Here is a report on the final meeting in the 2012 SCVAC track and field league series. I also attach the results.
The sixth and final league meeting for veteran athletes was held at Erith on 16 July.Rob Carr kindly acted as team manager in the absence of Geoffrey Kitchener.There was a good club response to the call for athletes, and our declaration sheet had every slot filled.
Unfortunately Geoff Vine pulled a hamstring about 120 metres into the 800m race and had to retire. This also prevented him from doing the long jump. Maurice Marchant also had hamstring problems but gallantly completed the 800m, shedding the years to run for the M50 category. He also jogged through the 100m to register a score for the club.
Paul English comfortably won the 100m in 12.6 sec, which took a large chunk out of the club’s M40 best performance timing.
Keith Dowson achieved fourth position in all his events: the 800m, 100m (B stream) and discus. Rob Carr scored in the 800m (B stream) and long jump.
David Simpson, stepping down to the M60 category, took second place in the long jump and also scored in the discus.
The final series event was the relay, run as a medley, in the order 400/200/200/800m. There were four teams competing in the Division 2 race. The 400m leg was very competitive with the first three crossing the line seconds apart. Paul, who had been in third place coming round the final bend, accelerated and gained another place, handing over to Rob.He held position for about 100m but was overtaken on the straight, passing the baton in third position to Maurice. Injury prevented Maurice from keeping up anything other than a fast jog, and the (then) fourth placed team (Invicta) had assigned to this leg a speedster, who rapidly overtook him.Our last leg was run by Keith who, giving away about 50m, had only a very outside chance of catching the Invicta runner. He kept pushing and closed the gap but had to settle for fourth place in the end.
For the entire meeting, we finished fourth on the night.This improved our final position in the series from sixth place to fifth.Again, it was a demonstration of our increased effectiveness when we are able to field a full team.Many thanks to all those who, in addition to the team manager, have competed over the series: Rob Carr, Ron Denney, Keith Dowson, Paul English, Maurice Marchant, David Simpson, Geoff Vine.