Midland League, Round 4 - Sun 2 August
Best performance of the season not good enough to avoid drop
Rugby & Northampton AC went into the final match of the season knowing that they needed to beat both Coventry & Birchfield to retain their place in this very competitive Division. In the event it proved to be a high quality fixture with several league records being broken and in spite of fielding their strongest team of the season and securing more individual victories than in an other fixture the team were narrowly pushed into 5th place in the day and 5th place overall in the league.
Highlight of the day were double victories in both the mens and womens Pole Vault, with Sarah Hardwick & Vicky Nealon (with a personal best) taking the ladies competion and Martin Vincent & Joao Viera in the mens event. Other winners were Luke Hyland in the men's hammer, Claire O'Reilly in the ladies Triple Jump and Sam Cullinane in the ladies Javelin together with the Ladies 4x100m team. There were also B string victories for Vicky Nealon in the 100m hurdles and Elissya Metaxas-Belt in the Shot.. The strong ladies squad also picked up a string of 2nd places with Sophie Wright (100m), Rachel Wallader (shot) and Elissya Belt (discus) plus Bstring 2nd places for Karen Oughton (100m), Cathryn Jones (Triple Jump & 400H) and Zoe Ash in the javelin.
The mens team found the going tough after being depleted by late withdrawals due to illness and had to fight for every position.. Andy Reeves picked up 2nd= in the High Jump whilst Ryan Cleaver ran a gutsy 400H to claim 2nd place and followed it by a personal best as in the Long Jump. Ian Gidley had his usual busy day claiming 2nd in the B string High Jump and 3rd in the Triple Jump and High hurdles, being denied a 2nd place in the hurdles by a controversial judging decision. The mens's 4x400 relay squad rounded off the day with 3rd place but it wasnt enough to gain that vital extra match points and the team slipped to 5th place on the day and 5th overall.
The result leavres the team in Divison 2 for next year, a good place for a yoiung team to rebuild, but if the team are to retain their former status a new generation of athletes will need to progress from the U17 & U20 ranks - but with success this season at both levels the prospects are good.
The day was also tinged with emotion as it marked the last senior competition for Cathryn Jones, a club member since she was a teenager, au revior and many thanks!
