Southern Vets League Match 1 Report

TVH Master athletes delivered an outstanding performance in the 1st match of the Southern Counties Veterans League on the 19th of May at Battersea.

TVH over 35 male athletes scored 197 points, which is the all-time highest score for TVH in history. Rumour has it that Serpentine was quite disappointed to lose the home match against TVH by only 5 points. All scoring and non-scoring athletes supported each other to achieve this amazing performance. The man of the match was Trevor Wade with 30 points by winning long jump and discus while also taking 2nd place in shot put and high jump. Runner up was Greg Bennett with 16points, winning both discus and shot put.

The female squad finished at the strong 4th place in the League. 8 `super women` alone scored 124 points and propelled the team into the 4th place. The 127 points are club record for over 35 female squad! The woman of the match was Gaye Clarke with 36 points by covering 5 events at the same time and almost winning all. Runner up was Sharon Dooley with 20 points through her 100m sprint and impressive jumps.

There were other amazing performances from Lesley Richardson and Samantha Brewer in the shot and discus results. Robert Datnow flew around the 400m, winning the M50 category with ease. Neil, Simon and Hugo challenged themselves and covered the 2000m walk. Finally our mid distance team with Calum, Ruben, Scott, Serdar, Ermanno, Kevin all won their events. Scott even deep dived at the finish line to secure the 1st place on 400m! There were several PBs and SBs from non-scoring athletes such as Geoff Williamson, Alex Veres, Matthieu Mole-Manoncourt, and Jan Marzec. Our male 4×400 team won the relay by almost 200m ahead of the competition with a great performance from Nicholas, Ruben, Alan, and Hugo.We also saw top performances from new members of the over 35 squad as Zuzana Sinalova, Georgina Bristow, Alex Veres, Alan Danagher, Ermanno del Ponte, Lawrence Tse.

Our goal is to win the Southern Counties Veterans League in 2025 and advance to the National final in September in Oxford. This would be a first for the masters team!

Written by Tamas Joo