Senior League Match 1 - Doncaster, 1st May 2010

Images and Press Report courtesy of Matt Hammond

Scunthorpe start battle to avoid relegation

This weekend saw Scunthorpe and District senior athletes start their campaign in the lofty heights of Division 2 of the Northern Athletics league. The team has achieved back to back promotions over the last 2 years and Division 2 will no doubt prove to be their version of the championships. Like Scunthorpe United Team, manager Gav MANN and his athletes will have the aim of avoiding relegation. With a very young team Gav knows that this will give his athletes time to mature and push for promotion in coming years.

 This first match saw the team make the short trip to Doncaster to compete against local rivals Doncaster and Hull as well as Lincoln , Rotherham and City of Sheffield. Unfortunately it was a somewhat depleted team that made the trip due to injuries, work and the fact the British university championships were been held the same weekend meant there were approximately  12 athletes missing from the team which related to the team been unable to fill 20 events during the day.

This was more of a problem in the women’s team and with so many athletes missing it was left to just 5 female athletes to try and cover as many events as they could. Mother and daughter team Rachel and Fiona Fisk tried their best to fill  as many of the events for the team as possible . Between them they managed to cover 12 events. Luckily Rachel’s favourite event the 800m was her first event and she was able to record her fastest time for several years before she started to tire later in the day. Fiona who is also a club coach showed her young squad back at the club the importance of  been a team player team when she put in performances covering sprint , hurdles , jumps and throws events. Not far behind was Shelly SPACEY who answered a last minute SOS by team manager to cover five events. Like Rachel she had the chance to record a good time in the 800m before starting a gruelling afternoon. Clare MORLEY who shot to prominence over the winter showed she can also produce the goods on the track when she won the 3000m then backed that up with 4^th in the 1500m, before been persuaded to run a leg in the sprint relay. The quartet was then backed up by Edel Meagher the clubs throws coach who picked up points in the throwing events.

The men also had to cover several events each but with more competitors than the women were able to cover nearly all the events. Even so team manager Gav MANN still had to put his spikes on to cover the B steeplechase and long jump, whilst assistant manager Gaz CROMPTON was even busier covering steeplechase , hurdles , triple jump and both relays. Mention should also go to 2 athletes making their debut in the league. First was young sprinter Tyler LEY who is only 15 but showed his great potential finishing 4^th in both the B 100m and 200m against senior athletes before running a good leg in the sprint relay. Then   Alberto Legedo who is a member of the road running section ran an excellent 5,000m unfortunately for him the weather had changed from the warm , windless conditions of the morning to a wet and windy afternoon or no doubt he would have been much quicker.

After the event Team manager Gav said ‘I would like thank all athletes and officials who turned out for our first match at Doncaster.  We were a bit short on numbers due to the unavailability of some athletes and the injuries of others’

He went onto to say’ a big ‘pat on the back’ to our ‘Fab 5’.  Yes!  5 women, Rachel and Fiona Fisk, Michelle Spacey, Edel Meagher and Clare Morley  managed to pick up 99 points between them.   This was an outstanding achievement!  

Gav then put out a rallying crying to his team ‘Under the circumstances, our 5th place was fantastic!  I know that with a full and fit team we can more than compete on this level.  The priority now is for us to fill the team sheets for the next 3 matches and earn enough points to confirm our rightful place in Division 2.’

The next match is on the 5^th of June at Costello stadium in HULL when Scunthorpe will hope to move up the league standings.