An optimistic team manager
On paper, the second SAL fixture was scheduled to be a six-team contest. However, Loughton kept their promise to be a ‘no-show’, leaving the usual five teams on the day. On his way through the stadium car park at 11:30am, ESM men’s team manager Phil York had a conversation with a couple of friendly coach drivers, and established that Ilford and Braintree had each brought just a handful of athletes.
Full of optimism, Phil handed in the team declaration and sat down to watch the action. Among the highlights were two club records.
It was a close match between the top three teams. Woodford Green led in the early stages, but we were not far behind, with Dacorum & Tring hot on our heels. As the events ticked by, however, Dacorum & Tring leapfrogged into the lead, and by close of play we had slipped into third, despite a good points tally (see below for final scores).
Martin gets in a few practice jumps before winning the pole vault
In the opening track event for the men, Angelo John easily won the 400m hurdles, ably backed up by the returning Luke Nicholas. Angelo later scored useful points in the javelin and the gruelling 3000m steeplechase.
Luke, after a late night the previous day, helped out in the pole vault, an event won by Martin Densley with a 4.20m clearance.
Luke Miller won the javelin with a personal best throw of 56.24m, which was also an U20 ESM club record and an English Schools qualifying standard.
Luke Miller set an U20 club record in the javelin
Despite being out of competition for a while, Will Lord powered to victory with 11.11 in the 100m. In the non-scoring event, Kamau Muhammad also ran his fastest ever time. Another member of Pat Cornell’s sprint squad, Tom Sanders ran both the 100 and 200m, in addition to taking up his usual spot on the 4x100m relay team. One of the features of the Southern Athletics League is that any number of non-scorers can be accommodated, and this allowed Ash Conteh, Miles Bernadine, Chris Burbidge and newcomer Trevan Robinson to pick up useful experience in the sprint events. Trevan’s performance over 200m looked particularly impressive and bodes well for the future, while Miles Bernadine set a PB.
ESM sprinters in relaxed mode: Tom, Will, Kamau, Ash, Trefan and Miles
Moe leads Jamie, Mukhtar & George in the early stages of the 1500m
Ben Waterman dominated the 800m, leading from gun to tape, and finished a close second over 400m as part of his preparation for this weekend’s BMC event at Watford. Just behind Ben, Rowan Board set a personal best and can now proudly call himself a 51 second quarter miler! Chauncey Edwards always trains hard and believes in a thorough warm up before races, jogging, stretching and going through a series of drills. Due a breakthrough, he reduced his 800m best by two seconds, and stepped out later in the day to take over five seconds from his previous best over 1500m. A good day’s work with lots to look forward to. Training partner Arun Manget also trimmed a few seconds from his 1500m best. In fact, the 1500m was loaded with ESM runners, and featured a double-first by Jamie Taylor-Caldwell and Moe Hashi, who are both entered in this weekend’s BMC races. Oliver Way, George Kerry, Mukhtar Farah and Luke Nicholas featured in the non-scoring event.
It was good to see Matt Clampin back in action, partnering Martin Densley in the horizontal jumps. Matt also took part in the high jump, where he was joined by team manager Phil York, who somehow managed to clear a height.
Mo Ali wins the 3000m with an U17 club record
The 3000m saw another ESM club record, with this year’s National U15 Cross Country champion Mohamed Ali recording a winning time of 8:42.39. Mo is now in the U17 age bracket and improved the previous record held by Nick Goolab. Elliot Jones made his debut for the senior track and field team, just dipping under ten minutes to finish third in the ‘B’ string event. Nick Steel and James Steel were non-scorers.
Juan and Gurchuran in the discus
This season it has been a pleasure to welcome Juan Antonio Botillo Perez and Gurcharan Singh to the squad. Here they paired up in the hammer throw, shot putt and discus events. The throwers from Dacorum & Tring ensured that the ‘A’ string competitions were of a high standard, allowing Juan to improve on his marks from the opening fixture. Gurcharan won the ‘B’ string shot putt and achieved a second place in the ‘B’ discus.
Both relay teams finished second.
Helen Leadbetter competed over five events
While the men’s squad numbered 21, there were just a dozen women but they did a tremendous job of covering the events, adds Fiona Kennedy. Field specialist Helen Leadbetter covered all four jumps as well as running the B string 100m. Kat Mertens has not competed for a long time but ran (and won) her debut 5000m, as well as making an unaccustomed appearance in the discus circle. She also threw the javelin and made a valuable contribution to both relays. Charlotte Cooney-Quinn was another who had a busy afternoon, running 400m, 800m and both relays.
Nicola Ravenhill won yet another steeplechase with a good performance, despite having no-one to push her. In the 400m hurdles A and B strings, Feia Starkey and Nicola took easy victories, being the only competitors. Cameron Thomas was able to coast to victory in the B string 1500m.
4x400m squad Kat, Pat, Cameron & Charlie
There were no victories in the field, but team manager Tracey Gould fielded an athlete in almost every event, maximising our points-scoring opportunities. On her return from injury, she competed herself in the shot, discus and hammer.
Thanks to ESM roadrunner Bruce Li for taking all the great photos featured in this report. Click here for the full album.
Thanks also to all our athletes who turned out in club colours, to their coaches for preparing them, to their team managers for getting them to the right place at the right time, and to all the hard-working officials who toiled under the fierce sun all afternoon.
