The first round of the 2008 Athletics season got underway this weekend as Oxford City Travelled to Hemel Hempstead for their introduction to Division 2 following promotion in 2007. However, hopes were dashed before the competition began as City was without any middle distance runners due to a combination of injury, alternative competitions and the bank holiday weekend. Still, City managed to round up a strong team to compete in the Sprints and Throws, which showed throughout the competition as the Premier Club Enfield and Haringey struggled to contain City’s young guns. As expected the competition started slowly for City with Ben Kelsey picking up second place the Hammer Throw and the Shot Put and Ian Castle also grabbing 2nd with a PB in the Javelin with a throw of 44.25m.
Things started to hot up in the sprints when the talented duo of David Gain and Chris Brougham were both narrowly pipped to the post in times of 11.3s and 11.6s respectively. More good news was that 11.6s was actually a PB for the 17 year old Chris. Their good form continued in the 200m both grabbing second place by the narrowest of margins from the fast finishing Enfield runners. David Gain’s 22.9s run was particularly impressive as not only was it a PB, but it also places him in the top 50 U20 boys in the country! With so many events not covered there was precious little for City to celebrate on track aside from a decent effort in the 4 x 100m when some decidedly tired legs grabbed third against a much fresher Enfield and Thurrock.
However, it was on the field that City began to exert its dominance when Ben Kelsey stepped into the discus cage. Following a couple of tentative throws early on Kelsey unleashed a massive 3rd attempt to record a PB of 48.81m, which places him 8th on the overall national rankings! From this point onwards, city’s lack of strength really started to tell as it was unable to field any athletes in the remaining 2 events do the detriment of a possible 15 points.
So, to the next match when City will travel to Norwich in the hope of fielding a stronger team and gaining some valuable points and with it some much needed momentum…