Heathside Victory at SAL Croydon
I don't think anyone foresaw the SAL result at Croydon last Sunday. With Croydon very near the top of the league table in 2017 (just a single point off promotion), which included a victory over Heathside on neutral ground in Havering, we were a little apprehensive over taking on a strong team in their backyard. Turns out we needn't have worried. The talented and hardworking, multi-eventing Heathside athletes destroyed the competition. Second place, Medway & Maidstone were over 40 points behind, and Croydon and Orion crawled into third and fourth place, far behind.
The dominance that our Heathside team displayed across every event was a privilege to observe and be a part of. We not only filled every event but won both A and B competitions across a host of disciplines, including men's and women's 1500, men's 3000m, women's 5000m, women's 400mH and 100mH, women's high jump, both men's long jump and triple jump, and women's pole vault.
Vital to our win were the numerous officials and volunteers who made the competition run flawlessly and on time. Next time you come across the following superstars, please do thank them for their invaluable contribution: Jacob Howe, Angela Howe, Jessica Vinluan, Sebouh Takvorian, John Flahive, Daniel Johns, Giulia Ariete, Anna McAllister, David Fallon, Chris Dissanayake, Gokce Baydar, Claudia Backhaus, Tom Bedwell, and Jerry Odlin. A big thanks to Head Honcho, Jonathan Litchfield, who works tirelessly to organise the volunteers and provide first class organisation at competitions, giving the club a good name - as well as scoring valuable points. Jonathan called out Claudia and Sebouh in particular, who are always willing to help and can be relied upon to do an excellent job.
No athlete would go far without the excellent coaches at Heathside, who volunteer hours every week alongside their proper jobs to get us athletes running, jumping and throwing so well. Hats off to Mike, Mark, Chris, Jacob, Kabir, Nathan and Zac for their endless help and advice.
Top performances on the melting hot day included Antanas Weston wiping 20 seconds off the U20 3000m steeple chase club record with a time of 10:33.47 – breaking a record that was as old as the athlete himself. Angela Howe pushed Satu Heitanen out of the W45 club records with a blistering 20:46.5 5000m. And Francesca Johnson, despite a minor "hurdle" in the 100mH, got maximum points for Heathside in the race and went on to get a PB in 100m, equal her 200m PB and place second in discus (also a PB). Finally, newcomer Ivar Stefansson showed us how the Norwegians do it by putting a show-stopping performance, edging out Medway on the line to win a high quality 3000m race. There were countless other PBs and SBs by Heathsiders – fantastic work all round!
Full results below. Well done Heathside. Let’s repeat on Saturday 23 June at St. Albans. COYH!
London Heathside – 231
Medway & Maidstone – 191
Croydon Harriers – 173
Orion Harriers – 172
Men
100m
Joseph Galea 11.32
Jeff Rice 12.53
Ajarni Hinds 12.92
200m
Joseph Galea 23.29
Jaime Rodriguez Garcia 24.97 NS
Jeff Rice 24.81 NS
Ajarni Hinds 26.42 400m
Simon Davies 54.24
Richard Macaulay 55.31 NS
David Fallon 58.9 NS
Lemi Mideksa 60.3
800m
Richard Macaulay 02:01.5
Daniel Johns 02:10.8 NS
Lemi Mideksa 02:18.9
1500m
Andrew Brooker 04:07.3
Richard Macaulay 04:20.5 NS
Tom Bedwell 04:50.3 NS
Jonathan Litchfield 05:07.5
3000m
Ivar Stefansson 08:52.0
Liam Garrett 09:12.3
110mH
Nathan Cyrus 20.2
Ivan Ross 22.1
400mH
Simon Davies 60.48
Ivan Ross 67.61
3000m SC
Antanas Weston 10:33.5
Daniel Johns 11:10.3
High jump
David Fallon 1.63
Nathan Cyrus 1.58
Pole vault
Nathan Cyrus 3.15
Ivan Ross 2.75
Long jump
Emmanuel Nwaobodo 5.87
Mark Lawrence 5.72
Triple jump
Nathan Cyrus 12.47
Emmanuel Nwaobodo 11.94
Shot put
Emmanuel Nwaobodo 11.18
Mark Lawrence 10.27 NS
Joel Hawes 7.83
Discus
Mark Lawrence 31.98
Emmanuel Nwaobodo 26.15 NS
Richard Leather 22.17 NS
Joel Hawes 23.81
Hammer
Joel Hawes 22.33
Emmanuel Nwaobodo 20.91
Javelin
Richard Leather 41.96
Emmanuel Nwaobodo 31.57 NS
Ivan Ross 33.7
4x100m
44.6
Joseph Galea
Nathan Cyrus
Jaime Rodriguez Garcia
Emmanuel Nwaobodo
4x400m
03:42.5
Simon Davies
Andrew Brooker
Richard Macaulay
Ivar Stefansson
4x400m NS
04:05.2
Daniel Johns
David Fallon
Tom Bedwell
Lemi Mideksa
Women
100m
Pauline Le Tacon 13.83
Alishia Abodunde 14.69 NS
Francesca Johnson 14.07 NS
Becky Wing 14.67
200m
Noelle O'Regan 27.34
Naomi Conlon 27.54 NS
Jennifer Wing 28.37 NS
Francesca Johnson 29.86
400m
Noelle O'Regan 61.9
Elena Susana 65.2
800m
Rosa Serafini 02:20.1
Jennifer Wing 02:38.3
1500m
Kelly Thorneycroft 05:06.1
Lily Woolcock 05:15.2 NS
Sue Rust 05:37.4 NS
Jessica Vinluan 05:51.2
5000m
Kelly Thorneycroft 18:24.4
Angela Howe 20:56.5 NS
Sue Rust 20:41.9
110mH
Becky Wing 20.2
Francesca Johnson 25.2
400mH
Lily Woolcock 82.57
Anna McAllister 84.79
1500m SC
Jennifer Wing 06:09.9
Jessica Vinluan 06:33.6
High jump
Anna McAllister 1.53
Jennifer Wing 1.33 NS
Becky Wing 1.28
Pole vault
Giulia Ariete 1.6
Gokce Baydar 1.23
Long jump
Pauline Le Tacon 4.29
Claudia Backhaus 3.59
Triple jump
Pauline Le Tacon 8.62
Claudia Backhaus 7.73
Shot put
Noelle O'Regan 9.73
Claudia Backhaus 5.89
Discus
Noelle O'Regan 30.39
Francesca Johnson 15.46
Hammer
Noelle O'Regan 24.26
Elena Susana 17.99
Javelin
Claudia Backhaus 11.57
Gokce Baydar 10.68
4x100m
52.88
Pauline Le Tacon
Naomi Conlon
Noelle O'Regan
Alishia Abodunde
4x400m
04:18.1
Rosa Serafini (61.02)
Naomi Conlon (65.57)
Elena Susana (65.56)
Noelle O'Regan (66.07)
4x400m NS
04:56.1
Athlete
Athlete
Athlete
Athlete