Luton
Athletic Club

Luton AC competed in the 2^nd round of this Summer’s Southern Men’s League on Saturday. The match was hosted by Cambridge Harriers at Sutcliffe Park in South East London. The weather forecast leading up to the event had not been promising but on the day the event was blessed with a warm dry afternoon, although there was a stiff breeze in the home straight.

Luton’s outstanding performance of the afternoon was that of Joe Steele in the Triple Jump. The 19 year old leapt 14.36m making him the clear winner of the event against Senior Men, elevating him to 4^th place in the 2007 UK rankings for under 20 athletes and was an absolute Luton AC club record for the event. This was achieved by Joe against the backdrop of an intermittent foot problem that prevents him giving 100% in all phases of the discipline. Joe clearly has a great future in the event ahead of him. Earlier in the afternoon Joe had taking victory in the B string 100m in a personal best equalling 11.3

Despite Joe’s excellent performance the team slumped to a disappointing last place in the day and now occupy one of the league positions destined for relegation to Division 3. However, team Manager Chris Stebbings remains confident that the team is capable of moving clear of the drop zone in the remaining 4 matches in the summer, the next match being at Reading on 2^nd June.

After a promising opening match where Luton had secured a 3^rd place with a severely depleted team the club were hoping for a similar outcome. Unfortunately it was not to be and the team slumped to last place in one of the tightest of finishes where host club Cambridge romped away to victory with 149 points. The remaining places were swapping as the results of the final events were being counted. Eventually, Luton came out losers in the battle when local rivals Watford stole second with 99 points from Thurrock on 96, 4^th went to Hercules Wimbledon with 94 points and sad Luton finished with 91.

However, whilst the result was disappointing there were many individual performances other than Steele’s that caused great cheer in the team.

Darren Green made his season’s debut in the 100 and 200 metre sprints, taking victory in the 100 and 2^nd in the 200m. More significantly Darren ran personal best times in both events of 11.0 seconds and 22.5 seconds. Darren also ran the final leg in the 4 by 100 relay. In the 200m Isaac Rasmussen made his Senior debut and duly obliged by taking a stunning victory in the B event in a time of 23.61, later also running a leg in the 4 x 100m relay.

Andy Johnson finished a fighting 3rd in the 800 A string in 2minutes 0.7 seconds, a huge personal best. In that event William Davies made his senior team debut in the B string finishing 4^th in 2 minutes 6.4 seconds.

Johnson doubled up and ran the 1500m later in the match taking a strong 2^nd place in the B string with a time of 4 minutes 14.3 seconds. Daniel Clorley ran the A string and through a magnificent finish, overtake 2 other competitors in the home straight, secured 2^nd place in 4 minutes 9.5 seconds.

As is now normal for the team the throws contributed strongly to the clubs total points haul by adding a healthy 26 points. Considering the throws are only 4 of the 19 match events it is easy to see how important the performances of veteran Dave Burrell and fast developing Ricky Rasmussen are to the teams overall performance.

On Saturday Burrell placed 2^nd in the Hammer and Javelin with throws of 42.84 metres and 39.07 metres. In the Discus he placed third with a throw of 34.07 and in the Shot Putt placed 4^th with 11.06 metres.

Rasmussen competed in the B string Hammer, Discus and Shot where he placed 2^nd in 35.26 Metres, 3^rd with 27.81 metres and 4^th with 9.57 metres.

Peter Benedickter filled the B string Javelin where he threw an impressive 31.09 metres. This was following his season’s best run in the 400m Hurdles to place 4^th in 60.3 seconds. In the 400m Hurdles b string Peter’s son Peter Jr placed 5^th in 71.2 seconds, a personal best for the event.

In the Long Jump Steve Harris jumped a huge personal best with a leap of 6.29 metres to place 3^rd. If Harris had not walked back through the pit he would have been credited with a much longer leap that would have won the event. In the B string Craig Andrew placed 3^rd with a jump of 5.58 metres. Later Andrew took 2^nd in the Triple Jump B string with a leap of 11.97 metres.

Matthew Bachini made his Senior debut in the A string 400m placing 4^th in 54.4 whilst Craig Andrew ran the same position in the B string in 55.0.

Brothers Kevin and Paul Jacob added a point each in the 5000m and Harris and Benedickter made marks in the High Jump.

But, despite everybody’s efforts the club did not field competitors in the Pole Vault, 110m Hurdles or Steeple chase, events that could have added the critical points to have placed them higher in the competition, possibly even 2^nd and in the running for promotion instead of fighting for survival.

Chris Stebbings