Midland Masters Cup Final
Lions maul all-comers to retain the Central TV Trophy
With the Promise of pulling off a hat trick of wins in the TV trophy at the cup final, Rugby and Northampton A.C veterans were hoping to create a little bit of history by being the first club to have ever achieved this. All the preparation and hard work by the athletes had been done during the season and now the final test was at hand.
Both the ladies teams made the “A” final just as they did last year and the men’s teams made the “A” and “B” like wise. The ladies Lion’s squad have spent the last 2 or 3 seasons stomping on most of their opponents at will, and that includes their sister’s team, the ladies Saints. If either of these teams had of been in a different Div, both squads would have been champions but as it is the Saints usually have to be content with playing second fiddle.
The cup final saw for the first time this season points being awarded from 9pts for the win down to 1pt for 9th place, this was due to the finals having nine teams instead of the usual eight. The male Lion team was missing a couple of key members but apart from that, they looked fairly solid. The field events were the first to kick off and the M40 hammer at 10.30am was the first event. John Moreland celebrated his return to veteran’s athletics by bagging 7pts for 3rd place. Kev Murch covered the M35 slot in the pole vault and Dave Cowley was the first choice for the M50 competition. Kev’s 2.40 vault took the 4th slot whereas Dave’s 2.40 registered the first win for the lions. In almost half of the field events the male saints had no competitor, and this was to prove very costly by the finish of the day.
The first track events were the 800s and the W35 was the race in which Rugby and Northampton would give their opponents a taste of what to expect over the next few hours. Michelle Leach took off as if the devil was on her heels, but no one got any where near her heels and this proved to be one of the strongest performance of the day for the club. Michelle’s winning time was 2m 26.7s, Kate Williams took 3pts in 3m 07s. W50 800 was the next to start and this time it was Angela Copson wearing Saint’s numbers that crossed the line first with Sally Hines working hard for 5th in the lion’s vest. The ladies clocked 2m43.2s and 3m25.7 respectively. Due to injury the male lions and the saints could not field athletes in the M35 800 and all hoped this would not prove to be too costly at the out come. The M40 and M50 was a different story though. For many of the athletes from the club, this was the first time they had competed at the Alexander stadium, widely known as the home of midlands athletics. Brendon Moen’s 2m25.0s was rewarded with 5pts in the “A” M40 race. Terry Akiens’s first outing for 14 or 15 years at the Alexander stadium produced his victory on the track and the first track win for the lions, his waving as he ran the finishing straight showed his pleasure and with an 8 second buffer he could afford to do it. Terry clocked 2m25.1s as he crossed the line. Adrian White and Bryan Acford were the selected athletes for the M40 and M50 saints. Adrian’s time of 2m27.5s deserved more pts than the 6 that he gained but I’m sure he was very happy with both achievements. Bryan Acford didn’t get what he’d hoped for in the M50 800, but with recent knee surgery his 3pts and 2m51.2s was a realistic goal.
Kev Murch made his second appearance of the cup final with 1.40m high jump and 6th place while Ian Gidley made his only appearance in the M35 long jump before bowing out of competition until next season. Ian’s long jump event proved to be well worth the journey for the club as he leapt out to 5.50m and the winning 9pts.
Over in the women’s field competition the lions were running wild. From the 12 field disciplines only 3 failed to return the victors spoils for the club and of those failures were two 2nd places and the other was a 3rd place. Tracy Webb made the W35 long jump her own with a leap of 4.54. Debbie Murch wacked out a super throw in the W45 hammer to win by almost 6mts with a 24.67. The diminutive Sally Hine’s 1.10m high jump was good enough to take the lion’s share of the pts in the W50 event.
Debbie’s return to the throwing cage proved just as fruitful as her earlier visit when she skimmed out a winning W35 discus throw when she won with 22.61m. Jayne Scales threw 15.35 and 6th for the saints in the same competition. Sally Hine copied Debbie’s achievement by winning the W50 discus with 13.96m.
Over on the track the ladies were grabbing a lot of super pts to add to their rapidly building tally.
