Vets men take Southern counties league title

Southampton AC men's veterans track & field team scored a comprehensive victory in the Southern Counties Veterans League Final at The Julie Rose Stadium, Ashford. After retaining the Hampshire League title with an unbeaten season, morale was high with the hope of challenging for the title this year with the strength in depth of the squad. Several events (Hammer, Long Jump and Pole Vault) got underway to start proceedings in the field. M35 Andrew Sheerin and M50 Andy Turner got things started, both scoring well for 4th and 2nd in the Hammer throw with 30m.15 and 36m.66 respectively. Herne Hill (Champions of the Mid London league) set the tone in defence of their title with maximum points in the Hammer and the opening track event (800m) but Southampton's assistant team manager David Blackman (2:13.92) and Steve Marcer also scored well to keep in touch with the early pacesetters with the latter recording a big lifetime best (2:12.93). M50 Jon Grainger (2:21.19) was just pipped to the post in his 800m but made no mistake in the 1500m timing his long run for home to reverse the places with the Herne Hill athlete. Marcer and Blackman combined again for the M35 1500m with 4th (4:36.20) and 2nd (4:42.04) respectively. Sidney DeLara in his first season in the M60 category finished runner up in the 1500m (5:26.55) and within minutes was adding more points to the Southampton board in his first ever High Jump event to claim 2nd place with a 1m.20 clearance. M35 Darren Clissold and M50 Michael Coker also scored well in the High Jump with 2nd (1m.40) and 3rd (1m.35) with the latter also finishing an excellent 3rd in M50 triple jump with 9m.75. M35 Mark West kept the points coming with excellent victories in both the Long and Triple Jump (5m.76, 10m.70) with M50 Derek Warn finishing runner up with 5m.02 and just missing his personal best by a mere 2cm. The tide really turned in Southampton's favour as Clissold and Warn took maximum points in the pole vault with clearances of 2m.90 with no Herne Hill vaulters in attendance. Back on the track M35 Ian Matt was 5th in the A string 100m (13.33) with West claiming another victory in the B string (12.72). M50 Jon Tilt finished a very close 3rd (12.85) and M60 Vic Novell ran very well for runner up spot (13.93). Matt was back on the track for the M35 200m finishing 5th with a personal best 26.73secs with Simon Ciaravella finishing runner up in the B string 26.23secs. World Masters silver medalist Tilt took victory with ease in the M50 category with 25.48secs. The points were coming thick and fast in the field with excellent wins for M35 Graham Lay in the Shot Putt (12m.28) and Javelin (40m.10) and M50 Steve Dobson scoring well with a Javelin throw of 28m.93. M60 Mike Ferne (ranked 2nd in the country for his age) also took maximum points in the Shot (9m.89) and Discus (42m.59). Again Turner was scoring well for 4th places in the Shot (10m.74) and Discus (33m.10) while Sheerin was also 4th in M35 Discus with 28m.65. M35's Dan Hunt and Andy Griggs scored well in the A & B string 3000m for 4th (9:21.38) and 2nd (9:26.38) respectively with M50 Pete Costley also scoring highly for 3rd in 10:33.49. New debutant Wayne Vincent, a former Middlesex walking champion in his younger days, finished a brilliant 2nd in the M50 category 2kilometre walk with a time of 12:21.58 with M35 Andy Morgan-Lee also 2nd in 12:49.97. With Southampton nearly 30 points ahead and one hand on the trophy there was no letting up from the men in red and white as West (56.22) and Ciaravella (57.18) finished 2nd and 1st in the A & B 400m. Tilt stormed to victory in the M50 400m (57.82) in his favoured event of the day while M60 Novell added more points with 4th in the 400m (72.49) and 3rd in the Long Jump (3m.92). With the 2 relays, 4x100 and 4x400, to come, the trophy looked to be heading to Southampton barring any disaster with baton changes. The team of Matt, Ciaravella, West and Tilt for both relays did not disappoint with a very close 4 x 100m in which they had to settle for 2nd after being pipped on the line by the fast finishing Hercules Wimbledon team but the 4 x 400 was the perfect ending to a perfect day as they ran out victors from gun to tape to celebratory cheers from the Southampton team and supporters.   Match Result Southampton              250 Points Herne Hill                     213.5 Hercules Wimbledon  185 Cambridge Harriers    179.5 Dartford Harriers         169.5 Abingdon                      163.5 Barnet & District          53