Oxford Veterans open Season with Double Win
Published: 2 May 2017
Oxford City managed an historic first on Monday 1st May, with their men’s and women’s veterans teams both winning their first round matches in the Southern Counties vets league (Western Division). As this is only the 4th season that Oxford have fielded a women’s team, it was particularly sweet for the ladies to record a victory over local rivals Abingdon, Newbury, Reading and Radley. From the start Oxford got into a winning groove, with Adam Richards-Gray, Nigel Whiting, and Chris Padmore taking first place in the M35B, M50 and M60 100m races. Gary Walter kept up the pressure with 2nd places in the M35 shot and hammer, with Robert Smith also taking 2nd in the M60 hammer. John Atyeo took 2nd place in the M35 3000mS/C, while Mark Tyrrell took 1st place in the B string, Matthew Reece took first place in the M35 high jump, Dan Blake stormed to victory in the M35 400m in 57.4s, while Kevin Dykes and Nigel Whiting took 2nd places in the B string and M50 races. Dan Blake and Rob Webster then took 2nd places in the A string 1500m M35 and M50 respectively. Nigel finished a good night’s work with 2nd place in the M50 long jump, and helped the relay team to second place, with victory over Abingdon secured by a margin of 9 points.
The ladies team were the big surprise of the night. Having�come into the match targeting�second place overall, they exceeded expectations with a string of powerful performances – sprinters Popsie Wootten taking 2nd place in the B string 100m W35, and Michelle Wakefield 1st place in the W50 race. In only her third competition, Isabell Hess-Peterson won the W35 long jump with 4.06m, while Jackie Cherry won the W35 hammer with a throw of 22.34. After that Oxford’s ladies were never�lower than 2nd or 3rd place, keeping pressure on their opponents all night and collecting points in every event. With their 4 x 100m relay team taking second place, newcomer to the team, Tracey Isaac rounded off a fine night with victory in the W35 javelin, with a throw of 24.29m, to give Oxford victory by 129 points to Radley’s 115.
The second round Match will be at Tilsley Park on May 15th and Oxford will go hoping to repeat these victories.
