Southern Athletics League Match 3 at Little Marlow

The third in the four-match series of the Southern Athletics League took place on Sunday at Little Marlow where the Wycombe and Chiltern team were hosting. It was a sunny day with pleasant temperatures and a blustery wind that came and went. Chiltern Harriers provided several athletes contributing to the team score which at the end totalled 263.5 points, enough for a strong second place this time in the match of six teams.
 
Sarah Cross did her usual strong job of scoring well across a range of events - second in A string pole vault, third in A string javelin, and fifth in A string triple jump. Issy Robinson also had a good day, winning 2000m steeplechase in her debut at the event in 7.52.59 and placing her 12th in the national rankings. Issy also ran well for third in A string 400m hurdles. Katie Repper had a good run to win B string 3000m in 10.45.50 and Jess Orr was second in B string 1500m.
 
On the men’s side Ash Finch was second in A string 5000m whilst Aran Davidson was second in B string. James Henderson, Jack Turner, and Neil Turner all ran well as non-scorers. Ash also made his debut in 3000m steeplechase running a creditable 11.11.42 to be fourth in A string. Isaac Jessop-Tranter, Edward Johnson and James Malin all started the 1500m but were interrupted a by a freak weather incident. After the race had been going 600m spectators noticed a plastic bag and some other rubbish being blown strongly across the infield. Unfortunately, this mini-tornado also managed to pick up the two tin covers of the pole vault and toss them across the track. The race had to be stopped for the sake of safety, and after lengthy discussion the race was not rerun.
 
The final match is at Bromley on August 8th where the team will hope to remain top ten in the division of eighteen.