by Phil Pryke – Sunday 22nd June 2025
37 G&G athletes and their vocal supporters made their way Swindon Harriers Track at Shrivenham Road for this, the 2nd fixture of the season.
The weather was forecast to be warm, and it was, initially. Athletes settled in and sought shade whilst Alan Yau and Callum Job opened track events both finishing 2nd A & B Scorers respectively in the 400mH. The skies darkened, but the track was soon lit up by Kay Davies making his senior 800m debut, Kay ran a conservative opening lap, keeping in touch with the leading pack at the bell, holding on and powering home taking 2 places in the last 150m to win the A string in 1:59.73. Impressive.
As rain threatened, heavy cross winds hampered the 100m heats. In the Mens 100m, Matt Harris and Harvey Jupe both had to settle for 2nd A & B Scorers, both losing out to lightninglike Radley athletes. Highlight of the ladies A race was R. Skinner (U17) easily taking the win in ridiculously windy conditions.
The winds calmed for the Mens 400m, F. Dryburgh (U17) registered 56.14 for 5th A scorer followed by Colin Shaw registering 59.02 for 5th B scorer. In the Ladies 400m G&Gs A scorer was just too keen to get out of the blocks and received the dreaded DQ, but a super performance by E. Hawthorne (U20) made amends by winning the ‘B’ string in 62.51.
Callum Job was back in action in an entertaining Mens 3,000m, Callum was partnered by Ben West, both finishing 4th A & B Scorers (9:33.13 & 9:43.90). In the ladies distance track event, the 5,000m had been shortened to 3,000m in advance of Sunday due to forecasted high temperatures, ironically athletes were pulling on warm clothing whilst spectating Holly Shaw (A) and Tara Oxley (B) – finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively.
The heavens opened whilst 200m athletes warmed up, unprepared spectators sought refuge in Swindon Town Football Club Stadium (just across the way) whilst biblical rainfall soaked the track and anything in its trajectory.
In the ladies 200m R. Skinner (U17) finished 2nd in the A String, whilst M. Dryburgh (U20) won the B String.
In the Men’s 200m Matt Harris (A) had to settle for 2nd again despite running into headwind and crossing the line in 22.37, losing out to Walton’s eye catchingly rapid Brook Cronin whom finished in 21.38, evidence that SAL events often showcase elite athletes. E. Foster (U17) finished an impressive 2nd in the B string in 24.01
In the ladies 1,500m the effervescent Holly Shaw popped up again to put in a gusty performance finishing 3rd A Scorer.
Kay Davies & Will Ford lined up in the Men’s 1,500m, Kay putting in a good shift in following his earlier 800m exploits finished 3rd A scorer in 4:20.39. Will pulled out an impressive home straight sprint to overtake AFD’s B scorer to take 2nd in the B String.
In the 2,000m SC, Callum Job pulled his spikes back on, partnered by Ian Davies, Callum coming home 4th A scorer whilst Ian secured 2nd B Scorer.
Whilst the running track was busy, in the Men’s field events V55 Tony Harris nonchalantly jumped 2m25 over the Pole Vault bar.
In the Triple Jump Ollie Wells jumped 11m36, Colin Shaw jumped 10m19 to secure 3rd A scorer and 2nd B Scorer.
Multi-talented athlete Andrew Taylor joined our SAL squad after a significant period of absence, Andrew threw 7m22 for Shot Putt, 17m61 for Discus, 19m53 for Hammer picking up valuable points in these tough and competitive events.
Tony Harris threw 20m45 for the Discus, whilst James Parker threw 32m45 for the Javelin partnered by Shuan Cregeen whom threw 30m15.
In the ladies field events, there were good performances from K. Oxley (U17) clearing 1m43 in High Jump & 4m66 in Long Jump picking up 6 points, whilst Tara Oxley threw 7m24 in the Shot Putt, 16m85 in the Discus, 16m60 in the Hammer and 16m91 in the Javelin picking up 4 points. E. Hawthorne (U20) was only rewarded with 4th A scorer in the Discus despite throwing a very impressive 28m37, such was the standard of throwing that day.
Relays aptly finish a great day of Track and Field, and they didn’t disappoint. The Ladies unfortunately failed to get a 4x100m team together. The men’s 4x100m Team comprised Elliot Holman, Ollie Wells, Harvey Jupe & Matt Harris, in that order they finished 2nd in 45.23, a fair way behind the incredulously quick Radley Team taking the win in 42.49.
To finish the day G&G mustered together 2x mixed 4x400m teams.
R. Skinner (U17), E. Hawthorne (U20), Matt Harris & Hayden Christian formed the A Team. Swindon took an early lead with a sub 60s lady runner, Swindon were never troubled, having exceptional quality throughout saw them cross the line first. Hayden brought the team home in a very respectable 3:52.41 to claim 2nd.
‘E. Payne (U20) T. Oxley (U17) Elliot Holman & Harvey Jupe formed the B Team. Walton led the way on the first leg, 2nd leg Elliot ran down ex-GGAC Virginia Mitchell to take the lead, all team positions remained static going into the 4th leg, G&G looked set to win the B relay as Harvey took the baton into the final leg with a 40m lead, the Swindon anchor leg having a target got onto Harvey’s shoulder with 100m to go, Harvey put in an injection of pace willed on by deafening G&G fans, the last 80m was breathtaking amidst the raucous screaming, Harvey crossed the line just ahead of Swindon in 4:02.22. A marvellous and proud moment to watch. Harvey skipped training the following Tuesday, that 400m leg took a while to get over!
G&G Finished the match in 4th position out of 6 – behind Swindon (1st), Radley (2nd) and Walton (3rd).
