Yate AC news

TRAVELLING to Alexandra Stadium, the home of Birchfield Harriers, in Birmingham for the third match in the Midland League series was always going to be a tough prospect for Yate Athletics Club.

And so it proved as it was made all the harder by problems affecting several of the better athletes in the squad.

Points were at a premium with the home team dominating matters from first to last.

When they can put out a high jumper who cleared 2.23m, more than fifty centimetres higher than anything the two gallant Yate jumpers can manage, it shows the gulf that exists between good local clubs and the country’s very best.

In fact, the story of the day for Yate was about those two athletes, Luke Lodge and Mark Pratt.

Competing in four events each, they just about completed the whole men’s team field event efforts on their own.

Luke competed in high jump, long jump, hammer and javelin, while Mark was in high jump, shot, hammer and javelin.

In terms of points added to the team’s total, they racked up a second place, two thirds, two fourths and three fifths, not perhaps their best ever results but valuable in the context of the match.

Elsewhere, there were personal best performances from Kane Lee in the 400m and also from the pairing of Harriet Emery and Georgia Taylor in the women’s 400m.

Adam Wilson looked impressive over 1500m, keeping well with the leaders over the first two laps but then having to give place to finish third.

Several of the Yate athletes are still under-17s, here competing as seniors, so their efforts were all the more praiseworthy, but against this level of opposition they were always going to struggle.

One more match in the series remains, where the aim must be to maintain the joint Bristol and Yate teams position in the top division.