Team work ensures survival for Scunthorpe Athletes

Unlike last year when Scunthorpe and District Athletes went into the final match knowing they had to finish in the first two to avoid relegation ,which they did with a storming victory on home soil. This year the task seemed somewhat easier with the knowledge that by not finishing last they would secure their position in Division two of  Northern Senior league for a third year running.

However what may have seemed a simple task on paper having finished third and second in the last two matches was to prove anything but easy. First the joint team managers of Gave MANN and Brian WEAVER were faced with the longest trip of the campaign with a journey down to Derby, then they had the added complication of the final match been moved from its normal spot of the last weekend in July to the middle of August putting the fixture right in the middle of holiday season. With Scunthorpe been a family oriented club it meant they lost several families meaning the managers struggled to muster a squad of 21 athletes as against the usual 30. When you add the fact that 14 of those athletes were 18 or under it was starting to become anything but certain.

However it was to be team spirit and all hands to the pumps which was to see the club through to safety. This was shown in the very first event when club Physio Steve Borrill and steeplechaser Josh REID both volunteered for the first event the hammer, despite having never done it before. It was Josh who threw 50cm further to earn bragging rights. Steve then went on to show the younger competitors he still has the natural talent he showed as a younger competitor competing in the 400m hurdles, 110m hurdles, high jump and the 4x400m.

 In these circumstances it is always useful to have a multi eventer in your squad and Dan HARMES filled that profile with the decathlete competing in 5 individual events and both the 4x100m and 4X400m relays in what was to be a tiring afternoon. He was supported by younger brother Andrew HARMES who set a new personal best in the Javelin. The family connections continued with cousins Elliott STONES and Lewis STONES filling the two spots in the 800m and 1500m. For Lewis it was the next step on his comeback from injury and his time in the 1500m showed he is starting to get back to his old form.

Next the club called on two of its sets of twins with Alice Kaye ,Laura KAYE and Lindsey SKINNER , Nichola CURTIS covering 10 events between them which included a victory for Nichola in the 1500m and Alice running her second fastest time of the year in the 400m despite the windy conditions.

The club coaches also did their part with Throws coach Edel MEAGHER  covering all 4 throws events including a rare outing in the Javelin, whilst middle distance coach  Fiona FISK covered the 200m 400m and 400m Hurdles setting season bests in all 3 showing her training methods work for the coach as well as the athlete.

The performance of the day came from Roseanne McKAY who covered the Long Jump , 100m and Javelin before getting the chance to contest her favoured event the Triple Jump,  the warm up was obviously beneficial as she jumped 11.09m to set a new Club record  adding 7 cm’s to her best from last year.

As the afternoon went on it became obvious that the small squad of Scunthorpe athletes had been able to do enough as although they were to finish 5^th on the day it was enough to earn them 4^th place over the 4 matches and secured survival with the bottom 2 of Barnsley and Rotherham facing relegation.

After the match team manager Gav MANN praised his team ‘ It was an excellent team performance with everybody been prepared to cover events and ensure we stayed up’ He went onto say ‘ I hope to compete more myself next year so I am going to hand over the reins fully to joint manager Brian WEAVER, who I am sure will build on our recent success’

League standings

1. Hull               24 points

2. Wakefield     17

3..Derby           14

4. Scunthorpe   13

5. Rotherham    11

6. Barnsley         5

14/08/11 Northern senior league 4 –DERBY

Under 17 men

Elliott STONES            800m-4A/2.02.7     1500m-3A/4.22.0

Andrew HARMES        400mH-4B-74.6        Jav-6A/17.43m          HJ-3B/1.45m

Tom ANDREWS           TJ-2B/11.17m    

Tom BRIGGS               LJ-3B/5.38m         TJ-2A/11.73m

Callum SMITH              100m-4B/12.7       400m-5A/61.8

Under 20 Men

JOSH REID              400m-5B/64.5        3000ms/c-3B/12.27.2      HAM-6A/8.23m

Dom GREEN           100m-6A/12.0         200m-5A/23.8                 SP-5B/8.53m

Lewis STONES        800m-4B/2.19.2     1500m-3B/4.36.6

Arlan WILLIAMS       3000ms/c-5A/12.57.3

Ben MANDERSON   5000m-6B/19.58.4

Jake OXBY               5000m-6A/17.29.0    Discus-5B/16.23m

Senior Men

Daniel HARMES      200m-2B/23.4   LJ-3A/5.84m SP-5A/8.84m   Discus-5A/21.70m   110mH-3A/19.6

• Steve BORRILL       400mH-3A/66.1  110mH-5B/22.7     HAM-5B/7.86m    HJ-5A/1.50m

4X100m   Dan HARMES, Tom ANDREWS, Dom GREEN , Callum SMITH              6^th/46.5

4X400m  ,Arlan WILLIAMS, Steve BORRILL, Josh REID, Dan HARMES                 5^th/3.50.2

Under 17 Women

Elicia BONES             Discus-4B/22.45m    SP-4B/8.25m     HAM-5B/9.56m

Under 20 Women

Alice KAYE                100m-4A/13.0        200m-2A/25.9         400m-2A/58.2

Laura KAYE               800m-5A/2.39.3        3000m-5B/12.14.7       

Senior Women

Lindsay SKINNER    3000m-2A/10.45.9    1500m-2B/5.16.3

Nichola CURTIS        1500m-1A/4.52.0    

Edel MEAGHER        HAM-5A/28.96m     Discus-3A/34.69m    SP-2A/10.57m      JAV-5A/23.58m

Roseanne McKAY     LJ-4A/5.06m        TJ-2A/11.09m    100m-4B/14.1    JAV-6B/13.37m     

Vet Women

Fiona FISK               400mH-5A/92.2      200m-6B/32.7     400m-6B/73.4

4x100m 1 Alice KAYE 2 Fiona Fisk 3 Rosie McKAY  4 Edel MEAGHER                  5^th-57.4

4x400m 1 Alice KAYE 2 Nichola CURTIS 3 Rosie McKAY 4 laura KAYE                 6th-4.41.7