After a lacklustre opening fixture in Winchester last month, we bounced back to win our home match on a warm sunny afternoon at Perivale on Sunday. It was a tight contest, and we finished just a few points ahead of both North Devon and Highgate Harriers. The win came through a combination of victories in the field events, and good coverage of almost all the track events, where many of our athletes took second place.
The men’s team was slightly larger, with 24 athletes, but the 19 women contributed equally to the overall points tally. Debbie McCaw achieved a season’s best in all four throws, being a class apart in the hammer, but also winning the discus and shot. Her hammer throw gained her the title of Woman of the Match. Tracey Gould won the B string hammer with a season’s best, and came second in both the discus and javelin. Kamile Bykovaite made a welcome return to win the triple jump, where Roisin Lynch achieved a season’s best.
On the track, Lottie Horton won the A string 100m, while Amber Henry set a PB in the 200m, and Nikki Shelley was close to her best in the 400m. Sarah Gerrie and Leanne Smith competed well in their first 5000m on the track. Sarah had earlier bettered her 800m time while Leanne went on to finish second in the 1500m B, also with a greatly improved time. Maryam Hussain was close to her PB in the 800m B. Laura Stewart achieved a PB in the 400m hurdles, setting a new U17 women’s record for the club. (No-one took a photo of Laura competing in the one-lap hurdles – one of the drawbacks of it being the opening track event of the programme – so above is one of her on another occasion… doing another event!) Nicola Ravenhill made a promising steeplechase debut, while Erica Wallace won the B. Hana Hussein made her track debut in the non-scoring 100m.
For the men, there was a great turnout from the sprinters and middle distance runners, with six each tackling the 100m, 200m, 800m and 3000m, and five in the 1500m. It was a clean sweep for the club in the 200m, where Phoenix Lyon won the A and Tom Sanders the B race, Tom setting a PB in the process. Reef Hook finished a close second in the 400m, knocking a clean second from his PB. In the 800m, John Fielding’s PB saw him also finish second. It was good to see some of the road runners tackling the middle distances, while new member Marcus Cook made a useful contribution in the shot put.
In the field, jumper Joel Wynter (pictured right) had a good afternoon with PBs in all three events, winning both the long and triple jump and notching up a few valuable points in the high jump. Kamau Muhammad also set a PB in the long jump. Raf Morawski was another athlete making his season’s debut, and scored a convincing win in the hammer. Karolis Narvilas won the B string with a PB. U17 thrower Luke Miller won the javelin with his longest throw using the senior implement, while veteran Angelo John threw a PB to finish second in the B string.
The closing relays are always entertaining. ESM has a strong women’s sprint squad, and they crossed the line first, but only one hundredth of a second ahead of Havant. The photo below shows Besirat handing over to Amber on the anchor leg, with Havant still very much in contention.
The men were slightly off the pace in the sprint relay, but came second in the 4x400m after a close battle with Highgate Harriers.
The next match is in Kingston on Saturday 18th June. Men interested in competing should contact Bob Densley, and women should get in touch with Tracey Gould. All those non-scorers who turned up on Sunday: why not have another go, and see what you can manage now you know what’s involved!
ESM Results summary
Men
100m: A: 2 Reuben Fleary 11.22; B: 3 Desmond Ofasi (U20) 12.44; NS: Kema Egbunike 11.46; Kamau Muhammed 11.87; Ash Conteh 12.01; Vaughan Rhule 13.78; 200m: A: 1 Phoenix Lyon (U17) 23.05; B: 1 Tom Sanders (U20) 23.05; NS: Reuben Fleary 22.77; Kamau Muhammed 24.41; Ash Conteh 24.55; Vaughan Rhule 28.05; 400m: A: 2 Reef Hook (U17) 51.40; B: 3 Angelo John (M40) 60.38; 800m: A: 2 John Fielding (U17) 2:05.83; B: 2 Raunak Mainali (U20); 2:18.73; 1500m: A: 2 Mo Hashi 4:30.10; B: 2 Martin Shelley 4:59.79; 3000m: A: 2 Mo Hashi (U20) 9:11.55; B: 2 George Kerry 9:57.57; 110Mh: A: 2 Szymon Swigon 17.08; 400mH: A: 2 Szymon Swigon 64.94; B: 3 Phil York (M50) 81.21; 3000m SC: A: 3 Rob Brown (M50) 12:07.27; B: 2 Phil York (M50) 13:32.43; HJ: A: 3 Joel Wynter (U20) 1.58; B: 2 Eliot Stewart (U20) 1.43; PV: A: 4 Bob Densley (M60) 1.15; LJ: A: 1 Joel Wynter (U20) 6.33; B: 2 Kamau Muhammad (U20) 4.72; TJ A: 1 Joel Wynter (U20) 12.57; B: 3 Eliot Stewart (U20) 9.30; SP: A: 4 Marcus Cook 7.74; B: 2 Raf Morawski 6.89; DT: A: 3 Angelo John (M40) 18.50; B: 3 Bob Densley (M60) 16.88; HT: A: 1 Raf Morawski 46.53; B: 1 Karolis Narvilas (U20) 31.56; JT: A: 1 Luke Miller (U17) 47.63; B: 2 Angelo John (M40) 36.74; 4x100m: 3 (Tom Sanders, Szymon Swigon, Kamau Muhammad, Reuben Fleary) 52.64; 4x400m: 2 (Mo Hashi, Tom Sanders, Szymon Swigon, Reuben Fleary) 3:34.17
Women
100m: A: 1 Lottie Horton (U17) 13.10; B: 4 Shim Amin 15.03; 200m: A: 4 Amber Henry 27.91; 3 Cameron Thomas (U17) 29.10; 400m: A: 4 Nikki Shelley 62.67; B: 4 Cameron Thomas (U17) 65.86; 800m: A: 2 Sarah Gerrie 2:27.45; B: 2 Maryam Hussain (U17) 2:36.77; 1500m: A: 2 Nikki Shelley 5:14.56; B: 2 Leanne Smith 5:41.86; 5000m: A: 2 Sarah Gerrie 19:54.73; B: 1 Leanne Smith 21:05.09; 100mH: 4 Shim Amin 22.41; 400mH: 2 Laura Stewart (U17) 67.53; 1500m SC: A: 2 Nicola Ravenhill (U17) 5:33.81; B: 1 Erica Wallace (U20) 5:35.18; HJ: A: 2 Roisin Lynch (U17) 1.41; B: 4 Shim Amin 1.03; PV: A: 2 Grazina Narviliene (W40) 1.85; LJ: A: 2 Besirat Tesfu (U20) 4.61; B: 4 Bridie Lebdiri (W50) 1.84; TJ: A: 1 Kamile Bykovaite (U20) 11.16; B: 2 Roisin Lynch (U17) 9.33; SP: A: 1 Debbie McCaw (W35) 9.84; B: 4 Grazina Narviliene (W40) 7.32; DT: A: 1 Debbie McCaw 31.51; B: 2 Tracey Gould (W35) 21.50; HT: A: 1 Debbie McCaw 48.05; B: 1 Tracey Gould 35.63; JT: A: 3 Debbie McCaw 25.13; B: 2 Tracey Gould 20.66; 4x100m: 1 (Kamile Bykovaite, Shim Amin, Besirat Tesfu, Amber Henry) 54.66; 4x400m: 3 (Nicola Ravenhill, Cameron Thomas, Erica Wallace, Nikki Shelley)
Full results here