Last Saturday saw Chelmsford Athletic Club Ladies Team travel to Hillingdon for their third Southern Women's League meeting of the season.

A mid table position before the meeting meant that a good result could set the club up for a push for promotion, but a poor result could turn the rest of the season into a struggle against relegation.

With a low turnout of athletes, the season looks like turning into a battle against the drop into division four - all this in a week when 122 athletes trained on the Tuesday night club session, at least 60 of those training on the Tuesday session would have been eligible to have competed.

But with just 13 competitors the pressure was on the dependable band of regulars to cover as many events as possible.

Since the Melbourne Park track opened in April over 100 new athletes (half of them girls) to the club have trained at the track, but just two of them attended Saturday's meeting.

The under 15 girls were represented by just two girls.

Karen Tullett, the third generation of her family to compete for the club, competed in the 100m, 200m, and long jump, while Hollie Smith, one of the new members, ran her third 800m race for the club.

She cruised effortlessly past the leader, with 120 metres to go to win the race by 30m.

Smith also came second in the B string 200m and third in the long jump.

For the senior women Catriona Slater won the 100m and was second in the 200m, and 400m, while Emma Allen was second in the 1500m and third in the 800m.

Jenny Marie won the 400m hurdles, came second in the B string pole vault and cleared 1.35 metres in the high jump.

Laura Ketley, who has been a reliable performer over the last two years, gained a personal best in the discus and also competed in the shot, javelin and hammer.

Tracy Minton competed in four events including the 3,000m while team manager Tracy Williams had to fill in for the 3000m B string and finished third.

Jemma MacKenzie was second in both the triple jump and 80m hurdles, Emily Newlyn was second in the B string 1500m, Murray Lamb held onto fourth place in the 800m B string race, and Lisa Williams, recovering from glandular fever, gained points in the javelin and triple jump.,

The final point scores for the meeting were Hillingdon 207, Cambridge Harriers 177, Hastings 174, Chelmsford 110, and Southend 106.

This result will put Chelmsford back into the relegation zone, and is no reflection on those who turned out to compete on Saturday.

The next club fixture is in the Anglian League at Braintree on July 11.

Barrett wins five out of eight events

Last Saturday, Braintree & District Athletic Club visited the Garrison Track, in Colchester, for their fourth match of the season in the Southern League Division Three.

Their opponents were the hosts Colchester Harriers, Kingston & Poly, Reading and the recently amalgamated forces of Enfield Harriers and Harringay.

In a virtual 'home' match, Braintree had visions of pushing Enfield & Haringgay all the way and maybe winning, but injury and illness deprived the team of two first choice athletes.

So, the onus was on their decathlete Clint Barrett to summon all his energies and cover more events than usual.

Altogether he managed to do eight events, winning five of them - 400 hurdles 57.0s PB, 'B' javelin, high jump, 110m hurdles and a 51.91s leg in the 4x400 relay, thereby amassing a personal score of 30.25 points which is some record.

In support of that feat were also wins for Colin Joyce in the 800m, 'B' 400m and relay (51.12s leg); Damien Hartshorne in the 'B" 800m relay (50.99s leg); Peter Coxhead in the 'A' javelin, Dan Bartlett in the 'A' long jump and Dan Marcello in the 'B' high jump.

When an Enfield athlete won an event Braintree had to be content with second place.

Leighton Green and Andrew Rose did well for their sprints and relays, John Bruns for the hammer and shot, Greg Brown for his improving times in the 5k and 3k steeplechase, Neil Treadgold for two good runs in less than an hour in the 1500 m and 3k steeplechase, Dan Bartlett for the pole vault and triple jump, Dan Marcello for the long jump and 110m hurdles and Same Grealy for the triple jump and 1500m.

The final score was a slightly disappointing second for Braintree, but they still pushed Enfield and Harringay all the way and the convincing victory in the final event - the 4x400m relay was good to watch and savour.

The final points tally was Enfield & Harringay 146.5 points; Braintree and District 135 points; Colchester Harriers 106 points; Kingston & Poly 50.5 points and Reading 64 points.

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