Sir Sefton Brancker & Seax Trophies – Watford – 3rd July 2002

In a meeting that had been temporarily halted in the early stages due to a storm, but later had a setting sun causing vision problems, the Royal Air Force proved just as unpredictable as the weather as they pulled out all the stops to hold on to the lead they had brought from the cross country fixture and lift the Sir Sefton Brancker Trophy for the first time in six years. Traditionally, Middlesex have come from behind to dominate the track and field fixture to the extent they wipe out their winter deficit, but on this occasion they could not even match the RAF on the night.

The RAF’s leading performer was predictably shot putter Mark Proctor, who launched his only legal putt out to 18m91, but a concerted effort to fill both strings in all events proved successful for the service team as Middlesex and the Civil Service had gaping holes on their team sheets.

The best event in depth was the hammer, but unfortunately the wet circle stopped Bill Beauchamp and Ian Park, representing England and Scotland respectively at Manchester’s Commonwealth Games, from launching the huge throws anticipated. Beauchamp eventually snatched the lead from Park in the fifth round, in a competition were five of the six throwers went over 50m.

But perhaps the leading performance went largely unnoticed, as Civil Servant’s Andy Bird’s runner-up finish in the 800 metres sends him off in fine fettle to this month’s World Disability Games in Lille, having beaten the two-minute barrier for the first time.

Undeterred by the failure of their men, Middlesex’s women stamped their authority on the Seax Trophy by adding the track and field competition to January’s cross country title, led by double wins from Laura Turner and Denise Gayle. However, new Civil Servant Dorothea Lee, another double winner, led a concerted effort by her team to stop the walkover of recent seasons.

Men

MATCH: 1 Royal Air Force 157; 2 Middlesex 144; 3 Civil Service 71

SIR SEFTON BRANCKER TROPHY: 1 Royal Air Force 246; 2 Middlesex 175; 3 Civil Service 122

100 (1.0): 1 A Mensah (Mx) 10.9; 2 W McGee (CS) 11.0; 3 T Swary (Mx) 11.1; 4 M Okotie (CS) 11.2; 5 A Hughes (RAF) 11.2 100 NS (0.9): 1 B Moseley (Mx) 11.0; 2 R Samuel (Mx) 11.1 200 (0.5): 1 Hughes 21.9; 2 Moseley 22.1; 3 T Noel (CS) 22.3; 4 McGee 22.5; 5 E Johnson (Mx, NS) 22.6 400: 1 K Appiah (Mx) 50.1; 2 P McLernon (RAF) 50.8 800: 1 S Neill (RAF) 1:58.5; 2 A Bird (CS) 1:59.9 1500: 1 J Trapmore (Mx) 3:54.8; 2 A McGarva (Mx) 3:57.1; 3 D Lewis (RAF) 4:01.5 3000: 1 A Van Zyl (Mx) 8:49.7; 2 Trapmore (Mx) 8:53.0; 3 A Turnbull (RAF) 8:53.2; 4 McGarva (NS) 8:58.2; 5 S Herring (CS) 8:58.2 2000SC: 1 A Hennessy (Mx) 5:53.6; 2 R McWilliam (RAF) 6:09.3; 3 B Livesey (RAF, NS) 6:14.0; 4 A Wood (RAF) 6:16.3 110H (0.5): B Payne (RAF) 27.4 400H: 1 J Hopkins (Mx) 54.9; 2 D Robinson (Mx) 57.2 HJ: G Monroe (RAF) 1.60 PV: 1 C Mills (Mx) 4.65 (4.00 o, 4.30 o, 4.50 o, 4.65 xo, 4.75 xxx); 2 A Davis (RAF) 4.20 (4.00 o, 4.20 o, 4.30 x, 4.35 xx); 3 K Grey (CS) 3.90 LJ: 1 A Phillips (Mx) 7.27 (7.06, 6.87, 7.27, 7.11, 6.71, 6.76); 2 Monroe 6.74; 3 J Commisiong (Mx) 6.55 TJ: 1 M Corrigan (Mx) 13.74 (12.40, 13.39, NJ, 13.74, NJ, 13.65); 2 S Benson (RAF) 13.36; 3 R Farquahson (RAF) 13.14 SP: 1 M Proctor (RAF) 18.91 (NT, NT, 18.91, NT, NT, NT); 2 A Davis (RAF) 15.63 (NT, 15.40, 15.63, 15.31, NT, NT); 3 L Rosenberg (Mx) 14.27 (13.82, 14.02, 14.07, 14.14, 14.27, NT) DT: 1 Rosenberg 48.56 (46.87, 48.56, 46.15, NT, 47.27, 47.70); 2 A Kruszewski (CS) 44.15 (41.94, 42.96, 44.15, 43.57, 42.56, 43.95); 3 Davis 44.09 (41.76, 43.19, 43.28, 44.09, NT, 42.07); 4 N Sougrin (Mx) 38.92; 5 A Williams (RAF) 36.53 HT: 1 W Beauchamp (Mx) 66.09 (NT, NT, 62.39, NT, 66.09, NT); 2 I Park (CS) 65.71 (65.71, NT, NT, NT, NT, 64.79); 3 M Fenton (CS) 58.95 (NT, 58.95, 57.94, 58.74, 58.77, 57.92); 4 K Davies (RAF) 56.67 (NT, NT, 32.80, 56.67, 55.98, NT); 5 N Fogg (Mx) 50.15 (50.15, 48.27, 46.23, 47.06, 47.81, 47.51) JT: 1 T Dobbing (RAF) 65.58 (NT, 61.67, 65.09, 63.23, 63.01, 65.58); 2 F Fuat (Mx) 50.12 3kmW: 1 M Flood (RAF) 13:40.0; 2 D Turner (CS) 14:21.5; 3 S Allen (CS) 14:49.5 4×100: Royal Air Force 42.9 4×400: Middlesex 3:25.0

