Veteran's Track and Field League 2008

It's been a far from the usual trip to the top of the league for both the men's and women's Lion teams this year and it is not over yet, others are waiting for another slight slip that may cost the Kings and Queens of their Division their crowns for this season.

Performances from both teams have on the odd occasion this season been near disasters by their high standards and I expect that even their opposition didn't expect to see some of the results that went their way.
Mansfield, May 7th.
The first meeting was at Mansfield back in May. Due to this power house fielding two men's and women's teams and with one eye always on rest of the season, on many occasions not always was the best teams fielded. Because of how the league is run, which at times seems to be with an emphasis on trying to keep one of the best track and field veteran teams in the country from running total rout meeting after meeting, the true dominance is not always obvious.

Both the male Lions and the Saints certainly had a tough time of it in Mansfield. Only one track and one field event returned maximum points for the men, which in its self has probably never happened before.
These wins came from Gordon Houghton in the M60 100m and Ian Gidley in the M35 high jump.

Although both the women's teams were still not up to full strength, they did in fact still have the meeting pretty much their own way. Between them they recorded 9 wins on the track, 7 for the Lions and 2 for the Saints out of the 12 track events on the night. They also recorded 4 track 2nd places just to hammer home their dominance of the tartan. Out of the 4 field events the ladies recorded 3 wins between them, 2 for the Lions and 1 for the Saints.
On the night the Male Lions were 3rd and the Saints 8th. The ladies fared much better seeing the Lions easy winners by over 30 points with their sisters being pushed into 3rd place by only a handful of points.

Nuneaton, June 11th.
For the men, things didn't get any better, if anything the luck was getting worse. Although the lions managed to score another 9 points more than they did at the open fixture at Mansfield, they still had to settle for third place on the night and the Saints, again were 8th. With a first time out athlete getting a tough disqualification against him and a couple more getting injured during their events, the four wins and three 2nds, that were clocked up by the Lions did not have the full in pact on the final result that they had hoped for. Allan Greaves and Gordon Houghton both crossed the line first in the M50 and M60 200 respectively. Vince Carroll did a neat job by taking a comfortable win in the M35 3000m. The M40 javelin once again left the whip-like arm of Kevin Murch for the almost mandatory win for the club and the 8 points that comes with it.

If the spectators were hoping to see something a little different in the ladies competition at this meeting, they were not to be disappointed. Not only were there some very good wins by both our ladies teams but there were also a lot of unfilled places due to holidays and unavailability. These reasons hampered the Lions but not so much the Saints. The Lions recorded six wins and two 2nds but still could not go any higher on the evening score board than joint 3rd place due to the fact that there were 5 events in which they could not field athletes. The Saints rolled up the exact same amount of wins and seconds but were able to fill all their events except one. The out come of all this was that the Saints were very worthy winners on the night and did what very few other clubs manage and beat the lady lions and win the meeting over all.
For the Saints wins came from. Angela Copson, Tricia Garner, Val Cross, Chris Hawker and 2 from Chris Cox. The lions registered wins from Juliet Crossin, Michelle Leach, Tracy Webb and 2 from
Lesley Willis.
After 2 meetings the standings were.
Lions, Male joint leader by points average with 2 other clubs and the women 3rd overall.
Saints, Male were 8th overall while the women were in 2nd place due to an inferior points average.

Rugby, July 9th.
Rugby and Northampton AC would need to hit top form if they wanted to stay in with a chance of making it to the "A" Cup Final in September and hanging onto the TV trophy for the third consecutive year, something that no other club has ever achieved. The weather for the home fixture promised rain followed by more rain, no one was left in any doubt that that was what the towns most successful team received.

