A second consecutive victory for City of Stoke Vets team has put the Northern Division Championship on a knife-edge. Victory at the final meeting at Stafford will win the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.

The night did not get off to a good start with the unavailability of Paul Williams and with Morris Fox delayed en route; it looked like it was going to be a difficult night ahead.

Middle distance runner Alan Burt once more showed his versatility gaining valuable points in the M40A 100m and 400m.

Richard Barrington was in excellent form with a convincing win in the M50 400m. Dick Kneill is steadily getting back to race fitness with third position in the M60 400m.

Mick Warrilow comfortably won the M50 high jump and Merv Richards put in a tremendous performance to finish second in a very competitive M40 competition.

Phil Bailey (M50) and Dave Hindley (M60) get better and better in the 2k walk. Both put in season’s best times with Phil second in the M40A and Dave first in the M40B.

John Danahay again put in an excellent performance in a good standard 1500m field. John led for most of the race but was just beaten into second place in a sprint finish. Ray Ibbs (M50) ran out of his age group and finished fourth in the M40A race with another season’s best time.

Clive Howell had an emphatic win in the M50 hammer and followed up with fourth position in the M50 shot.

Morris Fox is enjoying the competition and showed what an excellent athlete he is with second position in the Triple Jump.

Brian Eggleton performed extremely well and gained valuable points in the M60 discus.

The medley relay closed the meeting and once more it was another good performance from the team. Morris ran an amazing first 200m handing over to Mick who also ran well to put Stoke into second position. Alan ran the next 400m against two excellent 400m sprinters but he hung on well to third position and handed over to John Danahay for the final 800m. Telford were well clear but Cannock’s advantage was gradually reduced by John and in a thrilling finish, Cannock just held out to take second with Stoke a very close third.

This was a well-deserved victory for the Stoke team where once again we filled every event. The final meeting is at Stafford on 12^th August. Royal Sutton Coldfield will be pulling out all the stops but I am confident that a full strength Stoke team will be too strong for them.

Peter Wainwright

1^st Stoke                119              1^st RSC                25                 333
2^nd RSC                  102              2^nd Stoke             24.5              346
3^rd C&S                    97              3^rd  W&B              17.5              260
4^th Tamworth             85              4^th Tamworth         17                 236
5^th W&B                   84              5^th C&S                 16                255
6^th Telford                 82               6^th Telford              14                259
7^th Burton                 62               7^th Burton              12                214
8^th Shrewsbury         36               8^th Shrewsbury        6                  95

100m M40A Alan Burt                        5^th 13.7
100m M40B Peter Wainwright (M50)    7^th 14.7

2k Walk M40A Phil Bailey (M50)        2^nd 13.09.1
2k Walk M40B Dave Hindley (M60)      1^st 13.21.8

400m     M40 Alan Burt                      4^th   63.1
400m     M50 Richard Barrington         1^st   67.3
400m     M60 Dick Kneill                    3^rd   72.4

1500m M40A John Danahay                2^nd 4.31.4
1500m M40B Ray Ibbs (M50)               4^th 5.03.4

Medley Relay 
Fox, Warrilow, Burt, Danahay              3^rd 4.17.1

High Jump M40 Merv Richards             2^nd 1.47
High Jump M50 Mick Warrilow              1^st 1.47

Hammer M50 Clive Howell                    1^st 35.86

Discus M40 Merv Richards                   2^nd 28.89
Discus M40 Morris Fox Guest                   37.35

Triple Jump M40 Morris Fox                2^nd 10.23

Shot M50 Clive Howell                           4^th 8.87

Discus M60 Brian Eggleton                  7^th 17.27