Author Archives: irwin

NAC Successful Throws Squad

Club members won 12 titles and a total of 26 medals at the county championships at TVAC, Eton.

Jamie Kuehnel  registerd a Championahip Best Performance of 53.40m to win the U15 Boys Hammer. Jamie also won the U15B Discus and took silver in the Shot.

Our other County Champions are: Ben Crook (U17M, 100H), Lee Doran (JM, Hammer), Ricky Doran (JM, Discus), Derek Philbey (JM, Shot), Samantha Dredge (SW, High Jump), Sara Henderson (SW, Long Jump), Mike Robbins (SM, 800m), Matthew Plumb (SM, Long Jump), Bob Broadbridge (SM, Shot and Discus).

Silver medallists were: Rosie Stanton (U15G, Javelin), Michaela Whitton (U15G, Discus & Shot), Sam van Huyssteen (U17W 300m), Harry Russell (U17M, 400m), Sophie Fowler (JW, 800m), Sam Plumb (JM, 100m), Lee Doran (JM, Discus), Ricky Doran (JM, Hammer), Bob Broadbridge (SM, Hammer)

Bronze medallists were: Charlotte Fowler (JW, 800m), Kayleigh Partleton (JW, Shot), Ricky Doran (JM, Shot), Peter Crisp (SM, 1500m)

Full results

After the men’s best ever track season in 2011 Newbury opted to stay in the revamped Southern Athletic League for the current season. However, competition from the new mixed league has reduced the number of clubs taking part and Division 1 now only has 16 teams.  The first match on Saturday was at Dartford, with the home club, Kent AC and Aldershot as the opposition. Newbury’s team was missing seven athletes who were taking part in the in the opening meeting at the new Olympic Stadium. This piled pressure on the  athletes who made the long journey to compete in very unfavourable weather conditions. However, an excellent team spirit prevailed and they were able to fill every event.

There was a great start for the team when Bob Broadbridge and Lee Doran won both strings of the hammer. Lee had the satisfaction of not only beating his coach but also setting a new club record with a throw of 45.09m. This pairing later produced another great double in the discus-this time Bob getting the better of Lee.  Derek Philbey partnered Bob for the shot, both finishing second in their event. However, Derek and Bruce Bamber could only manage fourth places in the javelin. Nevertheless, it was an excellent afternoon’s work for our throwers and a reward for their hard training.

Matt Plumb and Ben Millar had a very busy time taking part in no less than 15 events between them! In the three “A” jumping events Matt won the long jump, was second in the triple and third in the high jump. Ben came second in all three “B” strings. Sam Plumb came third in the “A” pole vault while Bruce Bamber finished 2^nd “B”.

Unfortunately, there were no winners on the track, but a fair number of good second and third places which all added to keep Newbury in touch with the other clubs point wise. Despite having injury problems, Sam Plumb showed good form with two second places in the 100 and 200m. His brother Matt, came third in his 100m, with Joss Derbyshire taking the same position in the “B” 200m. Ben Millar could only finish fourth in the first 400m but veteran Simon Barrett went one better in the second race. Ben Millar and Wayne Lillis took third places in their respective 400m hurdles races. Ben and Matt Plumb occupied the same positions in the high hurdles events.

The longer races brought mixed fortunes for Newbury’s runners. Wayne Lillis and Mark Vardy finished fourth and second in the two 800m events. A terrific sprint over the last 50m enabled Peter Crisp to snatch second place in the “A”5000m and an improving Sam Hall picked up second place in the “B” race.  The same pair contested the 1500m Peter coming 3^rd “A” and Sam picking up another good second in the “B” race.

With only the two relays and the steeplechase to go Kent were a couple of points ahead of Dartford with Newbury just one and a half points further behind. Kent won both strings of the chase and the relays to comfortably clinch the match on 109 points. Dartford and Newbury shared the points in the relays, but Wayne Lillis and Mark Vardy scored four more points than their Dartford rivals in the steeplechase to take  the club’s total to 91.5 and second place overall. Dartford finished with 89 while Aldershot were a distant fourth on 64.5

This was an encouraging opening result for the team with the points being shared across the track and field. The club does not have a home match this year and so the athletes are faced with several long trips. The second fixture is at Bedford on May 19^th.

Keith Scott