With good coverage of almost all events, we finished a respectable second in our last SAL match of the season. It was a dry day with intermittent sun, but the breeze made it chilly on occasion, and PBs were few and far between. However, we competed well and won eighteen events.
Highlights from the men included an assured 800m win by Jamie Taylor-Caldwell, who recently broke Peter Barratt’s long-standing club 5000m record, writes Phil York. Behind him, Angelo John recorded his second fastest time of the year over the two lap race, with U17 Chauncey Edwards again improving his personal best.
The overall team score was boosted when Tom Yates and Phil York won both strings of the 2000m steeplechase. Mo Hashi and Luke Nicholas then did likewise in the 1500m. There is little doubt that many of our athletes were inspired by performances at the recent World Athletics Championships in London, with Kamau Muhammad winning the B string 100m and Tom Sanders, Brandon Moore and Bilal Uba performing well in the sprint events.
Manish Kunwar, who is more often seen at parkrun, tried his hand at 5000m on the track and only just missed his personal best. Manish was partnered by James Steel, who won the B string event.
Team Manager Bob Densley and son-in-law Paul Gibson filled in many of the gaps, with Paul winning the B 400m hurdles. We have seen Matt Clampin return to Southern League action in 2017, and here he competed in two events, including a second place in the B string high jump. A welcome addition to the club this season has been GB masters international Bill Lonsdale, who has moved from Scotland to link up with ESM. Bill is a multi-eventer (pentathlon), and took the opportunity to record a season’s best over 400m, followed by solid performances in both the long and triple jumps.
Last week at the Olympic Stadium, the GB senior team gave athletics fans something to shout about in the relays. The same was true at Perivale, where the men finished first in the 4x400m and second in the 4x100m.
For the women, there was good points-scoring on the track from Laura Stewart, who won the sprint hurdles as well as the 400m hurdles, her specialist event, writes Fiona Kennedy. She also finished second in the flat 400m, then put in a final effort in the 4x100m. Three of the road runners stepped in at short notice to make a useful points contribution. Sarah Gerrie finished second in the 400m B and third in the 800m A string, backed up in the latter by Annette Galloway, running her first ever 800m race. Leanne Smith achieved a PB in the 1500m, while Christine Meek made her track debut over 1500m and 3000m. Anyone looking at the sprints results will ask themselves what happened to Isha in the 100m B race. Well, she was in the lead till the last few metres, but stumbled. (It happens to the best of us – witness the dramatic end to Shaunae Miller-Uibo’s 400m in the World Champs!)
In the jumps, Helen Leadbetter once again showed her versatility and team spirit, winning the pole vault, the B string of both the long jump and triple jump, and finishing third in the high jump. Isha Habib won the triple jump and finished third in the long jump. Helen and Isha both also joined Amber and Laura to make up the sprint relay team.
Siobhan Drummond and Zoya Styles covered most of the throws between them, with Siobhan winning the discus and Zoya the hammer. Team manager Tracey Gould won the hammer B string.
If the club can continue to fill out the team sheet as it did at this match, filling in all the gaps, there is much to look forward to next season.
Thanks to all those athletes who turned out this season, their coaches, the team managers and of course the officials. (You may not know this, but our officials also score points!)
Match scores:
1 Oxford City AC 231
2 Ealing Southall & Middlesex 174.5
3 City of Portsmouth 130
4 Herne Hill Harriers 129.5
ESM results summary
Men: 100m: A: 3 Tom Sanders (U20) 11.69; B: 1 Kamau Muhammad (U20) 11.87; NS: Brandon Moore (U23) 12.76; Bilal Uba 12.53; 200m: A: 3 Tom Sanders (U20) 23.24; B: 3 Brandon Moore (U23) 25.64; 400m: A: 4 Matt Clampin 65.84; B: 2 Bill Lonsdale (M60) 70.65; 800m: A: 1 Jamie Taylor-Caldwell 2:03.07; B: 2 Angelo John (M40) 2:13.53; NS: Chauncey Edwards (U17) 2:17.00; 1500m: A: 1 Mo Hashi 4:15.64; B: 1 Luke Nicholas 4:37.67; NS: Chauncey Edwards (U17) 4:50.88; 5000m: A: 3 Manish Kunwar (U23) 17:13.10; B: 1 James Steel (M45) 19:18.86; 400mH: A: 2 Luke Nicholas 72.39; B: 1 Paul Gibson 75.12; 2000mSC: A: 1 Tom Yates 7:32.15; B: 1 Philip York (M55) 8:16.63; HJ: A: 3 Paul Gibson 1.55; B: 2 Matt Clampin 1.50; PV: A: 1 Paul Gibson 2.70; B: 2 Bob Densley (M60) 1.30; LJ: A: 4 Matt Clampin 4.92; B: 3 Bill Lonsdale (M60) 4.14; TJ: A: 3 Bill Lonsdale (M60) 8.90; B: 3 Kamau Muhammad (U20) 8.87; SP: A: 3 Paul Gibson 8.69; B: 2 Luke Nicholas 7.79; DT: A: 4 Paul Gibson 22.65; B: 3 Bob Densley (M60) 16.21; HT: A: 3 Bob Densley (M60) 16.97; B: 2 Paul Gibson 16.60; JT: 4 Angelo John (M40) 27.43; 4x100m: 2 ESM (Bilal Uba, Tom Sanders, Brandon Moore, Kamau Muhammad) 47.34; 4x400m: 1 ESM (Tom Sanders, Angelo John, Luke Nicholas, Mo Hashi) 3:47.91
Women: 100m: A: 4 Amber Henry (U20) 13.28; B: 4 Isha Habib (U20) 21.61; 400m: A: 2 Laura Stewart (U20) 63.11; B: 2 Sarah Gerrie 68.89; 800m: A: 3 Sarah Gerrie 2:38.88; B: 4 Annette Galloway (W45) 3:43.13; 1500m: A: 4 Leanne Smith 5:31.27; B: 4 Christine Meek (W55) 6:12.39; 3000m: 4 Christine Meek (W55) 12:50.52; 100mH: 1 Laura Stewart (U20) 18.32; 400mH: 1 Laura Stewart (U20) 69.17; HJ: 3 Helen Leadbetter (W35) 1.30; PV: 1 Helen Leadbetter (W35) 2.20; LJ: A: 3 Isha Habib (U20) 4.79; B: 1 Helen Leadbetter (W35) 4.69; TJ: A: 1 Isha Habib (U20) 10.07; B: 1 Helen Leadbetter (W35) 8.78; SP: A: 3 Siobhan Drummond (U23) 8.29; B: 4 Zoya Styles (U20) 6.91; DT: A: 1 Siobhan Drummond (U23) 33.99; B: 3 Zoya Styles (U20) 16.03; HT: A: 1 Zoya Styles (U20) 37.62; B: 1 Tracey Gould (W40) 34.62; JT: A: 3 Siobhan Drummond (U23) 23.12; B: 3 Zoya Styles (U20) 15.58; 4x100m: 4 ESM (Helen Leadbetter, Amber Henry, Zoya Styles, Laura Stewart) 55.81
Full results on powerof10