HANNAH AND HOLY ENJOY SUCCESSFUL START TO ATHLETIC CAREER a report by Matt Hammond

Saturday 19^th September saw the 4^th and final track league of 2009 been held at Quibell park Scunthorpe. The league is designed for clubs to give both inexperienced and new athletes a chance to compete in a number of different events.

With this in mind Scunthorpe saw 2 new members start their career in Scunthorpe colours. Hannah DUNKERLY and Holly SERGENT have both joined the middle distance training group at Scunthorpe under the watchful eye of club coach Fiona FISK. The league saw both of them have the opportunity to race their coach in a mixed age group 800m race and both managed to beat her. Holly managed 2.47 mins to Hannah’s 2.49 with Fiona coming in not far behind in 2.54.

Afterwards Fiona said ‘It was good both girls got the first chance to compete in a familiar environment and It was a great performance by both girls. It shows that the training I am doing with them is going well’

Both girls then had the chance to experiment at different events Hannah competed in the 300m coming second then had a go at the Long jump an event she had only ever had a go at in a schools sports day and achieved a personal best when finishing 7^th. Holly contested the 200m and managed 3^rd place in an excellent time 31.4 sec.

The day also saw the clubs under 11 girls come out in force to contest a track and field triathlon consisting of a 100m, long jump and throwing the cricket ball. All the girls train in a large group run by Gary and Debbie SPINDLEY who featured as coach of the month earlier in the year. This is a very talented young group as the girls Emily STRICKLAND, Brittany MANN, Lauren HALL, Danielle TAYLOR and Laura CROW proved so with the girls all the girls finishing in the top 9 positions. Pride of place went to Emily STRICKLAND who finished in third place after recording the 2^nd fastest 100m time and reaching 3 metres exactly in the long jump. Another note able performance was Lauren HALL who had the furthest throw of the day in the cricket ball, Perhaps a javelin star of the future.

Other outstanding performances on the day were Alex MERRILS who is also a relatively new member of the club he won the under 15 boys 400m , long jump and finished 4^th in the triple jump. Kate PATTISON who continued her dominance of the under 13 girls throws winning the shot and Javelin before finishing in a very creditable 7^th place in the 800m in a new personal best. Also Dominic GREEN who won the under 17 100m in a very quick 11.7 seconds , Dom has been an active training member of the highly successful sprints group but rarely competes , perhaps this outstanding time will see him compete more regularly next season.