Newbury AC battle hard for third placed finish in SAL meeting in Abingdon
Newbury Athletic Club had a tough second match in their 2023 Southern Athletics League campaign at Abingdon on Sunday, battling hard against a strong line up of bigger clubs.
The club were delighted to end the day third overall, behind South Bucks AC and host club Radley AC, but ahead of Reading AC, City of Portsmouth AC and Guildford & Godalming.
Newbury had a youthful team, but all were unfazed competing against senior opposition.
The best result of the day came in the women's 800m, where U20 Phoebe Ryder-Benson ran a tactically perfect race to pull clear on the home straight and take the A string win in a time of 2:23.
U17 Katya Burgess was only a few seconds behind Phoebe, narrowly missing out on a Newbury one-two on track, but comfortably winning the B string for maximum points in the event.
The men almost made it a perfect event event for the club, with Harry Russell and Jacob Woods picking up second A string and first B string respectively for a strong points haul in the two lap distance.
This was mainly a day for strength in numbers rather than individual brilliance, with Newbury's key to success being a gritty determination to pick up points in every event.
This was personified in the men's triple jump, where both discus throwers Dan Tuttle and Ryan Hill stepped away from the throwing cage mid competition to put in a single jump into the sandpit to keep the points score alive.
To make things more complicated, Tuttle was also part of a third event simultaneously with the 4x100m relay, while Hill had to learn the technique quickly having never previously triple jumped.
A predictable but commendable sixth place was good enough for a point each, and a V35 club record for Hill was an unexpected bonus.
Cross country regular Josie Robertson made her long awaited senior track debut in the 5000m, lapping the entire ladies field and a few of the men too, to take a dominant victory in a time of 18:03 - a performance good enough for runner up spot in the overall female athlete of the match award.
Anna Delavere came out on top in a close three way battle in the ladies triple jump, while Matt Davies and Dan Tuttle scored big points with a double win in the men's 110m hurdles.
There were further B string wins for Craig Beecham in the long jump and Miriam Cooper in the 1500m, while it was great to see U17s George Down and Matt Carter make their senior debuts.
A fresh faced 4x400m mixed relay team rounded off the day in third place, made up entirely of U17 athletes to highlight the promising future that Newbury AC has.
