July 2009 Results
July EH Throw saw some new faces to the competition in wet and muddy conditions. St Albans Reserve has received a large amount of rain recently, which is good for the oval, but bad for athletics. As a result, the surface was very wet and muddy and the discus had to be relocated to the clubrooms end.
The EH BBQ was on display and it looked fine. Mmmm, what a sexy BBQ! More importantly, it was cooking food thanks to the McNamara tribe - Leon, Julie and Tom. It is planned to have the EH BBQ cooking food (and looking sexy) at all EH Throw competitions to feed the masses.
Discus was the first throw for the night and the rain held off for the event. Alifatou performed consistently, throwing the 1.25kg implement 40.55m. This was slightly down on her June EH Throw performance (40.61m). Top performance went to an EH Throw virgin - Will Crouch, who popped an unexpected PB of 36.82m. Dylan Brice's rocket arm also returned for another throw, but he was unsettled by the wet conditions, only managing 41.84m.
Event 2 was the hammer throw, and the heavens opened up during the competition. Full credit to the officials and real athletes who stayed out in the weather for the competition. ASA President Tony Keynes came out to size up the competition, but due to the poor weather he decided not to have a throw. EH President Darren Billett was the pick of the bunch, throwing 60.32m with the 8kg implement. This was up on his last EH Throw competition (58.07m) and his technique was looking smooth. Dylan Brice had his first taste of the hammer throw and with a raw technique threw 28.74m. New comer David Bates also battled the slippery conditions to throw the 6kg 27.59m. In the women’s competition, the rain saw Jacqui Emms run like a little school girl to hide in the club rooms after one attempt. This left Amelia Boylan and Alifatou Djibril to battle it out for the women’s competition. Amelia ended up winning, throwing 29.30m to just edge out Alifatou 29.30m.
Shot Put was the last event for the night and saw only two competitors brave the conditions - Darren Billett and Wayne Willis. This was the title fight for July EH Throw. The much talked about event - EH President Vs EH Treasurer. Hammer Thrower Vs Shot Putter. Big D Vs Big W. Billett Vs Willis. Man Vs Man....well you get the idea. The crowd had come from as far as Port Lincoln to witness the event, and they were far from disappointed. The fight was handicapped (to even the odds) and saw Darren being the big girls blouse throw the 6kg implement while Wayne swallowed a tea spoon of concrete and threw the 8kg. The competition started friendly, but before long things turned dirty. Wayne lead the competition for the first three rounds and had a 1m lead over Darren. The crowd was trying to fire up the EH Pres and Darren switched to a glide technique which saw him close the gap on Wayne. Each round Darren was catching Wayne, but the EH & state Shot Put champion continually the replies. And then it turned dirty... Round 5 saw Darren's throw land deep in the mud and create a land mine effect. Mud was sprayed up and all over the officials. More importantly it went all over his competition and actually landed in Wayne's mouth. We always new Wayne had a dirty mouth, and this just proved it. Round 5 came and Wayne's lead had reduced to 63cm. Wayne entered the circle for his sixth attempt and unfortunately produced a sector foul. It had all come down to this. Billett had one throw remaining to try and catch Willis. Could he produce the throw of the night to over come the state champ??? Well to cut the crap, disappointingly no. Darren's last throw was further and closed the gap, but unfortunately it was a foot foul. There was no Victor for the competition as he did not enter the shot put. The winner was however Wayne, by KO. 13.60m to Darren's 12.97m. Battered and bruised the EH Pres congratulated the EH treasurer, but from the glint in his eye, the crowd knew the war was not over.
Thank you ball boys and ball girls - Graham Billett, Rosemary Billett and Anne Brice who helped officiate in the trying conditions.
The next exciting edition of EH Throw will be Thursday, August 27. 6pm sharp start of competition. Event order – Shot Put, Discus Hammer. Also is attendance will be the SA Branch of the SA track and field association.
July EH Throw.xls