On Saturday 21st July the Harriers travelled to the Thames Valley Athletics Centre at Eton (near Windsor) for the British Athletic League Cup / Plate Semi-final.

 

The Cup competition is for the British Athletic League (BAL) clubs & the Plate Competition is for the non-BAL clubs (Exeter). The semi-final fixture has the 2 competitions running as one giving the Harriers the opportunity to compete against BAL teams as well as their non-BAL competitors.

 

It was a another cracking win for the team. They beat all  the non BAL teams convincingly: Exeter - 67.25 points, Reading - 28, Bournemouth - 28, Aldershot, Farnham & District 25. Out of 10 events (the Pole Vault was cancelled (mid way) because of very heavy rain - safety considerations). Exeter had 6 firsts, 3 seconds & 1 third.

 

Remarkably Exeter beat the BAL Club  Team Southampton 58.5 points and was just 2 points adrift from another BAL Club Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow. The overall match winners were Woodford Green. Woodford move to the Cup Final & Exeter to the Plate Final at Bedford on 18th August.

 

The outstanding Harrier performance was in the 800 metres where  Phil Almond destroyed 'the field' leaving BAL athletes trailing in his wake. In a well judged race he remained in the leading group for the first lap and then eased in to the lead position over the next 200 yards before unleashing a blistering finishing speed over the final 100 metres.

 

Thrower Dave Dawson had to compete in the discus at 50 minutes notice because team member Jon Milum was injured immediately prior to pre-event preparation. Dave finished the event and immediately then competed in the shot. The two events resulted in about 100 minutes of continuous throwing (discus 38.34 metres & shot 13.97 metres).

 

Other fine performances were: Dan Buss - 100m in a time of 11.16 secs, Callum Skelley  200 - 23.23 secs, Simon Minting  400m - 51.47 secs, Richard Scott  400 Hurdles - 54.11 secs, Simon Rusbridge 3000 metres 9 mins 2.68 secs, James Cook Triple Jump 12.79 metres. Pole Vaulter Dave Robinson was disappointed that his event  was cancelled at the halfway stage because he was vaulting well.

 

In the medley relay 400, 200, 200,400 the team of Richard Scott, Calum Skelley, Dan Buss & Lee Salter had a real battle with the BAL teams. Less than one second separated the first 3 teams with Exeter just being edged into 3rd place by a whisker. It was enthralling finish to another great day in this tremendous season.