From Strength to Strength

Fixture 2 of the Senior League season saw us back at our home venue. Following on from Fixture 1 where the team had a tightly contested third place finish, we had some absences from within the team from the first fixture and creating the same finish looked like a tough task at the start of the day.

Glenn Aspindle got the day off to a strong start with a win in the Pole Vault and almost clearing a Personal Best (PB) in the windy conditions that stayed around the stadium all day. Glenn went from strength to strength with another win in the 110m Hurdles, followed by a win in the Javelin, a Seasons Best (SB) in the Long Jump to claim second and in the High Jump, a 6 year in the waiting PB jump lead to yet another second place finish.
The points kept tallying up as Jake Darby claimed first place in the B Pole Vault with a near PB jump, a second place in the B 110m Hurdles in a SB time, a SB throw in the Hammer to finish fourth, along with two near SB throws in the Shout Putt and Discus to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Connor Bell increased the points tally with near Season Best throw in the Hammer finishing comfortably third in the B string, before going on to almost get SB throws in the Shot Putt, Discus and Javelin.
Youngster James Bell had an impressive run in the 100m to claim himself a new PB time, backed up with another strong run in the 200m, before going onto a SB jump in the High Jump which lead to a victory in the B string. Yorkshire Champion Rueben Byfield once again joined the team with a victory in the Triple Jump in his third largest jump of the season. In the 400m Bayleigh Lawton ran a comfortable race to finish victorious in his third fastest time of the season. Tyler Cossins joined the team once again and claimed a PB in the 200m, and almost a SB in the 100m, along with a third place finish in the B string Long Jump. Simon Bolland had his first run out in the 1500m of the season to finish comfortably in third place after battling the warmth. The experienced pairing of Ian Ogden and Kevin Ogden fought against the warm conditions in the 5km to run strong races and claim even more points to the teams tally.

The women’s team were just as quick to pick up points with Molly Waring claiming a win in the first track event on t eh day in the 400m Hurdles, she was backed up by Soraya Crodden who also claimed a victory in the B string 400m Hurdles. The Dynamic Duo also claimed another set of first places with Soraya winning the 100m Hurdles in an SB time, with Molly winning the B string in a PB time finally breaking the 18 second barrier.
Molly went on to add a second place in the Long Jump with a near SB, an equal Sb in the High Jump for a third place finish, before finishing third in the 200m. Soraya ran an SB time in the 100m to finish in second, a first place finish in the B string Long Jump and finishing her day off with another second place in the Javelin B String.
Also in the Field Charlotte Bell re-joined the team for the first time this season, throwing her way to a second place finish in the Shot Putt and Discus and then moving onto a third place finish in the Hammer and Javelin while beating her best throws from last season in all four throws.
Youngster Summer Haynes joined the team again with an impressive 100m run to finish third in the B string, before going on to a comfortable third place in the 200m B string in her first competitive race over that distance.

With the absence from the team we could only run the men’s relay teams. It has been a number of years since we last had a win in the men’s 4x100m team, but that was to end as the team of Aspindle, Cossins, J.Bell and Darby successfully navigated the baton round in first place, the first relay victory for Darby in over a decade of trying for Spen.
The men’s 4x400m relay team also managed to successfully navigate the baton around the track finishing nicely in third place, featuring Bolland, I.Ogden, K.Ogden and Darby.

When the day came to a close it was not meant to be another third place finish for Spen, as we ended surpassing our previous final placing in Second Place! A great effort from all those involved to secure the best finish we have had in years.
Next fixture is Sunday 10th July at Hull as we try for another great team effort with hopefully those missing returning back to the team.

FINAL STANDINGS:
Kingston Upon Hull - 436
Spenborough AC - 333
Harrogate Harriers - 311
Hallamshire Harriers - 269
Skyrac AC - 253
Bingley Harriers - 182
Scarborough AC - 55