Juliet Crossin took the win for the lions in the W35 100m at the expense of last yrs team mate in the saints, Chris Hawker. Juliet zipped over the line in 13.9 as Chris closely followed with 14.5 for 2nd place. Team mates watched Lesley Willis and Tricia Garner toe the line for the lions and saints in the W45 100m race. Lesley clocked 14.3s as did the Birchfield athlete but on this occasion although the stop watch could not separate them the judges deemed they could. Lesley was awarded 2nd and Tricia took the 4pts for the saints with 17.3.
Massive pts were gained by the male lions counter parts Ces Moven and Gordon Houghton in the M40 and M60 100s. Ces ran home by the tiniest time of 0.1s with 12.3 and Gordon clocked 14.2 for his 8 pts. Alan Hull and John Evans lined up for the saints in the M40 and M60 events, Alan posted a 14.3 while John clocked 16.5 in his race handicapping himself by up to 13yrs with some of the athletes in his race. John took 4pts while Alan took 3pts back to their captain. The 3000m races were the next set to take to the tartan, with the W35 and W50 being the first races. Both Sally Baker and Linda Carter worked hard for the lions and took major pts for their side with a 2nd and 3rd place. Sally clocked a very useful 10m46.8s while Linda’s time of 12m29.2s got her her well deserved 7pts. The saints selected athletes were Barbara Parkinson in the W35 and Angela Copson in the W50 3000s. Angela yet again proved to be one of the trump cards played by the saints, by winning the W50 race with 11m28.0s while Barbara took 3pts in the W35 outing with 13m53.9s.
The men’s series saw the partnership of Brendan Moen and Terry Akiens doing their second trip out of three together. After a cagey start Brendan worked his way through the field to eventually finish 3rd for the lions with a clocked time of 9m57.3s. Terry struggled in his M50 race and slid from his early lead down to his final position of 4th and clocked a disappointing 11m27.2s. Brian Summers was the saints M40 3000m runner and ran a determined race but he to miss judged the pace a little and slipped back to eventually finish 6th in a time of 10m 16.3s.
While the male track athletes were doing their utmost for the club, the women’s lions continued to stamp their dominance over the field competitions. One W45 one W35 and a W50 event took place, first Lesley Willis proved to much for her opposition by winning the long jump with 4.25, Tracy Webb’s 1.25 high jump effort proved good enough for maximum points while Sally Hine lobbed out a 5.89 shot put to make 2nd place, making it 7 wins for the lady lions and 1 win between the rest of the teams. Tricia Garner and Val Cross were the selected athletes for the saints in the W45 long jump and W50 shot, Tricia gained 4 points with 2.58 and Val 6poins with 4.87.
Kev Murch was out again for his 3rd event of the day in the M35 Shot, Kev plonked out to 8.90 for 5 points while John Moreland’s second outing got him 2nd place with 35.55 in the M40 discus.
On the track it was the turn of the relays and the first event was the women’s 4 x 100 where at least 1 competitor per team had to be W45. The lady lions yet again zipped around the tartan track to cross the finish line first in a time of 56.3 and take another win. The saints ran a good performance to gain 6pts and 4th place in 64.9. The male lions which had to contain at least 1 M50 athlete were not to be out done by their female counter parts and a nifty 49.0 ensured them the victory and the 9 pts that accompanied it.
On the field the event now taking place were the W35 shots. Debbie Much pushed out a pretty good put of 8.06 to make it 3 consecutive wins for the team, while Jayne Scales made the 5.70mark for 5pts for the saints. A series of jumps were the next events and the first to go were the M50 high jumpers and the M40 triple jumpers. Dave Cowley was the first choice for both these event for the lions. A 1.40 and 8.91 rewarded Dave with 7pts and 5pts in these disciplines, Dave Bunker’s 1.10 gave him 3pts in his M50 high jump wearing the saint’s number.
A whole pile of events were now stacking up on the track starting with the 400s and it was imperative that the male lions kept as close as they could to their mighty rivals Worcester if the lions were to hold on to the TV trophy once again. With no cover in the M35 800 Worcester had managed to forge 10pts ahead at this stage in the track competition. Graham Langham has proved to be one of the major finds of the season for the lions a 56.5 and 2nd place in the M40 400 kept the damage to minimum for his team. Team mate Gordon Houghton did a good job in the M60 400 by taking 7pts for 3rd place in 70.2. Manager Mark Barrowclough and Paddy Lynch were the saint’s choice for the 400s, Mark clocked 68.4 for 4pts and thorough bred Paddy galloped around for 3rd in a time of 75.7.
