Peterborough & Nene Valley athletes flex their muscles in National League meeting, massive 10k race at Ferry Meadows on Sunday
A National Athletics League Championship East fixture at the Embankment last Sunday (June 6) was a first chance of the summer for Peterborough & Nene Valley AC stars to show their strength as a senior club.
And they did not disappoint finishing second to Chelmsford AC after an action-packed afternoon of high quality track and field events.
The men’s 3,000m was always going to be a highlight with main men Alex Gibb and Phil Martin going for the host club.
And Gibb promptly led a Peterborough and Nene Valley AC one-two with a winning time of 8:57.8. Martin finished a clear second despite being heavy legged from the 1,500m which he had run earlier in the afternoon.
Highlighting the long distance-running strength at the club Maggie Skinner won the ladies 3,000m in 11:03.00 with Chloe Findlay close behind in second place.
Sarah Caskey won the B 1,500m in 5:32.2 along with the 2,000m steeplechase, while Alex Hampson found himself third in a very competitive 800m race with a new personal best of 1:54.6.
The throws produced a series of fine results for the PANVAC team.
Lithuanian Mindaugas Jurksa won the shot with a 14.84m throw. Beckie Hall threw 12.26 for second place in the ladies shot, while Elizabeth Moorhouse won the B competition with a throw just two centimetres down on Hall’s
Alexander Ingham and Max Hall won the A and B string javelin with throws of 51.35 and 49.99m respectively and Martin Tinkler gained maximum points in the B hammer with a throw of 37.18m.
Jamelia Henson took the ladies B triple jump honours with a 9.26m effort and Alexander Ingham added to his javelin success as first men’s triple jump B stringer. Ingham registered an 11.80m jump, while Nat Amaoade was second in the A event with 13.37m.
Tomi Ogunyoye won maximum points in the long jump with a 6.59m leap while Dave Brown, with a season’s best of 51.5, won the B 400m.
James Marsh was first in the B 200 with a time of 23.5.
The only bad news on Sunday was a nasty injury to club captain Dave Bush, who tore his Achilles after falling over the final barrier in the 400m hurdles.
It was also a good day for the men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Dave Brown, Luke Phillips, Sean Reidy and Sean Garmory. Having all competed in earlier individual races, they showed great powers of recovery winning the relay in a useful time of 3:29.50.
Final standings: Chelmsford AC 374.9pts, Peterborough & Nene Valley 317.3, Bedford and County 217.2, Herts Phoenix AC 180.3, Southend AC 52.6.
** There’s a bumper entry over over 1,000 athletes to the Peterborough Midsummer 10k race at Ferry Meadows on Sunday.
The race starts at 9am and, after a funnelled start to adhere to Covid regulations, the runners will meander past lakes, woodland anmd meadows in one of Peterborough’s beauty spots.