Round three of the Midland Track and Field League took place at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday 03 July. The meeting produced the best result of the season so far with a fine second place to Birchfield.
Overall result:- 1 Birchfield 411; 2 City of Stoke 316; 3 Cannock & Stafford 303.5; 4 Wolves & Bilston 301; 5 Rugby & Northampton 299.5; 6 Bristol &West/Yate 263.
Whilst the result was pleasing to team members, travelling officials and both team managers it leaves us with a massive job to do at the final home fixture on the 07 August. We must now finish in second place at the final fixture to avoid relegation.
League table:- 1 Birchfield 16; 2 Bristol &West/Yate 11; 3 Cannock & Stafford 11; 4 Rugby & Northampton 10; 5 Wolves & Bilston 7.5 299.5; 6 City of Stoke 7.5.
To do this we must achieve first or second place results in all the events where the club has athletes capable of doing so. Picking up the odd points by filling in events is useful but in this situation it is essential to take a significant number of points off the other teams to reduce their total points score.
Women’s Team highlights
Alice Lennox returned to competition to fill 5 events scoring a total of 31 points towards the teams 146 total and 3rd place. Team captain Kate Holt produced her trade mark double with maximum points in the 800m (a seasons best ) and 1500m and went on to play her part in the 4 x 400m team. Chloe Esegbona collected maximum points in the 400m and 100m hurdles, whilst Hollie Stow took the B string 100mH. Lauren Kelly produced a fine personal best of 1.90 in the pole vault for 4th place in the A competition, an excellent performance given that Lauren only took up the event a couple of months ago. Good contributions from Emelia Berrisford with 2nd place in the B string 800m and 400m, Kate Anderson 2nd place and a personal best in the A string 400m and Lucy Hayes returning from injury with a win in the B string 1500m. Thank you to all athletes who turned out on the day and a special thank you to those who took on events in which they had little experience to give us valuable points.
Men’s Team Highlights
Maximum points scorers for the men’s team were James Taylor (21) and Tom Baskefield (27) a total of 48 points out of the 155 points for 4th place in the men’s competition. James produced maximum points from the A string 400mH and B string shot with 2nd place in the B string 200m and went on to contribute to the men’s 4x400m victory. Tom’s best event was a win in the A string pole vault, with supporting performances in the triple jump, long jump, discus and hammer. The endurance events saw Louis Wrigley and Macauley Snutch combine to win the A & B string 800m, Korey Hallet-Blanch and Macauley take 2nd place in both 1500m races, Oliver Langford take 2nd place in the A string 5000m whilst Tom Hendricken won the B string. Veteran Morris Fox produced his usual haul of points winning the shot, 4th place in the A string discus and B string Javelin and 3rd in the A string hammer. Ashley Eggleton finsished 3rd in the A string Javelin.
Overall this was a pleasing result but one we must at least repeat and if possible improve on at the final meeting if the club is to retain its position in the top flight of the Midland Track an Field League.
Results can be found here:- Midland League Results Match 3 Birchfield 3 July 2016