ATHLETICS: Harriers lose battle to beat the drop (From Swindon Advertiser)

ATHLETICS: Harriers lose battle to beat the drop

8:50am Tuesday 4th August 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

SWINDON Harriers suffered relegation heartache following the final Southern Men’s League event of the season at Tonbridge, Kent.

Needing a second place to give them a chance of Division One survival and a first to guarantee it, Swindon finished fourth out of five behind hosts Tonbridge, Brighton and Chelmsford, meaning they will compete in Division Two next season.

With the stakes high, a strong squad of 16 athletes turned out to meet the challenge, and with three of the other four clubs all facing possible relegation too, the meeting was fiercely contested.

On the track, the quality of the sprinters was excellent with only Patrick North able to finish in the top two in any event.

Making a rare appearance over 400m hurdles, he finished second in 57.0 and followed this with a second place in the flat 400m in 49.2 seconds.

In the middle and long distance events, Swindon had a double win in the 800m with Ben Scarlett making a return after injury to win the event in 1:56.5 seconds, and Dan Pidgeon winning the B race in 1:57.0.

Paul Key smashed his personal best in the 3000m steeplechase with a superb 10:18.5 seconds, yet still only came fourth.

The team's 5000m runners both ran good times but still finished fifth in both A and B races.

Matt Blackmore, in his first season with the club, ended the campaign with two personal bests in the 5000m and the 1500m, while Martin Townsend made his first appearance on the track for the club.

In the field events, Jak Field and Rob Warensjo, took full points in three events.

Field took a long jump and high jump double win with 6.72m and 1.85m respectively, while Warensjo continued his superb vaulting form with 4.60m.

Field also finished second in the javelin with a throw of 44.78m, while Andy Brown and Tony Jackson also won valuable points in the throwing events Kenton Mielnik made a welcome return to form by winning the B Long Jump in 6.07m.

Although it was apparent before the relays that Swindon were doomed to the drop, the team ran two superb races in pouring rain, probably the best this season.

The short sprint team finished third whilst in the final event of the season, the 4x400m quartet of Rob Churchill, Chris Reade, Dan Pidgeon and Patrick North won in an excellent time of 3:26.5.

The team will now have to quickly pick themselves up from the disappointment to compete in the British Athletics League Plate Final in London next weekend.