Chris Buller mixes it in the 100m

Solent were particularly strong in the throws, where Kieren Kelly smashed his personal best by over 60cm to set a new best of 14m75m, close behind Gary Sollitt's winning performance of 15.26.

There were also wins for Maurice Hicks in the hammer and Anthony Llewelyn in the javelin after a return from the Navy.

Russel Osborn heads into the final straight

There were also strong debut performances from Jacob Lewis in the 'B' string javelin and Andrew Walters in the 'A' string discus.

The sprints were very competitive, in particular the 400m which saw Darryn Campbell's comeback though finishing second to Winchester's wonderboy Louis Sellers in 50.3 seconds. Bryan Barnes was too strong for the opposition in the 'B' string, coming home in 51.9 seconds. Darren Wall and Chris Buller both got good early season runs out in fast 100m and 200m races.

Bryan Barnes comes home in front

On the track the match got off to a good start with the welcome return of Andy Bargh and Lee Tindal collecting 9 points from 10 in the 400m hurdles. Lee followed this up with a second victory of the day in the 110m hurdles.

Lee Tindal gliding over the high hurdles

Russel Osborn got the chance to run in Solent colours for the first time with a gusty performance in the 800m and Alex Wall-Clarke showed confidence by winning his 800m 'B' string from the front.

Jacob Lewis showing good form

Points came flooding in all afternoon from all over the track. Iain Robertson acheived full points in the 5000m, backed up ably in the 'B' string by Christian Folliot. Meanwhile, John

Alex Wall-Clarke sets the pace in the 800m

We even managed to pick up 9 points from the pole vault with Alex Beardsmore and Chris Buller. Martin Goodall competing for Team Solent for the first time since 1994 did well in the high jump and long jump.

Mo Hicks in control of the hammer

Ben Davis showed versatility in some of the more technical events competing in the high jump, triple jump and high hurdles. I also had a good day with the

Andrew Walters fires one out in the discus

Solent came second in both relays, despite Bryan Barnes giving it his best shot with a 51.1 split on the final leg. However, by then the match had long since been won.

Darryn Campbell gets the 400m relay underway

What does this mean? Well it means that by putting out our strongest available team on the first day of the season we have virtually assured the survival of the ‘B’ team in the top flight of the Southern Men’s League for another season.

It also means that as a club we can truly focus our attention on consolidating our position in Division 4 of the British League. The success of the ‘A’ team this year is an essential goal to ensure that the club competes at a national level and continues to offer the standard of competition to bring the very best out of our athletes.

A big well done to you all!

Adam Richardson
B Team Manager