North East Masters Athletics Association (NEMAA) Track and Field League Meeting 4 – 15th July 2024

by Geoff Hewitson

Last Monday’s fourth NEMAA Track & Field League meeting of the 2024 season turned out to be a particularly successful one, on both a whole club and individual level. The Men’s team racked up a season’s best 126 points (probably our highest total on a single night for quite a while) to move up to 3rd in the League, albeit with just a 2 point advantage over North Shields Poly. Meanwhile our 6 ladies collectively scored 63 points which saw them improve one pace to 4th in their league. As can be seen from the respective league tables, with two meetings to go it’s now fairly clear that our men are in a two way battle for 3rd against North Shields Poly, whilst in the Women’s League 3rd, 4th, and 5th places rest between North Shields Poly, Crook, and Elvet Striders. Finishing 3rd in both leagues would be a massive achievement for our club, as for the most part, we are at a numerical disadvantage compared with rival clubs. To stand a realistic chance, we need as many people as possible to turn out for the last two meetings, and those that do come along to do the maximum 3 events. It looks like it could be very close at the end of the season, and even an extra 5 or 10 points might make the difference. I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from competing in the track races they enjoy, and by all means prioritise those, but please also have a look at the field events in your age category. Some of these (the M35 throws being a prime example) are much less competitive than you might imagine, and any reasonable valid effort will score decent points. Team Grand Prix for Men

Team Grand Prix for Women

As was the case at the previous meeting, field events were again a rich source of points for our competitors. Ken C scored a maximum 12 points in the shot (6.68m) and discus (19.53m), as did Heather Jones (4.96m and 12.90m respectively). Geoff H managed a brace of second places (10 points) with 6.82m in the shot and 19.87m in the discus. Both of these were a small improvement from 2 meetings ago, and the discus was a new PB. In the same age category, Andy T scored 8 points (6.49m in the shot, 15.86m in the discus) whilst Mark S picked up 3 points in the shot (6.34m). Joe Hall finished 2nd in the discus (19.87m) and 3rd in the shot (7.02m) which he claimed was a new PB. We were all happy to hear all about Joe’s achievement, more so in relief that we managed to stop him short of having it announced over the PA system. Laura N-H secured a good second place in the discus with a throw of 13.32m, whilst it came as no surprise that Amanda “PB” Taylor achieved yet another one in the shot (5.41m). The normally consistent and reliable Sharon B had a very rare off-night in the throws, but still scored a few points from bests of 5.35m in the shot and 11.11m in the discus. We had 6 athletes (all male) competing in the triple jump, and most scored good points. Brad W had the longest jump of our club cohort (8.62m), followed by Peter C (7.21m), Joe H (6.47m), Phil H (5.77m), and Andy T (5.60m). Paul Campbell produced three long looking efforts, but unfortunately they were all no-jumps as he’d overstepped the take off mark. Paul more than made up for this disappointment in the high jump, a clearance of 1.40m resulting in an age category win. Phil Healy (1.05m) scored 5 points in the M60 category, whilst Geoff H (1.15m) and Mark S (1.10m) were first and second in the M65. I must give mention to Laura N-H who was trying the high jump for the very first time. Coming in at the lowest starting height (just to ensure a valid jump) Laura kept clearing the bar as it rose in 5cm increments, eventually bowing out at 1.05m. Her best clearance of 1.00m earned 5 points for an age category second place. There were some very speedy times from our competitors in the 200m. Brad W and Peter C were drawn in the same heat, and were almost inseparable as they crossed the line. Both were given the same time (27.7s) with Brad getting the verdict from the judges. Lee N-H ran 28.6s, Phil Healey 35.6s, and Ken C got round in 67.4s (still earned 4 points). Amanda T won her heat in possibly fortuitous circumstances in an excellent time of 34.8s. The girl in the outside lane was leading up the home straight with Amanda closing fast. As the line approached, the leader’s legs appeared to give way and she fell forwards onto the track to leave Amanda a clear winner (Note: VAR did have a long look at the incident, and concluded that any contact on Amanda’s part was deemed to be purely accidental). The other sprint race was the 300m, an event which is rarely run at track & field meetings, and therefore difficult to judge from a pace point of view. Peter C did it very well and clocked a highly respectable 45.3s (4 points), whilst Amanda T (62.8s) and Sharron T (71.6s) each scored 5 points in their age categories.  The two middle distance events on the track were the 800m and the mile. In the former, Lee N-H ran 2:48.3 to win his age category and pick up 6 points. Mark S (3:06.7) and Sharron Trevor (3:38.3) each finished 3rd and both scored 4 points. In the mile, Paul C ran 6:14.9 for an age category 2nd place and 5 points, whilst Laura N-H had a fantastic run to set what I believe to be a new PB of 6:46.1 (5 points). Sharron Trevor (8:12.6) produced her now characteristic storming finish down the home straight to score 4 more valuable points, and it was great to have Patricia White back competing again for us. Her time in the mile (10:10.2) wasn’t too shabby at all, and more importantly was enough to win her age category for 6 points!  Overall, the top points scorers for the men’s team were Ken C and Geoff H (16 each), Joe Hall (15), Peter C (14), and Andy T (13). Laura N-H led the ladies points tally with 15, followed closely by Amanda T and Sharron T (13 each). Heather J scored a maximum 12 points from her two throwing events. After four meetings we have a number of athletes who are currently leading their age category in the Individual Grand Prix competitions. These are:   Paul Campbell M45 Jumps Joe Hall M55 Jumps and Throws Phil Healey M60 Jumps Andy Turnell M65 Throws Heather Jones F65 Throws and Jumps Ken Cawkwell M75 Throws   The next league meeting takes place on Monday 29th July. Events are 100m, 400m, 3000m, long jump, high jump, hammer and javelin. Online entries will close at 5pm on Friday 26th July – I’ll put a reminder out nearer the time. Geoff H