Women

MATCH: 1 Middlesex 165; 2 Civil Service 124; 3 Royal Air Force 28

SEAX TROPHY: 1 Middlesex 204; 2 Civil Service 150; 3 Royal Air Force 41

100 (0.4): 1 L Turner (Mx) 12.2; 2 M Walker (Mx) 12.8; 3 K Reynolds (CS) 12.8 200 (0.6): D Gayle (Mx) 26.6 400: 1 N Anderson (Mx) 59.3; 2 L Whitehead (CS) 59.5 800: 1 D Lee (CS) 2:15.4; 2 S Andreou (CS) 2:17.0 1500: 1 S Griffiths (CS) 4:39.2; 2 D Kennedy (Mx) 4:50.7; 3 A Bell (RAF, NS) 4:57.4; 4 J Laws (Mx) 4:58.4 3000: 1 Lee 10:26.2; 2 A Murphy (Mx) 10:38.2; 3 V Parry (Mx) 10:44.3 100H (0.5): 1 Turner 14.8; 2 Reynolds 15.6 400H: 1 T Hilton (CS) 67.1; 2 R Wright (Mx) 69.6 HJ: 1 D Gayle (Mx) 1.70 (1.40 o, 1.45 xo, 1.50 o, 1.55 o, 1.60 o, 1.65 o, 1.70 xo, 1.75 xxx); 2 M Knight (Mx) 1.60 PV: L Howcroft (Mx) 2.55 (2.15 xo, 2.35 o, 2.55 xo, 2.65 xxx) LJ: A Barrett (Mx) 5.05 TJ: 1 M Walker (Mx) 11.59 (11.23, NJ, 11.59, NJ, 11.34, NJ); 2 N Brunning (CS) 10.36 SP: 1 Knight 11.37 (10.55, 10.87, 11.03, 10.90, 11.37, NT); 2 L White (Mx) 10.54 DT: 1 R Hardy (Mx) 43.22 (38.97, 39.56, 38.61, 41.70, 42.25, 43.22); 2 J John (Mx) 33.57 HT: 1 John 47.27 (NT, 39.35, 46.79, 45.18, 47.27, NT); 2 J West (Mx) 37.91 (NT, NT, 36.50, NT, NT, 37.91) JT: 1 J Ayero-West (Mx) 38.56 (36.63, 36.41, 37.38, 35.17, 38.56, 34.71); 2 K Addis (CS) 34.46 4×100: Middlesex 51.2 4×400: 1 Civil Service 4:11.3; 2 Middlesex 4:14.8