UNBELIEVABLE!!!
For the first time in almost 30 years Oxfordshire had no girl representatives at the Nationals. Regrettably our only successful athlete from the regional event – Annie Jonkers (Reading AC) was unable to attend due to illness. This left just the one junior boy - Aidan Williams (Radley AC) and three senior boys – Archie Street (Banbury AC), Nulam Hang Kambang (Radley AC) and Ryan Wells (Wycombe /South Bucks AC) to uphold the best traditions of our success in this event.
Saturday was a pleasant enough day weather was warm but very gusty wind. Our first visit to the track saw Aidan start his Pentathlon with the 80 mt hurdles – an event he had pbd in just a week before. Sadly, Aidan hit hurdle one and was left chasing the field but he finished well – had he achieved his pb he would have won – such are the margins in CE that he would not be able to recover from this first set back.
Meanwhile the senior boys started with the 100 mts – a simple enough task you might think but a gusty negative wind put paid to any hopes of a PB (NEGATIVE1.7) All 3 finished much as expected relative to the opposition and so Archie was 3rd Ryan 8th and Nulam 21st going into the long jump. The team competition was our main hope for the weekend but Lincolnshire had other ideas as they finished 2,6,13 and 23rd to lead by nearly 200 points.
Aidan moved on to the shot putt – his weakest event but he had a PB and this was to prove the highlight of his day. The long jump and high jump were both only slightly under par but this left him down in 23rd (out of 43) with only the 800 to do to complete his day. It was not worth pushing to hard as the opportunities in a pentathlon are few and far between and that hurdles error possibly cost him a medal. Overall he finished 26th and will I’m sure take the opportunity to develop his skills over the winter ready to compete in the Octathlon next year!
The senior boys long jump would prove to be heart stopping! After 2 no jumps and a wind gusting from +1 to minus 3.7 Archie had to get a jump in or we might as well all take the next bus home! He had moved his run up marker back almost 2 mts in order to get to the right side of the take off board – we couldn’t watch as he thundered down the runway!!!! Phew he made it a safe jump and actually, quite a good distance 6.29 Mts meant we could breathe again however Lincolnshire had 3 good jumps and moved a further 100 oints ahead in the team competition.
Shot was next and Ryan performed well in the A group (the bigger throwers) whilst Archie had a PB and Nulam was just 1cm away from his PB. Sadly once again Lincolnshire moved even further ahead as they had two throwers in the A group and so after 3 events we where over 400 points behind.
High jump is however a much better event for us and Archie finished 2nd whilst Ryan had a very solid performance on the B bed with Nulam getting a PB. Archies 1.89 would ensure caught up slightly on Lincolnshire and so we were now around 350 points behind.
The final event on Day 1 is the 400 mts. Archie ran a PB to take 2nd place and to finish the day in 2nd overall – perhaps an individual medal might be a possibility?? With Nulam and Ryan performing upto expectation and Lincolnshire not having any decent 400 mt runners it meant we finished the day just 250 pts behind.
Day 2 started with the 110 mt hdls. The weather was overcast but not cold despite the negative 3.7 wind an issue which prove almost disastrous for Nulam and meant the whole field had slow times. Nulam got a great start but when hurdle 8 was taken by the athlete in the next lane he had nothing to clear and was forced to almost stop before continuing to the finish. Fortunately Ryan and Archie rescued the situation as they finished one and two to head the list for the event – slow times but as I said everyone was! This now put Archie into first place and unbelievable position as a first year decathlete. Needless to say we had hoped to close the gap on Lincolnshire but the disaster of Nulam’s time meant we actually fell back a further 50 points.
The discus was next and despite Ryan finishing 2nd overall under par performances by Archie and Nulam meant we dropped even further behind Lincolnshire.
The pole vault would hopefully prove more fruitful as Ryan and Archie were both accomplished jumpers. However when you leave your pole at home don’t expect a PB (Archie!) Lincolnshire took advantage of our position and they rose to the occasion as two of their four had never pole vaulted before!! The crowd cheered on for them as our hopes of team gold were fast vanishing over the pole vault bed.
The javelin would see a modest revival as Ryan was just short of his pb whilst Archie managed a massive 3 mt pb – to make up for leaving his pole behind! Nulam was close to his pb and so we left the ninth event in good heart but some 450 points behind Lincolnshire as we planned a strategy for the ultimate event – the 1500mts.
Normally this event is akin to the last day of the Tour De France – the winner already being known and the riders just accompanying him down the Champs Elysee to the finish. Not so in Bedford Archie set off determined to win he had slipped to 5th after the javelin and had thought to seize the opportunity to possibly get a medal. And so what is normally a peaceful completion of the 10 event decathlon turned into a cavalry charge as rivals for the individual medals all saw the plot and decided to chase Archie home. Archie won in a new Pb (his 4th of the weekend) but he was not able to get far enough away from the chasing pack from which 16 of the 19 had either seasons or personal bests – thanks to Archie! Nulam had benefited from the early pace as he also had a 5 sec pb!
And so to the presentations Archie was 5th Ryan 10th and Nulam 18th. To get all 3 boys through a gruelling 2 days was amazing great entertainment and a real emotional roller coaster – but the drama was not over yet!!!
The team announcement was made and Lincolnshire stepped up – for the silver medals- UNBELIEVABLE – the run from Archie and Nulam had not only recovered the 450 point defeceit but had given us the gold with a 40 point lead!!!!
So we say never give up, never quit, never stop believing – because sometimes miracles do happen!!
Onwards and upwards to 2024!!
The Midlands Regional round will be at Mansfield stadium next year on 22/23 June and the finals may be back at Bedford again on the 21/22 Sept (possibly not if the track relay doesn’t complete on time – if not it will be Stoke) – get the dates in your diary!!
Pete O’Keefe
CE Schools TM
