As usual, our sprinters were in fine form. Paul Williams comfortably won both the M40 100m and 400m, Richard Barrington was too good for the opposition in the M60 100m and Nigel Gardner sprinted well to finish 4th in the new M35 100m category. Alan Burt finished 2nd and Ray Ibbs 3rd (with a personal best time) in the M40B and M50 400m. These were exceptional performances as both Alan and Ray train mainly on the road.

Adrian Thiemicke finished an excellent 6th in a very competitive M40A 1500. Alan Simpson also ran well in the M40B race finishing 4th. Richard Barrington followed up his earlier success with a superb 3rd position in the M60 1500.

An unfortunate disqualification in the 2k walk left Phil Bailey as our only scoring athlete. Phil had an excellent race to finish 4th in the M40 category. It was good to see John Sinclair making a comeback with the team. He competed as a Guest along with Brian Eggleton and finished 3rd overall in the race.

Clive Howell threw well to finish 2nd in the Hammer. Our High Jumpers were also on top form. Mike Warrilow won the M50 category and Nigel Gardner won the M35 competition with a personal best performance. Brian Eggleton gained valuable points with a fine 4th place in the M60 shot. Mike Warrilow competed well in the M40 Triple Jump taking 3rd place with his final jump.

Our 4 x 200m relay team competed extremely well and at the final changeover, they were in 3rd place 10 metres behind Telford with Tamworth well clear. Paul Williams is always useful to have in this situation and he once again demonstrated what a fine sprinter he is and powered his way into 2nd position.

After last year’s success, it was a relief to get off to a winning start especially as we were without a couple of athletes. The introduction of the M35 category will be interesting but I am confident that our team has the strength in depth to bring us success once again. Peter Wainwright - Team Manager

The next meeting will be held at Northwood on Wednesday 7th June.

Stoke AC Results:
100m M40 Paul Williams 1st 12.2
100m M35 Nigel Gardener 4th 13.6
100m M60 Richard Barrington 1st 13.8

2k Walk M40 Phil Bailey 4th 13.43.4
2k Walk M60 Disqualified

400m M40A Paul Williams 1st 55.7
400m M40B Alan Burt 2nd 64.4
400m M50 Ray Ibbs 3rd 67.8

1500m M40A Adrian Thiemicke 6th 4.54.0
1500m M40B Alan Simpson 4th 5.13.6
1500m M60 Richard Barrington 3rd 5.54.9

4x200m M35 Burt, Warrilow, Gardner, Williams, 2nd 1.48.1

Hammer M40 Clive Howell 2nd 32.40

High Jump M35 Nigel Gardner 1st 1.56
High Jump M50 Mike Warrilow 1st 1.45

Shot M60 Brian Eggleton 4th 6.77

Javelin M35 Peter Wainwright 2nd 30.86

Triple Jump M40 Mike Warrilow 3rd 9.49

Team Scores:
City of Stoke 125    9
Cannock & Stafford 111.5    8
RSC 108    7
Telford 98    6
Tamworth 94    5
Burton 64    4
Wolverhampton 56.5    3
Shrewsbury 37    2