Results of the 7th Annual Jantathlon are now available (Previous Years: 2005 2004 2003)

After taking a break in 2006 and a more light hearted format in 2007 the Jantathlon returned to it's use of official scoring tables to rank athletes in Janet Smith's training group. This years overall winner was Gareth Price improving on his 3rd place from 2005, Darryn Campbell reprised his regular role of 2nd place narrowly pipping out Ben Parnell who finished in bronze position. Mel Young finished first out of the girls in her debut Jantathlon but I didn't have the heart to tell her that the scoring system is designed to directly compare male and female performances so she still finished fifth overall, this didn't stop her from taking the winner's trophy from Gareth anyway.

In a break from the traditional, 4 new events were introduced this year and as a result only one Jantathlon best was set, by Gareth into a headwind over the 50m, an event in which Ben has insisted that I mention that he beat Darryn (just). Onto the throwing events of Hammer and Discus and the emergance of several dark horses. Dan Hoyle throwing the hammer a huge distance (compared to the rest of the group) only to have the throw disallowed for almost hitting Vic, the points lost there losing him at least one place overall.

Once the throwing events were completed the competition was half way through and Nick Wevill turned up. Despite not warming up Nick managed to produce the second fastest time over the 300m H (without getting injured) and went on to secure an easy victory in the triple jump... but it was a case of too little too late. The introduction of the 300m H took all by surprise (except those watching Carol put out the hurdles) but everybody put in maximum effort, the one exception possibly being Ross Langford who spent his entire run having a chat... though it was nice to see him doing something other than lying on the floor saying 'ow yea mate'.

On to the triple jump and by this time light had started to fade, with no time to prepare a run-up it was largely guesswork and luck, perhaps the luckiest being Susie who took a break from talking and flirting with Ross long enough to land twice on the same squeaking mouse. Injury had proved the downfall of a couple of Athletes by this stage, Beth Sharpe unable to take part in the hurdles or triple jump saw her chances of a high finish slip away and newcomer to the group James Steele retired after a pulled hamstring in his first session back from a 5 year hiatus. Fortunately the same misfortune did not strike recent joiner Craig Green who performed solidly in his debut Jantathlon.

And so to the final event, the dreaded 600m, rumours had persisted earlier in the evening that the scoring system had broken and was unable to cope with 600m but (luckily) Darryn managed to fix it just in time. Guest competitor Gareth Beech (an 800m runner) would prove unstopable as he kicked away with 400m to go to clinch victory in front of a cheering crowd... though it sounded as though they were cheering for Ben. There were some other close tussles between Gareth Price & Nick and Dan & Neil but in the end the 500 point lead built up by Gareth Price was unsurmountable and proved decisive. Though close between Mel and Susie going into the 600m no number of matching Superman T-shirts could help Susie who trailed a determined Mel by several seconds.

It was good to see group main-stays Vic Novell and Neil Starks, both veterans of the Jantathlon competition still fighting it out for points and eventually finishing with the same total. It was a sad time for all though as Neil announced that this would be his last Jantathlon, he is the sole survivor from the earliest recorded Jantathlon back in 2003.