Battling West Norfolk sixth in Southern Athletics League opener

West Norfolk Athletic Club members opened their Southern Athletics League outdoor season at Chelmsford.The six teams in Division 3 East include West Norfolk AC and are formed of men and women of under 17 ages upwards who compete across four events throughout the summer.The West Norfolk team spirit was high despite fielding a small team.Only three West Norfolk ladies were available to compete, but they certainly brought their best, there was no lack of fight.Team manager Lucy Edwards had produced her best long jump distance in seven years.Her leap of 5.12m was good enough to take first place but she only completed two jumps before injuring her thigh and ruling her out of further events.Hannah Greenalgh had a fantastic win in the 400m finishing in a time of 60.3sec. Jen Gosnell secured a personal best in the long jump B string for second with 3.85m.Gosnell also went on to compete in shot put, finishing third with 6.28m, fourth in the hammer with 11.25 m, and third in the javelin with a throw of 15.71m. For the men’s team, the son of the aforementioned Jen Gosnell, u17 athlete Henry, ran a fabulous PB amongst all the seniors in the 800m and finished 4th in 2m22.4sec.Young Gosnell also claimed third in the long jump with a 4.81m leap and, as a non-scorer in the javelin, threw 14.65m. Keeping with the family theme Henry’s dad, Rob Gosnell, pulled out a 400m PB for sixth place in 72.3sec.He also ran the 800m B string, finishing fourth in 2m52.2sec, and was fifth in the shot put B string with 5.60m. Louis Preston ran well in the 100m to finish fifth in 12.3sec and achieved the same placing in the javelin A string with 36.94m.Cameron Ross had a good day with fifth in the 100m B in a time of 13.7sec sixth in the 200m in 29.3sec, and second in the long jump B string with 4.46m. Chris Elmer ran the 1500m to finish third in 4m27.8sec.Adam Howard took on multiple events. He was sixth in the high jump (1.20m), sixth in the shot put, (7.16m), fifth in the hammer (17.39m) and third in the Javelin B string with a throw of 31.58m.Overall, the team finished sixth with 90 points, but considering it was a small team they did very well and were not too far off West Suffolk, who accumulated 135 points, in fourth place.A big thank you must go out to all the club officials, helpers, and volunteers on the day as without them it would not have been possible for the event to take place.The next SAL meet will be a home match for West Norfolk at Alive Lynnsport on Saturday, June 15.