Wakefield Harriers

North of England League Match 2 - Wigan 3rd June 2007
Mens Team Report

Welcome to my second report from the Northern League match from the 2nd June at Wigan.
As a manager I was already shattered by the news that most of my athletes from the first match (where we finished 3rd out of 6) were either on holiday (poor excuse as I gave match dates to everyone in January/February), injured, taking a rest, or having exams (although I used the weekends and athletics as a breather from my exams, and it did me the world of good).
So..........crying for most of the week prior I went into this match hoping for 4th or 5th place, so we were in a decent position for the last 2 matches to steer away from relegation ... on the bus I used my usual tactics of laying it on the lines to the lads there stating "although we are down and nearly out this is the match that counts, what we score here will set us up for the rest of the season, and every point is valuable, and could people come out of their comfort zones and cover events today for the good of the team".
The response from the few boys was electric and contagious as it spilled into the weakened women's team as well, and as a result of this we finished the day in 2nd place overall and tied for 2nd place in the league with Trafford!!!

Report as follows (results attached on website page) :-
The sprinters were very unlucky as they had a very strong headwind for the day, and the times reflected this, but bear in mind it was slow for everyone racing. Ricardo held his own again as our current no.1 sprinter, aided by Ben Mitchell and James Mitchell in the 100 and 200m. Ricardo had a hamstring pull halfway down the straight in the 200 metres, but bravely battled on for the team and for the valuable points. Michael Beaumont again ran a good 400m in a race of high quality and proved that if he continues with his training and can maybe up the number of sessions then he will surely be a force to reckon with over the next few years. Lewis Tatt ran the B in a decent time, especially as he ran the 800m A race earlier on in the day, with another strong performance. Gareth "New Team Captain" Hepworth covered the B 800m for us as well.
Current Northern U17 1500m Champion Jack Hallas turned out for his first run in the senior league over this distance, and acquitted himself with great distinction, finishing 3rd in the A race against a very strong senior field. Chris Price ran the B for us to get the points. Steve Lowe and Steve Faulkener again covered the 5k and it is a joy to see these lads back on the track racing again (although Stevie Lowe misread the lap counter and thought 12 laps to go actually meant 3, as he steamed off with the leaders only to realize that he'd only put a fivers worth of petrol in the tank for the long trip). Seriously though boys, it's great having runners over the longer distances again, and both of you are improving with every run. Steve Faulkener did the team proud by running the steeplechase as well, and the conditions although windy in the home straight were very hot, so to do the 2 long races is credit to Steve and to the team.
Rob Lee is finally showing his potential and again turned out a great performance for the team by winning the 110 hurdles A race with young James Mitchell winning the B race. Rob also did the longer 400m Hurdles and again ran a good race, with yours truly covering the B event, I was doing ok till my legs thought "hey you realize this is 400 hurdles not 110 and introduced themselves to my Lactic acid reserves and went on a bender. I also vaulted, did the hammer, discus, shot and javelin, all to a poor standard for me, but that's what you get for doing 6 events in one day, sat out in the heat covering events for everyone else that wasn't there. Richard Gayle competed well in the hammer, and also covered the discus and shot with me and the triple jump with Rob. Rob also vaulted and did the long jump with Ben Mitchell and the high jump with James Mitchell.
We managed to scrape relay teams together, and Young Ben Mitchell who thinks that 101 meters is an endurance event, picked up the mantle (and the baton) and did a decent leg in the 4x400m although young Faye Mitchell (no relation..yet!!!) did beat Ben's mark in the Long Jump..ha.. (soz dude had to mention it)
As you can tell, a lot of names repeat themselves above, and that's a tribute to the guys covering the events. I'd personally like to thank the lads for the spirit shown that day and by showing me that team work and effort still exists within this club. It also shows that the Prima Donna's who believe themselves to be bigger than the club and expect success to fall in their lap that "NEWSFLASH" it doesn't happen that way unless we all pull together for the club, to get us to a higher and better level of competition.

Thanks Again - Darren

P.S We may have Mr Martyn Bernard for the next match in July (obviously if selected.tee.hee)

Team Manager - Darren Thomas
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