News from South London Harriers
August 9th, 2007: Southern Men’s League - summary of the season
Posted by Paul at 12:25 pmIt was the usual cliffhanger for the SLH men’s team in the Southern League Division 3S. Despite being just 5 points short of a match win at Tonbridge in the closest match in the league, and getting the only draw in the table with Serpentine, we were always threatened with the relegation zone. There were some strong individual performances. In the long jump, our captain, Darren Brown, was undefeated to score 5 wins from 5. Kieran backed him up with 4 “B” wins from 4. In fact, we only dropped 2 points in the long jump all season. Peter Wickens had just a small slip to score 4 wins and a second place in the javelin.
Seven athletes scored in all 5 matches (Barry, Darren, Peter, the sprint duo of John and Jacob, Michael and myself), ably backed by 22 more.
But the weaknesses showed. The only events we scored above average points over the season were the three jumps (long, triple, high), the javelin and the sprint relay. We scraped an average score on the 5,000m, but all other events we were below par.
We dropped points in the pole vault and each hurdling event through lack of competitors. The pole vaulters didn’t clear above the opening height, and we didn’t succeed in getting our best two hurdlers out in the same match. And although we only dropped 2 points in the long jump, we only gained 2 points all season in the high hurdles.
For many of the team, it was the first full season at the men’s level - combined with Sunday matches for the young athletes. The sprint and jump squads are young and up-and-coming. What we need for the future is the specialists to back them up.
Our team efforts were sufficent to keep us just above relegation - I believe the third season in a row we have avoided the drop by just one place. League table is below:
Southern Men’s League 3S - Final Table
| Team | League pts | Match pts | Pos |
| Victoria Park & TH | 24 | 735 | 1 |
| Bexley | 23 | 718 | 2 |
| Herne Hill Harriers | 23 | 685 | 3 |
| Blackheath & Bromley | 21 | 707.5 | 4 |
| London Heathside | 21 | 652.5 | 5 |
| St Mary’s Richmond | 20 | 663.5 | 6 |
| Ealing, Southall & Middx | 19 | 673.5 | 7 |
| Eastbourne Rovers | 19 | 641 | 8 |
| Paddock Wood | 17 | 573.5 | 9 |
| Haywards Heath Harriers | 16 | 616 | 10 |
| Tunbridge Wells & Langton | 15 | 601 | 11 |
| Serpentine | 14.5 | 569 | 12 |
| Medway & Maidstone | 13 | 370.5 | 13 |
| South London Harriers | 12.5 | 561 | 14 |
| Havant | 12 | 451.5 | 15 |
| Hastings | 10 | 363.5 | 16 |
Posted in Track & Field
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