Walton's senior men started their league season at Guildford yesterday.

In one of the closest matches anyone present could remember the positions changed with almost every event.

A the end Walton finished a slightly disappointing 4th with only 7 points seperating 1st and 5th places.

The day started well on the track with Adam McCarthy winning the A string 400m hurdles, Julian Langley improved his season's best in his first league race for Walton in the B event.

Ramon Wright narrowly won the 100m A string with Stu Channon running the B.

Alex Fraser was 3rd in the 200m with Adam McCarthy coming through the field in the last 50m to win the B string.

Mark Partridge made his 400m debut running a respectable 53.4s for 3rd.

Alex Ferrelly and Jack Marchbank picked up two 3rd places in the 800m, with a pb for Jack. Jon Hamblen and Jon Ladley gained two 2nd places in the 1500m as did James Harvey and Jon Brine in the 5000.

The sprint hurdles produced a 2nd and a 4th for Adam and Stu Fawcett and the individual track eevnts finished well with a winning double for James Harvey and Steve Mills in the steeplechase, Steve running a pb.
On the field points were harder to come by. Stu Fawcett and Jon Ladley won both the pole vaults. Lawrence Munro jumped well and Justin Haynes made his debiut for the club in the long & triple jumps.
The throws were of a high standard but Walton gained good points in the javelin with new member Joe Eastwood throwing just under 40m for 3rd place and Kevin Shepherd picking up 2nd place in the B string, Kevin also threw his best hammer for years.
Both relays teams were disrupted by injuries just before the races but ran well. The sprint relay team were just edged out of 1st place and the 4 x 400m team came 4th in a fast race.
 
Match Result

Waltons girls and ladies opened their league season on Saturday with the first Southern Women's League division 1 match at Hemel Hemstead.

The match saw Walton outnumbered but certainly not outclassed with ten A string event wins.

Carla Letheby had a tremendous day winning all three A string throws in the under 15 age group, and Alice Wills ran a very good race to record a huge pb and win the under 15 1500m.

For the seniors Helen Channon had a winning double in the A string sprints, and Nathalie Warren had a winning middle distance double being within a couple of tenths of a second of her pb in both the 800m and the 1500m

Rosie Marino managed to win the 400m hurdles despite falling when well in the lead at the 8th hurdle, she picked herself off the floor and still finished the race with a few metres in hand.

The final win of the day came in the senior 4 x 100m relay.

It wasn't just about the A string winners,  Rebecca Pickering won the B 200m and Kaylee Price very unfortunately injured a hamstring when well clear in the B 100m.

Helen Channon was 2nd in the A long jump with Ellie Sellwood winning the B event. Tina Howell picked up 2nd place in the A triple jump and Debbie Singleton competed in all four throws with a 2nd place in the hammer and 3rd in the discus.

Rosie Marino claimed 2nd place in the sprint hurdles and Claire Pearce two 3rds in the B string 800 & 1500m. Ellie and Hannah Gray ran the 400m.

For the juniors Abi Wroth ran good times in the 100 and 200. Beth Sutherland and Rio Herring were near their best times in the 800m, with Rio also picking up 3rd place in the B shot and Beth running a pb in the B 200m. Lauren Highton was 2nd in the B 1500m and 3rd in the B 100.

The juniors also rounded the day off well with Rio, Abi, Carla, and Lauren coming 2nd in the sprint relay.

The disappointing aspect was the number of events not contested (16 in all) due to athlete unavailability which left Walton in 4th place. It is hoped that more people, especially juniors, will be available for the next match in Plymouth on Saturday 31st May.