Over the last couple of years the club has been able to reintroduce several members that used to compete for the colours in their younger days. This season the men have had 5 or 6 virgin veterans step onto the track and the women have pretty much matched those numbers also. Where most clubs seem to have stagnated, R and N AC have seen a resurgence of talent.
The first events of the night were the 100m races and the club could not have got off to a better start. The Lions sprint trio took the opening events by the scuff of the neck, Graham Langham, who made his first appearance in the last meeting, for the blue and back strip flashed over the line for a win in the M35. Patrick Jacobs repeat that feat in the M40 100 and a very useful 5pts was gained by one of the club's over sixty sprint stars Gordon Houghton in the M50 100m.
The women were not to be over shadowed and in fact were never headed in either the 100s or the 400s. Juliet Crossin and Tracy Webb, both managed to achieve the double win in the "A" and "B" 100 and 400 races. With Sally Hine winning the W50 100 by the merest 0.1s and Lesley Willis cruising to a six second win in the W45 400 the die was pretty much cast. Langham notched up his first double win for the club in the M35 400m. Allan Greaves weighed in with a solid 5pts from the M40 400 and Houghton gained revenge in his M60 400 by leaving the second placed man in his wake.

From a possible 96pts from the first 12 events Rugby and Northampton athletes only dropped 6 pts. It would seem that it wasn't a case of would they win, more a case of how many points would other teams accrue.

Willis just had time to change her number before she was off again in the W35 2k walk and a 4 pt reward for her efforts was gratefully acknowledge by her team mates. Sally Hine was yet another athlete to gain a double victory with a first in the W50 walk.

Steve Harris and Keith Richards did well in gaining 3rd and 5th places in the walks where they were both competing again athlete up to 20 yrs younger than them. One of the reasons for the clubs success is because of this camaraderie and team spirit that many other clubs sometimes lack.

A 4th in the M35, a 1st M40 and a 2nd place in the M50 1500 races were gained via Vince Carroll, Brendon Moen and Terry Akiens respectively. The women managed to steal 1 more point then the men in their series of 1500s. New girl on the block, Sally Baker opened up her account on the track with a clean cut win in the W35A 1500. Jo Love W35B and Linda Carter W50 both secured big points for their team with 3rd and 2nd in their outings. With both the Lions men and the Lions women fielding strong teams in the medley relays, their wins were almost just a formality. The men's line up was Greaves and Moen covering the 200m legs, Langham for the 400 and another of this seasons new boys, Paul Birch who lead home the team for first place after covering his 800m leg.
The 200m stages for the women were handled by Willis and Crossin with Webb and Baker being the clubs choice for the 400 and 800 stages. Their win took the Lions women to 89pts from the track alone, bettering their nearest rivals by 14pts. Although the Male Lions could not match this tally, a mere 80pts they did manage to gain a 17pt buffer over their closest adversary.

Both Lion teams again manage to hammer their nearest challenger in the field events ensuring that they both took the precious 8 match points that will take them one step nearer to their season's goal.
Debbie Murch took the victors points in the W35 Discus but had to concede the win by the narrowest margin of 2cm in the W35 hammer. Sally Hine took 4th in the W50 Hammer but bounced back for superb win in the W50 triple jump. Willis rounded off another very good night for both herself and the club by winning the W45 long jump.
Kevin Murch was busying himself by covering 3 field events and grabbing 18 pts in the process. Thanks to a 2nd in the M35 discus, 3rd in the M40 long jump and a 4th in the M40 high jump. The only other male lion to contain all his efforts in the field was Dave Cowley, Dave's 3 events yielded 1 win and 2 second places. These came in the M60 high jump, the M50 shot and the M60 discus respectively.

Sparkling performances for the male Saints came from the vet's skipper Mark Barrowclough in the M35 walk, where he strode out for 2nd place and Adrian White in the M40 1500, where he was also only headed by one other competitor.
A whole bunch of good performance was had by the women's Saints. Angela Copson won the W50 1500.
Chris Cox nabbed 2nd in the W50 hammer and the popcorn Queen, Tricia Garner also took a 2nd but this time in the W35A walk. A whole string of 3rd was gained thanks to, Kate Williams (2), Chris Hawker, Chris Cox, and new girl in the cage, Jayne Scales. The ladies Saints also managed 3rd in the relay.

