Northern Inter Club Championships

Cleckheaton - 24 June 2001 - Report

See results from this fixture here.

Last Sunday saw both Lincoln Wellington men and ladies in action in the North of England Inter Club knock out competition at Cleckheaton, near Leeds. In this competition, the North’s premier athletics clubs competed for places in the final to be held later in August. Wellington athletes faced good quality opposition and the men in particular performed exceptionally well finishing in second place overall, not far behind National League team Sheffield AC at the end of the day. This means that for the first time in the club’s history, the men have qualified for the final.

Outstanding wins came from Ricky Lea who comfortably won both the 100 metres in 11.1 secs and the 200 metres in 22.8 secs. In the 1500m Matt Bowser kept his cool over the last 400m when passed on the final bend by another athlete, coming back strongly in the home straight to win in 3 mins 58.0 secs. Simon Bell dominated the 5000m finishing well clear of the field in 15 mins 49.9 secs. Daniel Hewitt came second in the 400m Hurdles, running smoothly over the barriers to record 60.6 secs. 16 year old Jason Hall finished an outstanding runner up in the 3000 metre steeplechase. This was only his second ever 3000 metre steeplechase against senior opposition and he knocked a huge 10 seconds off his personal best with 10 mins 20.8 secs.

Carl Longley who has recently struck a rich vein of form in the discus threw a fine 38.75m finishing second and also scored useful points in the Javelin finishing 4th with 40.30m. Nigel Winchcombe was second in the hammer with a useful 52.19m and put the shot 11.77m for 4th place. Adey White equalled his personal best in the pole vault with 3.30m in second place and had good attempts at 3.40m. In the 110 metre hurdles he came 4th in a new personal best of 21.0 secs.

Sprinter Steve Blagdon, more used to running 100 and 200 metres, had a rare outing over 400 metres. He showed great strength in the last 100 metres finishing 3rd in a swift 52.6 secs. He also ran strongly in both relays. Club stalwart Dean Houlton had the tough prospect of running 10000 metres in hot weather, but coped very well, finishing in 3rd place in a personal best 34 minutes 53.6 secs. Tom Doe finished 4th in a closely contested 800 metres, recording 1 minute 58.2 secs. Further useful points were gained in the high jump by Luke Lovell and in the long and triple jump by Steve Swaby.

The final points score in the men’s match was 1) Sheffield 139, 2) Lincoln Wellington 123, 3) Wakefield 97, 4) Spenborough 91, 5) Rotherham 82, 6) Derby 75, 7) Kingston Upon Hull 71.

The ladies fielded a depleted team and in some events, were not represented. However, there were some fine individual results. 15 year old Rachael Nathan front ran a scintillating 4 minutes 31.2 secs for 1500m finishing around 200 metres clear of the bewildered opposition! In the 400 metres, Rowena Harrison was just outside her personal best coming second in 59.0 secs.

Annette Bell was also second in the 3000 metres with 10 minutes 39.4 secs. Liz Ward was close to her personal bests over both 100 metres, coming 5th in 13.1 secs and was also 5th in the 200 metres recording 26.7 secs. Hayley Fox equalled her personal best in the pole vault with 2.10m for 6th place and was 5th in the shot put with a new personal best of 6.38m.

Young Nicky Dale gained useful experience against senior opposition in the javelin coming 5th in 23.52m and long jumped 3.66m for 7th place. Club coach Linda Ellis helped score points for the club in the hammer in 6th place and was rewarded with a personal best and veterans club record of 12.20m.

The final points score in the ladies match was 1) Wakefield 134.5, 2) Kingston Upon Hull 111, 3) Rotherham 105.5, 4) Spenborough 97, 5) Bingley 87, 6) Lincoln Wellington 69, 7) Cleethorpes 42.

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