Personal bests for Gold Tops as they return to North of England Track and Field League action

Boston and District Athletic Club's combined senior and under 17 team finished in an encouraging fourth place in the first of this season's North of England Track and Field League matches at Doncaster s Keepmoat Stadium.

After more than a year away from the track and following the inevitable lack of competition there was a certain amount of rustiness in evidence, but in spite of this four members of the team produced personal best performances.

Although conditions were cool John Fulcher exceeded his previous best leap in long jump (5.84m) to claim a valuable third place in the A competition.

John went one place higher in the triple jump achieving 11.47m to secure second place points and added further points by finishing in fourth position in the 100m (11.6 secs) fifth in the 200m (25.2 secs).

In her first experience of North of England League competition, Louise Hirst won the triple jump with a best ever distance of 10.42m, 21cms further than her previous PB.

Louise also finished third in long jump (4.50m) and fourth in the 800m (2 mins 45.4 secs).

Two other under 17s making debuts in the competition looked promising.

Georgia Ward threw the hammer 21.26m for third, achieved a best putt of 6.74m for fifth place points in shot to set two PBs with the new weights.

Megan Reid also set down a new best mark, running 400m for the first time, recording 83.0secs for third in the B race and clearing 1.30m for second in the B high jump.

Frances Nuttell achieved two victories, three seconds and one third place.

Her victories came in the 100m hurdles (18.9 secs) and the B triple jump (8.90m).

She was runner-up in the pole vault (1.20m), 400m hurdles (89.4 secs) and the B long jump (4.22m).

She also achieved a height of 1.50m in high jump to add third place points on a busy inaugural 2021 league outing.

Thrower Helen Tooley earned second place points with an effort measuring 21.18m in the B hammer and added a second in the B discus (15.25m), a third in the B shot (5.72m) and fourth in B javelin (13.00m).

On her first appearance for the club, Corrinne Bailey threw 18.57m in javelin for fourth place and 18.20m for fifth in discus.

On the track Emma Penson ran six events - the 100m (19.2 secs), 400m (93.9 secs), 400m hurdles (104.8 secs), 800m (3 mins 24.4 secs), 1,500m (6 mins 49.6secs) and 3,000m (13 mins 40.4 secs) and also joined Georgia Ward, Megan Reid and Louise Hirst in the fourth placed 4x100m relay.

In the men's events, Steven Barnett opened his competitive programme by clearing 2.70m in the pole vault to earn second place and also won the B triple jump with 9.48m, finished in second position in the 400m hurdles (71.2 secs) and also featured in the B 100m, 400m and high jump.

James Roark finished second in the challenging 110m high hurdles (23.0 secs), fifth in both the B 200m (28.7 secs) and 400m (62.8 secs) and finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 29.66m.

For the same position in hammer he recorded 21.81m.

Aidan McClure and Ollie Lanniman did sterling work in the middle distance events.

Aidan ran in the 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 3,000m steeplechase, finishing first in the B race and also claiming fifth place points in high jump.

Ollie was second in the B 400m hurdles, fourth in the 800m and also added valuable points in 400m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 3,000m steeplechase.

Both Aidan and Ollie combined with John Fulcher, James Roark and Steven Barnet to run in the 4x100m and 4x400m relay events when the Gold Tops crossed the finish line in fifth position.

In the throws, Ollie Tianinen contested the shot (8.04m) and javelin (36.20m).

Veteran Colin Pattison rolled back the years to compete in shot (fifth with 6.31m) and javelin (13.85m) and Nigel Bilton made his club debut in hammer (15.84m) and discus (20.42m).

In the final analysis, Boston and District AC amassed a total of 304 points, finishing fourth behind host club Doncaster (304 points), Derby AC (325 points) and Lincoln Wellington AC (321 points) and ahead of Chesterfield and District AC (235 points) and Grantham AC (171 points).

The second North of England League fixture is at Derby on Saturday, June 19.