Second spot for Luton Athletics Club in final Southern League clash

Luton Athletics Club finished second place in their final match of the Southern Athletics League Division Three North match at Sandy Athletics Track recently.

With a number of athletes missing due to injury, illness and holiday, Luton didn’t disappoint in the throws, with two wins for Suzy Wise in the A hammer (41.03m) and B discus (32.77m).

She also managed second in the A shot putt (8.19m), while there were huge victories for Jo Blair in the A javelin (43.42m), Dawn Williams in the B javelin (23.30m) and B shot (7.76m), plus Emma Beales in the A discus (38.48m).

There were three wins for youngster Zack Grinsted in the men’s throws, A shot (11.56m), A discus (34.96m) and B javelin (31.77m), while Jordan Davies was second in the A javelin (46.03m), winning the B hammer (25.61m) and B discus (33.90m), David Burrell winning the A hammer with 34.39m.

The jumps were not so productive for Luton, as Romero Dujon had the best result with 11.06m to finish third in the triple jump, as he also came fourth in the long jump (5.24m).

Dawn Williams filled the A long jump slot, coming fourth with 3.63m, while Gabby Slinko was the only other female competitor for the team, leaping 1.30m for fourth in the high jump.

The sprints saw Bluebell Cooke win the 200m with 27.1s, and Gabby Slinko come third in the 100m (13.5s).

Twin brother Olly Slinko won the men’s 200m A in 22.8s, Dylan St Helien triumphing in the B race in 24.3s, as Olly Slinko was second in the 100m in 11.3s and Aidan Jarvis won the B race in 11.8s, St Helien then fifth in the 400m (61.7s).

Luton performed well in the middle distance events, especially the ladies races.

Cooke was a convincing winner of the 800m (2m 20.3s), backed up by Rosie Canham, who came second in 2m 42.5s in the B race.

Canham won the B 1,500m in 5m 59.7s with Emily Brown coming fourth in the A race in 5m 39.4s.

Brown then doubled up in the 5,000m, coming second in 19m 51.3s, while Nathan Davis ran an excellent 2m 08.7s for second in the 800m, Herbie Johnson fourth in the 1,500m (4m 41.1s).

There were mixed results in the relays, the men third in the 4x100m, but a disqualification for the 4x400m mixed relay team for a technical infringement.

Final score: South Bucks 331, Luton 188, Biggleswade Buzzards 176, Northampton 161, Maidenhead 135, Vale of Aylesbury 7.