[Not a valid template]Wins by Jeremy Harper at discus, Peter Glass at triple jump and Brendan McConville at pole vault plus thirds by James Budde at steeplechase and in the Medley Relay helped North Down to a third place finish at Bedford in the British Athletics League Plate Final, which was part of a double header with the BAL Cup Final. It was a very windy day but dry or rather it was dry for the 100 minutes that North Down were on stage. The Plate was won with 78 points by Bolton United Harriers, fellow qualifiers from the Blackpool semi final, with Woking AC second on 68 and North Down just behind on 66 points.
Jeremy, Brendan and Peter were all in the opening set of field events and while the vault and to some extent the triple jump had a way to go, the discus was soon over. Jeremy was the class of the field and wrapped up the hoped-for opening win with 49.27m. The track soon followed with a tactical 1500m with Robin Brown going well and looking good for 4th. He got taken in the run-in and was 5th but was still well inside his pb with 4:17.19 min, the race going to Bolton”s big gun Tom Lancashire. John Saulters then followed in the 400m with a seasons best of 50.43 sec for 4th.
[Not a valid template]The most dramatic event was the triple jump which had been simmering in the meantime. In his first triple jump competition since he was 15, Peter had marginally fouled with a big jump and was destined to hover around the 12.70 mark for the subsequent 4 rounds while athletes from Exeter Harriers, Woking and Herts Phoenix played leapfrog with the lead and each other. Peter gazumped them all in the 6th and final round with 13.36m to win by 2cms and put North Down in the lead after 4 events.
[Not a valid template]James Niblock was 7th in the 200m in 24.42 sec and the 800m followed with Lancashire completing the double for Bolton and James Budde getting 4th with 1:57.25 min, though it was Woking now in the lead with a string of consistent performances. It was then Jeremy again in the hammer, not his best throwing event and his first for some years. but he got 4th with 38.42m. The vault had finally climaxed with the elimination of all but Brendan who had yet to enter and with Woking and Tamworth tied on 3.60m. Brendan duly cleared with his opening vault to win with 4.40m and put the bar straight to 4.75m. The strategy was to get in a position for an attack on 5m in the limited number of attempts allowed under 10 in 100 rules. It was far too windy for that to work and his attempts at 3.75m were close but doomed. It was still another win and as James Budde in his 2nd event collected 3rd in his first steeplechase since his junior days in 10:22.9 with Woking well down, we were within a couple of points of them.
[Not a valid template]However Bolton had ominously won the steeplechase and followed it immediately with a 100m win and, with Philip Browne 6th in 11.70 sec, putting Bolton firmly in the driving seat. It was still going to come down to the relay as all good finals should and this was a 400-200-200-400m Medley. Brendan led nearly all the way though Herts Phoenix just got him at the end but messy changeovers yet again followed. With North Down 3rd and well down for the closing 400m, John Saulters put in a huge effort but coulld not improve and with Bolton winning from Herts that was the match.
Along with 13 other clubs, North Down now await the result of a “paper match” to decide the 8 most appropriate teams to compete in a Qualifying Match on 15th September for entry to the BAL proper.
Race Videos by Phil Browne