Blue Star men enjoy home comforts

JPCT 180513 Horsham Blue Stars host an athletics meet at BBH Leisure Centre. Joe West .Photo by Derek Martin

Once again the Horsham duo of James Mackman and Joe West excelled in the pole vault, both jumping 3.20m to win both A and B string competitions.

Also leaping high Jack Milnthorpe jumped 1.70m to take second position in the A string high jump, backed up by Jason Wooldridge who jumped 1.55m to attain a personal best.

Jason enjoyed his usual busy afternoon, previously winning the B string 400m hurdles in 60.9secs, backing up Karl Johnston who ran the A string in a very competitive race finishing fifth.

JPCT 180513 Horsham Blue Stars host an athletics meet at BBH Leisure Centre. Luke Johnson. Jacob Dean. Photo by Derek Martin

Jack Milnthorpe, at his first attempt at the triple jump, leaped to a personal best with 11.43m, also backed up by Jason who jumped 10.28m.

Another athlete having a good afternoon and gaining a personal best was Luke Johnson, who threw 47.59m with the javelin, gaining second place in the A string, backed up by Ricky Dewdney who threw 32.35m, also for second place in the B string.

Ricky, in his first competition of the season, also threw 29.12m in the hammer for second place, finished fourth in the discus with 31.11m and also gained fourth place in the shot with 9.43m.

Back on the track, the 400m proved to be the tightest finish race of the day with Alex Best just being eased out of first place by a hair’s breadth, his time of 51.0s equalled the winning time.

He was backed up in the B string by young Ashley Gorton, who in his first competition in the senior team finished a very competitive third in a time of 53.8s.

Jason Wooldridge carried on his busy afternoon by finishing third in the 800m in a time of 2.02.9s, and then went on to run the 1,500m, also finishing third with a time of 4.19.2s.

Also making a welcome return to competition, Anthony Bourne competed in the 5,000m, finishing fourth with a time of 16.53.4s. Anthony then went on to compete in the 3,000m steeple chase, finishing fourth in a time of 11.23.6m.

In the 5,000m he was backed up by Alastair Smith and in the 3,000m Steeplechase by Bill Knight, who was also making his debut this year.

In the 4x100m relay, which proved to be very competitive, the team of James Mackman, James Hedges, Alex Best and Jack Milnthorpe ran a good race to finish fourth with a time of 46.9s.

Also against strong competition in the 4x400m relay the team of Karl Johnston, Jason Wooldridge, Ashley Gorton and Alex Best ran a time of 3.39.9s for fifth place.

Overall the team performed well in what is proving to be tough competition and now look forward to the next match at Tooting on June 15.

The final point totals were: Herne Hill 216, Kent AC 168, Hercules Wimbledon 164.5, South London Harriers 157, Horsham Blue Star 139.5, and Victoria Park 137.