A Sublime Display gets our NAL Campaign underway with a Home Victory.

If any of the visiting clubs to Melbourne Park had looked at the Chelmsford`s result at Basingstoke a couple of weeks back they may have had visions of an easy ride in this opening meeting of their National League campaign. How different this turned out to be Chelmsford now topped the result with 610 points - well clear of Herts. Phoenix on 552, Havering 519, Blackheath 510, Herne Hill 389 and Belgrave 365.

First individual placings were coming throughout the day be it on the track or in the field both men and women. Scores were recorded separately for men and women with CAC heading Herts. P, By 68 points, In the women's score Herts gained an advantage of just 10 points.. No wins from the men`s short distance races although such was the standard that  James Becker (200) and Adam Fox (400) recorded personal bests. Over 800m Will Steadman placed second with veteran Paul Grange taking the second string race. Moving up the distances the 1500m, 5000m and steeplechase brought maximum points via Jacob Hurrell and Gregory Martin,  Joseph Grange (a pb of 14m 51.96s), Ben Felton, Will Nuttall and Thomas Woodward.  Little was lost over the hurdles as in the 110m event Bradley Reed finished second with Rhys Collings taking first spot in the `B` race. It was like wise in the 400m with Ed Hughes and Archie Sims .

To the throws and Oliver Graham had a busy day, starting with a first place in the hammer with Yasha Bobash ensuring full points from this event. Oliver went onto place second in both shot and discus with Yasha again backing up for good points, Samson Colombi placed second in the javelin. There was a win for Sam wright in the high jump also placing second in the long jump. There was also a second for Jack Hughes in the pole vault whilst we must give attention to Kevin Wilson foregoing his usual berths in the throwing events due to a wrist injury to fill places in the high and triple jump events.

In the women's events Kissiwaa Mensah triumphed over the 100 metres and placed second in the 200 an event which saw Lily Hartman stepping up from the under 17 age group and setting a pb of 24.96s. Chelsea Clarke U17 also stepped up and jumped a Long Jump pb of 5.33m and also had solid performance in the High Jump contributing towards the teams over score. Over 400 metres Georgia Tombs was also in fine form and with 55.66s also ran a pb. Points wise however it was the 3000 metres and steeplechase which provided  the most points. In the former Kiera Atkinson finished second but with a time of 9m 51.21s she has never run faster. Sister Kayleigh following in winning the `B` string. In the steeplechase the pairing of Lucy Nuttall and Emma Cox also notched up 20 points with their second and first placings.

It was the throws which was to bring maximum points with Helen Ingvaldsen and Charlotte Graham in the hammer and Jess Hopkins with sister Maegan in the shot putt. Jess also took second in the javelin with Zion Ateba winning the `B`.  Charlotte Graham and Maegan Hopkins also scored heavily in the discus.

Only disappointment came from the two hurdles events in which put out only one competitor and the triple jump with nobody here. We do have athletes who have already this term shown performances which could have earned very good points in this - and these would most certainly overturned that ten points advantage Herts. Phoenix had.

For the full gallery click here.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft