Champions of the North London Division – ESM Athletes Deliver
Written by Pat Cornell
The ESM track and field team maintained their place at the top of the North London division of the Southern Athletic league and gained promotion for next season by winning a very close match at Lee Valley, beating Highgate by just 16 points. The two teams had been neck and neck throughout the match leaving everything down to the last events, the relays, and ESM won all 4 to guarantee victory in the league. The women’s 4 x 100 got off to a flying start with Corinna Marwick taking the lead and handing over to Amy Bradley who extended the lead on the back straight. Ashara Prasai further extended the lead with a fast 3rd leg leaving Leila Newth to bring the team home well ahead in 52.04. Next, the men’s 4 x 100, the closest of the 4 relays. Khalil Douma-Bouthiba got the team off to a good start and handed a lead to Theo Jarrett who pulled further ahead and handed over to Lashaun Thorpe-McClean who also extended the lead leaving Kai English to run hard to the line to maintain the lead and win in 45.44. The excitement continued into the last events, the mixed 4 x 400 relays. In the A race, Gus Carter set off very fast and handed a long lead to 2nd leg runner Corinna Marwick who extended the lead even further as did Amy Bradley on the 3rd leg, leaving Kevin Prempeh to bring the team home well ahead of the opposition in 3-53.87. Some last minute changes had to be made for the last event, the B 4 x 400 with 3 of the team running the distance for the first time. Lashaun Thorpe-McClean ran the first leg and handed over a long lead to Sonia Ouzhene who pulled further ahead as did Antonia Carter on 3rd, leaving Khalil Douma-Bouthiba to bring the team home in 4-12.2, a time that would have been good enough for 2nd place behind our own team in the A race. In between the relays came the 3000m steeplechase in which sprinter Zachary Lambert and long jumper Kevin Afonso volunteered to run, even though it was 10 times further than they would usually run even in training. What they lacked in technical expertise over the barriers they made up for in determination and finished 6th and 4th respectively to be greeted by the loudest cheers of the day from the crowd. The points that they gained were vital in keeping us ahead of Highgate.
The team dominated the throws. In the women’s Elizabeth Boissiere won the shot with a personal best of 10.21 and went on to win the javelin (28.54) and B discus (24.15). Joanne John continued her fine form in the hammer winning by a wide margin with 49.30 and added wins in the discus (29.88) and B shot (8.54). Julianna Fuchs continued her return from injury with 2nd place in both B hammer (13.91) and B javelin (15.42). In the men’s, the Afonso brothers put up their usual strong performance, Yeray finishing 2nd in the hammer (24.29), 3rd in the shot (8.41), winning the B discus (26.10) and taking 2nd place in the B javelin (23.39). Dylan was 3rd in the javelin (28.01) and won the B hammer (20.32). Shawn Jarrett returned from injury to take 2nd place in the discus (26.57) while Chris Burbidge was 3rd in the B shot (7.46).
The strong performance continued in the jumps, with ESM winning both women’s high jump events; Leila Newth taking the A with 1.60 and Maria Bergamasco winning the B with 1.43 in spite of having to pull out with an injury after that height. Ella Smith jumped 1.33 as a non scorer. Chiamaka Nnaji won the long jump (5.23) and was 2nd in her first ever triple jump competition (9.78) while Simonetta Ifeji won the B long jump. In the men’s Rocky Lee won the long with a personal best of 6.24 and the B triple (11.63), Khalil Douma-Bouthiba was 2nd in the triple (12.31) and Kevin Afonso won the B long with 6.12.and was 5th in the high (1.53) with Junias Lee 4th in the B (1.48) .
On the track, the highlight was the 400m with ESM winning all their races both on the flat and over hurdles. In the hurdles Gus Carter led from the gun to win by a wide margin in 56.19 while Steve Reid came from behind finishing strongly to win in a personal best of 65.49. On the flat, Corinna Marwick employed her usual front running tactics to win in 59.31, close to her best in spite of the strong wind. Amy Bradley also led all the way to win the B (65.82). In the men’s, Kevin Prempeh went off slowly but powered through the second 200 to win with 51.65 while Ed Flewitt led all the way to win the B race with 53.69. The 100 and 200 runners had to battle against a very strong headwind. In the women’s, Corinna Marwick coped well with one of the strongest winds of the day to win the 200, coming into the straight well ahead and holding on strongly to win in 27.42. In the 100 Chiamaka Nnaji came straight from her victory in the long jump to be a strong finishing 2nd (13.38). Antonia Carter ran both the B races, finishing 3rd in the 100 (13.42) and 4th in the 200 (29.71). In the men’s Kai English was 3rd in both 100 (11.34) and 200 (22.83), Lashaun Thorpe-McClean won the B 200 comfortably (23.68) and Theo Jarrett faced the strongest wind of the day when finishing 3rd in the B 100 (11.97). In addition to the scoring athletes, the Club had its usual large representation in the non scoring races – 100 and 200; Khalil Douma-Bouthiba (11.54, 23.92), Lashaun Thorpe-McClean (11.79), Shomari Johnson (11.80, 23.95), Sion Jones (11.82), Connor Chung (11.93), Kaison Stewart (12.49, 24.97), Daniel Donald (12.96, 26.94), Zachary Lambert (13.33,27.64), Chris Burbidge (13.38, 26.99), Ashara Prasai (14.43, 30.27), Anagh Patel (24.91) and Hussein Zaaiter (29.46).
The middle distance performances were our strongest of the season. In the men’s, Dominic Quinn was a close 2nd in the 800 in 2-01.45 and Ed Flewitt pulled well clear in the home straight to win the B race (2-01.47). Veteran Fergal Dunne showed his well being after an early season injury running 3-01.52. In the 1500, Vitaly Bender was 3rd (4-32.27) with Erney Podermo Figuera winning the B race (4-39-04). In the 5000, Luke Willett finished strongly for 5th place in 17-10.66 with Jonah Mezey 2nd in the B (17-28.43). In the women’s races, the highlight was the 5000. Sarah Gerrie finished strongly for 2nd place (19-38.16) with Katie Hay 2nd in the B (19-53.79). In the 800, Sonia Ouzhene was 8th (2-51.24) with Sarah Gerrie stepping down a long way from her best distance to be 2nd in the B race (2-38.74). Olivia Howes was 6th in the 1500 (5-40.67). Last season in the 400m hurdles, Gus Carter became our first athlete for many years to win the same event in every league match. He repeated the feat this year and was joined by 2 other athletes: Corinna Marwick won all the 400m races and Elizabeth Boissiere won the shot in every match.
