Midland League 2008

Newport Harriers Midland Athletics League

Midland League Division 4 - Match 1 Banbury, 3rd May

Newport Harriers Senior Men and Women

Solid start for Newport in new-look Midlands League

Newport Harriers embarked on this year’s track & field campaign at Banbury in the newly restructured Midlands League. Whilst in previous years the men and women competed in separate leagues, this year they have been combined into one league. Amongst other things this meant that we could not really predict the relative strengths of the other teams in our division – would we be contesting for promotion or involved in a relegation dogfight?

As it turned out Newport put on a solid display to finish fourth, and with a comfortable lead over the 5th and 6th clubs this suggests that Division 4 survival and consolidation is a reasonable target.

Senior Men – double 1st for Kivell

In the sprints junior athletes Manan Saleemi, Oliver Edwards and Kyle Mullins all had their first taste of senior athletics. It was a learning curve but they ended up with flying colours when they produced a rousing performance in the 4 x 100m relay to come 2nd, anchored by another junior Tom Kivell.

In the 800m Lee Richards debuted for Newport with a confident display of front-running, holding on for 2nd place. Another club debutant was Stuart Pearce who produced a YouTube moment in the 110m Hurdles when he knocked over each hurdle, suffered burn marks on his hands from the synthetic track, and was disqualified for tumbling out of his lane. Undaunted, Stuart followed this up with a Personal Best in the 1500m.

Tom Kivell was outstanding in the field, gaining 1st place in both the long jump and triple jump. The two busiest men in the team were Craig Russell and Keith Powell who between them covered eight individual events and a relay leg. Craig recorded PBs in the 400m Hurdles and hammer while Keith recorded a PB in the discus.

Senior Women – Badman, Boswell and Fletcher harvest the points

Kirsten Waring recorded Newport’s first track win of the day in the B 200m. This was followed up by A and B wins in the 400m for Bridget Eades and Bethany Cann who both produced storming runs. Our fourth track win of the day came courtesy of the 4 x 100m relay team, despite the worst even baton change between Kirsten and Lindsay Badman.

Making her club debut Lindsay Badman covered four individual events, as did Lisa Boswell and Sharon Fletcher to ensure a steady stream of points. Sharon is returning to track & field after some time out of the sport and with her range including throws, jumps, hurdles and middle-distance, her impact should be considerable. Meanwhile Sian Jordan produced some quality in the discus to gain 3rd place in the A string competition.

Officials score maximum points

Our unsung heroes are the Newport match officials who score for the team just as the athletes do. Last season we lost points at every match due to gaps in our officials quota, so it was pleasing to see a full turn-out at Banbury. Well done John Townsend (track), Chris Boswell (time-keeper), Ken Goodger, Hilary Goodger and Michele Williams (field).

Division 4 table after 1 match

Men's Results

Women's Results

.