National Junior League - Southern Premier Division - Sun, 27th April 2008 - Hendon
WSEH made the short trip to Hendon on Sunday to contest the first of their National Junior (U20) League matches. The club lost several athletes through the overrun of the Soccer and Rugby season, hardest hit being the heavy throws section in the men’s section of the match. The club finished in 5th position in the 8 club match and will need to raise their game in the remaining matches if they are to repeat their achievement of making the League Finals in the last three seasons. The gaps in the team were filled by a significant extent by the club’s top Under 17 athletes which had the effect of somewhat weakening the Alder Valley team competing at Bracknell but those athletes that made the step upwards were rewarded with several personal bests.
The weather conditions for this early start match also affected performances.
One of the Under 17 athletes Deji Tobias made his club debut with a fine run in the 100m to take 3rd in the 100m and 200m with 11.35secs and 22.84 secs respectively.
There was also a pb from 16 year old Matt Bezzant in the B 400m in 51.46 secs for another 3rd place. Both WSEH’s 800m runners clocked pb’s, Nick Lingley with 1m58.1 and Rhys Glastonbury with 1m58.37. Alex Tovey was close to his best in the 1500m with 4m6.6 secs.. The one lone win of the day came in the B 110m Hurdles where Laurie Clarke took the honours in 15.42 secs. There was another pb for Ashley Fry in the A 400m Hurdles in 57.62 secs. whilst multi eventer Jamie East contesting one of his 5 events was also rewarded with a pb of 58.98 secs in also finishing 3rd in the B race.
Another newcomer Michael Puplambu contested the Long and Triple Jump, his best effort coming in the latter with 14m00 for 3rd. Another 16year old, Andy Winchcombe achieved pb’s in the B long and Triple Jump with 5m59 and 11m45 respectively.
Best of the throwing events was the Javelin where 16 year old Blake Crowe was 2nd with 47m19 and Grant Fuller was similarly placed in the B with 45m56. The remaining heavy throws were simply infilled to grab points and credit is due to those athletes who were prepared to put the team first.
The Ladies team had similar problems but in differing sectors of the team.
Sisters Nasya and Nina Harvey performed well in the throwing events with Shot 5th and 4th and Hammer 3rd and 1st. In 400m hurdles Lizzie Thompson came 2nd with a personal best and B string Sarah Love was 5th in her first outing over this distance. Vicky Fouhy had a good run for 2nd in the 800m and the youngest member of the team Bex Myers was also 2nd with very close to her personal best. WSEH’s only winning double of the day fell to Rose Reynolds and Jenny Heckford who won their 100m hurdles events but the wind affected their times. Rachel Stedman ran a solid race in the 3000m finishing 4th in a personal best time and Melissa Hack 4th in B equalled her personal best. Martha Reynolds had a good run in her first outing in this League to finish 2nd in the 1500m. Laura James threw well in the discus to finish 5th but was unable to perform to her best as the new circle was very slippery. Amy Quelch and Vicky Binns also suffered in the long jump when a heavy downpour made jumping difficult.
To round off the match the 4x400m team of Charlotte Brunton, Rose Reynolds, Vicky Fouhy – all new to this event - and Beth Newton finished 3rd.
