. Mairi Malcolm safely negotiated them to guarantee the team six points. The men’s event was more keenly contested: in the A event, Glen Paxman was second and Teale Cunningham, in his first outing of the season, ran impressively for first in the B race.

Meanwhile, on the field, Dave Bauer was on good form to win the men’s Hammer. Glen Paxman on completing his hurdles competed in the B event and was second. At the same time the women’s long jump was going on. Lucy Kemp and Eilidh Malcolm showed the benefit of getting two athletes out in every event as their combined third and fourth places scored more than Highgate’s winner and sole entrant.

Women’s Hammer and Men’s shot were next. Multi-eventer, Dawn Jones, picked up fifth in the A string and Monika Iyinbor was second in the B string. Bauer was back in action along with Paxman for the men; the former was third and the latter first in the B competition.

Next on track was the 100m. In a keenly fought A race; where the top four were separated by just two tenths of a second, Dominique Diomonde was fourth and on his return from university, Mohamed Tambedou won the B race comfortably. In the women’s match Lucy Kemp was fourth and Eilidh Malcolm won the B race.

The 800m swiftly followed and Jamie Putt ran well for second in the A race. Donald Campbell matched this in the B race in another hotly contested track event. Grace Malcolm was fourth in the women’s A race and Dawn Jones picked up a valuable second place in the B race.

On the field, Carl Paxman and Dawn Jones picked up more valuable points by clearing minimum heights in the pole vault. Glen Paxman was third with a vault of 3.20m. Glen’s busy day continued as he flitted between vaulting and high jumping. He seemed unaffected by the to-ing and fro-ing as he jumped 1.75m for third. Teale Cunningham’s good day continued as he picked second (1.70m) in the B competition with his best jump of the year to date.

Individual sprints continued with the 200m. Shemar Boldizsar and Dominique Diomonde were both comfortable winners in the men’s events. Lucy Minns and Lucy Kemp picked up both second places for the women. And at the same time Dawn Jones collected fourth in the Women’s shot. Mairi Malcolm threw a PB in the B event with the heavier shot for the team’s second fourth in the event.

There was controversy as the women’s steeplechase was calculated incorrectly by the track judge and they were a lap short. Times were voided but positions remained; Grace and Eilidh Malcolm ran well for a brace of second places. Not unsursprisingly extra care was taken for the men’s distance and Donald Campbell ran well for third in the A race. Carl Paxman somehow managed to summon the energy to run the B race at the end of a busy day and was fourth in the B race.

The final individual events on track were the 400m. Harry Woodall won the A event in a new PB time of 52.5 and 800m specialist, Jamie Putt, dropped down a distance to win the B race. For the women, Lucy Minns was involved in an exciting race and was pipped on the line in a three-way battle for second, third and fourth. She was placed fourth in the final assessment. Eilidh Malcolm was altogether more comfortable winner in the B race, by a full second on the track.

The day ended with the relays and Harlow’s men could field two very strong quartets: a team of Woodall, Putt, Diomonde and Glen Paxman ran 45.5 to win the 4 x 100 comfortably. Then Cunningham, Woodall, Putt and Boldizsar came together for the 4 x 400 and completed the mile in 3.35.9, fully eight seconds ahead of the second placed home team. It was more challenging for the women as with so many U17 competitors, restricted to a set number of events, it was a case of who could still run. They ended their day being fourth in both relays, picking up a valuable six points in the process.

Meanwhile, down in Ashford, two athletes who would otherwise have been competing for the club, had been selected for the Hertfordshire Combined Events Team. Beth Harryman amassed 4036 points in her first senior heptahlon and Leo Chashchin increased his decathlon PB by nearly 1300 points for fourth place overall. His tally now stands at 5256 points. Harryman’s women’s team won the competition and she will progress to the national finals in Bedford in September. Chaschchin has an anxious wait as the team were outside the top three and only a certain number of individuals are invited to the championships.

After the weekend, club chair Steve Lott said; “This has been another fantastic fortnight for the club. Will Snook began it all by winning Southern Counties 800m gold and looks set fair to make his mark at a national level. Leo and Beth will certainly be doing so and did so in Kent this weekend. It’s great to have athletes of this calibre loyal to the club as even though they must follow their path they inspire everybody to raise their game at training and at matches. The team didn’t wilt without them but every one stepped up and filled the gaps. If we can keep the group together we will be surprising a few clubs and quite soon I’d hope.”

Match Result: Dacorum and Tring 310, Highgate 297, HARLOW 294.5, Biggleswade 255.5, Enfield and Haringey 115, Loughton 53