CAC Athletes Were Full of Eastern Promise.

There were medals`aplenty`for CAC members at the Eastern Counties Championships staged at Cambridge, with the under 13`s through to under 17`s dominating in this. In the youngest age range Jacob Allam took two titles - the 75m hurdles in 13.12s and the long jump with 4.42m and in addition placed second in the 100metres in a personal best of 13.52s. At under 15 level it was sister Chloe Allam coming up with a pb over the hurdles clocking 12.32s for second place with the same position in the 100m with a time of 12.84s. Orla Martin was another under 15 to come up with a pb this in the 800m with 2m 27.66s. Staying with the under 15`s Olivia Mollineaux won the discus with 28.26m and placed second in the shot (10.50m) and hammer throw reaching a pb of 37.77m. To the under 17`s with Monica Malagala dominating with wins in the shot putt (12.65m), discus (35.98m) and hammer (43.96m). Matilda Hewitt this time had to play second fiddle in the first two of these events with 12.65m and 33.86m. From the javelin Maddison Poulter filled third place with 25.76.

On the track Chelsea Clarke won the 80m hurdles in 11.97s with Milana Thorpe third with 12.49s. This pairing also featured on the podium for the long jump - Chelsea second with 5.28m and Milana third with 4.99m.

From the boys it was another success for Harry Lee over the 100m hurdles in 13.37s whilst Marcus Fazackerley took the bronze medal. For under 20`s Alastair Brown a 16.70m gave him the senior title whilst for Jordan Lacey. Classified in the disabled group `T20` there was gold in the 1500m and silver at the 800m. Back to the under 15`s and Hector Johnson placed second in the discus with 28.19m then achieved a pb from the javelin 30.24m. Bevan Dove had placed fourth in that discus event but with the hammer his 36.71m took third. On the track Toby Tubbs was another to finish in second spot, over the 300m with 43.00s.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

It's "Oxford Here we Come" for the NAL Promotion Final.

How results can change overnight. When going online Saturday evening CAC were placed third and out of the promotion match next month being 30 points adrift of Hert’s Phoenix. Early Sunday and the deficit had been reduced as our 3000m runners had not been included. A later check and, whoa, there was now an advantage of 26 points. For this turn around we must give thanks to our officials for once again mustering a full team whilst Hert’s P. Fell short on this aspect.

The `final` result thus reads 1st Blackheath 639, Chelmsford 559, Hertford Phoenix 533, Belgrave 444, Havering 434 and Herne Hill 342. The league table after the three meeting shows - wait for it - 1st Chelmsford 15 (with 1677 match points, second Hertford P 15 (1659) and Blackheath 14 (1708). One can see how important our 50 points for the officials became as we were the only club to achieve this throughout the season.

To the competition and the women's throws brought maximum points in the shot putt and discus with Jessica Hopkins having performances of 13.20m and 38.99m whilst sister Maegan winning the `B` string`s with 11.95 and 35.29m. Over at the hammer Helene Ingvaldsen again took the honours as she had the previous two meetings this time with 59.06 metres. Only one other first place from the women`s events with Georgia Tombs achieving this in the 400m with 56.72s but there were two second places for Lily Parris via the 200m and 400m hurdles. Sienna Shipton (under 17) doubled up over 800 and 1500 with Sophie McCall another of our younger members running the 800 and steeplechase. In this later event veteran Wendy King stepped in to fill a gap as she also did in the 3000 metres. Another assisting in this respect was Holly Watson with unusual double of 400 hurdles and steeplechase.

