Northern T & F League Match 3

Yesterday, in glorious sunny conditions at Leeds Carnegie, Spen finished a respectable joint second in the penultimate league match of the year. There was some good performances from many of the athletes who appeared. Top scorers of the day were yet again our throwers with Richard Martin & Carly Beanland scoring a hat trick of 1st "A" string wins. Richard had competed in Bournemouth only the day before and had travelled up from his new base in Bedfordshire to compete, so many thanks to him. Our sprinters too scored valuable points: Chris Ward winning both "B" string sprints & Steve McNamara easily winning the 200m "A"- he would give Josh a good run for his money in the 200 now! Good to see my (occasional) training partners Tony Bradford running well and winning the "B" 5000m but eclipsed by Kevin "the race machine" Ogden who ran under 17 minutes (for the first time on the track in sweltering conditions). Amy Sharrad too ran well, winning the "A" 800m after belting through the first lap in sub 64 seconds. In fact looking through the results there were many fine performances: Becky, Sheila, Ryan's P.B., Carl, Dave in the steeplchase, Stef & Sarah in the javelin, Sarah in the middle distance events, and I wasn't too bad either for an old-timer but only if I could have got the damn baton to Chris within the marked lines for the relay!! Easily won by Spen (in a time which would have been an Icelandic womens national record!) only to be disqualified at the end.

However despite all this positivity, we are once again not fielding a full team. Analysing the results show that Rossendale-the eventual winners, fielded athletes in EVERY event bar the "B" string 3000m for woman. Yet Spen beat them 35 events to 32 and that is with even relay disqualification. For the final event at Cleckheaton (Sunday 2 August) we must have every race, jump and throw covered in order to win the match. Without that, all the good efforts by the above, fall by the wayside.

West Yorkshire Track and Field League #4 - Wakefield

A very wet, miserable evening greeted us at Wakefield for the WYTFL meeting number 2.

This is essentially a league for the young athletes, and the turnout from Spen this year has been poor. This is a real pity, that so many of our young athletes seem to have abandoned the very league that gave them their first taste of track competition, I'm not sure of the motives for this, it's certainly shouldn't be lack of competition, because it's seems to be well supported by athletes from some of the other local clubs, and some of them are running good times. It would be a real shame if this league suffered because of lack of support, because it gives a unique opportunity for those starting in competition. So if any of the parents of the athletes who have been avoiding it this year are reading this, I'd ask you to have re-think.

Anyway, rant over. There were some good performances on the night, I didn't watch every race, but saw Steve McNamara comfortably win the 200m, Matthew Jones ran another PB in the U15 boys 800m and Sarah Peacock ran in a very impressive win in the Senior Ladies 800m.

Sheila and Amanda were as usual having a go at every possible event, and you can only applaud their enthusiasm and commitment for that. Well done ladies!

In the senior mens 800m, our combined age (John, Keith and me) of somewhere close to 140 meant that we were certainly giving a few years away to the rest of the field, but Keith and John aquitted themselves well with Keith just getting the better of John, and a sub-2:10 time to boot. I was left trailing in their wake, but happy that I achieved my goal for the evening which was to go under 2:25, which I managed with a couple of seconds to spare.

Northern League Match 2, 7 June 2009

Sunday saw Skyrac host the second Northen League match on a cold and extremely windy day at Leeds Carnegie, Headingly. Despite fielding more athletes than the 1st match, Spen could not produce the same kind of results and ended up in 4th place (now 3rd overall). There were some good winners from Nick Crimmen, Richard Martin, Lewis Hamilton & Emma Rawnsley as well as good performances and therefore valuable points scored by Kevin Ogden, Steve MacNamara, Amy Sharrad & Jenny Walsh who put in a gutsy performance on her senior debut. Once again though that old chestnut of not filling enough races, throws and jumps was the deciding factor in the overall team performance. As athletes, we need to encourage as many people as possible to turn out, put on a vest and win the points. In some races, other teams too failed to produce athletes which would mean a 5th or even guaranteed 4th A string points in the bag. Nevertheless, well done to those who did turn up and compete and let's ensure that a full team sheet is completed for the next match in a months time.

Northern League Match 2, 7 June 2009 (Photos)

West Yorkshire Track and Field League #2 - Wakefield

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.

Northern T & F League Match 1

Despite initial concerns about how many athletes we could field for the 1st Northern League match of the year, Spen performed magnificently to finish 2nd overall and things can only improve from here. Thanks to Jackie and Amanda for taking on the difficult post of team managers but the troops rallied round and supported them. The performances of the day had to come from the throwers and our male sprinters. Nick Crimmen- on a welcome retun back, Richard Martin, Jack Bellwood, Carly Beanland, Sheila Bolland & Sarah Roberts out-performed all other athletes to gain maximum valuable points. On the track, Josh Cayenne eased to victory in the 100 & 400m and then ran, what one spectator called "poetry in motion", a blinder of a 3rd leg in the 4x400m relay to bring Craig Yates into an unbeatable position. There were other valuable victories and point winners throughout the day: Ryan Dransfield a very respectable 2nd in his 1st A string 800m for the senior men coming home in 2:06.00; young Lewis Hamilton making his senior debut with wins in the B 400m and running a superb final leg in the 4x100m to overtake Andy Cooke of P&B on the finish line; Chris Ward making his 1st appearance in Spen colours in the short sprints; Chris Mounsey for his Bob Beamon performance long jump and Becky Rowlands & Emma Rawnsley for scoring valuable points in a much depleted ladies' team. Despite all these great performances it is sad to report that we had no competitors in the men's steeplechase, 5000m, 110mH and the ladies' hurdles and pole vault: this is where valuable points are lost and will make the difference if we fill these posts if we are to overtake leaders Trafford at the next match. As for me: HJ, PV, TJ, 400mH and the slowest 1500m on record show it is time to call it a day very soon. Apologies if I have omitted any good performances. If I have please can someone add these comments.

Northern League meeting

Today some of the spen athletes were at Stretford for the first meeting in the northern league, and Amanda's and my first task as team managers. Hopefully we didn't do too bad. I did find it a bit stressful at first, having to alter team sheets.

18 athletes took part, with some doing quite a few events. At times we were 5th but we worked hard and finished 2nd overall with the relays coming to a superb end both the 4x100 and the 4x400 men taking first place the ladies 4x400 finishing a respectable 3rd. It would have been another first if not for Amandas gammy knee! and me being tired from the marathon and the 3,000 + 1500.

Overall a good day and at the next meeting we should have more choice of athletes , thankyou to all of you - Jackie.