In the women’s 400s the Lions kept up the relentless pressure with wins that were almost merciless over their rivals. Tracy Webb won by over 2.5s in the W35 race with 62.4 while Lesley Willis’s winning time of 67.5 in the W45 race bludgeoned their opponents even further. Christine Hawker and Angela Copson took the track for the saints, both gained 4th with 69.8 and 75.2 respectively.
Dave Cowley was back out again for two more M60 events, first came the Discus followed by the Long jump. Dave gained another 14pts for the lions with two third places with 28.00 in the discus and 4.18m in the jump. John Evens covered both these events for the saints and did well to take 4pts for 6th with 19.67m in the throw and 6pts with 3.37m in the jump.
On the track the 1500s had got under way with the women being the first to go. The Lions selected athletes were Jo Love for the W35 and Linda Carter in the W45. This time the lions had to work harder for their spoils but two gutsy performances rewarded the lions with a 5th and a 3rd place with 6m06s and 5m58.7s. Kate Williams for the Saints tracked Jo in the W35 and was edged out into 6th with 6m07.7s while Barbara Parkinson’s effort got her 5 pts with 6m32.4s.
Vince Carroll toughed it out in his race after short lay off due to a back injury, his gritty performance rewarded him with 5pts and 4m58.6s in the M35 1500. New kid on the block was John Heyward in the M60 race. John was originally ear marked for last season but following a serious car crash that side lined him for 9 months, this was John’s first opportunity to show something of what he could do in his new colours. John matched Vince’s 5 pts and recorded 6m 09.2s in the process. Brian Summers second outing of the day was in the Saints M35 1500, Brian picked up another 4pts to match those he had from his 3000m run and notched up 4m52.7s as he finished. Paddy Lynch scored a very useful 7pts in his M60 race and logged a nippy 5m47.5s in the process.
On the centre green the javelin events were doing business where R and N were fully supported. Kevin Murch wacked out a 52.75m throw in the M35 that took a very welcomed win and the 9pts with it. Dave Cowley 26.75 muscled him 6pts in the M60 event while the 2 Johns, Gercs and Evans competed in the M35 and M60 for the Saints. Gercs was more than please with his win by throwing out to 32.89m while his Welsh team mate pull back another 4pts with 18.18m. The lions and saints women’s throws were covered by athletes that are better known for their efforts on the track, but both ladies picked up valuable points in their W50 throw. Sally Hine took 3rd place with 8.92m while Angela Copson gained 4pts with her 7.40m effort.
With only a few different events and disciplines left to compete in on both the track and in the field, there many a keen eye checking out results to see which clubs would be carrying away the silver. Rugby and Northampton was certainly in there but no one could be certain which club was in the lead.
The lion’s ladies entered two very useful competitors in the 200m sprints, Juliette Crossin stormed to an easy win in the W35 race in 28.8s and full 2.5 seconds clear of second. Sally Hine was well please to keep her team well in contention with a 3rd place with 34.2s in the W50 race. Kate Williams and Barbara Parkinson were both satisfied with their 4th places for the saints with Kate clocking 35.2s and Barbara crossing the finish with 37.3s.
The male lions were still well on their toes with two very good performances from Ces Moven and Alan Greaves in the M35 and M50 races. Although Ces Moven was running in the M35 event, 2 age categories below his own, Ces still manage to finish a very good 2nd in 25.1s much to the delight of his team mates. Alan Greaves kept up the good work with clear win in the M50 with 26.4s. Covering the saints 200s were Adrian White and Dave (do it all) Bunker, no club could ask for bigger hearted athletes then these. Adrian and Dave both gave their all and were rewarded with Adrian gaining 3pts in 29.9s and Dave making 4pts in a time of 31.4s.
The field competition was now coming to a close with 2 events for the women and 1 for the men. First off was the W35 triple jump followed by the W35 Javelin, the lions hoped for good points from these events.
