Written by David Barrington   

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Blustery conditions and some tough opposition faced the Mens BAL team in our first-ever promotion at this level at Kingsmeadow. After a lesser performance at Derby in June left us narrowly above the ?drop zone?,the regulars fought long and hard and,with the return of Gareth Cook(2A HT 55.82),Kyle Stevens(1B SP 13.89) & Nick Surtees(2B JT 53.33pb),plus season?s debuts for Adam Page(3A TJ 13.41) & Felix Hatton(2A JT 57.83/3B DT 40.07) on the field,we slipped into 4th place on the day and remain 4th overall with just Abingdon to go on July 31st.

On the track,Jamie McCullagh again ran 3-time winner,Andy Fulford(Swindon),very close(2A 800 1.55.90);Victor Nwagbara & Emmanuel Olukoya,neither of whom have  missed a match over 3 years, buffeted their ways to valuable points in the sprints & there were bonus points over 1500 where Mark Reed & Paul Haywood battled hard.Epitomising the spirit,as always,Mark Roberts(5A PV 3.60) & Nic Owen(B PV 3.50) both posted season?s bests in tricky vaulting conditions in a competition that, thanks to the high winds,lasted the best part of 6 hours.Two battling relays performances(4x100 4th -Olukoya,James Heptonstall, Nwagbara,Draco Mkpa)&(4x400 2nd 3.25.02-McCullagh,Craig Price,Mkpa,Nwagbara) lifted us and gave us a real chance of staying in BAL for 2005.Scores-HHH 309,Crawley 308,Solent 290,K&P 272,Derby 266,Swindon 257,Norwich 254,Bolton 238 and overall HHH 23,Crawley 19,Solent 17,Norwich 15,K&P 11.5,Derby 10,Swindon 9,Bolton 3.5.