SOUTHERN LEAGUE: Nene Valley close in another title, Ella and Nicola at the double for PAC

Nene Valley Harriers are on the verge of winning a Southern League title for the second time in three years.
Ellie Mae Stokes was in top form for Nene Valley harriers in Crawley.Ellie Mae Stokes was in top form for Nene Valley harriers in Crawley.
Ellie Mae Stokes was in top form for Nene Valley harriers in Crawley.

A superb win in the Division One meeting at Crawley means the city club just have to avoid a last-place finish in the final meeting at Southampton next month to ensure they finish top.

For the first time in a couple of years Nene Valley’s men outscored their ladies, but this was an outstanding team effort.

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The club’s field athletes were in terrific form. The men won all but three of their events, while the lady throwers, Andrea Jenkins, Lydia Church, Kelly Lawrence, Becky Hall and Ellie Mae Stokes won all five of their events.

Ella De Lucis won two events for Peterborough Athletic Club in Luton.Ella De Lucis won two events for Peterborough Athletic Club in Luton.
Ella De Lucis won two events for Peterborough Athletic Club in Luton.

Emily Maltby won high jump and long jump events as Nene Valley Ladies cleaned up in every event bar two.

Maltby added a 100m sprint and a relay win with a second place in the A string hurdles completing a superb individual day. She finished with 19 points, one short of a maximum from five events, with Jenkins and Stokes collecting 12 points from three events apiece.

For the men Sean Reidy and Simon Achurch collected 11 points from four events with Martin Tinkler gaining 10 points from three events.

Achurch recorded two wins and a second in throwing events.

Ella De Lucis won two events for Peterborough Athletic Club in Luton.Ella De Lucis won two events for Peterborough Athletic Club in Luton.
Ella De Lucis won two events for Peterborough Athletic Club in Luton.
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In the short sprints Gideon Okoh and Callum Crosby won 100m races. Okoh was also second in the 200m, but David Bown won the B string race for valuable points.

James McRae won both middle distance races and Ollie Bowling won the 800m B race and added a second place in the steeplechase.

Other important wins were gained by Gregorij Kondratovis in the B string pole vault and new member Cipriano Miranda with an impressive 13.46m in the triple jump.

And Nene Valley’s strong team spirit was confirmed at the end of a long day in the relays.

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The men won both the 100m and 400m, while the ladies claimed the 100m and were only pipped to first place in the 400m by an exceptional run from a Blackheath athlete.

Nene Valley members recorded numerous personal bests with Claire Smith setting the tone in the opening events when finishing third in the 400m hurdles B race, a position matched by Rosie Jacobs in the A race.

Reidy and David Bush won the mens’ 400m races.

Result: 1 Nene Valley Harriers 243, 2 Blackheath & Bromley 223, 3 Crawley AC 157, 4 Dartford Harriers.

Peterborough Athletic Club finishing fourth of six in their latest Southern Athletics Division Three North meeting in Luton.

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PAC picked up 11 race wins with Ella De Lucis and Nicola Gibson collecting two apiece.

De Lucis won the womens 100m A race by some distance in a time of 12.8 seconds and was also a clear winner of the 100m hurdles A race in 15.1 seconds.

Gibson completed a B race 200m and 400m double with times of 29.3 and 64.1 respectively.

PAC Ladies also won the 100m B race through Abigail Vergette (13.3), while Stacy McGivern took top spot in the high jump with a leap of 1.35m.

The other ladies success arrived in the 4 x 100m relay.

Lordie Bevan (A 400m), Josh White (B 800m), James Whitehead (B 3000m) and Jamie Horne (B high jump) were the PAC male winners.