A Sevenoaks AC team met at Medway Park, Gillingham on the sunny evening of 21 June for the fourth session in the Southern Counties Veterans AC (Kent) league series. This was a new venue for all, on a track with a 10 lane 100m straight. In the sprints, we were missing Paul English, but Martin White compensated by taking third place in the 200m M35 sprint, our faster runner, in 27.4 seconds. Ron Denney valiantly contested the M50 race, albeit an M75; and Geoffrey Kitchener was well clear in the M60 competition, in 29.2 seconds.
The other main track event was for 1500m. Rob Peers ran with the M35s, breaking off from the high jump competition, and returning to it after his four laps, including a sprint finish. Despite that interruption, he achieved second place in the high jump, with 1.35m, as was also recorded for Geoffrey Kitchener in the M60s. Maurice Marchant was our other 1500m competitor, in the absence of Chris Desmond, who had been delayed en route to the stadium, and he picked up a time of 6 minutes 13.7 seconds in the M50 competition.
Maurice also took a fourth place in the M35 shot put, with David Simpson masquerading as an M50 in this event. David was our best javelin competitor, achieving third M60 place with 22.48 metres, which should be worth a place in the top dozen M70 performers in the UK this year, even though the M60 competition uses a heavier weighted implement than is prescribed for M70s.Martin and Ron added to our points with third and fourth positions in their respective javelin events.
The final event was the 4 x 400m relay, with a team of Martin, Rob, Maurice and Geoffrey. We managed to hold our own for a couple of laps, but thereafter lost contact and came home in fifth place. Overall, we came fourth at the meeting and comfortably hold the same position in the series for our division.
The results are here.
The next meeting will be at Ashford on Friday, 5 July. There will be 400m and 300m races, as well as pole vault, hammer and triple jump. We are assisting Bromley Vets in running the triple jump event, so anyone (including injured) who is able to help out with this (e.g. wielding the rake or holding the tape measure) will be very welcome. I shall be glad to hear from anyone who wishes to attend, whether as part of the team or as a helper or guest. A lift should be available if needed.
Geoffrey
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