Team forced to dig deep

A depleted Medway & Maidstone senior team managed fourth place in the Southern Athletics meeting at Eastbourne. The lack of availability made it tough work for M&M in a match won by the hosts. The Blake brothers were in action, with George standing in for the 100m B race and finishing second with a best of 11.5sec. He was second in the pole vault, claimed a PB in the high jump (1.65m), was third in the A javelin and ran in the 4x400m relay. Ben Blake competed in the pole vault and was second in the A string. He also entered high jump, long jump and 4x100m relay, while Will Blake competed in all four throws, with a PB in the hammer, plus the 4x100m relay. Nathan Isaac took third place in a tough 100m race (11.6). George Clements and Andrejs Safars both took thirds in the 400m (53.7 and 55.0) and Safars also competed in the 800m, long jump, sprint hurdles, triple jump, hammer and both relays. Clements also ran both relays and entered the shot. Tewelde Menges filled in for the 200m B sprint in between his 5,000m race and the 2,000m steeplechase. Tom Collins ran the A 1,500m race after a third in the 400m hurdles A and triple jump, then ran a leg of the 4x400m relay. Mark Wilkins – another middledistance runner – competed in the long jump before a 5,000m and 2,000m steeplechase double. Simon Habtom doubled up in the 800m and 1,500m. The eight M&M ladies covered as many events as possible, with mother and daughter Wendy and Jess Blake picking up many valuable points. Both took to the hammer for the first time with Jess first A with 23.40 and Wendy second B with 18.32, while in the shot and triple jump, both gained thirds. Jess was fourth in the javelin and third in the high jump. There was a great performance for Zara Edeleanu in the discus with second in the A string with 18.53. Fiona Argent took third B with 12.12. Edeleanu also performed well in the long jump for third A with 4.49 with Harriet Wilder second B with 4.44. Wilder was also fourth in the high jump A. Mo Fazakerley (W55) and Kat Ford – normally an ultradistance athlete – both had to pace themselves to cover all of the middle-distance events, running at 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m and 2,000m steeplechase and also helping in the relays. Lucy Hope was fourth in the 100m A (13.2) and 200m A (27.1) and third in the 400m A. Zara Edeleanu was first in the B event. Wilder took fourth in the 200m B event and third in the 400m B. With tired legs, the ladies managed to cover both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.