Our NAL Team Hold Their own Against Quality Opponents.

Our opening National League fixture, held at the Melbourne Park stadium brought about a very satisfactory start, beaten only by a very strong club in Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers.

1, Shaftesbury 600 points

2, Chelmsford 536 points

3, Havering 525 points

4, Herts. Phoenix 501 points

5, Newham E Beagles 407points

6, Herne Hill Harriers 358 points

Certainly we got away to an excellent start, taking pole position in both strings of the men’s 400m hurdles via Onyeka Okoh (53.91s) and Archie Sims (59.79s). Later in the day Kristian Brown in the 110 hurdles placed second with a pb clocking of 14.79s whilst Bradley Reed won the `B` race (15.13s). In the steeplechase there were full points with William Nuttall (9m 54.51s) and Ethan Reilly with a pb of 9m 58.75s. Dropping down in the distances Lee Dollard placed  third with a pb of 10.60s in the 100m. As a veteran Pal Grange ran well for third in the 800m with Thomas Woodward second in the `B`race. These placings were duplicated in the 1500m with Jacob Hurrell and Gregory Martin.

Turning to the field events Seb Clatworthy overcame the strong winds clearing 1.90m for a win whilst Jack Hughes put in a fine performance in the pole vault with 4.20m.Kristian Brown with 66.98m won the javelin and was supported by Kevin Wilson second in the `B` Kevin also gained valuable points contesting the discus and shot putt although perhaps the best throwing event was the hammer throw which saw Oliver Graham second with 60.68m and Yasha Bobash first in the second string.                                                                        

There can be little doubt that Chelmsford`s athlete of the meeting was Kissiwaa Mensah. First in the 100m with a pb 11.39s, first in the 200m in 23.56s and then part of both the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400 teams as  they were to take second spots. Nneka Okoh ran a pb to win her 100m in 12.64s    and also placed second over 200m (26.22s). Jumping up to the 3000m and there was a gallant run by 15 year old Daisy Stollery placing third (10m28.44s) with Sophie Mccallum taking the `B` string honours with (10m45.51s) - another Pb.                                                     

Amelia Scott , another of our young talents, won the long jump (5.57m).  Jess and Maegan Hopkins took maximum points in the shot putt with 13.58m and 12.80m also coming away with valuable points in the discus. In the hammer Charlotte Graham placed third with Jess winning the `B` string.                                                                          

Alas we failed to have competitors in the triple jump, pole vault, high jump and javelin thus missing out on many points.    

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft