The final meeting of the over-35s SCVAC track and field league competition this year was held at Dartford on 29 July, writes Geoffrey Kitchener. We had no women's team this time and the men's team consisted of Duncan Cochrane, Zachary Ramsden and Geoffrey Kitchener.
All of us were present for the opening track event, the 100m sprint. Our fastest runner was Zachary, with a 14.3 second third place in the M50 category. Duncan and Geoffrey shrugged off the years to fill the two M35 events; the latter's 15.8 seconds looks to be worth equal 12th place in the M70 UK rankings and a club M70 best performance. After this, Zachary and Duncan sought to fit in some field events before the main race of the evening. Duncan threw 5.98m in the M60 shot and Zachary achieved third places in the M35 version of this event and in the M50 triple jump. After his second jump, the 3000m races intervened and both athletes were placed in the same race, Zachary as an M50 and Duncan as an M60. Seven and a half laps round the track are involved, and as Zachary came into the final straight, his finishing pace enabled him to lap his clubmate and secure second M50 position with 11 minutes 26.9 seconds. Duncan's third place in the M60s was still over three minutes ahead of the next following athlete in that category.
We had insufficient athletes for the relay, but as we had covered nine events between us, we felt satisfied with the evening's achievements. It was unsurprising that the club was placed fourth in the meeting's results for men, division 2, and the overall position for the series of our matches was similar, the club lying ahead of Bexley B in fifth and unplaced Swanley, who were unable to field a team for any of the meetings. The overall women's team position remained the same, at fourth. This was a relatively low-key league season, with four matches instead of the usual six, and with the volunteer organisation struggling at times to pick up after the covid-induced gap and changes in those organising. We are unlikely to achieve much higher placing without filling in more of the available events, and we only filled a majority of events in the third, Tonbridge, meeting. Nevertheless, whatever the placing may be does not detract from enjoyment by the participating athletes.
The Dartford results are here.
Here are a couple of photos from the evening. Maybe we could have a spot the ball competition with Duncan putting the shot!
Closing date for entry to the Kent masters championships (which is done as individuals, not via the club), most of which are held on 17/18 September, is 25 August, via Online Registration. I've yet to see a programme for this.
Best wishes,
