Midland Senior League - 13/08/22

23 August 2022

Over the course of the 2022 season the Senior team, with the help of some talented U20 and U17s, have proved they are revitalised since being relegated prior to the pandemic. The final fixture of the season was the icing on the cake, with the team finishing in second and securing themselves promotion into Division 2 for 2023. The final fixture proved possibly the best of the four with 8 A string victories and 7 B string victories across the day.

One athlete who has been vital to the team this year has been thrower Annabel Moloney. Having taken a break from the sport between 2014 and 2021 Moloney has already shown glimpses of the form that took her to multiple England age group titles. In Solihull Moloney was a class apart winning the A shot put and discus as well as the B hammer with throws of 11.78, 25.84 and 29.25 respectively. Moloney was supported by a strong team of throwers with Ben Wade winning the A discus by over 3.5 metres with a best of 39.81 and Ruth Bird winning the B shot put and discus with throws of 7.87 and 21.34. Wade also took 3rd in the A shot put with 9.72, 5th in the A hammer with 18.35 and 2rd in the A javelin with 38.31. Bird also produced an impressive 30.09 in the A hammer to secure 2nd place. Mike Curneen produced a PB of 21.27 in the javelin to finish 4th B as well as finishing 3rd B in both the shot put, with 9.72, and hammer, with 17.30. 

U20 Ciara Thornley was in superb form in Solihull, unphased by her older rivals Thornley began by winning the 800m in a PB of 2:17.1, 11 seconds quicker than her previous best. With the sun at its strongest Thornley then returned to the track for the 1500m where she took the lead from the gun and didn't look back, pulling almost 100m clear of 2nd place and crossing the line in 4:44.4. Thornley was joined in the 800m by Milly Foster who placed 3rd B in 2:47.8 and in the 1500m by Rachel See who was 1st B in 5:02.9. Foster gained extra points for the club by winning the B triple jump with 8.00 and finishing 3rd in the B long jump with 3.49. One the men’s side Jamie Bell, who as well as his 14 appearances in the UYDL this season has competed in 11 events over the senior league this year too, meaning he has been undeniably a key part of the teams promotion, took part in the 800m and 3000m. Bell took 7 seconds off his 800m best running 2:20.6 for 5th A and finished 3rd A in the 3000m in 10:04.7. Bell also jumped 4.12 in the long jumps for 3rd B. Martin Foster took on the role of team manager for the day and led by example filling in as many events as he could in between officiating, a tough task in such high temperatures. Foster began with the 800m where he ran 2:34.5 for 3rd B, he then made a 400m debut running 68.2 for 4th B and was 6th in the A 1500m in 5:01.4. In 30+ degree weather Stephen Bradley took on 6900m of races, a huge effort that was greatly appreciated by the club. Bradley had a successful day finishing 3rd A in the 400m hurdles in 82.1, 1st B in the 2000m steeplechase in 9:10.0, 3rd B in the 3000m in 12:28.1 and 6th B in the 1500m in 5:49.8. Sophie Bestwick is another athlete who went above and beyond in Solihull, making her track debut Bestwick competed in the 3000m and 2000m steeplechase. Having never even attempted to jump a hurdle before Bestwick was stepping into the unknown, but ran brilliantly to finish 2nd A in 9:51.0, she then was 2nd B in the 3000m in 13:13.6. Alison Garton was also making her track debut and began by taking on the B 400m where she finished 3rd in 74.5, Garton tan took to the 3000m, her more preferred of the two events, and ran strong to finish as 4th A in 12:08.0. 

Another athlete producing multiple A string victories was U20 Sulaiman Ouiles. Ouiles won the 110m hurdles in 17.4 and pole vault with a best of 3.90. Ouiles equalled his PB of 1.80 in the high jump to finish 2nd A and was 2nd B in the discus he threw 23.18 for 2nd B. Competing in the B pole vault Bexley Turbard added 5cm to his PB clearing 3.50, a fantastic effort after having been so consistent so far this year. Turbard also ran well in the 2000m steeplechase where he was 3rd A in a PB of 7:25.6. Alfie Wood had a brilliant day with the hot, still conditions being ideal for sprinting and jumping. Wood took the A string victory in the long jump, his main event, with a best of 6.44 and placed 2nd A in both the triple jump and 100m achieving PBs of 11.3 and 12.58. Jodie Burnett-Hockey had a busy day competing in the A 100m hurdles, B high jump, A long jump and A javelin. Burnett-Hockey was 4th in a close hurdles race in 19.8, won the high jump with 1.30, was 4th in the long jump in 4.07 and threw a new javelin PB of 26.13 for 5th. Cicely Courtenay Moore was 4th in the B javelin with 20.65 and cleared a high jump PB of 1.35 for 3rd A. 

A large number of sprinters made the trip to Solihull and were rewarded with some impressive performances. Philip Hunt was 5th in the B 100m in 12.8, while Fred Fowler, Jefferson Adam and Alfie Beer (PB) competed in the non-scoring 100m running 11.8, 12.2 and 12.2 respectively. Fowler and Beer both competed in the 200m, with Fowle finishing 4th A in a PB of 24.3 and Beer matching that time for a PB in the B race finishing 2nd. Max Beer ran 57.6 for 4th in the A 400m. Flora Hopcraft was 5th A in the women’s 100m in 13.7 and 3rd A in the triple jump with 9.44. Linda Ejike made her club debut running 14.4 for 3rd in the B 100m. Rebecca Hoadley took 3rd A in both the 200m and 400m running 26.7 and 61.3 and Lydia Baldwin was 2nd in the B 200m in 27.4 and 2nd in the A 400m hurdles in a PB of 69.7.

 With the competition being so close the final standings really did come down to the relays and thanks to strong performances from the mens and womens team promotion was secured! The women's 4x100m team was 3rd in 53.90 and the 4x400m team finished 2nd in 5:17.9. The men's 4x100m team were 4th in 46.6 while the 4x400m team finished 5th in 4:12.4.