A warm summer’s evening was ideal conditions for athletics and the outstanding Paul Williams gave the team a flying start with 1st position in the M35 200m. Both Nigel Gardner and Mike Warrilow also earned valuable points finishing 5th and 4th in the M40 age group.

Ray Plant made his debut for the team and with the Potteries Half Marathon in mind, did what he had to do and coasted to 2nd place in the M35 800m. Nigel Gardner showed his versatility on the track to finish 4th in the M40 race and Richard Barrington once more showed what a great competitor he is finishing 3rd in the M60 race.

Our race walkers Phil Bailey and John Sinclair were superb on the night. Phil finished 2nd in the M40 with a seasons best time and John raced exceptionally well to win the M50 event.

Adrian Thiemicke had an excellent run in the M40A 3000m to finish in 4th place. Chris Bourne also competed well after a long lay off through injury to finish 3rd in the M40 B race. Ray Ibbs continued his fine run of form to finish 2nd in the M50 event.

Our Field event athletes were once more strong throughout. Merv Richards showed what a fine athlete he is finishing 3rd in the M40 Discus and 2nd in the Shot. Richard Barrington competed extremely well for 2nd place in the M60 Long Jump. Paul Williams used his speed to good effect to comfortably win the M35 Long Jump.

Peter Wainwright finished 3rd in the M50 Pole Vault and 1st in the M50 Javelin.

Brian Eggleton again won valuable points for the team with 5th position in the M60 Discus.

The final event was the 4x100m relay and our team of Mike Warrilow, Paul Williams, Richard Barrington and Nigel Gardner put in a tremendous effort, but had to settle for 3rd place.

This was our second successive victory despite a very strong challenge from Cannock and Stafford. There were some fine individual performances on the night but our success was entirely down to team effort.

The next meeting will be at Wolverhampton on Tuesday 11th July.

Peter Wainwright
Team Manager

Stoke AC Results

200m M35 1st Paul Williams 24.2
200m M40A 5th Nigel Gardner 27.1
200m M40B 4th Mike Warrilow 27.3

800m M35 2nd Ray Plant 2.19.1
800m M40 4th Nigel Gardner 2.32.4
800m M60 3rd Richard Barrington 2.51.6

2k Walk M40 2nd Phil Bailey 13.26.0
2k Walk M50 1st John Sinclair 11.52.0

3000m M40A 4th Adrian Thiemicke 10.06.7
3000m M40B 3rd Chris Bourne 11.20.4
3000m M50 2nd Ray Ibbs 10.59.1

Pole Vault M50 3rd Peter Wainwright 1.90

Discus M40 3rd Merv Richards 31.47
Discus M60 5th Brian Eggleton 16.72

Javelin M50 1st Peter Wainwright 35.28

Long Jump M35 1st Paul Williams 5.39
Long Jump M60 2nd Richard Barrington 4.50

Shot M40 2nd Merv Richards 10.16

4x100m Relay 3rd Warrilow, Williams, Barrington, Gardner 50.4