M&M's Senior men lost their relegation battle at the final British League Match at Derby on 22nd August. Despite a valiant effort the margin was just 9 match points. On the day the team were very unlucky to lose people to injury. The team will compete in National Division Four next year.
The Senior Men prodcued a strong fourth place in the third match of the season to leave them with a chance of fighting off relegation at the final match in Derby on 22nd August.
SOUTHERN MEN'S LEAGUE, DIVISION 3 SOUTH MEETING
1 AUGUST 2009 - BATTERSEA
With holiday commitments, a British league meeting on the same day and only nine athletes available for the last meeting of the season a third or fourth place was the best that could be expected. Amazingly the club held first place for most of the day and ended up clear second.
Nigel Lowther returning after injury in his first outing of the season competed well including a win in the 400m A race and seconds in the 100m and 200m. Lowther was accompanied in all three races by Sean Hannant-Smith who also took a first and two seconds in the B races. Hannant Smith also competed in the 400 mH for the first time.
James Hogg won the 800m and was close to taking a double in the1500m. Stuart Flack had another busy day running the 800m (first B with a recent PB), second in the 1500m and a win in the 5000m B. Flack was accompanied in the 5000 by Nick Slade who won the A race. Slade also gained good points in the pole vault, high jump and both hurdles.
Paul Ralph and Steve Lake covered the long and triple jumps, Ralph taking second A places in both, Lake taking second B places in both. Stuart Earl and Steve Hesketh competed in all four throws. Earl taking 2nd A in the javelin, Hesketh taking 2nd B places in the shot, Discus and hammer.
Unfortunately due to the shortage of athletes the club couldn’t compete in the steeplechase or relays.
RESULT
South London Harriers 116
Medway & Maidstone AC 88.5
Horsham Blue star 73.5
Serpentine Runners 38
Is 13 an unlucky number? Well for the 13 competing athletes of Medway and Maidstone AC it was definitely not unlucky as they went all out to make sure that the team were not relegated back down to division 4 after only one season.
M&M manager Dawn Copping told the team in no uncertain terms in order to stay in division 3 next year they needed to beat both Belgrave and Wakefield so if they found themselves behind a Belgrave or Wakefield athlete to work harder and get in front of them! So in an amazing display of grit and determination all 13 girls put everything into their events with quite a few doing events they would not normally do in order not to give points away.
Lucy Hale was definitely one of those stars on the day. Lucy in only her 2nd outing for the club contested the 3000m with Natalie Gray. Natalie, who had re-arranged her works leaving party in order to be able to attend the UK league, had a tremendous tussle for 1st place with a Bedford rival while Lucy gained 2nd B. Lucy then asked if there were “any other wacky events she could do” On being told the only event left without an entry was the 2K steeplechase she quickly volunteered saying “I would never forgive myself if we lost by 1 point.” In the event she had a fabulous run coming 3rd in a time of 8m27.0 in a style that caused another athlete to remark “she looks better than Helen Clitheroe over the barriers!”
With 5 sprinters unavailable for action this weekend it was down to the formidable pairing of Lindsey Christie and Yasmin Joseph to see what they could do. In the 100m they found themselves right next to Wakefield athletes and the determination on their faces was clear to see as both girls fought their way to the line in 4th place just ahead of their rivals. They then went on to the 200m where Lindsey was 5th in 26.05s and Yasmin 3rd in 27.19s both of them again just a few hundredths ahead of their Wakefield opponents.
Gemma Dowsett proved she is finding her form again after her time away in Switzerland as she was pleased to record 3m in the pole vault for 3rd place. She then went on to join Sophie Copping in the 100m hurdles where they gained a few more vital points to add to the tally.
Bernadette Harrop was another athlete who had a brilliant day. In her first UK league meeting since having children she contested both the 800m and 1500m B strings and was over the moon to record 5m33.05 in the 1500m as this is a new master’s club record, beating the old record held by Sarah Kenyon by quite a margin.
Nadine Terry was one of the busiest athletes as she competed in the maximum 5 events. After contesting the 800m she had to dash over to the high jump. Nadine had reached 1m45 but then had to pull out to go over to the 400m start. Can you imagine how she felt on arriving to discover the Wigan athlete in her race was none other than Jenny Meadows! 
The Medway and Maidstone throws were in very good hands as Lucy Underdown, Kate Morris, Lizzy Yarnold, Amy Underdown and Liz Duffin managed to rack up 49 points between them in the 4 throws.
