Wednesday night saw the second meeting of the West Yorkshire Track and Field league at Thornes Park Wakefield. After a grey and miserable day we were expecting the usual damp night at this location, made all the worse by there being little shelter. ( a stand please any Wakefield Harriers reading this ). Fortunately this weather picked up and we even saw a few glimpses of sunshine.
A reasonable turnout from Spen athlete especially with the Yorkshire champs looming on Saturday and Sunday.
Chris Jones was turning out for his third race in three days (mad fool) and was making his first serious attempt at a track race in 34 years!
Unfortunately, as always the mens middle distance race is almost always the last event, so as most people were packing up to go home and the sun had dropped below the horizon Chris and I lined up for the mens 800m.
Only seven on the start line meant that at least one of us was going to pick up some points. Unsure of pace and Chris only persuading me to run at the last minute meant we settled in at the back of the pack. As the pace was quite moderate we hung on well and were still in contention as we hit the bell. Then the leaders pulled away and Chris and myself fought it out for the last two places but finished in the creditable times of Chris 2min 26.8 and myself 2 min 24.8.
Other performances of the night that I can remember were Sarah Peacock finishing a very close second in the Senior ladies 800m followed in by Emma Rawnsley.
Ryan Dransfield making a rare appearance at 200m having competed at the Calderdale Schools 800m in the afternoon and smashing his PB in 24.5 sec (faster than I ever ran - damn him!).
Matthew Jones growing in confidence with every race knocked chunks off his PB in the 800m finishing in 2 min 36 sec.
Curtis Dransfield also beat his PB in the 80m finishing in 12.6 sec.
Congratulations to all the other Spen athletes many of whom I know put in some excellent performances, with some victories but unfortunately I did not make a note of their names or times.
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3 comments:
I was nervous as hell too. I might have been exaggerating with the 34 years since my last 800, I think it was possibly only 32 years ;)
And thanks for not saying that you kicked my butt over the last 200m (hehe) ... next time!
Well done Chris, bring on the 1500 !
If points become an issue later on in the league, i may be forced to join you and do a 800 or, god forbid a 1500!
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