Tamworth AC fielded a strong men’s team at Telford for the opening meeting of this season’s Midland Veterans Track and Field League.
First out of the starting blocks was newly appointed club chairman Derek Bolton in the V50 100 metres with a time of 15.9 seconds. Next up in the sprints was Adam Young who was in for a busy night with 6 events in 2 hours. First Adam clocked 13.2secs in the V50 100 metres; good enough for 2nd place. Carlton McDonald, competing as a V50 and literally jumping into the injured Greg Richards shoes for the V35 100 metres, was 2nd with a time of 14.0secs.
The 400 metres saw the return of Paul tasker and Matt James putting in strong performances of 67.2 and 67.5secs respectively. Adam Young set a new V50 club record in the 400 metres with a time of 59.4s; winning the race by over 20 metres!
In the field Adam took on three events: throwing 22.13 metres in the Hammer 22.13m, then winning both the High jump with 1.50 metres and the Triple Jump with 10.73 metres. Greg Richards although unable to run still managed to throw the javelin 39.15 metres for 2nd place in the V35 event.
Back on the track for the 1-mile race, Tamworth saw four club records broken in a little over 6 mins. Firstly, recovering marathon man Ben Evans recorded an impressive V40 record of 5:09.7. In the same race was the newly appointed Vets team manager Howard Bush clocking a V45 record of 5:15.2. Club treasurer Dave Williams showed his normal late race spurt to go under 6 minutes with a time of 5:53.6 and the V60 club record. Derek Bolton rounded things off with a V55 record of 6:22.4.
The finale of the evening saw the Tamworth men romp to victory in the rarely raced 4 x 200 metre relay with a time of 1:54.2, three seconds ahead of their nearest rivals. Adam Young, Paul Tasker, Matt James and Carlton McDonald made up the quartet.
The next meeting will be hosted by Birchfield Harriers at the Alexander Stadium on Wednesday 5th June. Hopefully, the men will be joined by some of our ladies, particularly with there being a mixed 4 x 400m relay on the timetable.
Tamworth Athletic Club 