Individual performances.
Male Lions,
100s M35 Langham 1st 12.4, M40 Jacobs 1st 12.0, M50 Houghton 4th 14.3
400s M35 Langham 1st 54.1, M40 Greaves 4th 63.0, M60 Houghton 1st 72.4
2k Walk M35 Harris 3rd no time, M40 Richards5th no time.
1500s M35 Carroll 4th 4:42.1, M40 Moen 1st 4:50.5, M50 Akiens 2nd 5:05.3
Medley Relay 1st 4:05.6
Murch M40 High jump 1.35 4th, M35 Discus 2nd 29.19, M40 Long jump 3rd 4.43
Cowley M60 Discus 2nd 27.82, M50 Shot 2nd 8.48, M60 High jump 1st 1.40

Women's Lions
100s W35A Crossin 1st 14.3, W35B Webb 1st 14.2, W50 Hine 1st 16.8
400s W35A Webb 1st 65.0, W35B Crossin 1st 72.9, W45 Willis 1st 68.5
2k Walk W35A Willis 5th no time, W35B Hine 1st no time
1500s W35A Baker 1st 5:19.6, W35B Love 3rd 6:06.6, W50 Carter 2nd 6:09.4
Medley Relay 1st 4:56.4

Debbie Murch W35 Hammer 2nd 21.36, W35 Discus 1st 22.42.
Hine W50 Hammer 4th 16.17, W50 Triple jump 1st 6.69
Willis W45 Long jump 1st 4.17

Male Saints
100s M35 Andi Downes 7th 17.0, M40 Frank Blackwell 7th 15.6, M50 Dave Bunker 6th 15.0
400s M35 Paul Crocker 5th 60.7, M40 Mark Barrowclough 8th 68.3, M60 Paddy Lynch 4th 76.3.
2k Walk M35 Barrowclough 2nd 11:.02.0, M40 Bunker 7th no time.
1500s M35 Nigel Roberts 5th 4:48.9, M40 Adrian White 2nd 4:55.6, M50 Bunker 6th 6:24.2
Medley Relay 7th 4:35.4

Blackwell M40 High jump 1.30 = 6th, M35 Discus 5th 21.21,
Barrowclough M40 Long jump 8th 3.77
John Love M60 Discus 5th 21.58, M50 Shot 4th 6.68,
Lynch M60 High jump =5th 1.10


Women's Saints
100s W35A Tricia Garner 5th 17.2, W35B Kate Williams 3rd 16.7, W50 Angela Copson 6th 17.5.
400s W35A Chris Hawker 3rd 71.9, W35B Williams 3rd 73.6, W45 Garner 4th 84.3
2k Walk W35A Garner 2nd no time,
1500s W35A Williams 6th 6:46.8, W50 Copson 1st 5:31.4
Medley Relay 1st 5:13.4

Jayne Scales W35 Hammer 5th 16.10, W35 Discus 3rd 18.31.
Chris Cox W50 Hammer 2nd 19.06, W50 Triple jump 3rd 6.00, W45 Long jump 6th 3.13.

The male Lions won with 120pts, runners up were Tamworth with 82pts, male Saints 8th with 63pts.
Women's Lions won with 125pts, Runners up were Harborough with 95pts, Saints were 3rd with 80pts.
Over all Positions.
Male Lions 1st with 20 league pts with Tamworth 2nd on 19pts, Nuneaton 3rd on 18pts and Saints 8th on 4pts.
Women's Lions 1st with 21.5pts, Harborough 2nd on 21pts with the Saints 3rd with 20pts.

Angela Copson.
A pleasant surprise was in store for Rugby and Northampton ACs relative new comer, Angela Copson. A recent member Angela may be, but she has certainly made her impact. Since she started running and joined the club she has broken not only British records for her age group (nine minutes off the W60 time in this years London marathon) but she has also lowered a world best time in the British masters 5K road race championships. On June 8, she ran a 1500m in 5:28.7 for a British record, the same day she ran 5000m in 20:06.7 (not a record but the second fastest), both races being held at Solihull. At Harborough on June 17 Angela clocked 32:18 over 5 miles, which looks to be a world best. And last December she ran a half marathon 88:56 at Norwich for another British best.
Her teams mates managed to corner her for a couple of minutes in between her W50 1500 race and her 800m leg of the medley relay in which to present her with a bouquet of flowers.