North of England League Match 1 - Mens Team Report
As official team captain for the mens team this year you can understand my delight in
Wakefield winning the opening fixture of the Northern leagues top division. In the past it had
to be mentioned that Wakefield women carried the men, but on this occasion the men held their
own.
Although missing most of our distance runners (Infact Nathan Elliot was our only recognised
athlete and he was unable to double up for us over the 800 and 1500) we managed to fill the
800 with willing sprinters Gareth Hepworth and the legendery Steve Thorpe. Gareth again helped
out by doing the 1500 as the B athlete and after taking a tumble still got up bruised and
gashed and finished the race for the team and for the valuable points. We had no steeplechasers
and after much persuasion Steve Tibbs turned out for us over the 5000 which we are extremely
grateful for as he was working at the time !!
Multi eventers Darren Thomas, Mark Smith and Rob Lee covered a lot of the field events as per
usual and all did fantastically well (bear in mind Rob has only been back in training for a
few weeks and Darren is injured this season with achilles trouble, but will do anything for
the team as captain).
We have however found a star in the making with our new shot putter Rimantas Martisankas, who
finished second on his debut for the mens team behind a very formidable opponenet in Dave
Readle from Liverpool Pembroke (Results Below). Usual thrower Mark Keeler who had officially
retired from all events apart from Javelin was sweet talked into throwing the discus for us
again.
Last but no means least for the mens side we come on to the sprints and this was by far our most
points rewarding section of the whole day. Having Back Johnny Shearn, Alan Ruddock and Jim
Davies Wakefield performed fantastically well against the top leagues sprinters and a special
note to Johnny Shearn who won both he's 200 and 400m A race with what has to be said "a touch
of class".
Mens results as follows :-
100m A Race - Johnny Uridge 11.4 sec 2nd
B Race - Alan Ruddock 11.3 sec 2nd.
200m A Race - Johnny Shearn 22.0 sec 1st
B Race - Richard Higson -Blythe 23.7 sec 2nd.
400m A Race - Johnny Shearn 49.5 sec 1st
B Race - Jim Davies 51.9 sec 2nd.
800m A Race - Gareth Hepworth 2mins14.5 sec 6th
B Race - Steve Thorpe 3mins24.9 sec 4th.
1500m A Race - Nathan Elliot 4mins14.1 sec 3rd
B Race - Gareth Hepworth 5mins 10.3 sec 5th.
5000m A Race - Steve Tibbs 17mins7.4 sec 5th
B Race - No Athlete.
110mH A Race - Mark Smith DSQ
B Race - Rob Lee 17.5 sec 1st.
400mH A Race - Mark Smith 60.5 sec 2nd
B Race - John Paul-Dales 63.8 sec 1st.
3000mSC - No Athletes.
Discus A Mark Keeler 29.21m 5th
B Darren Thomas 27.45m 3rd.
Hammer A Richard Gayle 34.44m 5th
B Darren Thomas 31.01m 2nd.
Shot Putt A Rimantas Martisankas 14.09m 2nd
B Darren Thomas 10.27m 3rd.
Javelin A Mark Keeler 47.72m 3rd
B Mark Smith 38.96m 5th.
High Jump A Mark Smith 1.60m 6th
B Rob Lee 1.60m 3rd.
Long Jump A Rob Lee 5.67m 5th
B Alan Ruddock 5.52m 3rd.
Triple Jump A Rob Lee 12.99m 2nd
B Johnny Uridge 11.03m 3rd.
Pole Vault A Mark Smith 2.70m 5th
B Darren Thomas 2.70m 3rd.
4 x100m - Richard Higson Blythe, Johnny Uridge, Alan Ruddock, Johnny Shearn 44.5 sec 2nd.
4 x400m - Jim Davies, Johnny Uridge, Mark Smith, Johnny Shearn 3mins31.1 sec 2nd.
So a very well done to all the above and hopefully we can fill in those distance events for the next match at Gateshead on the
3rd June plus have a few injured/missing athletes back as well.