Lesley Willis and Debbie Murch were not about to let them down. Every one was holding their breath as Lesley’s jumps were being measured and the reassuring smile told the story. 8.53m took 1st place but by the narrow margin 5cm. Debbie may have not been over the moon with her performance but a 2nd place was well received by her teams mates with a 21.29m javelin throw. For the saints, Christine Hawker managed the clear 8.28m of sand before she came to rest in 3rd place while Jayne Scales picked up 3pts in here javelin throw with 8.83m.
Finishing off the field half of the meeting was John Moreland for the lions in the M50 shot and Alan Hull for the saints. John dominated the shot by winning it by over 2mts with 11.11m put. Alan’s competition was a much closer affair, 7.19m gave him 6th place just 5cms behind 4th.
The walks and the 4 x 400m relays were the last events of the day if there was to be an Achilles heel for the men, these would possibly found in these races. Steve Harris would be the sole regular walker for the lions and the relay team was definitely under power due to athletes picking up muscle pulls during this mammoth meeting. Steve did very well to gain 4th with 11m55.2s in the M35 2k walk, Dave Cowley had a difference of opinion with officials and was disqualified from the M60 walk, where the lions were hoping a salvage a couple of points. The Male saints fared better this time and Captain Mark Barrowclough set the example by winning his walk in a time of 11m44.1s. Paddy Lynch filled the M60 void in grand style by gaining 6pts in14m11.0s. The last walks of the day were the women’s W35 and W50, this time the saints had the better of the lions. Women’s team Captain Tricia Garner showed her class by leading home the Rugby and Northampton quartet, Tricia finished in 4th with a time of 12m54.3s. It was good to see Carol Birch back in action for the lions following an arm injury that wrote of the season for her, Carol took 5th place in the W35 walk in 13m29.6s. the next woman home for R and N was the 2nd saint, Val Cross, Val matched her captain position of 4th and clocked 14m25.8s in the process. Marian Peacock made her first appearance for the club in the W50 walk and did well to take 4pts in this first outing with 18m06.4s.
The event that was to bring the season to a close was the 4 x 400 relays and the ladies were the first off. Although the lions are a major force to be reckoned in this race on this day they had met their masters. Birchfield were never to be headed and eased home worthy winners but in the match overall the lions were in a class of their own. The ladies crossed the line in 2nd place in a time of 4m47.9s the out come of this race proved not to be important. The saints came home in 6th in a time of 5m10.5s.
The men were always going to have to work very hard for their spoils in their race, with half of their team side lined. last minute substitutions saw 2 middle distance men stepping forward to complete the running order. First leg for the lions was covered by Greaves who had been suffering with a chest infection but ran well to pass the baton onto Akiens. Akiens set about his work and soon reeled in the leader to pass on to his 800m team mate Brendon Moen. Brendon ran almost the same split time as Akiens but was unlucky to drop a couple of places due to other teams selecting the 3rd leg into which to place their hopes. Langham could not pull back any places even with posting the quickest split time for the squad. The lions finished 3rd overall in a time of 4m12.9s. The male saints all turned out gutsy performances and finished with 4pts from the relay in 4m36.9s.
The final positions of the Midland Masters track and field Cup final of 2008 were a win for the Ladies Lions with 222pts followed by Harborough with 171pts with Birchfield 3rd on 169pts. The Saints were 5th on the day with a tally of 127pts.
The men’s competition was dominated by 2 teams, Worcester A.C and Rugby and Northampton Lions. Worcester took the men’s trophy with 219pts while the lions were tantalisingly close with 206pts. No other teams got within 45pts of them.
The TV Trophy which is decided on by the accumulative score of the male and female teams of clubs in the “A” cup final was the real prize up for grabs. R & N made it three consecutive wins and 4 wins out of 5 cup finals. Their winning score was 428pts followed by Birchfield with 323pts. Lesley Willis rounded off her season on a pleasing personal note of being selected by her Division as female athlete of the year. The Rugby and Northampton Lions proved once again that they are arguably one of the best teams in the country and should look forward to carrying on with their mauling next season.
