Midland League 2008

Newport Harriers Midland Athletics League

Midland League Division 4 - Match 3 Leamington 5th July

Newport Harriers Senior Men and Women

Newport sink to bottom despite some fine individual performances

Newport dropped from 3rd place to last in Division 4 as we suffered fixture clashes with Welsh Schools Championships and UK Women’s League. We finished 6th and did well to finish as high as this. The women had no competitors in eight events. Three of the men’s team had to withdraw from their events through injury, our star sprinter Oliver Edwards ended up bloodied and bruised, and our 4 x 400m squad escaped disqualification only because the track judge was in a good mood.

The result of all this is that we are bottom of our division. We have the same league points as the two teams above us but drop below them by virtue of less total match points. The good news is that we know exactly what we have to do to avoid relegation and that is to finish ahead of Royal Sutton Coldfield and Leamington. As this is something we have already done this season then there is some room for optimism, so all athletes should now be on notice to cancel all summer holidays and be at Birmingham Rowheath on 4th August.

Senior Men – Emrys Penny revealed as our new secret weapon

Newport’s best track performance came from Emrys Penny in the 2000m steeplechase. Emrys is only 15 and was making his debut in the Midlands League but he astonished his opponents with some blistering front-running and fluent hurdling. Having destroyed the field, he inevitably tired at the end but hung on for a fine 2nd place. Malcolm Medhurst came 3rd in the B string to make this our best track event of the day.

Lemarl Freckleton, Ashley Price and Eddie Hiscocks were our other enthusiastic debutants and all acquitted themselves well. Lamarl ran close to his best in the sprits and then turned in an excellent performance in the High Jump. Ashley was also in sparkling form in the sprints and the relay showing immense commitment. Eddie was thrown in the deep end in the 5K, but stuck to his task well despite the adverse conditions. By contrast, stalwart Dave Proffitt picked off his opponents steadily in the 5000m for an excellent 4th in the B string.

Keith Powell and Geoff Miller both withdrew from the sprint hurdles through injury but still covered seven events between them. Remarkably Keith threw a season’s best in the javelin from a one-legged run-up. Rob Eales and Mark Boswell covered the heavy throws and their best performance came in the hammer with two 3rd places.

Senior Women – tireless effort from Badman and Ingleton

Lindsay Badman and Becky Ingleton demonstrated huge team commitment by stepping out of their comfort zones to cover as many events as they could. Becky sprinted to two 4th places plus an equal 3rd in the high jump while Lindsay’s best performances came in the 200m and the long jump. In the A string long jump Lauren O’Reilly recorded Newport’s only victory of the day, while Lisa Boswell and Sian Jordan picked up a steady flow of points in the throws.

Officials score maximum points once again

Collecting the free lunch tickets today were Chris Boswell (time-keeper), John Townsend (track) and the field team consisting of Gareth Jones, Hilary Goodger, Colin Bradley and Dave Proffitt. Special mention to Gareth for stepping in at the last moment as our required graded field official. Dave Proffitt particularly enjoyed the chocolate flapjack.

Match result

Men's Results

Women's Results

Division 4 table after 3 matches

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