Wakefield Harriers

North of England League Match 1 - Leeds 5th May 2007
Mens Team Report

Finally the season really got started, with the first match of the Northern Mens league Division 1. Even before we started on our road to glory we were injury hit, with most of our recognised sprinters from past years either injured/retired or totally out of form. We also lost our BIG thrower Rimantus to Sale, and Javelin throwers John Mark and Matthew to injuries. But here it comes ... we did have a full compliment of distance runners, and this for the Wakefield mens team is something we have been dreaming for since David slayed Goliath (or Callum as he is now known).
The first and most satisfying mention goes to our new 800/1500m runners acquired this winter, under the guidance of distance Guru David Fryer. These young up and coming juniors are a talent for all to see, both the 800m runners Jack Hallas & Thomas Atkinson are under 17 (with Thomas being bottom age), and from the results and times posted below you can clearly see these lads are ones to keep a close eye on. From the same distance group Joe Hargreaves, and although missing due to illness for this match, Nathan will be a force and a means for a better future for Wakefield as we aim for our goal of getting a mens team into the National leagues!!!
Still being under 20, Ricardo Francis turned in his usual battling performances in the sprints, with conditions not favouring these track stars. Teamed up with the other under 20's Ben Mitchell and James Mitchell over the two shorter sprints, the guys did a great job for the team. Michael Beaumont and Freddie Flynn (both under 20) did excellent jobs against senior opposition in the 400m, and both no doubt will get better as the season progresses. As mentioned above, with the illness to Nathan, Gareth Hepworth stepped in to cover the B 1500 with a fantastic run (shows all this winter's work at longer distances is paying off, although his bottom and belly are not getting any smaller with the extra mileage !). Old warhorse and upset Sheffield United fan Steve Lowe made a steady comeback for the team when doubling up with new Yorkshire U20 2K steeplechase champion Chris Price over the 3k Chase and Steve Faulkener in the 5k (another old timer galloping to a decent time and performance after a few years out). Cheers lads and we hope to see you at the next matches.
Mark Smith thought the best preparation for his 2 runs over the 400m/110m Hurdles was to have 3 weeks in Mexico. He may re-think this as a sniper took him out in the 400m hurdles at around 250 metres!!!!! but well done any way dude!! John Paul Dales and Rob Lee partnered Mark well in these two races.
Field events was the usual case of me, Mark Smith and Rob Lee covering most of them along this time, with the help of James Mitchell, Richard Gayle and Andrei Pobischan. Well done chaps!!!!
All in all a good day, and to finish 3rd out of 6 teams in the top North of England Divsion is a good marker.

On to Wigan for the 2nd match, and maybe a 2nd place. Keep the faith boys!!

Results as follows :-

Match Score
1st Leeds City 460 pts, 2nd Trafford 359 pts, 3rd WAKEFIELD 353 , 4th City of York 329.5, 5th Wigan And District 287, 6th City Of Manchester (Sale) 239.5

Individual Performances
100m A - R Francis 6th 11.7, B - B Mitchell 4th 12.0
200m A - R Francis 2nd 22.8, B - J Mitchell 6th 24.4
400m A - M Beaumont 2nd 51.1, B - F Flynn 3rd 52.8
800m A - J Hallas 2nd 1.57.5, B - T Atkinson 1st 1.59.1
1500m A - J Hargreaves 5th 4.17.5, B - G Hepworth 5th 4.38.8
5000m A - S Faulkener 6th 17.09.7, B - S Lowe 5th 18.03.6
3000SC A - C Price 4th 10.08.3, B - S Lowe 3rd 10.45.5
110mH A - R Lee 2nd 17.4, B - M Smith 2nd 18.7
400mH A - M Smith 3rd 61.4, B - JP Dales 2nd 67.9
Discus A - D Thomas 4th 31.50, B - R Gayle 3rd 25.25
Hammer A - R Gayle 2nd 39.97, B - D Thomas 1st 27.50
High Jump A - J Mitchell 5th 1.75, B - M Smith 5th 1.45 (Smudge what happened??)
Javelin A - M Smith 5th 42.70, B - D Thomas 5th 35.53
Long Jump A - R Lee 3rd 5.73 , B - A Pobischan 3rd 5.38
Pole Vault A - D Thomas 3rd 3.10 , B - M Smith 2nd 2.60
Shot Putt A - D Thomas 5th 10.19 , B - R Gayle 5th 8.93
Triple Jump A - R Lee 2nd 12.20, B- A Pobischan 1st 12.12
4 x 100 5th (FRANCIS, MITCHELL, MITCHELL, BLYTHE) 46.1
4 x 400 4th (BEAUMONT, ATKINSON, HALLAS, FLYNN) 3.34.4

Team Captain - Darren Thomas
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