SAL: Dartford

Head Coach Steve’s race report on the SAL in Dartford, held on the 10th and 11th of May.

The senior league season got underway with a match at Dartford on Saturday. The team was quite small, and we had several gaps across the men’s and women’s teams and this was crucial in the final result. We were in last place in the six-team match, but by only 15.5 points. However, this really doesn’t tell the story for Harlow on this beautiful afternoon.

The real story is how the team came together as the day unfolded, congregating around the steeplechase water jump to cheer on Ava, and knots of athletes supporting teammates, unbidden, at pits and throwing areas. I have been involved for many years now and this was by far the best atmosphere in the SAL era.

And what athletes off the track inspired was seen on it as people stepped up to throw, run and jump ‘just for a point’. Today, we were in probably our toughest match of the season and when other clubs meet these same sides, I think they will be pressed to achieve the 183.5pts that we did, and this could prove crucial over the season as a whole.

I was also grateful for the commitment of parents and athletes alike to get to the fixture. I know some got there on trains, others brought additional athletes and others brought athletes for a single race as the rest of the day had been spent revising for exams. This did not go unnoticed and is much appreciated by us all in the club.

There were a lot of debut and notable performances today:

Tommy on senior debut ran well for two good individual times; Marion chipped in with both a 200 and ‘bonus’ 400m race; Bailey stepped up to run a leg in a relay and we know he was nervous to do so; Manny came solely for 1500m and also ran a leg of relay; Conor was immense as he ran a 1500/5k double; Martin had an excellent debut in the 5k; Glen and Carl were still everywhere and getting it done!; Anthony had an awesome debut as he competed in five events and posted a huge new PB in the discus of over 35m; Dave had a good discus comp and it is not often a B thrower will go over 30m and not win the B competition.

On the women’s side:

Tia did not look out of place in senior competition and battled well in two tough sprints; Kiera hit a massive new pb in the 100; Isla did an amazing job running 400/800/1500 and a leg of the 4 x 400!; Faryl was equally tough as she did much the same. Instead of 1500m, she jumped in the triple jump at the end of an energy-sapping day; Sharon churned out the laps at 3000m and 1500m and still had the energy for a leg of 4 x 400; Michelle embodied the spirit of Harlow and achieved 5 valuable points in 3000m and Javelin; Ava wasn’t even down to compete, turned up, jumped in the B long jump and took third, volunteered for the Steeplechase and picked up 2 precious points; Halle, took time away form university to come back and compete and did well in high jump and long jump; Katie had a super debut and was particularly successful in the B long jump; Rhiana backed up her county hammer success with another 40m throw and another 30m+ discus; Danielle threw shot and discus for points and ran well in the relay and personally as a non-scorer earlier in the day.

I will get full results out asap but, at the time of writing, the result sheet still had inaccuracies that the host club will deal with.

Well done to you all, I was a very proud Harlow club member today, and you should all be too!