Be nice to the officials! Bob Densley was our starter for the match.
The third fixture will be hosted by Watford Harriers, a short hop down the road at Woodside Stadium on Saturday 23rd June.
Final scores:
1 Dacorum & Tring 335; 2 Woodford Green 315; 3 Ealing Southall & Middlesex 302; 4 Ilford 186.5; 5 Braintree 118.5
ESM results summary:
Men: 100m: A: 1 William Lord 11.11; B: 3 Tom Sanders (U20) 11.71; 1 Trevan Robinson (U17) 11.67; 2 Kamau Muhammad (U20) 11.68; NS: 2 Ash Conteh 11.92; 3 Miles Bernardine (U17) 12.20; 4 Chris Burbidge 12.65; 200m: A: 3 Tom Sanders (U20) 23.09; B: 2 Kamau Muhammad (U20) 23.77; NS: 1 Trevan Robinson (U17) 23.53; 3 Ash Conteh (U20) 24.19; 4 Miles Bernardine (U17) 24.68; 400m: A: 2 Ben Waterman 50.39; B: 1 Rowan Board (U20) 51.35; NS: 1 Reef Hook (U20) 51.98; 800m: A: 1 Ben Waterman 1:53.23; B: 4 Chauncey Edwards (U17) 2:14.99; 1500m: A: 1 Jamie Taylor-Caldwell 3:59.3; B: 1 Moe Hashi 4:07.2; NS: 1 Oliver Way (U20) 4:11.5; 2 George Kerry (U20) 4:15.9; 3 Mukhtar Farah 4:25.8; 4 Luke Nicholas 4:31.4; 5 Chauncey Edwards (U17) 4:31.9; 7 Arun Manget (U17) 4:51.9; 3000m: A: 1 Mohamed Ali (U17) 8:42.39; B: 3 Elliot Jones 9:58.33; NS: 3 Nick Steel 10:17.72; 4 James Steel (M45) 11:08.00; 400mH: A: 1 Angelo John (M45) 75.01; B: 1 Luke Nicholas 93.40; 3000mSC: A: 3 Angelo John (M45) 12:11.37; B: 1 Rob Brown (M50) 12:39.11; NS: 1 Tom Yates 13:00.81; 4×100: 2 ESM (Ash Conteh, Tom Sanders, Kamau Muhammad, Trefan Robinson) 44.99; 4×400: 2 ESM (Rowan Board, Moe Hashi, Mukhtar Farah, Jamie Taylor-Caldwell) 3:37.31; SP: A: 3 Juan Antonio Botillo Perez (M50) 10.29; B: 1 Gurcharan Singh 9.79; DT: A: 3 Juan Antonio Botillo Perez (M50) 29.88; B: 2 Gurcharan Singh 27.02; HT: A: 4 Juan Antonio Botillo Perez (M50) 21.35; B: 3 Gurcharan Singh 20.42; JT: A: 1 Luke Miller (U20) 56.24; B: 2 Angelo John (M45) 32.14; HJ: A: 4 Matt Clampin 1.63; B: 4 Philip York (M55) 1.00; LJ: A: 5 Martin Densley 4.97; B: 3 Matt Clampin 4.75; TJ: A: 5 Matt Clampin 10.55; B: 2 Martin Densley 9.86; PV: A: 1 Martin Densley 4.20; B: 2= Luke Nicholas 1.45
Women: 100m: A: 4 Laura Stewart (U20) 13.87; B: 4 Helen Leadbetter 14.68; 200m: A: 4 Laura Stewart (U20) 28.74; 400m: A: 4 Charlotte Cooney-Quinn (U17) 72.87; B: 3 Pat Thomas (W50) 84.07; 800m: A: 4 Sarah Gerrie (W35) 2:34.88; B: 2 Charlotte Cooney-Quinn (U17) 2:44.94; 1500m: A: 4 Leanne Smith 5:39.10; B: 1 Cameron Thomas (U20) 5:55.03; 5000m: A: 1 Katherine Mertens 21:45.0; 100mH: A: 2 Laura Stewart (U20) 18.91; 400mH:A: 1 Feia Starkey (U17) 70.25; B: 1 Nicola Ravenhill (U20) 73.75; 1500mSC: A: 1 Nicola Ravenhill (U20) 5:18.11; 4x100m: 3 ESM (Kat Mertens, Charlie Cooney-Quinn, Pat Thomas, Cameron Thomas) 58.70; 4x400m: 4 ESM (Cameron Thomas, Charlie Cooney-Quinn, Nicola Ravenhill, Kat Mertens) 4:33.38; SP: A: 4 Tracey Gould (W40) 7.50; B: 2 Sjanneke Rumley (U20) 7.10; DT: A: 4 Tracey Gould (W40) 23.13; B: 2 Katherine Mertens 21.99; HT: A: 4 Tracey Gould (W40) 31.07; B: 2 Sjanneke Rumley (U20) 23.39; JT: A: 3 Katherine Mertens 25.35; B: 4 Sjanneke Rumley (U20) 7.61; HJ: A: 4 Helen Leadbetter 1.28; B: 3 Katherine Mertens 1.28; LJ: A: 4 Helen Leadbetter 4.56; B: 3 Feia Starkey (U17) 3.95; TJ: A: 4 Helen Leadbetter 8.87; PV: A: 2 Helen Leadbetter 2.40
Full results on power of 10.