Luton AC Secure 2nd Place in Southern Athletics League Div3 N
The 4th and final match or the Southern Athletics League Div 3N was held at Sandy Athletics Track on Saturday 13th August. Once again, Luton had to settle for 2nd place, with many of their athletes missing due to injury, illness and holiday. The result was enough to guarantee 2nd place in their division behind South Bucks. South Bucks is a team combining Chiltern Harriers and Wycombe Phoenix.
Final Points score was South Bucks 331, Luton 188, Biggleswade Buzzards 176, Northampton 161, Maidenhead 135 and Vale of Aylesbury 7.
Luton always achieves solid points in the throws. There are 2 places in each event (A string and B string). The ladies team did not disappoint, with 2 wins for Suzy Wise in the A Hammer (41.03m) and B Discus (32.77m). Suzy also manages 2nd place in the A Shot Putt (8.19m). Huge wins for Jo Blair in the A Javelin (43.42m), Dawn Williams in the B Javelin (23.30m) and B Shot (7.76m) and Emma Beales in the A Discus.(38.48m). A great return for the female throwers.
The Men, as usual did not let the team down. There were 3 wins for youngster Zack Grinsted, putting the 7.26kg Shot 11.56m, throwing the Discus 34.96m (both A string) and Throwing the Javelin 31.77m to win the B event. Jordan Davies was 2nd in the A Javelin, his specialist event, with 46.03m and backed that up with wins in the B Hammer (25.61m) and B Discus (33.90m). Evergreen David Burrell won the A string Hammer with 34.39m.
The jumps were not so productive for Luton. Dawn Williams filled the A Long Jump slot, coming 4th with 3.63m. Gabby Slinko was the only other female competitor for the team, leaping 1.30m for 4th place in the High Jump. The men fared a little better, Romero Dujon jumping 5.24m in the Long Jump (4th) and 11.06m in the Triple Jump (3rd).
In the sprints, Bluebell Cooke won the 200m with 27.1s, and Gabby Slinko was 3rd in the 100m (13.5s). Twin Brother Olly Slinko won the Mens 200 A in 22.8s with Dylan St Helien winning the B race in 24.3s. Olly was 2nd in the 100m in 11.3s and Aidan Jarvis won the B race in 11.8s. Dylan was then 5th in the 400m in 61.7s.
Luton performed well in the middle distance events, especially the Ladies. Bluebell Cooke was a convincing winner of the 800m (2m 20.3s), backed up by Rosie Canham, who came 2nd in 2m 42.5s in the B race. Rosie won the B 1500m in 5m 59.7s with Emily Brown coming 4th in the A race in 5m 39.4s. Emily doubled up in the 5000m, coming 2nd in 19m 51.3s. With the absence of Jed Noblett, Nathan Davis ran an excellent 2m 08.7s for 2nd place in the 800m. Herbie Johnson was 4th in the 1500m (4m 41.1s).
Mixed results in the Relays, 3rd place for the men in the 4 x 100m, and a disqualification for the 4 x 400m mixed relay team for a technical infringement.
Overall, a season of mixed fortunes for Luon AC, they will be looking to fill more of the empty places in the team in next year’s competition.
Gerry Gough (Luton AC)