Hunts AC finish third in Southern League - News - LIVING SPORT

Hunts AC finish third in Southern League

The Huntingdonshire Athletics Club men’s team completed their Southern Men’s League campaign in style in Cambridge, finishing just nine points behind eventual league runners-up Bedford AC.

The 17-strong Hunts AC team recorded an impressive 14 victories with three club records being set. The club is fortunate to have two outstanding throwers on the books and between teenagers Jonathan Edwards and Paul Hayball, they accumulated six first-place finishes.

Edwards and Hayball are both closely matched but, Hayball threw further than Edwards in the shot putt and discus to claim two A string wins as well as an A string javelin win. Although “only” picking up B string victories in the discus and shot putt, Edwards nevertheless still beat three of his own club records.

In the shot putt, he added to his club junior best, while in the hammer throw, his 47.51m winning distance added just under a metre to both club records. He is now the 12th best junior in the country using the senior hammer. To add to the occasion, his dad John won the B string with a very useful 35.50m.

Hunts AC sprinters have been to the fore much this season and this meet was no different as the club won both strings of the 100m and the 200m as well as the 4x100m and the 4x400m.

In the 100m, star sprinter 16 year old Ryan Palmer ran a personal best of 11.1 secs to cross the finishing line four metres in front of his nearest rival, moving him up to 21st in the National Under 17 Men’s rankings.

Palmer was ably backed up by Dave Leadbitter who won the 100m B race and the 200m A race, while.  Hakeem Duckworth-Porter claimed the 200m B race. The trio later teamed up with Jordan Gillbanks, who anchored the 4x100m relay team to a comfortable 15-metre win with the club’s fastest time of the year.

Although finishing only third in a highly competitive 800m race, Gillbanks recorded a personal best. The teenager’s strength and determination then really told in a thrilling 4x400m race against Bedford which came down to the wire.

After good legs from A string 400m hurdles winner Peter Downhill, Dave Leadbitter, and Luke Scott, running in his first ever Senior Men’s relay, Gillbanks took the baton on equal terms with Matt Nicholson, who had earlier beaten him in the 800m, before going into overdrive with 100m to go and pulling away to win the final race of the meet.

For a team which included seven teenagers on this occasion, the club will be looking forward to next year’s drive towards promotion.

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