It was our women’s team who rose to the challenge of trying to rescue the Club from the relegation zone on Sunday in the second of four fixtures in Division 1 of the Midland Track and Field League. Ten individual wins on the track and personal bests from Chloe Esegbona (100mH 14.5sec) and Millie Jones (100m, 12.3sec & 200m 25.9sec) saw the team 2nd by a single point to Wolverhampton (153 to 152) in the women’s team event.
Chloe Esegbona got the team off to a fine start with a comfortable win in the 40omH and this was quickly followed by wins for Kate Holt and Kate Anderson in the 800m A and B events respectively. Chloe Esegbona and Hollie Stow combined in the 100mH to produce another pair of victories as did Emelia Berrisford and Kate Anderson in the 400m. Sarah Lovewell was unlucky not to win the ‘A’ 3000m finishing a close 2nd before going on 35 minutes later to partner Kate Holt to deliver another pair of victories in the 1500m. A final flourish was an emphatic win in the 4 x 400m. It was good to see Chelsea Cooper back in action in the long jump and javelin with decent performances considering the very short time she has had for preparation. Field athletes Hayley Clowes and Simona Veselinova battled hard against stiff opposition but their points were very valuable to the overall team effort.
James Taylor got the men’s events off to a great start with a win in the ‘A’ string 400mH in a personal best time of 53.1sec. Youngsters Bret Okeke and Harry Baggaley also recorded personal bests in the 100m stopping the clock at 10.9 and 11.2 respectively. Valiant performances by all the members of the men’s team could not mask the gaps in so many events as they finished 5th one point more than Wolverhampton (100 to 99).
The final team scores were:-
Rugby and Northampton 357; Birchfield 327.5; Bristol & West/Yate; 323.5; Cannock and Stafford 323; City of Stoke 267; Wolverhampton 267.
The next meeting takes place on the 03 July at Birmingham where the battle for respectability will be rejoined.
Full results can be found here :- Midland League Results Match 2 Rugby 5 June 2016