The combined Herts Phoenix AC Men’s and Women’s Team had a much better result from their match on Saturday which was held at The Stuart Storey track at Wodson Park, Ware on Saturday 18^th May when they finished in second place with 181 points, behind a strong Enfield & Haringey team which scored 222 points, and beating near neighbours Stevenage & North Herts into third place with 166 points and City of Portsmouth finishing fourth with 140 points. This results means that the Club moves up just one place in the League to 12^th place overall out of the 16 clubs in the League.

Once again Pat Barrett showed that his hard training is paying dividends by winning 4 of his 8 individual events and recording a new Club record and personal best for Pole Vault with 3.91 metres and a second successive pb with 15.4 seconds in the 110m Hurdles, Bradley Armorgie also achieved a new pb in Pole Vault recording a height of 2.80 metres and winning three of his five individual events, both men also ran in both relays. Brendon Kawondera improved his pb in the 100 metres and Conor Martin threw the javelin more than 3 ½ metres further than his previous best distance to easily breech the 50 metre mark for the first time.

The athletes representing the women’s team also produced some very good results with individual wins for Lauren Thompson and Stephanie Williams in the “A” string 100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles respectively, Alexandra Hill and Florence Stansall-Seiler gaining maximum points in the 800 metres and then Florence combining with Megan Breen for a double win in the 2000 metres steeplechase, the first time that they had run this distance. In the Field Events there were wins for Hayley Kruse in the High Jump and “B” string Javelin, Ciaran Palfreyman and Kara Peck in the “B” string Long Jump and Triple Jump respectively, there were also wins for Polly Woods in the “B” string Shot Putt and Lucy Cunnington in the “B” string Discus. Eloise Meakins celebrated the award of her first England athletics vest with a comfortable season’s best throw to win the “A” string Javelin which also won her Female Athlete of the Match.

Individual results

100m

Ciaran Palfreyman 3^rd 13.5 (B) Shannon Procter 2^nd 13.5

Brendon Kawondera 4^th 11.5 pb (B) Timi Shotade 2^nd 11.8

200m

Hannah Williams 2^nd 26.1, (B) Natashia Hadley 2^nd 27.2

Brendon Kawondera 4^th 23.7 (B) Timi Shotade 3^rd 23.7

400m

Laura Gallagher 2^nd 61.2 pb, (B) Ella Lloyd 2^nd 63.7

Bradley Armorgie 2^nd 52.1

800m

Alexandra Hill 1^st 2:20.3, (B) Florence Stansall-Seiler 1^st 2:28.0

Aaron Cooper 2^nd 2:01.6 (B) Liam Cloona 3^rd 2:09.0

1500m

Gemma Armorgie 4^th 7:31.3, (B) Ella Lloyd 4^th 7:31.4

George Pettipher 3^rd 4:35.5

Women’s 100m Hurdles

Lauren Thompson 1^st 14.8, (B) Gemma Armorgie 3^rd 27.8

110m Hurdles

Pat Barrett 1^st 15.4 pb

400m Hurdles

Stephanie Williams 1^st 64.7

Women’s 2000m Steeplechase

Florence Stansall-Seiler 1^st 8:26.5 pb, (B) Megan Breen 1^st 8:57.1pb

High Jump

Hayley Kruse 1^st 1.63 pb, (B) Laura Gallagher 3^rd 1.30 pb

Bradley Armorgie 1^st 1.95, (B) Pat Barrett 1^st 1.85

Pole Vault

Olivia Harry 2^nd 2.60

Pat Barrett 2^nd 3.91 pb new Club Record, (B) Bradley Armorgie 1^st 2.80 pb

Long Jump

Hayley Kruse 2^nd 4.96, (B) Ciaran Palfreyman 1^st 4.66

Bradley Armorgie 1^st 6.07, (B) Pat Barrett 1^st 6.07

Triple Jump

Sacha Dowling 3^rd 10.32, (B) Kara Peck 1^st 9.97

1^st Bradley Armorgie 1^st 12.40, (B) Pat Barrett 2^nd 11.24

Shot Putt

Emma Phillipson 4^th 8.86, (B) Polly Woods 1^st 8.86 pb

Pat Barrett 3^rd 10.95, (B) James Grove 3^rd 7.98

Hammer

Polly Woods 4^th 23.76, (B) Lucy Cunnington 3^rd 18.92

Richard Humphries 2^nd 40.03, (B) James Grove 2^nd 24.35

Discus

Emma Phillipson 2^nd 29.78, (B) Lucy Cunnington 1^st 20.49

Pat Barrett 3^rd 33.22, (B) James Grove 4^th 21.63

Javelin

Eloise Meakins 1^st 47.15, (B) Hayley Kruse 1^st 26.49

Conor Martin 2^nd 51.81, (B) Pat Barrett 1^st 40.79

4 x 100m Relay

Herts Phoenix Women’s Team 1^st 51.5

Herts Phoenix Men’s Team 2^nd 45.7

4 x 400m Relay

Herts Phoenix Women’s Team 2^nd 4:17.3

Herts Phoenix Men’s Team 2^nd 3:38.1

On Sunday Eloise Meakins, winning her first England vest competed against several of the leading throwers in the country at The Loughborough International Meeting and came fourth in the Women’s Javelin competition with a throw of 46.52 metres. Stephanie Williams was invited to compete at the same meeting where she ran as a guest in one of the 400m Hurdles races and recorded a time of 63.53 seconds, which puts her in 5^th place in the under 20 age group rankings for 2013.