SAL – Harrow

Colchester Harriers claimed second place in the highly competitive Southern Athletic League Division One meeting in Harrow on Sunday.

Charlie Dobson and Philippa Davenhall were the star attractions as they won performances of the day in the 200 metres and the Hammer throw.

Charlie clinched a personal best in the 200m to claim his second A string win of the day, and gain him the English schools entry standard. This was a comfortable win, by over a second, to go with his much closer victory in the 100m earlier in the day. Charlie also broke the nine year old long jump club record, by jumping over 6m for the first time in legal conditions.

Philippa sealed victory in the Hammer with a throw of 54.26s before topping off a superb day’s action with a personal best in the Shot Put.

Veteran 55 runner Colin Ridley rolled back the years with a stunning third place in the A string 1500m. Colin’s time of 4:32.2s puts him second in the UK for his age group at this distance.

Also for the men, Matthew Rose had a busy day competing in four events, capped off with victory in the Men’s A string 110m Hurdles. Paul Clifford also gained victory in the B string 400m in 52.4s.

He was followed by Anthony Barraclough who gained a personal best of 9:55.3s in the 3000m but somehow had enough energy to finish second in the B string 1500m.

Thomas Mitchell and Jordan Fester also chipped in with three and four events each including a second place in the B string Javelin for Jordan and a personal best for Thomas in the Discus.

On The Women’s side, Caitlin O`Reilly and Kelly Sutton headed the team in the sprint distances. Caitlin came first in the 100m before being narrowly pipped to the line in the 200m by just one tenth of a second.

Kelly, getting back to the form that took her into the top 20 in the country for her age group just a few years ago, came away with victory in the 200m as well as a narrow second place in the 100m.

The women were also busy with Helen Bloomfield clocking up four events including personal bests in the 1500m and the 400m hurdles.

She was followed by Lucy Mapp who as well as competing in three field events including victory in the Discus, managed to save enough energy to claim a personal best in the 1500m steeplechase.

Jade Morgan had a busy day in the field including victory in the Shot Put. Filipa Mcqueen clinched two personal best in the hurdles and still managed to win the B string 400m hurdles despite falling twice.

The team capped off a great days work with victory in the women’s 4x100m and second place in both the men and women’s 4x400m.

Well done to everybody who competed on Sunday and helped the team finish second against such strong opposition.

It was particularly pleasing to see so many young athletes in the squad. U20s like Charlie Dobson, Philippa Davenhall, Jake Young, Tom Mitchell, Jordan Fester, Caitlin O’Reilly, Courtney Bland and Ben Halls are regulars in the team picking up valuable points, but behind them are a new group of U17s pushing for places. Lauren Strutt made her debut for the team and ended up scoring in high jump, and Savannah Harrison and Daniel Jones both helped the 4x400m teams to second place, while Megan Stevens, Katie Rice and Sam Shorter all put in performances that will give the team managers a nice headache for future team selections

Colchester Harriers will be back in action as they host the next league meeting on Saturday 17th June.

Other results:

Men – Joseph Wilkin – 100m – 11.7s, 200m – 23.5s. Jake Young – 400m – 51.5s, High Jump – 1.43m. Paul Clifford – 800m – 2:00.7s. Chris Sellens – 800m – 2:13.1s. 3k Steeplchease – 11:05.5s. Paul Strutt – Hammer – 12.12m, 110h – 37.1s. Ben Halls – 3k Steeplechase – 11:18.2s, Tom Cresswell – 3000m – 10:23s, 800m – 2:23.7s. Ben Argent – Triple Jump – 10.14m. Paul Young – Hammer Throw – 14.26m. Paul Cooper – Javelin Throw – 48.80m. Daniell Jones – 400m – 54.5s. Saumel Shorter – 800m – 2:09.7s. Paul Preston – 800m – 2:28.5s. Peter West – 3000m – 10:41.9s. Arthur Whiston – 3000m – 12:25.0s. Thomas Mitchell – Javelin Throw – 44.92m.

Women – Stacey Eyers – 400m – 61.9s, 800m – 2:21.2s. Denise Morley – 800m – 2:22.8s. 1500m – 5:00.7s. Sarah Sellens – 5000m – 21:12.3s. Lauren Strutt – High Jump – 1.38m (pb). Courtney Bland – Long Jump – 4.22m. Triple jump – 8.94m. Megan Stevens – 100m – 13.3s. Katie Rice – 100m – 3.9s. Anna Taylor – 100m – 14.1s. Savannah Harrison – 100m – 14.1s. Katie Rice – 200m – 28.1s. Lauren Strutt – Long Jump – 4.52m.

Final match results

Team Score
1 Harrow AC 226
2 Colchester Harriers 192.5
3 Woking AC 179.5
4 Dartford Harriers 179

 

Full provisional results for the fixture can be viewed here