Fixture four of the Northern Senior League Division East North 1 had the stage set at the Princess Mary Stadium. We sat in second place in the league table after three fixtures behind Holmfirth, with the winner of this fixture takes promotion to the Premier Division, the game was well and truly on.

The day was off to a good start on the track as Molly Waring and Soraya Crodden finished first place in the A & B race respectively. Molly continued with a victory in the 200m, 100m Hurdles in her second best time of the season, another victory in the High Jump and finished with a third place finish in the Javelin Throw. Soraya was also in fine form with a victory in the 200m B, a victory in the Triple Jump B, a Second place then followed in both the 100m and Long jump with a Personal Best (PB) jump.

Megan Ascough re-joined the team in the throws and earnt a victory in the Discus, followed by a second place finish in the Hammer Throw and the Shot Putt achieving Season Best (SB) throws in all three. Catriona Gentleman also re-joined the team in the throws finishing in first place in the B Hammer, a second place came in the Discus and rounded off with a third place in the Shot Putt gaining SB distances in all three.

Siobhan Maskill picked up early points for the team’s tally as she finished second in the Pole Vault, a second place and Season’s Best throw in the Javelin followed, along with a gutsy run in the 1,500m for her first competition attempt. It was a day for gutsy runs as Summer Haynes achieved a second place finish in the 2,000m Steeplechase in her second best tie of the season, a third place finish in the 400m B came later before a second place finish and equal PB height in the High Jump.

Youngsters Estelle Williams, Emily Sharp and Olivia Myers were on hand to further strengthen the team. Estelle finished her unbeaten run in the B 100m Hurdles this season as she claimed first place, it was then a second place in the Long Jump B with a second best jump of the season before going on to claim a third place finish in the 400m. Olivia kept the points rolling with a victory in as she dipped for the line in a very close 100m B race and then went on to a third place finish in the Triple Jump. Emily helped the points accumulation as she ran the 800m after returning from injury in her fourth quickest time of the season.

Onto the Men’s team where Kieran O’Brien earnt a third place finish in the 400m Hurdles in a Personal Best time, it was then a second place finish on first competition attempt of the 110m Hurdles B race, as well as a Personal Best performance in the Long Jump. Kevin Ogden was back and had his running shoes on as he achieved a Season’s Best time in the 5,000m.

Ethan Williams had himself a day, achieving a first place finish and PB distance in the Triple Jump, a further first place came in the High Jump with a equal PB height along with a second place finish in the Long Jump. Seb Bartocha continued the form with a second place finish and PB distance in the Javelin, a first place finish and PB distance came in the B Triple Jump along with a first place finish in the 400m Hurdles B race on first competition attempt.

In the Sprints, the points kept coming in as Joe Trevett and Tyler Cossins had impressive performances in both the 100m and 200m with Tyler picking up a Season’s Best time in the 200m.

Robert Harness backed this up as he extended the distance with the 400m and 800m achieving a second best time of the season in the 800m. Ethan Wilson was in support in the 400m and ran his second quickest time of the season, as Ian Wilson ran a Season’s Best time in the 800m as he finished second in the B race and a SB time also came in the 1,500m.

Connor Bell had a strong day celebrating a birthday and victory in the B Hammer with a Season Best distance, a second place followed in the Discus with a second best throw of the season and another second place finish in the Shot Putt to round it off.

The usual duo of Glenn Aspindle and Jake Darby were in force as Glenn working off one leg gained a first place in the Pole Vault, another first came in the High Jump B, a third place in the Javelin B before taking one for the team and running the 1,500m and also the 5,000m on a first competition attempt. Jake had a silver day with a second place finish in the 110m Hurdles in a SB time, a second place and another SB followed in the Shot Putt, a second best throw of the season achieved yet another second place finish in the Discus before a final second place finish with a Personal Best throw in the Hammer.

With strong results across the board in the individual events, we didn’t want to risk anything as all four relays were in play.
The men’s team got the job done with the 4x100m team of Cossins, Trevett, Harness and Darby and the 4x400m relay team of E.Wilson, I.Wilson, Ogden and O’Brien both successfully navigating the baton around the track.

The Women’s team were on hand to make sure the trophy came home with us as the 4x400m team of Haynes, Williams, Crodden and Waring had an excellent team effort to finish in second after the 4x100m team of Williams, Myers, Waring and Crodden made sure they went unbeaten in the season finishing comfortably in first place.

Before moving on, we have to give a big thank you to all the club volunteers and officials who help make sure these fixtures happen, without you days like these wouldn’t exist.

A short nervous wait as points were tallied up it was all smiles for Spen AC as we were declared Division Champions! After numerous second place finishes we had finally managed to get the top spot. Credit to Holmfirth who we had to battle with the whole season right down to the last few events, sure made it one exciting season, leaving it down to Match Points for the top spot.

So the final scores on the doors for the season:
1 – Spenborough AC: 22 League Points (1,611.5 Match Points)
2 – Holmfirth Harriers AC: 22 League Points (1,563.5 Match Points)
3 – Harrogate Harriers & AC: 15 League Points (1,104 Match Points)
4 – Bingley Harriers & AC: 10 League Points (1,108.5 Match Points)
5 – Skyrac AC: 9 League Points (1,040.5 Match Points)
6 – Longwood Harriers AC: 6 League Points (890 Match Points)

SPEN AC Class of 2024:
Megan ASCOUGH, Glenn ASPINDLE, Seb BARTOCHA, Connor BELL, Tyler COSSINS, Soraya CRODDEN, Jake DARBY, Catriona GENTLEMAN, Robert HARNESS, Summer HAYNES, Elliot HOYLAND, Siobhan MASKILL, Olivia MYERS, Kieran O'BRIEN, Kevin OGDEN, Natasha QUASHIE, Emily SHARP, Joe TREVETT, Adaze Ulebor, Molly Waring, Isabel WHITE, Estelle WILLIAMS, Ethan WILLIAMS, Ethan WILSON,Ian WILSON

And with that it’s a wrap for the season and boy was it a good ending, now time for some rest.

Oh and one final thing, Alexa play that song by Queen, yeah you know the one…