LEAGUE SURVIVAL ON A KNIFE EDGE

Following the third match in Division 2 of the Northern Senior league Scunthorpe and District know they are on for a last match scrap in order to avoid relegation. The match was a very tight affair with less than 40 points covering 1^st to 5^th place. It is proving to be a topsy turvey league with Hull who won the second match finishing in last place this time and Rotherham who finished second to last winning the match.

It was always going to be a hard day when a depleted Scunthorpe team arrived at Rotherham to find a gale blowing into the faces of the runners down the home straight making fast times all but impossible. With this in mind Team Manager Gav MANN shuffled his squad looking at where the team could pick up the most points and Scunthorpe put in a team performance to cover every event other than the pole vault.

Despite the strong wind two new club records were set in the field.   First Edel MEAGHER broke the record in the Discus.

Edel who had been a junior Ireland international had initially joined the club as a coach but over the last year has started to train again herself alongside her coaching duties. Her increased fitness as seen her performances improve this year. After the event Edel claimed her distance as an over thirty personal best which brought the reply from a younger athlete ‘oh I didn’t know you could do that’ Hopefully Edel who threw over 40m for her under 30 best will keep pushing the record up.

The second record also came in the Throws with Joe GIBSON breaking the Shot Putt record closely watched by the previous record holder Matt HAMMOND who was also competing in the shot. Joe has made terrific progress this season having taken up the sport again after having 2 years out. After the event Matt said’ It is a funny feeling to watch somebody break your record after you have been coaching them to do so, hopefully I can get one or two of the other youngsters up to Joe’s standard then I can retire again’

The meeting also saw two Scunthorpe youngsters turn out for the club as a warm up for the following weekend English schools finals. Firstly Sophie CROFT ran two excellent times in the 100m and 200m considering the strong wind to finish second and first respectively. Hopefully a favourable wind at the championships will see her better her personal bests. The other athlete was Ashley WREN who has had a torrid time with injuries this season. His 6.31m saw a return to some form , but more encouraging was two 6.60m plus no jumps caused by the problems of judging  his run up in the strong wind. Ashley knows it will take those distances to get near the medals at the championships.   

Two ladies also deserve a mention for their outstanding efforts to try and preserve Scunthorpe’s league status. Rachael FISK has been an ever present in the team this year and has constantly done more than her fair share of events in order to win points. This time she competed in the 400m hurdles, 200m, 400m, 800m, 3000m and the relays. Rachael obviously couldn’t run all the races flat out so used her tactical experience to gain the most points she could in the races. Despite this she put in a brilliant run in the 400m when despite the very strong wind she broke 60 seconds for the first time for a number of years, even more remarkable when you consider she had already run the hurdles and 800m and then warmed up for the 400m by jogging round the 3000m to earn points in the B event! The other to receive a mention is Emma SIMPSON , who was making her first appearance for the club having drifted away from the sport after going to university, but showed her talent is still there even if she hasn’t put in the training. She competed in the 100m, 100mH, LJ, Shot, Javelin and the relay.

Unfortunately for Scunthorpe the efforts of all involved fell just short in the points race and the team finished in 4^th equal place leaving the team manager Gav MANN to dream of what could have been if he had been able to put a stronger team out.   After the event Gav said ‘Well done to all who competed it was a great effort by all.  We now have to finish 2 places above either Hull or Sheffield at the last match in order to avoid relegation, so I am appealing to all our athletes please support this match.

The final match sees Scunthorpe have home advantage at Quibell park on the 31^st July and with the home team winning the last two matches , Scunthorpe will be hoping that this is a good omen,

MATCH RESULT                                                            LEAGUE POSITIONE

1    ROTH            367.5                                                    1          LINC        14Pts

2    SHEFF          358.0                                                     2          ROTH      14

3    LINC              353.5                                                     3          KUHAC   10

4=  DONC            328.0                                                     4          SHEFF    10

4=  SCUN            328.0                                                      5          SCUN      8.5

6    KUHAC          278.0                                                      6         DONC      6.50