East Anglian League, Extended Report – May 25th
A total of 13 Joggers competed at the second eight-way EAL fixture in Peterborough as part of our composite team with Ely Runners. The weather was, again, windy which may have skewed the results slightly but regrettably no official wind speed measurements are available. As ever with the EAL our thanks are due to Debbie Abraham and Alan Rutterford from Ely Runners for their tireless support both in organising the team on the day and for innumerable hours of advance preparation.
In the under-11s 80m race Seb Barrett ran 12.9s and Oliver Hilton 13.1s, both of them competing in their first ever track match. The same two athletes also contested the 600m finishing in 2:07.3 and 2.23.9 respectively.
Joggers competing in the 100m were Rio Mcandrew in 15.5s and Amber Smith with 14.7s, both of whom improved significantly on their performances from St Ives earlier in the week; and also Rory King (U17) in 14.5s. Given the uncertainties around wind and the fact that EAL uses hand timing rather than photofinish, it is impossible to read anything meaningful into the small difference between Rory’s two performances.
In the 100m hurdles the Joggers were represented by Cerys Bithell (U20) who delivered a creditable performance of 20.6s in her debut over this distance.
The 200m was heavily contested with Shane Mcandrew recording a blazing 26.9s to finish as the first Jogger in the senior mens’ race and setting a significant PB by over a second. Trailing him at some distance was Phil Blundell in 28.9s who nonetheless achieved a new 0.2s PB. For the senior women Krystal Szerszon (W35) and Lorraine King (W50) found themselves locked in an epic battle along the home straight, the eventual outcome being that Krystal prevailed in 38.4s and Lorraine came in at 38.9s, followed by Jo Smith (W40) at 41.4s. For all three of these ladies it was their first time racing over the distance and hence an automatic PB. In the junior categories Amber Smith recorded 30.4s, a further improvement on her time from St Ives, and Lewis Stinger (U13) 31.4s. Rory King ran 29.1s in his third race of the day and, despite getting his excuses in early about being tired from his prior 400m, still recorded a new PB.
There was a thinner field for the 400m but Elke Hausler (W60) recorded 73.7s, very slightly off her indoor time of 73.22s at the BMAF championships in February and Rory King ran 62.1s, nearly two seconds faster than at the previous EAL match and twelve seconds faster than his 400m time from a year ago.
The 800m proved more popular with Shane Mcandrew recording 2:15.5, ten seconds faster than last year’s time; Cerys Bithell 2:22.9 which, again, was ten seconds faster than her best from 2024; Lewis Stinger 2:55.54 in his first attempt at the distance; and Sophie Blundell 2:47.4, more than two seconds faster than at St Ives despite equally gusty conditions and setting a new lifetime PB by just over a second.
No Joggers opted to compete in the 1500m or 3000m which was perhaps surprising given the usual popularity of these events with road runners. Junior athletes are, however, bound by strict World Athletics rules which restrict both the number of separate events in which they can compete and the total distance which they can cover in a single day making these longer events less attractive when scoring points for the club is the priority.
We were able to stand up 4×100 relay teams in the senior men, senior women, U17 men and U15 girls. None of our relay teams were disqualified which was an improvement over the previous match. All of them finished last in their respective races but were nonetheless able to pick up 5 or 6 points each and all the team members enjoyed the experience which is ultimately what matters. An honourable mention is due to Lorraine King who, due to some kind of administrative mix-up with the senior ladies’ second team, found herself running two 100m legs rather than the one that she had signed up for.
Turning to the field, the long jump was, as is often the case, the event most favoured by Joggers. Cerys Bithell recorded 4.14m; Seb Barrett 3.53m; Shane Mcandrew 3.39m; Sophie Blundell 3.34m; Oliver Hilton 2.03m.
In the javelin Shane Mcandrew threw a distance of 18.19m, ahead of Krystal Szerszon on 11.90m and Sophie Blundell on 10.00. For both Shane and Krystal it was their first time throwing the javelin in competition so a PB was guaranteed, and for Sophie it was her first time with the U15 implement but she nonetheless recorded a new PB by approximately 0.23m.
Finally in the hammer Phil Blundell was somewhat relieved to record a legal throw at 11.03m and score a point for the team, having executed a rapid costume change from officiating in order to compete in a discipline that he has virtually no experience with. Jo Smith laid down a mark at 8.85m for the ladies in her first competition, and indeed the first known time that a female Jogger has competed in this discipline. Both were, again, guaranteed a PB in their first competition outing.
Overall the provisional results suggest that our senior women finished 3rd in this match, senior men 3rd, U17 women 7th, U17 men 2nd, U15 girls 4th, U15 boys 6th, U13 girls 6th and U13 boys 2nd. It is impossible to predict the resulting overall league standings because results from the Colchester fixture are not yet known, but we only need to finish in the top eight to qualify for the league final in September and our hopes of accomplishing this in at least some age groups remain alive for now. The next EAL match is on July 6th in Peterborough.
Report by Phil Blundell