Green Blasts to 100m Lifetime Best

Luton Atheletic Club were in action on Saturday in the 6th and final Southern Mens League match at Hastings. The match was won by Hercules Wimbledon with 122.5pts, followed by Hastings with 110, Royal Navy with 99.5, Luton with 95.5 and Thurrock with 92.5. With a team seriously depleted through holidays, injuries and a clash with the AAA's Under 17 Championships, the teams struggled against others who seemed less affected by the time of year. However, there was plenty to cheer from those who turned out.

Darren Green took an magnificent win in the A string 100m in 11.1s, a lifetime best by two tenths of a second. Darren was backed up by Joe Steele who took the win in the B string with 11.6s, shortly after he had won the B string Long Jump with a leap of 6m 38cm, the A string having been won by Andrew Bullimore with a jump of 6m 43cm.

Earlier in the afternoon, Dave Burrell followed up his superb Bronze Medal in the European Masters Championships in Poland in the 35lb weight, by winning the Hammer Throw with 46m 50cm, his second furthest throw ever. Dave Vernon made a welcome return from injury with 33.55m. Ricky Rasmussen threw non scoring and recorded the first of 3 personal bests in the afternoon with 33.43m, an improvement of 1.73m. This means Rasmussen has improved over 10 metres this season, mainly thanks to coaching from our very own Dave Burrell and local athlete Steve White.

In the Shot Putt it was Rasmussen again setting a PB of 9m 84cm to win the B string, over a metre improvement on his previous best. Dave Burrell was 4th in the A with 10.78m.

Later in the afternoon, Luton celebrated more double A and B string victories in the 200m and Triple Jump, and Andrew Bullimore had a hand in both, taking the A string 200m in 22.7s and the B string Triple Jump with 13.03m.In the B string 200m, it was Green again, taking a flying win the B string, also with 22.7s, equalling his PB set in the last match. Joe Steele continued his busy afternoon with victory in the Triple Jump A string with 13.67m.

Rasmussen's 3rd Personal best came in the B string discus, which he won with 30.58m, to back up Burrells 2nd place in the A string with 34.17m.

Kyle Andrew returned from injury to come 3rd in a very close 400m in 51.8s, followed by youngster Glen Pascal, who ran a lifetime best 54.1s for 3rd place in the B string.

That left the stage for the 4 x 100m relay team of Pascal, Steele, Bullimore and Green to follow up their excellent displays in the individual sprints to win by a close head in 45.8s. The makeshift 4 x 400m Relay team of Pascal, Quigley, Benedickter and Emmanuel finished the day with a fighting 4th place in 3m 39.4s.

This year has been a year of consolidation for Luton AC, with teams made up of many of the clubs promising youngsters. The inability to cover some events has cost us dear, especially in close matches such as this one. In the events where we manage to field specialist athletes, we have done particularly well, and it is very encouraging to see so many of the youngsters breaking into the first team. The club is looking forward with some enthusiasm to next year, when the youngsters will have that extra year of experience, and we can hopefully fill a few of the gaps in the team.

Chris Stebbings and Gerry Gough.