With the men`s events the hammer brought maximum points via Oliver Graham (58.92m) and Yasha Bobash (47.62m). Full points also from the high jump with Seb Clatwothy clearing 2.07m and under 17 athlete Charlie Pyner over 1.87m.  On the track Will Steadman won the 800m with 1m 55.57s and this was followed by Harry Wright with a previous best of 2m 03s now clocking 1m 57.17s to win the second string. Harry was also to take the `B string 3000m with 9m 10.16s for yet another personal best. In the first-string Joseph Grange had finished second in 8m 45.63s but only 45minutes earlier had won the 1500mwith 3m 55.94s both events being pb`s.  Two wins came from the hurdles with Bradley Reed over the 110m event in 15.06s and Onyeka Okoh from the 400 in 52.76s. James Becker 'was second in both sprints with times of 10.94s and 21.75s and it was another second from the pole vault with Jack Hughes clearing 4.12m.   Last events of the day and both the women and men were to finish second in the 4 x 400 relays. Yes, some solid teamwork but still empty spaces in the results which hopefully can be filled for the promotion meeting at Oxford on 16th August when they face teams from the North, South and West regions.

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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft.

A Sterling Performance by our Seniors at Harrow.

Despite some outstanding performances in the Southern League fixture at Harrow we had to be content with third place for the opposition, apart from the hosts third in the table, also included Windsor, Slough and Eton chasing the title in second place.

Result: 1st WSE 294, 2nd Harrow 273, 3rd Chelmsford 269, 4th Woking 243, 5th Epsom 151 and 6th Southampton 109.

No fewer than eleven personal bests with James Becker leading the way here winning the 100m in 10.69s and then the 200m with 21.96s. These events provided very good points for in the shorter event Clark Viernes came up with a best of 11.19s for second place whilst then running 23.43s for another pb over 200m.  In between these events James had achieved a pb with 52.55s over the 400m. At 800 metres Finn Rattray dipped under the two minutes for a pb of 1m 59.45s for third place going on to win the 3000m in 9m 07.43s. No pb`s for Joe Abbott but most valuable points as he contested the 800m, 3000m and also the steeplechase. There were maximum points from the 1500m with Harry Wright taking the `A` string in 3m 59.69s and Thomas Woodward the `B` in 4m 04.50s. Over the hurdles Bradley Reed placed second in the 110m event with support coming from Luke Keteleers. Apart from these track events Luke was picking up points in the long jump, pole vault, shot putt and discus. What a great asset he has been over the years. In the field events there was a win for Seb Clatworthy, making his first appearance in the UK for 13 months due to studies in the USA, clearing 2.08m. Other events of note - Clark Viernes recorded a pb in the long jump to go along his sprints whilst Kevin Wilson won the discus with 42.87m and also contesting the high jump and javelin. In the field there were consistent performances by Yasha Bobash, Noah Wooding and Zak Williams.

To the women`s events and two first placing`s for Charlotte Graham, in the hammer with 42.70m and the discus where her 39.58m was a pb. In the later event Meagan Hopkins won the second string, having a third spot in the shot putt. Under 17-year Matilda Hewitt won the `B`string in this event and placed third in the javelin with another U17 year Maddison Poulter placing first in the `B`. Indeed, it was pleasing to see support from our youngsters in the field and on the track. Over at the long jump Grace Tremelling placed second in the long jump with Amy Pugsley taking the `B`string. Both also featured in the triple jump with Amy also contesting the high jump. Meanwhile on the track Sienna Shipton took second place in the 800m with a season`s best of 2m 18.46s with Emma Cox taking a third place. Lucy Nuttall finished runner up over 1500m Jessica Walker taking the honours of the `B` string, Sophie McCall ran a pb of 11m 11.39s in the 3000m with Molly Drane another of our younger members finishing third in the `B` result.  After her return from the States Lily Parris made it two wins out of two having success in the 400m hurdles.

The league table after this third meeting shows T V H favourites to retain the title form Windsor with Harrow clear in third place on 14 points. Then six clubs line up on eleven points - only match points parting them, Chelmsford 802, Norwich 801, Wycombe 789, Woking 787, London Heathside 772 and Brighton 767.  With the final fixture on 3rd August at NORWICH not only the home team but Harrow and London Heathside with Ipswich on 10 points (770) and Havering 9 points (732). Looks to be a real keen contest for that fourth-place finish in the table. Results this term do really show the importance of filling those gaps which keep showing in our performances.

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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft