ATHLETICS: Luton sprint clear in relays to land second spot at Harriers

The women’s team performed brilliantly, even though several athletes were missing due to injuries, while the men were well supported by the athletes too, as Luton were pipped to top spot by the hosts finishing 23 points behind.

The fight for second place, between Luton and Ryston was close throughout the match with Luton coming out on top in the final relays.

For the men the highest scorer was Jamie Potton-Burrell who did all the A string throws finishing first in hammer (52.81m), shot (11.65m) and discus (34.24m) along with third in the javelin (31.57m), accumulating 14 points.

Rhys Lewis, competing for the team for the first time this season, covered three events.

He finished first in the B 200m (23.2secs) and A 400m (51.0secs) while came second in the 1,500m (4.14.1mins) and was part of the 4x400m relay team.

Emmanuel Owolabi won the A 100m (11.2secs) and 200m (22.9secs), also covering the shot, where he managed 6.34m for third in the B event.

Tope Fisayo competed in the A triple jump and was first in 13.31m before he managed 6.02m for second in the B long jump, 1.55m for fourth in the A high jump and went in the 4x100m relay.

The B 1,500m race was run by Tom Kearns who finished second (4.30.3mins) and he went on to do the A 5,000m finishing third (16.31.5mins).

Dan Bottesch was first in the B 400m (56.2secs) and volunteered for B javelin (25.07m) finishing in third.

U17 athlete Tyriq Lafeuille won the A 400m hurdles in 64.1secs and competed in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, while Romero Dujon had a busy day with fourth in the A 800m (2.27.4mins) and B high jump (1.35m), plus winning the B Triple Jump (11.75m) and was part of the 4x400m relay.

Michael Adebakin competed in the B 100m (12.1secs) and B long jump (6.02m) finishing third and first respectively, while he was also part of the 4x100m relay team.

Lee Carey placed fourth in both the B 800m (2.47.5mins) and willingly filled in for the discus (11.47m).

The A 110m hurdles was taken on by Zaheer Mohammed who finished fourth (26.8secs) and ran the B 400m hurdles, before taking third (88.1secs) and also agreed to do the B hammer placing second with 14.09m.

Club chairman Paul Brooks ran the B 5,000m placing third (24.40.3mins) and added an additional point in the A 2000m Steeplechase finishing fourth (11.08.4mins).

For the Ladies, the day started well with a double win in the 400m hurdles as Anna Bright took the A race (68.3secs) and Jazmine Barnett the B (76.8secs).

Barnett then moved on to the long jump finishing second (4.60,) and first pace in the triple jump (10.60m).

Natasha Hayman won the B long jump (4.59m) and B high jump (1.40m), while she and later finished third on her debut in the 2,000m steeplechase (8.28.6mins).

Rebecca Hawtin won the high jump (1.50m), while Anna Bright on her debut in the B triple jump, landed 10.05m.

In the throws, Suzanna Wise and Vicky Hill were in good form, producing a double win in the hammer with Wise throwing 39.21m and Hill 36.71m.

Hill followed this with second place in the shot (8.49m) with Wise second in the B event (8.05m), in the discus, Wise was first in the A event (32.50m) and Hill fourth in the B event (15.73m), while in the javelin, they were both fourth, Wise (18.10m) and Hill (14.46m).

Back on the track, Claire McMahon-Adie ran superbly to win the 3,000m (10.47.0mins) and 1,500m (5.09.8mins), while Anna Bright was second in the 400m (61.1secs) with Lauren Myrie-Formstone first in the B race (64.8secs).

In the sprints there was tough competition from Croydon as Kristal Lister was fourth in the A 100m (13.4secs) and second in the B 200m (28.5secs).

Debutante Kerry Slaney was third in the B 100m (13.8secs) and Myrie-Formstone was third in the A 200m (27.7secs).

In the 4x100m relays, the women’s team of Lister, Slaney, Bright and Myrie-Formstone came in third (54.5secs).

The men’s team of Lafeuille, Fisayo, Owolabi and Adebakin finished fourth (56.6secs).

After this event Luton were in second place in the match 4.5 points ahead of Ryston, but a double win for Ryston in the women’s 2,000m steeplechase saw them move 1.5 points ahead of Luton with just the 4x400m relays left to complete.

In a thrilling finale, the quartet of Myrie-Formstone, Barnett, Bright, and Lister stormed to victory in a brilliant women’s event, clocking 4.18.5mins.

The men’s race saw the team of Lewis, Dujon, Lafeuille and Bottesch placed third in 3.49.5mins, while Ryston were placed fourth in both relays as Luton pinched second spot from them by just 2.5 points.

The result moves Luton up to 11th in the division, with the next event taking place at Stockwood Park on Saturday, July 9.

Result: 1, Croydon Harriers 199; 2, Luton 176; 3, Ryston Runners 173.5; Colchester and Tendring, 164.5.