The Jo Smith Cup 2010
At Barnet Copthall stadium, in the final Club competition of the 2010 Track and Field Season, the Clubs’ Cup Final, The Jo Smith Trophy, WGwEL’s combined men’s and women’s team failed by just 2 ½ points to retain the trophy they had won in 2009. Despite a decidedly “end of season” feel about the match, with many top competitors having finished their season and some others heading to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games deciding not to compete it was an enthralling competition, with, in the end just 6 points separating the top three clubs. Hosts Shaftsbury Barnet ran out winners with 232 points, from Woodford on 229 ½ and Birchfield on 226. Of Woodford’s four winners on the day, perhaps the most pleasing was from Dan Davis who won the 110mH, and recorded a personal best for the second week in succession as he dipped under 14 seconds for the first time, recording 13.97 secs (-0.3).
In the men’s 100m, Dan Davis doubled up with his hurdles effort and placed 6th into a strong headwind with 11.11 secs (-2.8). Junior Paul Scanlan filled the 400m slot and, from the outside lane, performed admirably to hold 3rd spot up the straight, clocking 49.00 secs. In the 800m Omar Mansour who, having been sick during the latter part of the week, was unsure until the day before if he would be able to run, placed a good 4th in 1m55.44 secs. Training partner and another junior, Alex Cornwell, in a tactical 1500m, was 2nd in 4m00.42 secs, and in the 3000m team race, where points were awarded on the basis of the combined times of the two athletes, Woodford placed 3rd, with Dan Agustus recording 8m45.96 secs and Bertie Powell 9m03.79 secs. In the 400mH Francis Smith showed significantly improved form to place 2nd with 53.24 secs, and in the 3000m s/ch Angus Holford ran a well-paced race to come through in the latter stages and place 2nd, in a personal best of 10m03.68 secs.
In the other field events, Christian North was sadly unable to compete in the pole vault after injuring himself having landed awkwardly in warming up. The long and high jump spots were filled by juniors: Peter Kirabo placing 6th in the long jump with a personal best of 6.03m and Billy Falconer placing 5th= in the high jump with 1.90m, whilst Sayo Ojo was 3rd in the triple jump with 13.93m. In the hammer, veteran Fergus Harford filled in for the Delhi-bound Andy Frost and Mark Dry, placing 8th with 35.86m, and in the shot, Carl Fletcher was a good 2nd with 17.10m.In the 4x100m team manager Gladys Bird decided to use a team all of whom are still juniors next season. In placing a very close 4th with 42.70 secs, David Olupitan, Omolulu Abiouden, Austin Joseph and Sam Watts showed the benefit of having regularly practised baton changing. The 4x400m squad which consisted of 3 juniors - Joseph, Paul Scanlan, and Watts - combined with Nick Leavey to record 3m17.80 secs for 3rd and, despite Nick’s fine 46.5 sesc final leg, were not able to do quite enough to close the overall points score on SBH.
The women, despite not having an individual winner on the day, had a number of fine second places, and scored well throughout all the events, with many exceeding the placings expected of them going into the match. The sprints were of a very high standard, both won by former Olympic 200m finalist, Shaftsbury Barnet’s’s Abi Oyepitan. Elaine O’Neil, representing Wales in Delhi, was 3rd in the 100m in 12.00 secs, and Rachel Giwa was just outside her season’s best placing 4th over 200m with 24.59 secs (-0.1). Over 400m Claire Leckie picked up valuable unexpected 3rd place points with 60.92 secs, as did Kathrine Foy in the 800m with 2m21.18 secs. Over 1500m and without a specialist available, Zoe Watson gamely filled in and placed 5th with 5m11.22 secs. Diana Kennedy was extremely unlucky in the 2000m s/ch, hitting a barrier and falling with 200m to go when leading comfortably. She recovered to place 2nd in 7m28.69 secs. Diana then returned less than an hour later to compete, together with Becky Hewitt, in the 3000m team race where Woodford placed 4th, Diana recording 10m45.47secs and Becky 11m31.23 secs. Over 400mH, Tracey Duncan was 2nd with 59.06 secs, and then helped out by competing in her first 100mH for eight years, finishing strongly to place 5th in 15.06 secs (-1.6).In the jumps, Kitty Eleyae in the long jump was a fine 2nd with 5.73m, Ayamba Akim was 3rd in the high jump with 1.70m, junior Rachel Dean was 5th in the triple jump with 10.95, and in the pole vault Maria Seager was 3rd with 3.75m. In the throws, there was a 2nd place for Ann Silva in the javelin with 43.59m, a 3rd place in the shot for Jo Duncan with 14.68m, 4th for Hollie Redman in the discus with 40.21m, and 5th in the hammer for Sarah Smith with 49.24m. The women’s 4x100m team of Rachel Dean, Rachel Giwa, Kitty Eeyae and Elaine O’Neil were 2nd in 49.49 secs, and the 4x400m team of Kathrine Foy, Sophie Fuhr, Zoe Watson and Claire Leckie were 3rd in 4m06.79 secs
Final Team Scores:
1. Shaftsbury Barnet Harriers 232 points
2. Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 229.5
3. Birchfield Harriers 226
4. Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow 185
5. City Of Manchester (Sale) 177
6. Newham and Essex Beagles 142.5
7. Enfield and Haringey 119
8. Trafford 103