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Stoke AC members should
definitely buy a few National Lottery tickets this week - our luck
must be in! The club's senior men pulled off a spectacular victory in
the last match of the season in the BAL Division fixture at Northwood
and amazingly came back from 5th in the league to snatch the 2nd
promotion spot to Division 2.
The right combination of results from the opposing teams hinted at in
the last report from Bedford actually happened! However we still
needed to win and a fantastic overall team effort on the day was
supported by some excellent individual performances.
The club's young sprinters starred in the 100m and 200m. Martin
Chomanizc coming back from injury took 3rd in the 'A' 100m and then
followed it up with a superb win the the 'B' 200m. Louis Moore
provided more than able back-up to win the 'B' 100m and David
Brackstone maintained his unbeaten sprinting record in this league
this year with a forceful run to win the 'A' 200m.
In the 400m juniors Andrew Waller and Richard Porter found the going
tough at this level but fought for every point and will run much
faster next year. The 800m saw Tom Gayle run another fine race in his
best season so far, and late replacement Carl Shubotham commenced his
apprenticeship in the senior ranks with a gutsy effort.
The 1500m again saw Tom Gayle in good form coming through in the
finishing straight to snatch 3rd, with a revitalised Matt Jones just
behind. The 5000m had the rare sight of the 1st and 2nd place men from
this year's Stoke-on-Trent marathon battling it out on the track. Both
Ray Plant and Mike Proudlove gained our best finishes of the year in
this event with Ray running a fine sub 15 min clocking for 3rd in the
'A' race. The 3000m Steeple Chase saw Steve Bazell recover from a
'bath' in the water jump to win the 'B' race, but even more impressive
was youngster Gavin Walters (also taking a big tumble) running yet
another big PB ahead of Steve in the 'A' race.
Although Decathletes Roger Skedd and Robin Smith could not repeat
their victories at Bedford in the 110m Hurdles, the opposition was
tougher this time and Roger's performance also got him a new PB. Dave
Brackstone had AAAs bronze medallist Rob Lewis from Bedford to cope
with in the 400m Hurdles and nearly got there - fortunately he got rid
of his disappointment in the 200m a couple of hours later!
The Long Jump saw a slightly below par Louis Moore still testing 7.90
jumper Steve Phillips to the limit with 2nd in the 'A' event and
Decathlete Sam Bishop won the 'B' this time. Sam also competed in the
High Jump with an excellent 3rd and Danny Thompson provided support
with 5th in the 'B' on his way into work! Dave Mountford was
disappointed with 2nd in the Triple Jump, but he is probably the
athlete who has improved most in their specialist event this season.
Chris Harvey also posted his best jump of the season in the 'B'
string.
Craig Ellams continued his re-birth as a top hammer thrower with an
excellent 2nd in 57.18 and looks forward to next year with renewed and
infectious enthusiasm. Junior Gregg Nixon supported ably and will
obviously throw considerably further with a bit more practice. In the
Discus, the 'experienced' Morris Fox just managed to stay ahead of
Gregg who was disappointed with 2nd in the 'B' event. Morris showed
who is still boss in the shot though with his best result of the
season in 2nd. Roger Skedd also performed well with 2nd in the 'B'
shot. Rob Eggleton produced one of his better performances this season
when it mattered to get 3rd in the 'A' Javelin with Neil Fairlamb also
finishing 2nd in the 'B' event despite a bad back.
The 4x100m relay saw the team of Roger Skedd, Louis Moore, Dave
Brackstone and Martin Chomanicz play safe but still win in a classy
42.6. The 4x400m team of Andrew Waller, Andy Prophett, Matt Jones and
Tom Gayle battled all the way to their 7th place finish and Matt in
particular impressed with a 51.5 split.
The Pole Vault was the last result to come in and saw the Team Manager
get through a few fingernails before Alex Williams and Steve Lewis
came in and showed the rest how to really vault. Alex won the 'B' with
his first jump and then Steve sailed over his opening height of 4.90
(the next best jumper was on 4.20) before winning the competition with
5.10 before an appreciative crowd.
I will not be Team Manager next year but have enjoyed the experience
in parts (especially the ending!), and I would like to wish all the
athletes and team officials the best for next year. In particular, I
would like to thank Ernie Johnson and Chris Brackstone for their
invaluable support and advice throughout an exciting and eventually
rewarding season.
John Danahay
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