Written by Mike May   

Veterans League 9 May Kingsmeadow

Women's Report

The SCVAL’s first meeting was at home on a rather damp evening , Monday 9th May. Nevertheless the women’s K&P team consisting of: Susanne Dietrich, Caroline Jeffcote, Nicki Murphy, Liz Richardson, Avelline Deighton, Camilla Thrush, Joan Trimble and yours truly were not discouraged.

The team Managed to cover most events except the pole vault, which Avelline was disappointed with, not being able to actually hold the pole due to a broken finger.  Actually most of the team seemed to be carrying some sort of injury such as sore Achilles, swollen knees, pulled and unhappy hamstrings, well I suppose that’s what comes with aging! Liz and yours truly were happy to complete the 1500m race both having completed marathons only a few weeks earlier.

The highlights of the evening were Susanne throwing the javelin and racing in the 400m both scheduled at the same time. Susanne won the javelin and possibly achieved a PB in the 400m! Camilla successfully multi-tasked by organising the cafe, while she popped out to throw the shot and javelin in which she finished first and second respectively.  Hats off to Joan who was side lined, due to injury, she offered to complete a leg in the 100m relay, to fulfil the criteria of competitor being in the O60 years category, so that we could score. Thanks to Joan we were able to score 6 extra points.

In this meeting out of seven teams we finished second to Epsom and Ewell Harriers. Well done team K&P.

Epsom & Ewell            141
K&P                                100
Croydon  Harries         77
Hercules Wimbledon 77

Men's Report

A great start to the season with a close win over Hercules Wimbledon and Epsom and Ewell, our best position in years.
K and P 150
HW 147
E&E 146

On the field, Gareth won the m35 hammer and m40 discus, new member Chris Smale the m50 hammer, Renzo di Libero the m50 discus, and David Barrington came 2nd in the m70 discus (also did m60 hammer), while in the jumps Mark Roberts won the m35 pole vault and m40 long jump.

On the track newcomer Matt Atkins won the m35 5000m, while Adam Bellis won the m35 400m, and Andy Robinson got 2nds at 1500 and 5000 in the M40 races. At the end Chuck Isetts lead off in the 4 X 100 relay before Adam Bellis and Andy Gordon propelled us into a 2nd place that Mike May held onto.

We also had Draco Mkpa (3rd m35 100, 3rd m40 400) Nick Woodhead, Mike Edwards, Ed Paxton, David Bell, David Greenfield (making his m60 debut at 1500), Rupert Bole, Frank Schubert and Rob Lowe. Cameron Barlow a new m40 member made a non scoring debut at 100m, running an encouraging 13.5.

Thanks to all our officials and organisers on a wet night
Mike May