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Lewes AC battle against tough opposition in the Veterans’ League Final
Sunday 1st September saw the final of the Southern Counties Vets League, at Ashford, Kent. Lewes AC, twinned as ever with Haywards Heath Harriers (HH), had won the Sussex League earlier in the summer, and as a result were sent to battle against seven other Southern Counties finalists; Herne Hill Harriers, Oxford, Southampton, Enfield & Haringey, Epsom & Ewell Harriers, Cambridge Harriers, and Blackheath & Bromley.
As a relatively small combined club we knew we had our work cut out. However, when it came to the sprinting we were pretty competitive. In the 100m Ben Radcliffe (HH) (13.22secs) and Ciaran Harvey (12.28secs) came 2nd and 5th in their respective races, and Mark Rahman ran a brilliant race in the over 50s category in 12.79secs. Ciaran and Mark also ran in the 200m. Ciaran just got pipped to 3rd place in his race, and Mark also got a 3rd place in his. Matthew Page also ran for us in the over 35 category with a time of 29.18secs. Ciaran ran a very impressive 400m race, coming 3rd with 57.1secs. Mark Cage came 4th in his race, and Mark McLoughlin (HH) also came 4th in the over 50s race. Our over 60s star of the Vets League, Peter Kennedy, had his 40th wedding anniversary on the same day, so was unable to attend. However, we were luckly enough to get John Morgan (HH) who stepped in and earned us a couple of valuable points in the 400m.
From about a quarter of the way through the competition, the points tallies were being put up. It was clear that four of the teams were racing ahead of the rest. However, we were just holding onto fifth place, one point ahead of Oxford. Our aim was to fight off Oxford in every event.
We had runners in three 800m races; Mark McLoughlin (2mins 16secs), Mark Cage (2mins 20secs), and Jonathan Burrell (2mins 27secs) all scored good points. Jonathan and Mark McLoughlin also ran in 1500m, gaining 4th and 3rd places in their respective races. Where we had dominated against other Sussex teams, we were up against some mighty county winners in this final, and the 3000m epitomised this. Chris Gilbert ran a superb time of 9mins 47secs, but it was only good enough to put him 7th. However, Paul Cousins’ (HH) time of 10mins 12secs gained him 2nd in the over 50s.
The field events were also very competitive. We were lucky to have two very good jumpers; Mark Rahman and Ben Radcliffe. Ben came 3rd in both the long and triple jumps, and in the over 50s Mark came 2nd in the long jump, and 3rd in the triple. Ben, Mark and John Morgan also scored us good points in the high jump.
When it came to the throwing events, we had all-rounder Mike Bale. He scored valuable points in the over 50s Hammer, Discus, Shot and Javelin, gaining 4th place in the Hammer with a throw of 30.22m. I competed in the Hammer, although I hadn’t really done any decent training for over a year. When I arrived at the hammer cage I was greeted by 5 other competitors; all about a foot taller, and a foot wider than me! Luckily another two competitors soon arrived who were more my build. I managed to gain 6th place with a throw of 18.82m. (The 5th placed competitor threw 38.40m!). Hamilton Thomas threw in the over 60s category (although now well into his 70s), producing a discus throw of 23.60m, and a shot put of 6.75m.
The end of the competition saw the relay events. Mark Rahman, Ben Radcliffe, Matt Page and Ciaran Harvey were a formidable 4x100m team. A time of 50.48secs put them in 4th place, just 1.3secs behind the winners. In the 4x400m Paul Cousins, Jonathan Burrell, Mark Cage and Chris Gilbert, who had already run seven races between them, came 5th in a very respectable time of 4mins 12secs.
As the final points tally came in, Lewes & Haywards Heath had finished 6th out of the eight teams. Oxford had snuck passed us. But considering we were up against big city teams such as Oxford, and the eventual winners, Southampton, plus highly respected London clubs, we were more than satisfied with a good day’s work.
Mathew Homewood