Lucy Underdown had a rare defeat in the discus due mainly to a terrible surface in the throwing circle but she made up for it with a win in the shot putt beating her nearest rival by over a metre.
Lizzy Yarnold was also beaten into 2nd place in her main event, the javelin, but like Lucy she was happy to gain maximum points in the B string shot putt. Lizzy also filled in for the 400m B, borrowing a pair of spikes to gain a valuable point and also providing one of the most amusing moments of the day by waving to the cheering crowd of M&M supporters as she came down the home straight.
Kate Morris, in her first UK league fixture this season, had her best placing in the discus where she was 2nd and was unlucky not to place higher in the hammer as she had been in 3rd place going into the last round. Liz Duffin was 5th in the B string hammer and was pleased to record her best throw of the UK league season of 25m08.
Last but definitely not least was Amy Underdown who managed to pull in a fantastic 13 points, yes that number again, for the team as she contested both horizontal jumps and also the javelin.
Amy had her best placing in the Long jump at the beginning of the day and in spite of feeling unwell as the day went on, which was probably due to the horrendous mystery tour of a coach journey the day before, she continued to compete as she didn’t want to let the team down!
As the M&M contingent gathered in the stand at the end of the day to wait for the results everyone had fingers and toes crossed. The announcer called out that in 8th place were Belgrave, in 7th Wakefield at which point manager Dawn Copping and her team let out a mighty roar as they knew they would remain in division three next year.
In the event as a reward for their fantastic efforts Medway and Maidstone were 5th beating Thames Valley Harriers as well.
There is a lot to be said for a good team spirit and that was proved this weekend as everyone pulled together, athletes, team manager and supporters alike to provide a fabulous weekend. The team are now looking forward to having a good winter training in order to come back next year and work together towards promotion to division 2.
So all you Medway and Maidstone ladies out there please ask anyone who has competed this season what it is like to be a part of the UK league experience, they will tell you what a brilliant time they have had and if you would like to join in next year then keep the first weekend in June, July and August free.
Results:
100m 4th Lindsey Christie 12.88s 4th Yasmin Joseph 13.61; 200m 5th Lindsey Christie 26.05s 3rd Yasmin Joseph 27.19s; 400m 7th Nadine Terry 61.03s
8th Lizzy Yarnold 72.58s; 800m 7th Nadine Terry 2m23.40 7th Bernadette Harrop 2m42.18 1500m 6th Natalie Gray 5m10.35 6th Bernadette Harrop 5m33.05 Masters Club Record; 3000m 2nd Natalie Gray 10m10.14 2nd Lucy Hale 11m14.68; 100m hurdles 7th Sophie Copping 17.49s 5th Gemma Dowsett 18.14s;
2K Steeplechase 3rd Lucy Hale 8m27.00
Long Jump: 5th Lindsey Christie 4m87 3rd Amy Underdown 4m78; Triple Jump 6th Amy Underdown 10m05 5th Sophie Copping 9m23; High Jump 5th= Nadine Terry 1m45 5th Gemma Dowsett 1m40; Shot Putt 1st Lucy Underdown 12.24 1st Lizzy Yarnold 11m03; Discus 2nd Lucy Underdown 40.06 2nd Kate Morris 32.61;
Javelin 2nd Lizzy Yarnold 37m12 5th Amy Underdown 27m16; Hammer 7th Kate Morris 37m39 5th Liz Duffin 25m08
4 x 100 relay - 3rd Y. Joseph, L. Christie, S. Copping, N. Terry 51.48s
4 x 400 relay – 4th N. Terry, N. Gray, Y. Joseph, L.Christie 4m20.94
Match Result Points Match Points
1. Bedford and County 219.5 8
2. Wigan and District 195 7
3. Havering & Mayesbrook 159 6
4. Newham and Essex Beagles 1156 5
5. Medway and Maidstone 143.5 4
6. Thames Valley Harriers 141 3
7. Wakefield 119 2
8. Belgrave Harriers 90 1
League Result
- Bedford and County 24 Promoted
- Wigan and District 19 Promoted
- Havering Mayesbrook 17
- Thames Valley Harriers 14
- Newham and Essex Beagles 14
- Medway and Maidstone 10
- Wakefield 7 Relegated
- Belgrave Harriers 3 Relegated