Report by Tom Gayle

A week after securing the City of Stokes Young Athletes team in the McDonalds League Main Final, Chris Brackstone edged the Junior Men’s team closer to securing their place in Juniors equivalent. On a gloriously sunny day up north City of Stoke’s talented U20 men’s team rallied to take second place on the day, and move up to second place in the League.

With the heat blazing down all day, the risk of dehydration and the enticing lure of sunbathing were always going to be a factor, but Stoke kept their cool to turn out some scorching performances to match the days temperature.

The day kicked off with victory for Peter Field in the Hammer. It is no longer a surprise to see Pete’s name next to maximum points this season, such has been his consistency in both the Junior and Senior Men’s team. Even though Pete won the competition by over 10 metres his motivation to ensure he gave the club the best possible start was evident.

In the middle distance events the risk of dehydration was probably at its largest. This posed little threat for Lee Turner as he easily strode away from the opposition in the last 150 of the 3000m, but many would agree that his traditional sprint finish was largely fuelled by his desire to some valuable sun bathing time. While Tom Gayle and Alex Wright took good 2^nd places in the 800 and 1500m the most impressive performance from the middle distance squad came via Stephen Cooper in the 2000m s/c. Stephen took 3^rd in a time of 6:30.7, knocking just under 12 seconds off his previous best performance.

The 100m B string consisted of the unusual sight of Stoke’s International Long Jumper Dave Mountford. After posting a p.b of 11.1 in the previous fixture here at Stoke, as well as breaking the league record for his main event the long jump (7.29), he was always going to pick up valuable points. Here Dave placed 3^rd in 11.2 and later on reverted back to his main event and took 2^nd with a leap of 6.99 behind his long time rival and friend Leigh Smith of Birchfield.

In the B string Louis Moore was frantically rushing in between the sandpit and the track, as he was part of the 4x100m team which placed 3^rd. Undeterred though he comfortably took maximum points with a leap of 6.16.

In the 100m hurdles after seeing team mate Tim Howell take 2^nd in the A string Dave Brackstone won the B string by a clear flight of hurdles when clocking an impressive 14.9.

While Brackstone stepped down from his usual event of the 400m Hurdles, Danny Thompson did the complete opposite. Thompson, who is more renown for his exploits over the shorter hurdles in the McDonalds Young Athletes League, stepped up to debut in the longer event took a solid 3^rd in the B string event. His time of 62.2 suggests he could possible attack that 60 second barrier later on in the season.

In the throwing events there was an excellent second place for Rob Eggleton in a highly competitive Javelin competition, while Tim Howell and Roger Skedd, just two examples of the clubs many multi event athletes had an typically busy afternoon. After competing with Rob in the Javelin, Tim joined Roger in the Discus and Shot and between them were able to take an invaluable 25 points out of a possible 32 available.

The final event of the day the 4x400m Relay produced the race of the day. After a good lead off leg by Danny Meyer, and two equally effective legs by Chris Harrison and Lee Turner Stoke lay 3^rd with the leaders just a few stride in front. On the final leg Dave Bracktone took over. It would be easy to expect Brackstone, a sub 50 second 400m runner to stroll Stoke to victory, but after overtaking the Birchfield runner Dave found an equal adversary in Ben Caldwell of Bolton. After being neck and neck down the home straight Caldwell eventually just had enough to hold onto victory ahead of Brackstone by an agonising two tenths.

When all the action came to an end an enthralling match was eventually won by Sale Harriers Manchester, with Stoke second, 25 points adrift. It was a tremendous effort and performance by each member of the team.

Heading into the Final fixture at Liverpool (12/08/01), Stoke after an unusually sluggish start where they finished 5^th in the opening match, have now leap frogged the likes of Birchfield and Liverpool to take 2^nd place in the overall League standings. While the League title seems just out of reach, the team must remember that their place in the final is not guaranteed. The competition for second place is intense as just one match point separate us from Birchfield and Liverpool, and no doubt on home soil Liverpool will be out in force for a victory in the final fixture. It all bodes well for an exciting finale!

Match Result

1.	Sale Harriers	308
2.	City of Stoke	283
3.	Birchfield	255
4.	Liverpool	235
5.	Bolton	226
6.	Notts	192
7.	Scunthorpe & District	184
8.	Border	132

Current League Standings

Position	Club	Total Match points	Total Overall Points
1.*	Sale Harriers	24	939
2.*	City of Stoke	18	794
3.*	Birchfield	18	792
4.*	Liverpool	17	799
5.	Notts	11	621
6.	Scunthorpe & District	9	586
7.*	Bolton	8	560
8.*	Border	3	457

*Qualifying positions for the National Junior League Final

*Relegation positions to Division One